30-DAY CLOCKORDER TO COMPLYRE-INSPECTION
Failed a fire inspection,
or holding an order to comply?
Send us the deficiency list. We tell you what it really requires, correct it, certify it and document it, and you pass re-inspection before the deadline.
THE 30-DAY CLOCK STARTS THE DAY IT ARRIVES
30 days
is the usual window on an order to comply
$5k–$30k
typical fine range, statutory maximums go far higher
Same week
most deficiency lists are quoted within days of arriving
In-house
repairs, replacement and verification by our own technicians
SEC.01
What an order to comply actually is
A written notice from the fire department listing what contravenes the Ontario Fire Code in your building, and the date by which it must be fixed. It is not a suggestion and it does not expire quietly. Miss the date and the file can move to charges, with fines that typically run $5,000 to $30,000 and statutory maximums far above that.
SEC.02
How we clear it
- 01You send the list.A photo of the order or the inspector's report is enough. Building address and a contact number with it.
- 02We read it against the code.What is genuinely required, what is arguable, and what the deadline really is. If a retrofit demand does not hold up, we say so before you spend.
- 03Fixed price against each item.Quoted line by line off the deficiency list, so you can see exactly what closing each item costs.
- 04Corrected, tested, certified.Our own technicians do the work, then test and certify it, no coordinating three trades yourself.
- 05Documented and filed.You get the report that proves compliance, and the fire department gets its copy. That is what closes the order.
SEC.03
When the order is unreasonable
A twenty-five-year-old system hit with a six-figure retrofit demand deserves a question: what was wrong with it for twenty-five years? We put that to the fire department, with your inspection history attached, and often win. More on code consulting and disputes →
SEC.04
Common questions
Yes, and it happens often. We work off whatever documentation exists, and put the building on a proper schedule afterwards so it does not repeat.
SEC.07 / TERMS OF WORK
How Harex works
THE PEOPLE
- Second generation, family-owned
- Alex Harris runs administration; his father co-oversees the business and the technical side. Harex has been owned by the same family since 1983.
- Technicians work in pairs
- Every Harex crew is two technicians. That is not a preference: a single technician is not legally permitted to test a fire alarm system, and the work does not physically function alone.
- Signed off by the technician who did it
- A CAN/ULC-S536 inspection is signed by the technician who performed it, which is why an inspection cannot be filed without being done.
TERMS
- Quoted per building, before the work
- Harex quotes each building after looking at the system, and the quote is approved before anything is scheduled. Requests get a reply within one business day.
- Three-year contracts lock the rate
- Most inspection work sits under a three-year agreement: the same technician returns to a building he knows, the rate is fixed for the term, and nothing lapses between visits.
- Reports are forwarded to the fire department
- Harex files completed inspections with the local fire department, so the building is on record as maintained and a lapse is noticed early rather than at an inspection.
- Harex argues the order when it does not stand up
- Where a retrofit order on an older system does not hold up, Harex puts the question to the fire department in writing on the building owner's behalf rather than passing on the invoice.
REACHING US
- One number, 24 hours
- 905-242-2335 reaches the Harex office Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and reaches a technician at any other hour. There is no separate emergency line to look up.
- Nights, weekends and holidays
- Fire system faults disproportionately happen outside business hours, so Harex answers outside them. A panel in trouble on a Saturday night is a normal call, not an exception.
- Thirty-day orders are worked to the date
- An order to comply from an Ontario fire department typically carries about 30 days. Harex schedules against that deadline, not against its own queue.
Coverage, hours and what we do not take on
- Durham Region and the east GTA
- Harex covers Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax, Pickering, Courtice, Bowmanville and Clarington for all services. Port Perry and north Durham are scheduled work with emergency coverage by arrangement. The east GTA and Scarborough are scheduled work for contract clients.
- Not downtown Toronto
- Travel is billed, so a contractor local to a downtown Toronto building will beat Harex on price there. Harex does not chase that work and says so rather than quoting it high.
- Industrial first, residential never refused
- About 70 per cent of Harex's work is industrial. Residential is taken on: it means coordinating tenant access, which stretches a two-week job toward a month, and it is never off the table.
- Hours
- The Harex office in Oshawa is open Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and closed Saturday and Sunday. The emergency line is answered 24 hours a day, every day of the year, on the same number.
- Address
- Harex Inc. is at 1374 Baynes Ave, Oshawa, ON L1K 0C5, in Durham Region east of Toronto. Work is performed on site at the building; the office is not a walk-in counter.
- Municipalities served
- Oshawa (home base · all services), Whitby (all services), Ajax (all services), Pickering (all services), Courtice (all services), Bowmanville (all services), Clarington (all services), Port Perry & north Durham (scheduled work · emergency by arrangement), East GTA & Scarborough (scheduled work · contract clients).
- Standards Harex works to
- CAN/ULC-S536 for fire alarm inspection and testing, CAN/ULC-S524 for installation, CAN/ULC-S537 for verification, and the Ontario Fire Code as enforced by the local fire department, which is the authority having jurisdiction.
Facts reviewed September 2026 · call 905-242-2335 to confirm anything before you rely on it
SEC.08 / REPUTATION
What clients say
4.545 REVIEWS
across every platform
across every platform
ANNUAL INSPECTION
“Harex has looked after our alarm and extinguishers for years. They come when they say they will, and the report is in our hands before the insurer asks for it.”
RETROFIT DISPUTE
“We were told the whole system had to be replaced. Harex asked the fire department why, in writing, and the scope came back a fraction of what we had been quoted.”
ORDER TO COMPLY
“We had thirty days and a list we did not understand. They went through it item by item, told us what was actually required, and we passed the re-inspection.”
MULTI-SITE
“Four buildings, one schedule, one set of reports. I stopped chasing three different contractors for paperwork the month we switched.”
EMERGENCY CALLOUT
“Panel went into trouble on a Saturday night. Somebody answered, walked our supervisor through it on the phone, and had a technician there before the shift started.”
RETROFIT DISPUTE
“We were told the whole system had to be replaced. Harex asked the fire department why, in writing, and the scope came back a fraction of what we had been quoted.”
READ ALL REVIEWS →5 of 45 shown · hover to hold