What to Expect During a Security System Installation
What you prepare, what each room looks like while cable and devices go in, what keeps working while the old system is replaced, and what you should have in hand when the work is done.
Technical figures checked against the sources listed at the end.
During a security system installation, expect three stages. First, preparation: a walk of the building, a written scope, approvals, and access and power arranged before anyone drills. Then the work: cable goes in first, which is the noisy part, with ladders, drop cloths and open ceilings in the areas on the plan; devices go up next, and the old system keeps working until the new one is ready to take over. Last, the finish: every camera, door and intercom station is tested, the people who run the system are trained, and you receive the drawings, test results and admin accounts.
Swipe the plan sideways to see every floor.
Phase 1 of 6
Before work: the walk, the scope and the approvals
We walk every area on the plan with the person who knows the building: each door, the cellar, the closet where the equipment will live, the riser on each floor and the roof. The written scope comes out of that walk, and approvals, access and power are settled before anyone drills.
Nothing yet, apart from one visit with someone who has keys to every room in the scope.
Floor plans if you have them, the keys, the board's or owner's approval of the scope, and one person who can say yes.
What still works
- Street door intercomOld panel, in service
- Apartments answer onOld handsets
- DoorsKeys, as before
- Cameras and recordingOld recorder, 4 cameras
- Common areasOpen as usual
The rest of this guide goes through those stages from the side of the person who owns, manages or works in the building: what you decide, what you prepare, what the work looks and sounds like room by room, how the system is tested, and what you should be holding at the end. It covers cameras, intercoms and access control together, because most installs in New York buildings now include at least two of them.
Every figure uses the same building: a six-story pre-war elevator building with 20 apartments, four on each of floors 2 to 6. The ground floor has the street door and vestibule, a lobby, a mailroom, a bike room and a rear door to the yard. The cellar has a small closet where the phone and internet lines come in, a corridor, a laundry room and the boiler room. The building has an old audio intercom with a handset in each apartment and an old recorder with four analog cameras. The new system is 8 cameras, a video intercom with a station in every apartment, and card readers at the inner lobby door, the rear door and the laundry. It is an example, not a client's building.
01What is included in a security system installation
An installation is more than the devices on the quote. For a multifamily building like the example, the work usually includes:
- Devices. The cameras with their mounts and boxes, the intercom panel at the street door and a station in each apartment, the card readers, and the electric lock hardware at each controlled door.
- Cable and pathways. A cable from every device back to the equipment closet, run through existing pathways where they exist, with new holes, sleeves or raceway where they do not. Our guide to the cabling behind an integrated security system explains why this part decides how well everything else works.
- The closet. A rack or backboard with the recorder, the PoE switch that powers the cameras, the intercom and door controllers, and a UPS so recording survives a short outage. Where the recorder lives, and whether footage also goes to the cloud, is a decision covered in cloud storage compared with a local NVR or DVR.
- Programming. Cameras added to the recorder with their names and recording schedules, the resident directory in the intercom, fobs or cards enrolled with their doors and hours, and remote viewing set up on the phones of the people who need it.
- Testing, training and documents. Each covered below.
Just as important is what the installer does not do, which the scope should name. New electrical circuits are coordinated with the electrician. A connection between the door locks and the fire alarm, where the building's requirements call for it, is coordinated with the building's fire alarm company. Work in an elevator cab involves the elevator company. Painting, the internet service itself and any work inside apartments beyond the intercom station are usually someone else's. Every one of these belongs on paper before the first day, with a name next to it. Our article on the low-voltage scope of work shows what a complete scope contains.
02Before installation: what to prepare
The site walk and the written scope
Every install starts with a walk of the building with someone who knows it and has the keys. The walk answers the questions a drawing cannot: which doors are hollow metal and which are wood, where the old intercom wire runs, whether the riser chase has room for more cable, which ceilings come apart and which are plaster, where the closet can go and whether it has power. In the example, the walk finds that the cellar ceiling is open joists, the lobby ceiling is plaster under a crown molding, and each floor has a small riser closet beside the stair.
The written scope comes out of that walk. Read it as the plan for your building: every device and its location, the cable route, the equipment in the closet, the programming, the testing, what is handed over, and what is excluded. If something you expect is not on it, it is not part of the job.
Approvals
A co-op or condo board, a landlord, or a managing agent usually has to approve work in common areas, and some buildings require an alteration agreement for it. Many managed buildings also set contractor rules: work hours, quiet hours, elevator use and the insurance paperwork they want before anyone starts. Ask for those rules early, because they shape the schedule more than the work does. Our guide to NYC building security rules for cameras and intercoms walks through the board approval path and where cameras in a residential building can and cannot look; it is general information, not legal advice.
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, and on an install like the example the exterior work is the street door panel and the cameras on the facade and in the yard.
Access, power and the network
Three practical things stop more first days than anything else. Access: someone who can open the cellar, the roof, the meter room and every locked room in the scope. Power: the closet needs an outlet for the UPS, and the door locks and the intercom need power supplies; any new outlet or circuit is coordinated with the electrician. The network: remote viewing and app calls need an internet connection and someone who can let the system onto it, so tell us early who runs your internet and your router.
Older buildings bring one more question. If the building has reports on lead paint or asbestos for the areas in the scope, share them before work starts; if it does not, ask the managing agent how the building handles work that drills into plaster or lifts ceiling material.
Figure 2 turns all of this into a list for your own building. Pick the building type, the systems, and what the ceilings and the building are like, and it builds the list of what to prepare and who does each item.
28
things to prepare or expect
2 before the site visit, 14 before work starts, 7 while work happens and 5 at handoff.
Ticked: 0 of 28
Before the site visit 2
Name one person who knows the building, can say yes on the day, and has keys to every room in the scope, including the roof and the cellar.
YouGather what you have: floor plans, details of the old system, and the logins to anything being kept.
You
Before work starts 14
Approve the written scope: every device and its location, the cable route, the closet equipment, what is handed over and what is excluded.
YouHear from us whether a permit applies. It depends on the scope and the building; we check during the site visit and say what applies before work is scheduled.
UsGet the building's contractor rules: work hours, quiet hours, elevator use and the insurance paperwork it wants before anyone starts.
ManagementGet the work approved the way the building requires: a board vote, an alteration agreement or the owner's sign-off.
Board or ownerClear the space where the recorder and network equipment will go, and confirm there is an outlet for the UPS.
YouAny new outlet or circuit for the closet, the door locks or the intercom is coordinated with the electrician.
ElectricianTell us who runs your internet and router. Remote viewing and app calls need a connection and someone who can let the system onto it.
IT or internetIf the building has lead paint or asbestos reports for the work areas, share them. If not, ask how the building handles drilling into plaster or lifting ceiling material.
ManagementDecide who can watch live video, who can export footage, and how long video is kept.
YouCheck where cameras may and may not point in a residential building.
Board or ownerSend the resident directory for the new panel, and ask each household how it wants to answer.
ManagementSend the list of who gets a fob and which doors each one should open.
ManagementGive residents written notice of the days work needs entry to apartments. For repairs and improvements required by law, NYC rules call for at least one week of written notice and weekday access between 9 AM and 5 PM unless the tenant agrees (28 RCNY 25-101).
ManagementDecide with us where surface raceway is acceptable in finished rooms, and who patches and paints access holes.
You
While work happens 7
Tell residents which areas will have ladders, open ceilings and drilling on each work day.
ManagementClear bikes, stored items and anything on the walls along the cable route in the common areas.
ManagementEvery penetration we make through a fire-rated wall or floor is fire-stopped.
Heads upPlan how visitors and deliveries get in while the street door panel is changed over.
ManagementKeep a list of apartments that could not be entered, and set a second visit for each one.
ManagementAgree how each door stays secure, and how people get through it, on the day its lock is changed.
ManagementWe 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.
Heads up
At handoff 5
Watch the tests: every camera live, in playback and at night; every intercom station called; every door with a fob that should open it and one that should not.
YouExport any footage you are holding for a reason before the old recorder is removed.
YouChoose who gets trained and be there for it: finding and exporting a clip, adding and removing users, and who to call when something stops.
YouTake over the admin accounts in the building's name, log in to each one, and change any password that was said out loud.
YouKeep the drawings, the device list and the test results where the next person can find them.
You
03During installation: what the work looks like
Cable comes first
The first visible work is cable, before a single camera goes up. Each run starts at a device location and ends in the closet, and it has to cross everything in between. In the example, the cellar runs hang from the joists on hooks along the corridor, the ground floor runs go up from the cellar beside the stair and across the lobby and rear hall, and the apartment floors are reached through the riser closet on each floor. That is why the work areas in Figure 1 are larger than the devices: a camera in the mailroom brings a ladder to every room its cable passes.
The National Electrical Code asks for communications cable to be installed in a neat and workmanlike manner and supported on its own, not laid on a suspended ceiling, and not piled so it blocks access behind ceiling panels. In practice that means hooks or a tray above a drop ceiling, and cable that does not hang from pipes. Every penetration we make through a fire-rated wall or floor is fire-stopped. Each cable is labeled at both ends, so the person who opens the closet in five years can tell the lobby camera from the laundry reader.
Noise, dust and ceilings
The loudest moments are drilling through masonry: the facade for an exterior camera, a cellar wall, a floor slab at the riser. Plaster gives off fine dust where it is opened, and the drop cloths and the cleanup are part of the day, not an extra. In a drop ceiling, tiles come out along the cable path and go back as each path is finished. In plaster, cable goes through existing pathways where it can, and otherwise through small access holes that are patched, or in surface raceway along the ceiling line. Decide with us where raceway is acceptable and who paints patches, because the scope should say.
Devices, then apartments, then the doors
Devices go up on the cable already in place. In the example the new recorder starts recording the new cameras while the old recorder keeps running, so there is never a day without video. The new intercom panel goes up beside the old one, and the apartments move over floor by floor, with the old panel still ringing apartments that have not been changed yet; our guide to replacing a co-op intercom system covers that changeover in detail.
Each apartment station means a visit to that apartment. For repairs and for improvements required by law, New York City rules for multiple dwellings call for written notice at least one week ahead, access on weekdays between 9 AM and 5 PM unless the tenant agrees otherwise, and written authorization from the owner that the worker can show at the door (28 RCNY §25-101). Whether a particular upgrade falls under that rule is a question for the managing agent; planning apartment visits to that standard avoids most arguments. This is general information, not legal advice.
Doors come last, one at a time. While a door's lock hardware is changed, that door is out of normal use, so agree beforehand how it stays secure and how people get through. 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. If you want the background on how readers, controllers and locks work together, start with what access control is and how it works.
Figure 3 shows six rooms of the example building before the work, during it, and when it is done.
Ground floor, outside
During: the new panel beside the old one
- A ladder on the sidewalk and cones around the work area.
- A hole cored through the facade for the camera cable, outlined in amber.
- The new video panel mounted next to the old one, which keeps working.
Yes. The door works as before, and visitors still call on the old panel.
Drilling through brick or stone is the loudest work on the job, and it carries into the lobby.
Nothing to move. Tell the building about the sidewalk work, and check whether exterior work needs Landmarks Preservation Commission approval.
04How the system is tested before handoff
Testing is the part of an install you should watch, because it is the only proof the system does what the scope says. On the example building it covers every device, not a sample:
- Cable. Every run is tested before a device goes on it. When the project calls for certification, each link gets a pass or fail report against TIA-568, and the reports are part of the handoff.
- Cameras. Each one viewed live, then found in playback on the recorder with the right name and the right time stamp, then checked again at night with its infrared or the area's lighting. A camera that looks fine at noon can be useless at midnight.
- Doors. At each reader, a fob that should open the door and one that should not; the door closes and latches on its own; the inside handle or exit device lets people out; and the door held open and forced alarms reach the right person.
- Intercom. A call from the street door to every apartment, with talk in both directions, video and the door release, plus app calls for residents who use them.
- Remote viewing. Opened on a phone on cellular data, away from the building's Wi-Fi, which is the way it will be used.
Only after the new system passes do the old recorder and the old intercom panel come out. Before the old recorder goes, export any footage you are holding for a reason, because its drives leave with it unless the scope says otherwise. Our article on how long security cameras keep footage covers how the new recorder's retention is set.
05Training and handoff: what you should have at the end
Train the people who will actually use the system, on their own phones and at the real equipment: in the example, the superintendent, someone from the managing agent and a board member. The training should cover finding and exporting a clip, adding and removing a resident from the intercom directory, enrolling and turning off a fob, what the door alarms mean, and who to call when something stops working.
The handoff is a set of documents: the final scope with any changes, drawings of where every device and cable is, the cable test results, the list of devices with their network addresses, software licenses and renewal dates, and the warranty terms. The admin accounts come last and matter most. They should be in the building's name, and someone from the building should log in to each one before the crew leaves and change any password that was said out loud. Our guide to evaluating a security installer shows each document in the handoff folder and what it is for.
For a building like the example, our security cameras for apartment buildings, apartment building intercoms and apartment building access control pages describe the systems themselves, and cabling in pre-war buildings covers the walls and ceilings this guide keeps coming back to.
06Questions to ask before the work starts
Each of these has an answer you can check on the scope or in the building.
- Where does every cable run, and in which rooms will there be ladders, open ceilings or drilling?
- Which ceilings and walls will be opened, and who patches and paints them?
- What keeps working while the old system is replaced, and when does the old equipment come out?
- How is each door kept secure on the day its lock is changed, and how do people get through it?
- Which apartments or rooms need someone present, and how will people be told?
- What needs the electrician, the fire alarm company, the elevator company or the internet provider, and who arranges each?
- Does a permit apply to this scope, and does any exterior work need Landmarks Preservation Commission approval?
- What will you test in front of us, and which test results do we keep?
- Who gets trained, and whose name are the admin accounts in?
07What to expect during a security system installation: FAQ
What is included in a multifamily security system installation?
Usually the devices (cameras, an intercom panel with a station in each apartment, card readers and electric locks), the cable from each device to an equipment closet, the closet equipment with a UPS, programming, testing, training and the handoff documents. New electrical circuits, fire alarm connections and painting are usually handled with other trades, and a good scope names who does each.
How disruptive is a security system installation?
Most of the disruption comes while cable goes in: drilling through masonry, ladders and drop cloths, and ceilings opened along the cable route. Mounting devices, programming and testing are quieter. In an apartment building, each apartment that gets an intercom station gets a visit, on a day residents were told about in writing.
How long does a security system installation take?
There is no honest single answer before the site walk. It depends on the number of devices, how cable can reach them, the building's work hours and how easily apartments and locked rooms can be reached. After the walk, the written scope lists the work in order, and the schedule follows from it.
Will the old intercom and cameras keep working during the installation?
On a planned install, yes. The new recorder records the new cameras while the old one keeps running, and the new intercom panel goes up beside the old one so apartments move over without losing calls. The old equipment comes out only after the new system passes its tests.
Do I need to be there during the installation?
Someone who knows the building and has the keys should be reachable on every work day, and present for the site walk, the tests and the training. Residents need to be home, or let someone in for them, only for the visit to their own apartment.
Does a security system installation need a permit?
It 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.
Sources
- 28 RCNY §25-101Rules of the City of New York, Title 28 (Housing Preservation and Development), Owner's Right of Access and Requirements for Notification: written notice at least one week ahead for improvements required by law or repairs, 24 hours for inspections, access between 9 AM and 5 PM on weekdays unless the tenant agrees otherwise, and written authorization for the owner's representative.
- NFPA 70, National Electrical Code, Article 800Communications circuits: 800.24, installation in a neat and workmanlike manner with support as in 300.11, which bars the suspended ceiling assembly from supporting the wiring; 800.21, cables may not block access to equipment behind ceiling panels. As summarized in EC&M's code column.
- ANSI/TIA-568Commercial building telecommunications cabling: the performance a cable link is tested against when a project calls for certification.
- NYC Landmarks Preservation CommissionApproval for exterior work on designated landmarks and in historic districts.
Planning an install?
Send us the address and a few photos of the doors and the closet. We walk the building, then send a written scope that says what happens in each room. Same-day quotes when we can. Licensed and insured.