Fire Alarm Inspection & Testing
in Durham Region
The annual inspection that proves, to your insurer and the fire department, that every device in your building works. Performed by Harex since 1983.
Who legally needs it
The Ontario Fire Code requires it for industrial, commercial and multi-tenant buildings with a fire alarm system, and Harex inspects to it across Durham Region. Your insurer requires current records to renew. The fire department's inspection division runs a rolling schedule, and a missed inspection is how a 30-day order to comply begins. Fines typically run $5,000 to $30,000, and the statutory maximums go far higher.
Frequency
Annual testing is the baseline for most Durham Region buildings Harex inspects, with monthly checks in between. Since January 1, 2026, annual inspections must follow CAN/ULC-S536:2019. Work typically sits under a three-year contract: a technician who knows your building, a locked rate, no lapses.
What we test
Every device. S536 does not permit sampling. Harex tests all of them. If a quote seems suspiciously cheap, ask whether all devices are tested.
- CONTROL PANEL
- PULL STATIONS
- SIGNAL DEVICES
- SMOKE / HEAT DETECTORS
- ANCILLARY DEVICES
- BATTERIES & POWER
What you receive
A report accepted by your insurer and the fire department: deficiencies listed with the Fire Code section that makes each one law, and the work required to close them. We forward inspections to the AHJ, so your building is on record as maintained. See what the report looks like →
If you have deficiencies
Most are corrected by Harex in-house: repairs, replacement and verification, quoted off the deficiency list. Already holding an order to comply? Start here →
Common questions
How Harex works
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
What clients say
across every platform
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Four buildings, one schedule, one set of reports. I stopped chasing three different contractors for paperwork the month we switched.”
“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.”
“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.”