What’s involved
From your first brief to a fully protected property — here’s exactly how it works. We design your system from your drawings and give you a full proposal before anyone visits site, so you know what you’re getting from the start. And we oversee every stage of the job.
Where it’s used
Common reasons homeowners fit Automist:
Open-plan kitchens
Protect open living spaces without traditional sprinklers.
Loft conversions
Meet the fire requirements of adding a storey.
Escape routes
Keep stairways and exits protected and compliant.
No room for a tank
No water-supply upgrade or tank plant room needed — handy in flats and small blocks.
Listed buildings
Grade I & II properties where a tanked sprinkler retrofit is often impractical.
Insurance-friendly
90% less water than a sprinkler, so insurers tend to look on it more favourably.
The process, step by step
Your brief
You tell us why you need Automist: whether it’s to meet a building control requirement, or purely as an added safety feature, and what the project is. Where there’s a brief to satisfy, we design the system to meet it. Where it’s your own choice for extra protection, we’re happy to design the whole system with you from scratch.
Send us your drawings
Send over your plans — a PDF or even a photo of the drawings is fine. No need for us to visit at this stage.
Your design proposal
We design a system that matches your brief and is fully in line with Plumis guidelines, then provide you with a clear design proposal — so you know exactly what’s involved before you commit.
Building control approval
You send our design proposal to building control for approval. Depending on the project, they may ask for a fire engineering report to support it — we’ll guide you through what’s needed.
Site visit & your spec
Once you’ve accepted our payment terms and paid the 50% deposit, we arrange your site visit. We meet with you — and your builder or any other trades involved — to confirm the design and go over what’s needed in detail.
First fix
This is where we run all the pipework and cabling — usually while the property’s still open, before the walls are closed up. In most homes this is about a day’s work.
Second fix & commissioning
Once most of the dusty work is done and the plaster’s in — but ideally before the final decorative coat, since fitting the heads can leave small marks or chips — the heads go on and the system is commissioned and tested, usually another day’s work. Your certificate is issued following payment, for compliance and complete peace of mind.
Aftercare & annual service
Serviced each year to keep it working and compliant — you’re welcome to have us service it, or use another provider, and we’re always at the end of the phone if you need help.
What we’ll need from you
At the site visit you’ll get a clear specification of everything that needs to be ready for us — including what your plumber and electrician need to have prepared — so the installation goes smoothly from the first fix to commissioning.
A note on the electrical work
We can carry out the electrical side of the installation ourselves if needed. But where a builder is already on the job, we usually recommend their electrician handles it — it’s normally more cost-effective for you.
How much does Automist cost?
Every job is priced individually — the main factors are the size of the property, how many rooms need protecting, how many pump units the system needs, and how straightforward the retrofit is. As a guide, Automist installations start from £2,800 plus VAT. The only way to get an accurate figure for your home is a proposal from your own drawings — send them over and you’ll have a full quote before anyone needs to visit site.
Send us your plans
Ready when you are — upload your drawings (a photo of them is fine too) and we’ll come back with a full design proposal and quote, usually before we ever need to visit site.