How to evaluate a security installer before you hire
Three bids for the same 20-camera job, lined up against one scope; the insurance to check; the interview questions with what a good answer contains; and the folder you should hold on the last day.
Technical figures checked against the sources listed at the end.
Swipe the drawing sideways to see all three bids.
A continuity check proves the wires connect end to end. Certification measures each link against the limits for its category and saves a pass or fail report for every run.
AskWill each run get a certification test against its category, and will we receive a report for every run?
12 specific · 0 vague · 0 missing, of 12 needed
4 specific · 5 vague · 3 missing, of 12 needed
0 specific · 4 vague · 8 missing, of 12 needed
- VagueWhich mount and box does each location get, and are they included?
- MissingDo any runs cross rated walls or floors, and how will those openings be fire-stopped?
- VagueWill each run get a certification test against its category, and will we receive a report for every run?
- VagueHow many days will the recorder hold, at what bitrate per camera, and can you show the calculation?
- VagueWhat is the switch power budget against the rated draw of the cameras, and is a UPS included for the recorder and switch?
- MissingWho will you train, on what, and will it be on site?
- MissingWhat documents and accounts will we receive at handoff, and in whose name will the admin accounts be?
- VaguePlease attach the warranty terms: parts, labor, length and how to request service.
Nothing to send: every item you marked as needed is written and specific.
To evaluate a security installer, judge what each company will put in writing, not the total at the bottom of the page. Line every bid up against one scope, check proof of insurance and any license your project or building requires, and ask questions that need specific answers: where each camera goes, how each locked door lets people out, how the storage was sized and how the cable will be tested. Then agree, before you sign, on what you will hold at handoff, including the admin accounts in your name.
Most proposals for the same job look alike on the first page. They differ on details that stay hidden until something fails: whether the cable got a certification test or only a continuity check, whether the recorder holds the days you want, whether the runs are labeled, and who keeps the passwords.
Every figure uses the same job: a four-story commercial building in Long Island City with a street lobby, a freight door on the side street, one stair, an open office on each floor and a small parking lot behind. The owner wants 20 cameras, one recorder in a ground-floor closet and 30 days of video. Three companies walked it and sent bids, called A, B and C here. It is an example, not a client's building, and the bids are illustrations.
01How to evaluate a security installer: start with one scope
Three bids written for three different jobs cannot be compared. If one company prices 20 cameras with 30 days of storage and another prices 16 with whatever fits on the drive, the totals mean nothing side by side. Before anyone visits, write down what the system has to do and send the same page to every bidder:
- What each camera or door is for, one line each: identify faces at the lobby door, see the parking lot at night.
- How many days of video to keep. Your own policy, your lease and your insurer set it; no single number fits every property.
- Who will run the system after handoff, and who needs video or access cards.
- Your building's rules for contractors: work hours, elevator use, insurance requirements, and who approves work on doors and the facade.
- What might be reused: cable, cameras, a recorder, door hardware.
Then walk every bidder through the same route. Our guide to planning security for a commercial building, starting with the site walk shows what a thorough walk covers, and our article on what a low-voltage scope of work should cover goes through a written scope line by line.
Finding commercial security companies to compare
Start with people who have watched an installer work in a building like yours: your managing agent, the super, a general contractor or a neighboring business. A search for commercial security companies near you is a fine way to collect names. Shortlist the ones that do the systems you need, tell you who will do the work, have worked in buildings like yours and will put a scope in writing. Two or three bids on the same scope show the range.
02How to compare security installation bids line by line
Figure 1 shows three bids for the example job as they arrive, then lined up against one scope of 12 items. As written, Bid C looks like the simplest and clearest of the three. Lined up, it is specific about none of the 12 items, vague about 4 and silent on 8. That does not mean the company behind it would skip the work. It means nothing in the bid commits anyone to doing it, and its total cannot be compared with a bid that includes it.
Bid B is the middle case: most items are there, but five of them are too vague to check. "All cables tested" and "NVR with 16 TB" sound complete and leave the two most important questions open.
"Tested" can mean two different things
A continuity check proves the wires connect end to end. Certification measures each link against the limits for its category under ANSI/TIA-568.2-D, including length, insertion loss, crosstalk and return loss, and saves a pass or fail report for every run. Only the second shows that the Cat6 in the bid performs as Cat6. Labels should match the drawings and the reports at both ends, as ANSI/TIA-606-C lays out, so anyone can find run 2-14 in the closet and on the floor.
Storage should come with its arithmetic
"16 TB" is the size of the drives, not the number of days they hold. Ask for the bitrate assumed per camera and the days, and check the multiplication: megabits per second × 86,400 seconds ÷ 8 ÷ 1,000 = gigabytes per camera per day. At an example 4 Mbps that is 43.2 GB per camera per day; for the example job's 20 cameras, 864 GB a day and about 25.9 TB for 30 days, before redundancy. Real bitrate depends on resolution, frame rate, codec and how busy the scene is, which is why the assumption should be in writing. Our article on how long security camera recordings last covers retention in depth, and our comparison of cloud storage and local NVR and DVR recorders covers where the video should live.
Power, mounts and the parts nobody draws
Mounts and boxes, the PoE switch's total power budget and a UPS for the recorder and switch are small lines that decide whether the system rides out its first winter and its first outage. Cable rating follows the space: under the National Electrical Code, Article 800, an air-handling plenum ceiling takes plenum cable (CMP) and a riser takes riser cable (CMR) at a minimum. Every penetration we make through a fire-rated wall or floor is fire-stopped, and fire-stopping belongs in any bid whose runs cross one. Our article on how low-voltage cabling supports integrated security in an office building covers the cable underneath it all.
Turn the gaps into questions
Do not strike a bid for a gap. Send it back with questions; the panel under Figure 1 writes them from the items you mark as needed. A company that answers with a revised, specific bid shows you how it will handle the rest of the job. Once the bids describe the same work, the totals mean something, and our article on what drives the cost of a security camera installation explains why they still differ.
03Security installer insurance and licenses: what to ask for and how to check it
Ask every bidder for proof of insurance and for proof of any license your project or building requires, and check it before anyone works in the building. For insurance, check what is covered, whose name is on it and whether it is in force on the days of the work. This section is general information, not legal advice; your insurance broker or attorney can tell you what your building needs.
General liability
General liability insurance is meant to respond when the work causes injury or damage to others, such as a ceiling damaged while cable is pulled. If your building sets minimum limits for contractors, usually through the managing agent or the board, send those requirements to every bidder and compare each certificate against them.
Workers' compensation and disability benefits
According to the New York State Workers' Compensation Board, virtually all employers in New York must provide workers' compensation coverage for their employees. The Board's online search shows an employer's workers' compensation, disability benefits and Paid Family Leave coverage by business name. Check that the name matches the company on the contract and that the coverage runs through the dates of your job.
Certificates and additional insured status
A certificate of insurance is a summary, not the policy. Under New York Insurance Law Article 5, a certificate cannot amend, extend or alter the coverage of the policy it describes. If your building or managing agent requires being named as an additional insured, that status has to come from the policy itself, usually by an endorsement, so ask for the endorsement along with the certificate.
Who will be on site
Ask whether the crew are the company's own employees or subcontractors. If any part is subcontracted, ask which company does it and whose insurance covers that crew; the answer should be the same on the phone and in the contract. Ask who leads the work on site and who you call during the job.
04Questions to ask a security installer, and what a good answer contains
A good answer is specific: a location, a number, a document you will receive. A weak answer promises quality without a detail you can check later. Figure 2 has nine questions to put to every bidder, including us. Before you flip each card, guess what a good answer would contain.
Can you show me every device on a plan before we sign?
Listen for three thingsWho will do the work, and are they your own employees?
Listen for three thingsHow does someone get out through each locked door?
Listen for three thingsWhich camera identifies a face at each entry, and from how far?
Listen for three thingsHow did you size the recorder?
Listen for three thingsHow will the cable be tested, and what do we get?
Listen for three thingsWhose name is on the admin accounts when you leave?
Listen for three thingsWhat happens when something fails after the job?
Listen for three thingsHow will you work within our building rules?
Listen for three thingsListen for questions coming back. A careful installer asks what you need to see, who will manage the system, how many days of video you want and what the building allows. If a proposal arrives before anyone has asked those things, ask how it was built. For the camera questions, our article on how far a security camera can see explains pixels per foot and the identify level, so you can check an answer yourself.
05Comparing access control installation companies: doors, locks and software
Access control bids are harder to compare than camera bids, because the work is door by door. A useful bid has a door schedule: one line per door with the reader, the lock, the request-to-exit device, the door position contact, the lock power supply and its battery, and the controller.
We pick the lock for each door around its use and the building's fire and life safety requirements. A magnetic lock needs a free way out from inside at all times. Ask each bidder how people get out through each locked door, and what releases the lock on a fire alarm where the building's requirements call for it. Stair doors and doors on an exit path should be checked against the building's own requirements on the site visit, before any hardware is ordered. Power for locks and controllers is coordinated with the electrician, so ask who does that part.
Then the software: managed in the cloud or on a server on site, any yearly fee per door, reader or user, and what happens to the doors if the fee lapses. An older 125 kHz proximity card can be copied; our comparison of key fobs, key cards and mobile credentials sets out the options. In a co-op, condo or managed building, settle in writing who approves door changes before anyone drills. Our guide to commercial access control installation walks a project from survey to handoff, and our access control services page shows how we plan doors.
06References, the site walk and working in your building
Ask for two or three references from jobs like yours in size and building type, and call them. These questions get useful answers:
- Did you receive drawings, test results and the admin accounts at the end?
- When something failed afterward, who answered, and what happened next?
- How did the crew work with the super, the managing agent and the other tenants?
- Would you hire them for your next building?
Watch what each company does on the walk-through. Did they look above the ceiling and into the closet where the recorder will live? Did they ask how many days of video you want, who manages access cards and where cable can travel between floors? Did they examine existing cable before assuming it could be reused? A walk without questions produces a bid built on guesses.
Older buildings add plaster and masonry walls, tight shafts, house rules and elevators reserved for deliveries; ask each bidder how they would work within yours. Whether a permit applies depends on the scope and the building. We check during the site visit and say what applies before work is scheduled. In a landmarked building or historic district, exterior work may still need Landmarks Preservation Commission approval. For the rules that apply to buildings themselves, see our general guide to NYC building security rules and board approvals.
07What you should hold at handoff
The handoff is when the system becomes yours. Agree on its contents before you sign and write them into the contract, because they are much harder to collect once the crew is on another job. For the example job, the folder holds eight things:
- Signed scope and change orders. What was agreed, and every change since, in writing.
- As-built drawings. Every device and every run where it actually went, with the closet and patch panel port.
- Cable test reports. One per run, named with the same labels as the drawings.
- Device list. Each camera, recorder, switch and controller with its location, model, serial number, IP address and firmware version.
- Admin accounts and passwords. The top administrator account in your name and tested with you; the installer's own account kept separate, so you can remove it; default passwords changed on every device.
- Software licenses and renewals. What is licensed, to whom, and when each subscription renews.
- Warranty terms. Parts and labor, how long, how to request service and what voids it.
- Service contact. Who to call, how, and what happens after hours.
Figure 3 shows why each one matters: pick an event from the year after the job and the documents you would reach for rise out of the folder.
Swipe the drawing sideways to see all eight documents.
On the last day the installer goes through each document with you, and the folder fills. Check each one before you sign off on the job.
Without the folderAnything not handed over today is harder to get later, once the crew is on another job.
Log in to the top admin account yourself before the crew leaves, and change any password you were told over the phone. A camera or recorder left on its factory password is an easy way in.
If you have inherited a system without this folder, the work is to rebuild it: identify every device, recover or reset access, and document what is there. That is what our system takeover service is for.
08Contract terms to read before you sign
This is general information, not legal advice; have your attorney read anything you are unsure of. These are the clauses where two contracts for the same job differ most:
- Ownership. Whether you own the equipment once it is paid for, or it is leased or financed and belongs to someone else.
- Recurring fees. Cloud storage, software subscriptions or any service agreement: the term, how it renews and how to cancel.
- Scope language. Quantities and locations, not "as needed" or "as discussed".
- Changes. How a change is priced and approved in writing before the work is done.
- Exclusions. Patching and painting, ceiling tiles, lifts, after-hours work, and the power work coordinated with the electrician.
- Warranty and service. Written terms, attached to the contract.
- Handoff. The eight documents above, named in the contract.
A good bid is short where the job is simple and long where it is not. What matters is that every line you need is there, specific enough to check on the last day. If you would like us to bid the same scope, or to walk the building with you before you write one, contact Seneca Security. Our security camera installation and structured cabling pages show how we scope that work.
09Evaluating a security installer: FAQ
How do I evaluate a security installer before hiring?
Send every installer the same scope, then line their bids up against it and count what each one states specifically, leaves vague or leaves out. Check proof of insurance and any license your project or building requires. Ask questions that need specific answers, such as how each locked door lets people out and how the storage was sized, and agree in writing on what you will receive at handoff.
What insurance should a security installer carry?
Ask for certificates for general liability and for workers' compensation and disability benefits, and check the dates, the coverage and that the named company matches the contract. The New York State Workers' Compensation Board says virtually all employers in the state must provide workers' compensation coverage for their employees, and its online search shows an employer's coverage by name. If your building requires being named as an additional insured, ask for the endorsement, because a certificate alone cannot change a policy. This is general information, not legal advice.
How do I compare security installation bids?
Write one scope and line every bid up against it, item by item: cameras and locations, mounts, cable type and path, fire-stopping, cable certification, labels, storage, power, programming, training, handoff documents and warranty. Mark each item as specific, vague or missing. Send each bidder its gaps as questions before you compare totals, because a short bid often describes less of the job.
What should I receive when a security system installation is finished?
A handoff folder with the signed scope and change orders, as-built drawings, a test report for every cable run, a device list with locations, models and IP addresses, the admin accounts and passwords with the top account in your name, software licenses and renewal dates, the warranty terms and a service contact. Agree on this list before you sign, and log in to the admin account yourself before the crew leaves.
How do I find commercial security companies near me to compare?
Ask the people who have watched installers work in buildings like yours: your managing agent, the super, a general contractor or a neighboring business. Search results are a fine source of names; shortlist the companies that do the systems you need, tell you who will do the work and will put a scope in writing. Two or three bids on the same scope are enough to see the range.
Sources
- New York State Workers' Compensation BoardWorkers' compensation coverage requirements: virtually all employers in New York must provide workers' compensation coverage for their employees (Workers' Compensation Law sections 2 and 3).
- New York State Workers' Compensation BoardDoes Employer Have Coverage? search: workers' compensation, disability benefits and Paid Family Leave coverage by employer name.
- New York State Department of Financial ServicesCertificates of insurance: Insurance Law Article 5, sections 501 and 502. A certificate cannot amend, extend or alter the coverage of the policy it refers to.
- ANSI/TIA-568.2-DBalanced twisted-pair telecommunications cabling and components. Field test limits for permanent links and channels by category, the basis of the certification described in section 02.
- ANSI/TIA-606-CAdministration standard for telecommunications infrastructure: identifiers and labels that tie each run to its records.
- NFPA 70, National Electrical Code, Article 800Communications cable types, including plenum (CMP) and riser (CMR).
- IEC 62676-4Video surveillance application guidelines. Identify level of 250 pixels per meter, about 76 pixels per foot, used in Figure 2.
Getting bids for a project?
Send us the address and what you want to cover. We walk the building, then send a written scope with every device at a location. Our own crews do the work, with no subcontractors. Same-day quotes when we can. Licensed and insured.