One system for every door, every household, one owner.
A two- or three-family home means shared entryways, several tenants and coverage that falls on the owner. We install wired PoE camera systems for these buildings: one recorder, shared infrastructure, and clear coverage of every entrance, yard and common area.
Every household takes a different path in. Coverage follows the paths, and stays out of the units.
Between a house and an apartment building.
Two- and three-families sit in the middle ground, and that middle ground creates installation problems a one-size-fits-all system will not solve.
Shared entryways and vestibules
A single front door serving two or three households is the highest-risk point. Cameras capture faces at the stoop, the vestibule and the inner door, not just a wide shot of the sidewalk.
Separate unit entrances
Many two- and three-families have a garden apartment with its own street-level or areaway entrance. Each unit entry gets dedicated coverage, so the ground-floor tenant's door is not left unmonitored.
Pre-war construction and plaster
Older two- and three-families across Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx have thick plaster walls and no conduit. We plan routes through basements, attics and existing chaseways to keep the walls intact.
NVR placement and owner access
The recorder belongs in a space the owner controls: a basement utility room, the owner-occupied unit or a locked mechanical closet. Never in a tenant's apartment.
Backyard, alley and garage
Rear yards and alleys are common break-in routes in attached and semi-detached homes. We run cable to the rear soffit or a fence post and cover the full yard perimeter, not just the back door.
Tenant privacy and camera placement
Cameras cover common areas and the exterior, never the inside of a unit. Every camera is aimed to stay on the shared side of the line, which keeps the system on the right side of tenant privacy.
The internet drops. The recording does not.
Step through an outage at a building the owner manages from out of state.
The owner checks the front door from another state. Live view runs over the home internet; the footage itself is written to the recorder in the basement.
The internet drops at 14:00. The phone cannot connect, but the wired cameras keep recording to the local recorder. Nothing depends on the cloud.
Service returns at 16:40. Every minute of the outage is on the recorder, ready to play back from the phone. Only live viewing was interrupted.
Commercial-grade, wired, on site.
No battery cameras, no cloud subscriptions, no Wi-Fi dependency. Your footage stays in the building and under your control.
Wired PoE IP cameras
Cat6 · PoEOne Cat6 cable per camera carries power and data. No separate power runs and no outlet at each camera: cleaner installs and fewer failure points.
4K and HD turret and dome cameras
Dome · turret · vandal resistantForm factor follows the mount: low-profile domes on vestibule ceilings, turrets on exterior soffits, and vandal-resistant housings where a camera is exposed near the street.
Color night vision and IR
Low light · IRFull-color low-light cameras use ambient streetlight to produce recognizable footage after dark. Where light is limited, in rear yards and alleys, IR cameras are rated for the actual distance.
Local NVR with hard drive storage
30+ daysStorage sized for 30 or more days of continuous footage across every camera. The recorder sits in a ventilated, owner-controlled space: the basement, a utility closet or the owner's unit.
Remote viewing setup
App · desktopSecure remote access by mobile app and desktop client. Pull up live or recorded footage from any device, useful when you manage the property from another borough or another state.
Weatherproof exterior housings
IP66 or betterEvery outdoor camera is rated IP66 or better. NYC winters and summer humidity are hard on cameras, so weatherproofing at exposed mounting points is not where we save.
From walkthrough to live footage on your phone.
We work cleanly in occupied buildings and coordinate with tenants as needed.
Site assessment
We walk the property with you: stoop, vestibule, each unit entrance, backyard, garage and basement. We find the blind spots, plan cable routes through existing chaseways and decide where the recorder should live.
System design and proposal
A written proposal with camera count and placement, cable routing, recorder specs, storage and the total. We explain what each camera covers and why, with no cameras you do not need.
Installation
Our technicians run Cat6, mount cameras at the planned locations, install and configure the recorder, and test every channel end to end, working cleanly around tenants.
Handoff and training
Before we leave, we walk you through live view, playback and the remote app on your phone. We confirm recording, label every channel and leave you documentation for the system.
Two- and three-family camera systems, answered.
RFI log · requests for information
RFI-TF1Do I need to notify my tenants before installing cameras?
As good practice and for good landlord-tenant relations, yes: tell tenants that cameras are being installed in common areas. In New York, owners can generally record the common areas and exterior of their own property, but cameras must not be placed where tenants have a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as inside units or bathrooms. We place every camera on common areas and the exterior, and notifying tenants up front heads off complaints and disputes.
RFI-TF2How many cameras does a typical two-family home need?
Most NYC two-family homes are well covered with 4 to 6 cameras: the front stoop and vestibule, the rear yard, any side alley, the garage or parking area, and the garden apartment entrance if it has its own entry. Three-family homes with more common areas or a roof access door often need 6 to 8. We do not quote a number before the site walk, because it depends on the footprint, the number of unit entries and the yard.
RFI-TF3Can you run cable without damaging plaster walls in an older building?
Yes. We route cable through the basement ceiling, up interior chaseways, and out to exterior mounting points through the attic or soffit wherever possible. When a wall penetration is unavoidable, we use the smallest bit that will do, fit proper bushings and finish the entry point cleanly. We are not a general contractor, but we treat your walls with care, especially in an occupied building.
RFI-TF4Where does the NVR get installed, and who has access to it?
In a space the owner controls: usually the basement utility room, a locked mechanical closet or the owner-occupied unit. Not in a tenant's apartment, which creates access and liability problems. The recorder is compact, runs quietly and needs only power and a network connection. We set password protection and give you full admin credentials; tenants have no access to the system.
RFI-TF5Do I need a permit to install security cameras in NYC?
No. Camera cabling is low-voltage work and does not need a DOB electrical permit. In a landmarked building or historic district, exterior camera mounts and conduit may still need Landmarks Preservation Commission approval. Seneca Security is licensed and insured in New York and New Jersey.
RFI-TF6What happens if the internet goes down: do I lose my footage?
No. Wired PoE cameras record directly to the local recorder, so the footage is on a hard drive in your building, not in the cloud. An outage only affects remote viewing; the cameras keep recording and the recorder keeps saving. That is one of the main reasons we recommend wired systems over Wi-Fi or cloud-dependent cameras for investment properties where continuous recording matters.
Camera installation for every residential building type.
Ready to secure your two- or three-family home?
We walk the property, map camera positions and give you a clear written quote. No pressure, no vague estimates.