A property manager called us last spring with two quotes for the same building. One was more than double the other. Same number of cameras, same address, same scope of work as far as she could tell. She wanted to know which company was ripping her off.
Neither, as it turned out. The cheaper quote had no door hardware in it, seven days of video retention instead of thirty, and no allowance for running cable through a finished ceiling. It was a real price for a real system. Just not the system she thought she was buying.
That is the honest answer to what a commercial security system costs in Metro Vancouver. The term covers projects that have almost nothing in common with each other, so the number moves enormously depending on what is actually in the scope. What follows is how to figure out which project you have before you start collecting quotes.
What a Commercial Security System Actually Includes
Some businesses need video at a few entrances and nothing more. Others need a system that controls who gets through which door, records what happened, notices when something is wrong at two in the morning, and lets a manager check any of it from a phone.
Depending on the property, a quote might cover CCTV cameras and recording hardware, access control on staff doors, storage rooms, elevators or tenant areas, video intercom for visitor entry, intrusion alarms with motion sensors and door contacts, structured cabling and network equipment, video storage and user permissions, alarm or live video monitoring, and the installation, testing, training and ongoing support that goes with all of it.
Which is why comparing a four-camera retail install to a warehouse project with loading-bay coverage, six controlled doors, remote monitoring and ninety days of retention is not really a comparison at all. They share a category name and nothing else.
Why Nobody Should Quote You Over the Phone
We get asked for a ballpark on almost every first call, and we understand why. Budgets have to be set before anyone can approve anything, and a council or an owner wants a number to work with.
The trouble is that a number given before anyone has seen the building is a guess, and guesses have a way of becoming expectations. We have been brought into plenty of projects where a previous vendor’s phone estimate set a budget the actual work was never going to fit inside, and the conversation that followed was worse than if no number had been given at all.
What we can tell you before a visit is what will move your number, and that is genuinely useful for planning. A property owner who understands the drivers can usually tell within one conversation whether they are looking at a modest project or a substantial one, and can brief their board or their ownership accordingly.
Related reading: 7 Reasons Your Security Camera Recording Is Not Working
What Actually Moves the Price
What the system has to capture
Camera count is the number everyone fixates on, and it is the wrong place to start. What matters is what you need the footage to prove.
Seeing that someone walked through a door is a different requirement from identifying who they were. Watching general activity in a parking area is different from reading a plate. A camera positioned to show that a delivery arrived will not necessarily show you who took the package twenty minutes later. These are different lenses, different mounting positions, sometimes different cameras entirely.
Work out what incidents you need documented, then let that decide the equipment. Doing it the other way round is how buildings end up with twelve cameras and no usable evidence.
How many doors need controlling
Access control is not priced by the number of readers on the wall. Behind every controlled door there is the reader, the electric locking hardware, the power supply, the cabling, the credentials, the software, and the condition of the door itself. A door that does not close properly is not a secured door no matter what you mount beside it, and that work often ends up in scope once someone actually looks at it.
One staff entrance is a small job. A multi-tenant building with access levels, schedules, visitor management, elevator control, mobile credentials and audit logs is a different project with a different budget.
How difficult the building is to work in
Two properties with identical square footage can produce very different quotes, and usually the reason has nothing to do with the equipment.
Finished ceilings, long cable runs, high ceilings needing a lift, concrete or steel construction, exterior mounting, limited network capacity, existing equipment that has to come out or be worked around, and work that can only happen after closing all push a project up. None of it shows on an equipment list. All of it shows on the invoice.
This is the single best argument for an on-site assessment before anyone writes a proposal.
What happens after the installers leave
The install price is the part everyone compares. The running costs are the part that gets discovered later.
Video retention, whether recording is local or cloud or both, software licences, remote user access, monitoring fees, cellular or internet backup, service calls, and staff training all carry a cost, and a lower initial quote quite often achieved that number by leaving some of them out. Ask for them itemized rather than assuming they are included.
Need an Accurate Commercial Security System Cost Estimate?
The final cost of a commercial security system depends on your property size, number of cameras, access control requirements, and monitoring needs. Get a personalized quote from Polygom Security Systems and find the right security solution for your business.
What Different Properties Typically Need
These describe scope, not price. They are here to help you recognise which conversation you are in.
Small retail
Cameras at the main entrance, the till, the stockroom and the rear door, usually with an intrusion alarm and controlled access to staff-only areas. The questions that move the budget are camera count, how many days of footage you keep, whether anything is monitored after hours, and what condition the back door is in.
Office or clinic
Controlled entry for staff, cameras at entrances and common areas, restricted access to rooms holding records or medication, alarm coverage outside business hours, and remote administration so an office manager can add and remove people without calling anyone. Door count, user groups and the existing network usually determine how complex it gets.
Warehouse or industrial
Loading-bay coverage, exterior cameras, long cable runs, multiple access points, outdoor-rated equipment and more storage than an office would need. If the site sits empty overnight or has had recurring trouble, live video monitoring is worth pricing alongside the install rather than adding later.
Multifamily, strata and managed residential buildings
This is the property type with the most moving parts, and the one where scoping only part of the system causes the most trouble.
A residential building usually needs entry handled at the front door with a video intercom, credentials that can be issued and revoked as residents turn over, camera coverage at the lobby, parcel area, elevator lobbies and parkade, and some way for a property manager to run the directory without booking a technician every time someone moves in.
What makes these projects different is that they are almost never scoped all at once. The intercom gets replaced one year, the fob system fails the next, cameras arrive from a third vendor after an incident, and the building ends up with three systems that each work and none of which talk to each other. We wrote about that pattern in more detail in our guide to security system integration with cameras, access control and video intercom, and specifically for councils facing an aging entry system in when a strata should replace or modernize its intercom.
Modernization and Retrofit: You May Not Need to Replace Everything
A lot of the enquiries we get start from the assumption that an aging system means starting over. Often it does not.
Depending on what is already in the building, it is sometimes possible to modernize the parts that are failing while keeping infrastructure that still has life in it. Cabling, door hardware, network capacity and the condition of what is already installed all factor into whether that works, and it is genuinely not something anyone can tell you without looking. Two buildings of the same age and size regularly give different answers.
What we can say is that it is worth asking the question before budgeting for a full replacement. A staged approach also lets a strata or a property manager spread work across more than one fiscal year, which matters more in practice than it does on paper.
What a Detailed Quote Should Spell Out
| Item | What to confirm |
|---|---|
| Equipment | Specific models for cameras, recorder, access control, intercom, alarm and network gear |
| Installation | Cabling, mounting, programming, testing and commissioning |
| Storage | How many days of footage, and whether it is local, cloud or both |
| Access control | Door count, credential types, software, and whether door hardware is included |
| Intercom | Entry points covered, how residents or staff answer, who manages the directory |
| Monitoring | Whether alarm or video monitoring is included, optional or recurring |
| Ongoing costs | Licences, subscriptions, service plans and support, itemized |
| Exclusions | Civil work, lift rental, after-hours labour, network upgrades, permits, third-party work |
| Expansion | Whether the system can take more cameras, doors, sites or users later |
| Administrative access | Who holds it, and what happens if you change vendors |
That last row gets overlooked and it matters a great deal. If the vendor holds the only administrative account, changing companies later becomes considerably more difficult than it should be.
How to Compare Two Quotes That Look Different
Back to the property manager whose two quotes were double apart. What resolved it was not negotiating. It was writing down a single scope and sending the same document to both companies.
The questions worth putting in that document: what risk is this system supposed to address, which areas are covered and which are not, what equipment models are included, how many days of footage are retained, is cabling and configuration and testing and training in the price, what recurring costs start after handover, what happens when another door or camera gets added next year, and what exactly is excluded.
Once both companies price the same written scope, the quotes usually land within ten or fifteen percent of each other. At that point you are comparing companies rather than guessing at scope, which is a much easier decision.
Service and Maintenance Belong in the Budget
Systems drift. Lenses get dirty, drives fill up, angles shift after someone bumps a camera with a ladder, and firmware falls behind. None of it announces itself. It gets discovered on the day someone needs the footage.
For commercial and multifamily properties, a maintenance arrangement with a defined response time is worth pricing alongside the installation rather than treating it as an afterthought. Ask specifically what response time is committed to in writing, because a failed entry system at a residential building is an urgent problem rather than a next-week problem.
We also take on service for systems we did not install, which is more common than people expect in buildings that have changed vendors a few times.
A Note on Platforms
We install, integrate and service a range of commercial and multifamily platforms including SALTO, 1VALET, ButterflyMX and Avigilon, along with other systems in common use here.
We are not a single-brand shop, and the order we work in matters. The building, its existing infrastructure, how the property is managed and what it actually needs come first. The platform recommendation follows from that. If a client has already selected a platform, we will work with that decision and say plainly if we think the building is going to make it difficult.
Where a project involves systems that need to work together, we confirm what is achievable for the specific products involved before it goes into a proposal rather than assuming it from a spec sheet.
Privacy Considerations for Commercial CCTV in BC
Video surveillance collects personal information, and that carries obligations. Have a clear purpose for each camera, limit coverage to areas where surveillance is justified, post visible notice, and control who can access recordings and for how long.
This article is general information and not legal advice. Properties dealing with employee monitoring, tenant or strata surveillance, healthcare settings or public-facing cameras should review their obligations before installation, and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC publishes guidance worth reading.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a commercial security system cost in Metro Vancouver?
There is no standard price, because the term covers projects with almost nothing in common. A few cameras at a small storefront and an integrated system across a multi-tenant building are different undertakings. What decides your number is the coverage you actually need, how many doors are controlled, how difficult the building is to work in, and what you are committing to after installation. An assessment gives you a real figure in writing.
Why are two quotes for the same building so far apart?
Almost always because they priced different scopes. Differences in video retention, whether door hardware is included, cable routing through finished ceilings, equipment grade and after-hours labour can account for the whole gap. Write one scope and send it to everyone bidding.
Does the quote include door hardware?
Sometimes, and it is worth asking directly because it is one of the most common exclusions. Electric locking hardware, power supplies and any work needed on the door itself can add materially to an access control project.
Can we modernize part of the system instead of replacing all of it?
In many buildings some form of staged modernization is workable, but whether it applies to yours depends on the existing cabling, door hardware, network capacity and the condition of what is already installed. That is what a site assessment determines.
What ongoing costs should we expect after installation?
Depending on the system: software licences, cloud storage or platform fees, alarm or video monitoring, cellular backup, and service or maintenance coverage. Ask for these itemized separately from the install price so you can compare proposals properly.
Do you service systems you did not install?
Yes. It is common in buildings that have changed vendors over the years, and a single assessment usually tells you what is worth keeping and what is not.
