thorsurveillance

Personally I use the paid service from dyndns.org, they give me 30 hostnames for $15 per year. What I like about it is that I can easily see if there is something wrong with their internal network as they send me an email when they are going to block a hostname for abuse. It also gives me the advantage of not having to remember a bunch of different user names and passwords and I can always remotely log into their router that I set up and make any necessary changes in case the ddns is not updating correctly when their public ip changes.

Hey bluegill if you want my opinion I would advise you go go with a standalone system since you are just starting out; but just make sure you get one that records at a decent resolution at least D1. This way you wont be disappointed with the video quality. Then just purchase some decent day/night outdoor cameras with infrared that has a decent range of IR depending on how far you need to see in darkness. Other thing I would suggest is purchase cameras that have a varifocal lens with something decent in the range of mm you can adjust at. You seem to have a decent budget for yourself so I'd be interested in what your final install consists of. Hope this helps.

Installing security equipment sounds easy enough until you try to do it yourself. I am installing my own system at home and every time I install a camera I just say to myself "So this is why the installers charge what they charge"

 

Some people just dont understand that a good installer is worth every penny.

Wow, all I can say is thank you sincerely for that statement. I work my tail off and pay close attention to every little detail to make sure each job is installed at the highest professional level and then when I have a client not want to pay what we agreed upon it becomes very thankless.

I am sure it means a lot to all of us who install security systems to hear that statement.

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Its easier to offset cost and make money when u r supplying the equipment and doing the installs. But i do agree that each customer is different and u got to feel them out on a per customer basis. Small businesses and residential customers tend to be more into cheap pricing though in my neck of the woods. Mid level companies and above will usually not try and penny u to death!

I agree 100% and that is one of the necessary keys to my success is being a reseller and providing the equipment always offsets the nickel and dimers out there.

Sweet, congratulations on that job.

I completely agree with you Rory that each client is different and you have to feel them out. A lot of the time I will only charge $50 per camera on a tiled ceiling in a business because it is a quick install and should take no more than a half hour per camera depending on how fast you can hustle and how much is in the way of the path you need to run wires.

I normally charge a residential $85 per camera because I know I am 9 times out of 10 going to have to drill holes and pull wire through the attic. I used to charge $125 per camera but times have changed a lot in the past 6 years or so. I don't want to give it away but at the same time I have a family to feed and employees that also need to eat so I take it on a case by case basis.

One thing I don't ever come down on the price is if the customer wants the wires ran in EMT. Times are changing we just have to adapt to the times, I try and be more versatile these days and split the camera work with Home Theater/Television installations and computer work to offset the loss with the present economy and it's working so far.

I recently got called to do a 4 camera and DVR installation in an office with dropped ceiling. Simple 2, 3 hour job.

 

They wanted to be billed per hour as opposed to one price. I charged them $120.00 per hour with minimum 4 hours. Materials is separate of course.

 

The guy cried after the job was done eventhough he agreed prior. Did I charge too much? What is the going rate for a job like this? I thought I was being cheap especially when he told me someone else wanted twice as much.

 

any help would be appreciated.

I always charge $100 per camera 65ft and under, and then additional $45 for DVR setup and if they want remote viewing it is $135. I dont think you overcharged at all. I have customers cry all the time about price and just tell them to go find it cheaper then. Usually they don't and if they do they end up calling me due to a bad installation. I think you are right on the money for that price.

Hi Ann,

I just joined this forum today but as for your questions I could write a long list of things but will keep it short for you and hopefully this helps.

One of the greatest selling points that has brought me great success is being able to provide remote viewing via the IPhone, Android and on Internet Explorer for my clients.

Once they have that capability they seem to not be able to sleep at night when something goes wrong with it. Also everyone I have provided this service with shows their friends and in turn you get a referral out of it for future work most of the time.

Hope this helps, just want to touch on one of the major ones for me.

Brian

Hello everyone,

My name is Brian and I am from California, I have been installing camera systems for quite a number of years and own a business of the same. Just happened to stumble upon your site so thought I would join up maybe learn something I don't know and possibly help some people out along the way.