Re: Free Alarm Monitoring

["FIRETEK" <firetech(change-the-ch-to-k)@telus.net>]

"Robert L Bass" <robertbass1@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OpKdnfRJL-mDh8LYnZ2dnUVZ_smdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

> This varies somewhat from place to place.  In CT where I worked for 24
years
> most towns required a permit for wired installations.  We mainly did wired
> systems so we pulled permits.  A few towns did not require a permit
though.
> The interesting thing was the reaction from electrical inspectors while
submitting
> the permit application.  They were often surprised that I bothered because
most
> alarm companies didn't pull permits on a residential installation unless
it was new
> construction.

Interesting.  1979 to 1999 is only 20 years.  Where'd you pick up the other
four?  In a quick search of "Google" I found this:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.security.alarms/browse_thread/thread/426cab95d3f71023/ccd72ed70a8a0f32?lnk=st&q=Robert+L+Bass+L6&rnum=2&hl=en#ccd72ed70a8a0f32

Here's a "snippet" from the above referenced link:

"ALL properly licensed?? Hmm, where's the sales tax?  Don't squirrel on this
Bass, we're talking your own state and your own town.
The 'city clerk' of West Hartford didn't have any alarm companies listed at
80 Brentwood Road, but then this could have been an oversite.  So you and
your many techs are licensed at different locations?

But she did say that her understanding was that ALL advertising MUST
included contractor's license numbers.
So how does this work?

You display a Connecticut address and advertise on the Web, I still don't
see the contractor license number- is it the ICQ that is disabled?
I didn't call the state, unlike you, but your local building office had no
'current' records of any alarm permits either?  What's this-

Don't have the time at the present to check this other out, but where is the
permit number and tax number for your CS?  You advertise that also.

-and- you have stated you keep 'some' stock!  Now if you keep stock then how
can you claim to be only a virtual business?

I've encluded just some of your much earlier B.S. about your 'employees.' "



I don't know who this "Jake" character is, but it appears to me that he'd
done some "checking around".  Care to explain, Bass?

>
> It's the same with homeowners doing DIY jobs.  If it's not new
construction most
> never pull a permit.  Where there's an alarm  licensing rule in effect,
usually you
> must pull a permit and these laws are starting to proliferate due to the
deluge of false
> alarms.

I agree that false alarms are an issue.  I hardly think they represent a
"deluge" though.

> Note: The vast majority of false alarms come from professionally installed
> systems because the vast majority of systems are professionally installed.

That's like saying the "vast majority of vehicles in accidents are
professionally manufactured".  This hardly qualifies "home built" or "kit
cars" as "safer".

> To the best of my knowledge no one keeps track of how many systems are
> professionally installed versus DIY.

Why do you suppose that is?  Is it because the DIY alarm market is such a
small segment of the industry that it's really not garnered a good deal of
attention?  Or perhaps it's because the majority of DIY systems aren't
"professionally monitored"?


>
> Some towns require an alarm permit (different from an electrical
installation permit)
> only if the alarm is monitored.  Others require that all audible or silent
alarms have a
> permit.  Note 2: I'm using the term, "permit" interchangeably with
"license" though
> the two are distinct.  Technically, you get a permit to do the
installation and/or a
> license to use the alarm.

No, technically you get a permit to do the installation and another permit
to use the alarm.  You need a LICENSE in most states and provinces to
INSTALL an alarm (professionally).


>
> In virtually every place in the country (except St Louis County, Mo), you
do not need
> a trade license to install a burglar alarm system in your own home or
business.
> The same is true of commercial fire alarms with certain exceptions.  If
it's a place of
> public assembly, some communities require a licensed tech do the fire
alarm.  Likewise,
> a professional engineer or a licensed fire alarm technician may be
required to perform
> routine inspections of a commercial fire alarm in many locations.  But for
the typical
> residential installation, including combined burglary / fire alarm
systems, no license is
> required to DIY the installation.  Where an alarm *use* license is
required, this also
> does not require a license -- only some paperwork and usually a small,
annual fee.

In Vancouver, you can get a permit for a "DIY" system.  In order to have it
registered as a monitored alarm, however, you have to list the
installing/servicing agency and the name of the licensed technician who
inspected it.