14 replies to this topic

[cctvinstallers]

Hi, I am reasonably new to the forum, but am looking at all the different angles , one of which is cctv-maintenance,for small businesses and homes is this a worthwhile side of the business ? It seems like you can build a long term relationship with the client. Obviously not wanting anyone to give any secrets away just a bit of a pointer would be helpful ?

Edited by CerbNI, 22 June 2011 - 06:49 AM.

[RichL]

IME most medium to large sites actively want maintenance so that they have a point of contact in case of a fault. You may find yourself loosing out on these jobs if you don't (at least) offer it, or (more importantly) stress the benefits of it during pre-contracts.

[digitalwitness]

IMO every security company should aspire to build up a decent maintenance portfolio.

Maintenance is a recurring income, you sell it once and it pays back time and time again (if you look after your customer that is).

Today I believe a security company would be primarily valued on its maintenance portfolio, after all once off sales could follow your sales man if he decided to leave not so easy with maintenance.

[PeterJames]

There is more money in contracts than in selling CCTV in the first place, that is so long as you have sold decent equipment in the first place. Maintaining a decent system works two ways, it prolongs the life of the system, and because the kit is good quality in the first place it should be trouble free for the maintainer. Use cheap rubbish and you will be pestered several times a year because its gone wrong.

There is soo much crap CCTV out there for sale on the internet and maplin and the like all with very impressive specs (totally untruthful of course) I can never understand why people don't sus that if the cameras Maplins sold were as good as they make out why is it they don't use them to protect their own shops?

[bm_99]

Sorry to drag up an old topic but, how would the CCTV maintenance differ from the alarms - obviously the forms would probably be different (more like half the size for cctv) but also what would you include in the contract?
Also would you normally charge a better price if both alarm and cctv are maintained together

[MrHappy]

bm_99, on 28 December 2011 - 11:50 AM, said:

Sorry to drag up an old topic but, how would the CCTV maintenance differ from the alarms - obviously the forms would probably be different (more like half the size for cctv)

IMHO a cctv form would have nore stuff on it than an alarm system ?

bm_99, on 28 December 2011 - 11:50 AM, said:

but also what would you include in the contract?

anything from fully comp to turn up when you fell like it & poke install with a screwdriver

bm_99, on 28 December 2011 - 11:50 AM, said:

Also would you normally charge a better price if both alarm and cctv are maintained together

depends on the co, some have contracts where one man does everything, others have divisons where one man may do intruder, another cctv ect.....

[Lwillis]

lets say a int maint was £50 and a cctv maint were £40 .
id probally make a total charge only £75 if they were done on the same visit, as your already onsite, so there isnt any additional travel costs. besides there isnt really much to maintain on CCTV.

[PeterJames]

Lwillis, on 29 December 2011 - 08:13 PM, said:

lets say a int maint was £50 and a cctv maint were £40 .
id probally make a total charge only £75 if they were done on the same visit, as your already onsite, so there isnt any additional travel costs. besides there isnt really much to maintain on CCTV.

Sounds far too cheap. To do a proper service of a CCTV system you have to get your ladders of the van get up to every camera, clean it, check heaters, refocus etc etc etc thats before you check the recorder psu's and monitors. Ten years ago I worked out the cost of an engineer is £32.50 per hour, and less than £20 profit per maintenance will not keep the wolf from the door, and by the above reckoning you are making a tenner from two hours.

[alterEGO]

Lwillis, on 29 December 2011 - 08:13 PM, said:

lets say a int maint was £50 and a cctv maint were £40 .
id probally make a total charge only £75 if they were done on the same visit, as your already onsite, so there isnt any additional travel costs. besides there isnt really much to maintain on CCTV.

stick to the day job

[Lwillis]

never said those were actually charges, just said for example to give a id of the percentage for savings to the customer.
been on jobs before doing a fire maint and theres been a 3rd party doing the cctv, never seen the engineer at every camera.

[PeterJames]

Lwillis, on 01 January 2012 - 04:48 PM, said:

never said those were actually charges, just said for example to give a id of the percentage for savings to the customer.
been on jobs before doing a fire maint and theres been a 3rd party doing the cctv, never seen the engineer at every camera.

Its part of the job to examine camera, in the least they can get fairly dirty in 6 months, A little diferent fom Fire where you have four visits to check all detectors over a 12 month period

[9651]

With regards to inspecting every camera, what do you do if ladders aren't an option? Cherry picker factored in? Do you CCTV guys double up (footed ladders etc etc with regards to different sits H&S policies)

We only dabble in CCTV and as such dont have any on maint, just tend to go if there is an issue. Just curious

[alterEGO]

9651, on 01 January 2012 - 06:01 PM, said:

We only dabble in CCTV and as such dont have any on maint, just tend to go if there is an issue. Just curious

like 90% of firms.

You have to build everything in. I now quote access equipment separately due to some sites using firms that don't do what they should. Some sites no longer service cameras that require pickers etc. and just repair as and when.

[PeterJames]

9651, on 01 January 2012 - 06:01 PM, said:

With regards to inspecting every camera, what do you do if ladders aren't an option? Cherry picker factored in? Do you CCTV guys double up (footed ladders etc etc with regards to different sits H&S policies)

We only dabble in CCTV and as such dont have any on maint, just tend to go if there is an issue. Just curious

We have several sites that require cherry pickers, and include the cost for hire we try to hire over three days and cover as many as we can to save money (For us). All sites where we have lots of CCTV its a man and boy to foot the ladder or other way round (After all the boy wont learn anything at the bottom of a ladder. ) depending on his experience.

I've looked at buying a picker but cant warrant it atm, we have a portable scaffold tower but its really not efficient to use for maintenance we use it on large installs.

And wherever I'm quoting for columns I will always use the winch type and quote for a winch to be left on site, callouts that require a Cherry are expensive, customers understand that paying a little extra in the beginning saves a lot of heartache in the future

[whistle]

We have a picker and use it quite a lot. Even spend about 3 weeks a year changing hi level lamps in the warehouse of one of our big customers using our picker. I would say its paid for its self 10 fold in the 3 years we have had it.