Failed a Fire Door Inspection? What Happens Next — and What Repairs Cost

First, read the grading

A competent inspection report grades every door: compliant, remedial (with the specific task — seals, closer, gaps, hinges) or replace (with reasons). That grading is your work plan. The common surprise is how it splits: on most blocks we inspect, the replace column is a small minority. Doors that look ropey usually fail on seals and gaps — the cheap end of the fix list.

If your report has no per-door grading, just a verdict, ask for a proper one before spending anything. Nobody should be buying doorsets off a report that doesn't say why.

The timeline after a fail

Can the building stay in use? Almost always yes. Stopping use of a building over door defects is prohibition-notice territory — reserved for serious, immediate risk, and rare. What's expected is a plan, visible progress and records.

• Day 0 — report lands. Read the priority column first, not the total
• First days — anything graded critical on an escape stair or high-traffic communal route goes to the front of the queue
• Weeks 1–4 — remedial visits: seals, closers, hinge work, drop seals. A carpenter day (£625 +VAT) clears several doors
• Then — replacements, if any, on lead time: doorsets take 2–6 weeks to arrive, so order early and fix everything else while you wait
• Finally — re-check and certificates per door, and the door schedule updated so the quarterly checks have a clean baseline

Repair or replace: how the call gets made

Prices are our standard retail rates, +VAT. The repair-first logic isn't generosity — a certified door that can be brought back within its tested configuration is a better door than an unknown new leaf badly fitted.

Deadlines and enforcement

There's no single statutory number of days to fix a failed door. What exists is sharper than that: under the Fire Safety Order 2005 the responsible person must maintain fire doors as fire-resisting equipment, and under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 residential buildings over 11 metres re-check doors quarterly — so an unfixed defect resurfaces in writing every three months, each time with your name closer to it.

If a fire authority audits and finds defects unaddressed, the ladder runs: informal advice, then an improvement notice with a compliance date (typically 21 days or more), then prosecution — fines are unlimited, and directors can be personally liable. Insurers read the same reports. The cheapest place to stop that ladder is the first rung: a dated remedial plan and invoices that match it.

Closing it off properly

Every remedial visit ends with the door re-checked against the original defect and a pass certificate issued — our £350 remedial visit includes that re-check. The door schedule gets updated door by door, which matters more than it sounds: the schedule is what the quarterly checker, the fire risk assessor and any future auditor work from. A fixed door that isn't recorded as fixed still looks like a defect on paper.

We inspect and repair as separate line items, so the report stands alone and the remedial quote is priced defect by defect — you can tender it elsewhere and lose nothing. Recent work includes a 230-door two-school inspection and remedial programme completed over the summer holidays, and a 50-door schedule for a contractor on a government science campus.

Related guides

• Fire door gaps too big? Fixes and costs
• Fire door remedial costs
• Fire door inspection costs