If you are looking for the most succinct description of how industry professionals view the current state of the fire/life safety market, “cautiously optimistic” would be an accurate characterization. If not for a few real-world concerns — supply chain woes, labor shortages and looming recessionary headwinds — the prevailing sentiment would be considerably rosier.

According to SDM’s 2022 Industry Forecast, 40 percent of security professionals consider the state of the fire alarm market to be very good or excellent, while 46 percent consider it to be good, and 14 percent believe the state of the market is poor or fair. The forecast also found the number of contractors that currently offer/sell/install fire alarm products and services stands at 59 percent, a 12 percentage point jump in 2022 compared to the previous year. Of those not currently offering fire alarm products and services, 19 percent have plans to start offering them within five years.