Field notes
Practical writing about the parts of fire, security, electrical, data and AV work that quietly cost contractors money. No thought leadership, no listicles.
Site records
The test results nobody ever opens againEvery structured cabling job ends the same way. The testing gets done, the engineer connects the tester to a laptop, and out comes an export. Sometimes one enormous file, sometimes a folder of hundreds. It goes into the ...
27 July 2026
Security
Why we cannot read your panel codesYou hold the keys to buildings you do not own. Reader controllers. Camera estates. Intruder panels. Licence platforms. A security or fire contractor of any size is carrying credentials for dozens of premises belonging to...
27 July 2026
Security
The same engineer code on every panel you have ever fitted
Most installers use one set of codes across every site they maintain. Here is what that actually exposes, and the one thing that decides whether fixing it sticks.
27 July 2026
Estimating
How to quantify a drawing set without losing a weekendThere is a job in this industry that has not changed in thirty years. A drawing set, a highlighter, a tally counter, and a Sunday. Somebody sits down with forty sheets and counts detectors. Or sockets. Or cameras, or out...
26 July 2026
Handover
What actually goes in an O and M pack, and why building it at the end costs you moneyAsk ten contractors what an O and M pack is and you will get ten answers, all of them slightly defensive. It is the last thing on the job, it is nobody’s favourite week, and it is very often the reason a final paym...
26 July 2026
Drawings and records
Your device schedule and your drawing have never agreedEvery contractor in fire, security, electrical and data runs the same two documents on every job. A drawing set, issued as PDF. And a device schedule, living in a spreadsheet. They are supposed to describe the same build...
26 July 2026