AFSS cost guide: what drives the price

What Sydney providers publish for AFSS certification fees, what drives the price up or down, and why a quote without your schedule is a guess.

AFSS certification fee (Sydney-published pricing)

$375–$2,500

+ GST, per statement

Sydney fire-protection contractors publish AFSS certification fees typically running $375 to $2,500 +GST depending on building class (see Sources). This is a Sydney benchmark, not a state-wide figure; we have not found a published range for other parts of NSW. Covers the assessment and statement only, not the cost of servicing or rectifying individual fire safety measures, which is billed separately and is usually the larger part of the annual bill.

Why the price moves within that range

The cost of an AFSS is really the cost of the annual assessment behind it, and that depends on how many essential fire safety measures are on the building's schedule and how complex they are. A small building with a handful of measures sits toward the bottom of the range above. A large mixed-use or high-rise building with sprinklers, hydrants, mechanical smoke systems and extensive passive fire separation sits toward the top, and unusually large or specialist buildings can run higher still. A quote given without reference to your own schedule is still a guess, even inside that range.

What moves the price

The main drivers are the number and type of measures on the schedule, the size and height of the building, how accessible the measures are for inspection, and whether specialist measures need a practitioner accredited for that specific measure. Rectification is separate and additional: if a measure fails the assessment, repairing it is its own cost and is not part of the assessment fee, and is not included in the range above.

How to get a meaningful quote

Give the practitioner a copy of your current fire safety schedule before asking for a price, so the quote reflects the actual measures. Ask whether the quote covers assessment only or also re-inspection after rectification. Ask whether their accreditation covers every measure, or whether a second practitioner is needed for a specialist measure, which adds cost. Comparing quotes only works when each is scoped to the same schedule.

Budgeting note

Treat the annual assessment as a recurring fixed obligation and budget for it each year, and hold a separate contingency for rectification, because measures do fail over a building's life. The expensive outcome to avoid is a missed deadline: council late-lodgement penalties escalate weekly and quickly exceed the cost of the assessment itself. See the AFSS penalties and non-compliance guide for the current escalation figures.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an annual fire safety statement cost in NSW?

Sydney fire-protection contractors publish AFSS certification fees typically running from around $375 to $2,500 plus GST per statement, depending on building class: a small single-storey commercial premises sits at the low end, a large multi-storey or strata building at the high end. This is a Sydney benchmark, not a state-wide figure; we have not found a published range for other parts of NSW. That fee covers the assessment and statement only, not the separate cost of servicing or rectifying any fire safety measure that fails.

Does the AFSS fee include fixing a fire safety measure that fails?

No. The AFSS fee covers the accredited practitioner's assessment and the statement itself. If a measure fails the assessment, rectifying it is a separate, additional cost, billed by whoever carries out the repair, and it is usually the larger part of the annual bill on a building with an ageing system.

Sources

• Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021 (NSW).
• City of Sydney, register your annual fire safety statement (late-lodgement penalty schedule and Land and Environment Court maximum penalty).
• What's The Damage, fire safety compliance cost (Sydney).

This is general information, not legal or compliance advice. Check requirements and figures with your council and the FPAA register.

More guides

• AFSS compliance checklistThe steps to keep a NSW building's annual fire safety statement on time and valid, in order.
• New to owning a building? Your first AFSSIf you have just taken on an existing building, here is what the annual fire safety obligation means for you.
• NSW fire safety compliance statisticsOfficial figures on automatic fire alarm responses and building fire incidents in NSW, drawn from Fire and Rescue NSW published data and open data statistics.
• Accredited practitioner vs competent fire safety practitioner in NSWBoth terms refer to the same specialist role in NSW. The name changed on 1 July 2020. Here is what each means and which one you need for your annual fire safety statement today.
• Fire safety schedule vs AFSS: what is the difference?The schedule is the list of measures a building must have. The AFSS is the yearly proof those measures still work. Here is how the two documents connect.
• AFSS penalties and non-complianceThe dollar figures for an overdue annual fire safety statement in NSW: council penalty notices, fire safety orders, court proceedings and what to do next.
• AFSS vs supplementary fire safety statement: what's the differenceTwo different statements cover two different categories of fire safety measure in NSW. Here is what separates them, when a supplementary statement applies, and what to do if your schedule lists a critical measure.
• Fire safety upgrade order NSW: existing building fire upgradesWhat triggers a council fire safety upgrade order on an existing NSW building, the notice process, and your appeal window.
• Fire safety order at property sale: what buyers, sellers and conveyancers need to knowAn outstanding fire safety order does not disappear when a NSW building changes hands. It binds whoever owns the building next under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, appears on the property's Section 10.7 planning certificate, and is one of the first things a buyer's solicitor will flag before exchange. Here is what it means from every side of the transaction.
• Not the site you meant? Similar-named AFSS sites explainedThree NSW fire safety businesses have very similar names. Here is what each one actually is, so you land on the site you were looking for.