What a security quote does not tell you, and the five-year number that does
Two security quotes for the same site can be thousands of dollars apart for reasons neither document explains. The installation price is only the first year. To compare them properly, put both on the same five-year number: installation, plus maintenance, software licences and support, anything that reaches end of support inside the five years, and what it costs to add the next site. Done that way, the gap between two quotes often changes a lot. In the example below, it roughly halves, and the decision becomes a question of what the difference buys.
What sits behind the headline price
- Licence models. Some platforms sell a licence per camera or door once, with optional annual support. Others are subscriptions, per device per month, for as long as you use them. Some include analytics; others license each feature separately.
- Limits at the recorder and the switch. A recorder, licence tier or network switch near its limit makes the next camera far more expensive than the camera.
- End-of-support dates. Hardware that stops getting firmware and security updates inside your five years is a replacement you have already bought, whether the quote mentions it or not.
- Expansion. Adding a site to one platform can mean licences only. Adding it to another can mean a separate system with its own recorder, users and search.
- Maintenance. One quote includes planned maintenance and the other leaves it out. Until both carry the same scope, they are not comparable.
- Exclusions. Cabling, after-hours work, access equipment, traffic management, the BWoF inspection regime for access controlled doors, and GST. Read the exclusions first.
A worked example
Illustrative figures, invented to show the method. They are not a price guide. All figures exclude GST. A business has three sites and 30 cameras, and may add a fourth site with 8 cameras in year 3. Quote A puts a recorder at each site. Quote B runs every site on one video management system, and includes planned maintenance at $4,800 a year.
TWO QUOTES ON ONE FIVE-YEAR NUMBER
| Five years, excluding GST | Quote A: recorder at each site | Quote B: one system |
|---|---|---|
| Installation, 3 sites, 30 cameras | $52,000 | $60,000 |
| Planned maintenance, 5 years | Not in the quote. The same scope added: $24,000 | $24,000 |
| Software support, years 2 to 5 | None | $9,600 |
| Recorders reaching end of support in year 4 | Replace 3 recorders and recommission: $13,500 | Covered by software support: $0 |
| Five-year total, no new site | $89,500 | $93,600 |
| A fourth site in year 3 (cameras and installation cost the same in both, so they are left out) | A fourth recorder: $3,500 | Licences, storage and support: $5,280 |
| Five-year total, with the fourth site | $93,000 | $98,880 |
On the quotes, A looked $8,000 cheaper on installation, or $32,000 cheaper if you compared A’s installation with B’s installation plus maintenance. On the same five-year number, A is $4,100 cheaper without the fourth site and $5,880 cheaper with it.
So Quote A is cheaper, and for some businesses it is the right choice. What the difference buys with Quote B is one system instead of four: one search across every site, users added and removed once, and no forced replacement in year 4. If your sites run independently and nobody needs footage from more than one, that may not be worth the money. If an incident, an audit or a claim means finding footage across sites quickly, it usually is. Either way, the choice now rests on how the business runs.
A real comparison
Faisandier Group, a Wellington property developer, faced this during a tighter economic period: a competitor quoted less than half the price. Compared side by side, the cheaper option was a single camera at the front of each site with no monitoring included, which meant very limited coverage and no way to interrupt a break-in in progress. Faisandier trialled it on one site and stayed with SwiftProtect™, on results rather than on argument. The lower price bought a smaller job.
Questions to ask both suppliers
- What is the licence model, and what does it cost each year after the first?
- When does each recorder, controller and camera model reach end of support, and what happens then?
- How many cameras or doors can be added before the next licence, recorder or switch purchase?
- What does adding a site cost, and does it join the same system?
- What does planned maintenance cover, how often, and at what price?
- What is excluded, and is every figure shown excluding or including GST?
- What is the workmanship warranty, and what does it cover?
Do this with your own quotes
- Put your current or proposed quotes into a five-year table like the one above, with the same maintenance scope in each.
- Find the end-of-support dates for the hardware in each quote.
- Write down whether a new site is likely in the next five years, and price it on both.
- Read each quote’s exclusions and add anything that applies to your site.
How Blue Eagle handles it
Our proposals set out the five-year position, not just the installation: maintenance, licences, end-of-support dates and what the next site would cost, with the options and their trade-offs written down. The written assessment is yours to keep either way, including if you use it to compare quotes.