Install Security Cameras

Start with the question nobody asks first

Not “how many cameras”. “What do you actually want to see?”

Almost everyone answers that differently once they think about it. The parcel on the step. Who came down the side of the house. Whether the back gate was open. The till. The loading door after six. The answer decides the camera count, where they go, and what they need to be able to do, and it is the reason a camera stuck up in a guessed spot so often turns out to be pointing at nothing useful.

So that is where this starts. You say what you want to see. The plan works backwards from there.

The thing that goes wrong most often

A camera gets mounted somewhere convenient rather than somewhere correct, and it takes a beautiful clear picture of the top of someone’s head.

Height, angle and light do more for a usable image than resolution does. A camera facing a bright window records a silhouette all afternoon. A camera above a door sees scalps. A camera at the wrong end of a driveway records a car shape and no plate. None of that is fixed by buying a better camera, and all of it is fixed by working it out before anything is mounted.

Every job here starts with a layout: where each camera goes and exactly what it will cover, drawn against your actual building, before anyone drills a hole.

Do you have to pay every month?

No, and this is worth understanding before you buy anything from anyone.

Some camera systems record to the company’s servers, and you rent access to your own footage. Stop paying and the recordings stop, or vanish.

The systems installed here record locally, to a box in your building that you own. The footage is yours. Viewing it from your phone while you are away is included, not a subscription. There is no monthly fee to watch your own cameras.

The trade, stated honestly: local recording means the recorder is a real piece of hardware in your building that needs somewhere to live, and it needs enough storage for however many days you want to keep. That is a design question, and it gets answered on paper before you buy, not discovered afterwards.

For a home

Most homes want less than they expect. Doors, the driveway, and whichever side of the house nobody can see from anywhere are usually the whole list. A doorbell camera covers the front step better than a wall camera does.

If you are going to want cameras eventually but not today, say so at the design stage. Cable pulled for a future camera during other work costs almost nothing. Cable pulled later, on its own, is a whole visit.

For a business

The questions get sharper: what has to be recorded for insurance, who needs to be able to view it, how long footage has to be kept, and whether doors need to be logged as well as watched.

Cameras and door access run on the same system, so a door that unlocks with a fob or a phone can be tied to the camera that watches it, and both show up in one place. Adding it later works. Planning for it now works better.

For clinics and anywhere handling patient records, where the network matters as much as the cameras, see HIPAA Networks. For construction sites, Construction Site Security covers the mobile option.

What you get

• A layout showing every camera, where it goes and exactly what it sees, before installation.
• Cameras mounted properly, at the right height and angle, cable run and terminated, everything tested before anyone leaves.
• A recorder in your building, sized for the number of days you want to keep.
• Viewing on your phone and computer, included.
• Labelling and a written record of what was installed and where.
• A walkthrough so you can actually use the thing.

What it costs

Cameras are quoted per building. Equipment goes on your quote at cost, the manufacturer’s price with nothing added on top; the charge is for design, installation and configuration. Which means the person choosing your cameras does not make more money by choosing more of them.

If you want to understand the equipment before you talk to anyone, Choosing Cameras on the AVNFi wiki explains what each camera actually sees and how far into the dark it can see it. Free, no signup.

Get a plan

Tell us what you want to see. You will get an honest answer about what it takes, including when the answer is fewer cameras than you thought.

Get a quote or call (587) 858-4888

Serving Calgary, Okotoks, Airdrie, Cochrane and Chestermere.