Originally Posted By: dspencer This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Safety has a price in the Home industry and automobile as well…not many can afford the way it should be, it’s a shame only the rich can make the choice… Buckle Up!
Is your family worth the extra money for sprinkler systems...Yes,but not if you have to move to a poor crime neighborhood to afford it.
Originally Posted By: dfrend This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Sprinklers are not that expensive. New homes can have them required, and the builders would spend no more than now. First, they cost around $1 a square foot. So the average new home system might run $3k-$4k. But in areas where they require them, there are other code trade offs. Builders in this area complained about costs when they began requiring them in all new homes. The NAHB fought tooth and nail based on cost.
But when you don't have to have a secondary basement eqress, or worry about some other common fire safety codes, you save the money there. So in reality, the cost to the builders is ussually nothing above what their costs are now.
Originally Posted By: dfrend This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Quote:
it's a shame only the rich can make the choice
Just to name the two longest standing requirements: Scotsdale, AZ and Prince Georges County, MD (2 large urban areas) have required sprinkler systems in all new homes since the 1980's. I can't comment on scottsdale, but lived in PG County most of my life. Believe me, most of the county is far from rich. Thousands of new homes go in every year there. Most are working class. The builders here have moved on with their arguments because the fact is regular people still afford them, and they still sell, and it has yet to send them out of business(quite the opposite).
My biggest point here is that every single argument that the builders and realtors have made have holes a mile wide in them. Not one is based in any fact. The facts speak for themselves.
1. Homes with sprinklers have less than 3% of in home deaths from fire, homes without can attribute up to 75% of residential deaths to fires.
2. Average dollar loss in a fire is 9 to 15 % HIGHER in homes without sprinkler systems.
3. Cost of the system is about the same as an upgrade in carpet. Costs where they are required is ussually offset by exemptions from other codes for builders.