dave1983

Hello, I'm starting a new CCTV business, I have 15 years of IT experience and have installed and configured several CCTV systems in the past for businesses and residential customers. I plan on using high quality systems like Hikvision and cater small to mid-sized businesses primarily. I started by advertising on a local magazine without much success, I'm about to start advertising locally on Google and I might also send out direct mail pieces to businesses. Can someone share some ideas that might help? What type of businesses should I reach out the most? Restaurant, offices, liquor stores, gas stations, etc? Besides word-of-mouth, what do you think would work best for a new business? Is there a better area in this forum for CCTV business owners to discuss these topics? Thanks Dave

Hello, I have a client who wants a maintenance contract and I'm a bit lost, does anyone have a basic maintenance contract template to get me started? I told her it would cost about 10% of the total project price per year, and that it includes 2-4 visits per year for cleaning, adjustments, etc. and a discount labor rate. I clearly mentioned that it does not extend the equipment warranty. What do you guys think about this? Are your maintenance contracts several pages long explaining everything in detail or just 1-2 pages in estimate/quote format? P.S.: I have searched the forum, and I know there are a few threads regarding maintenance contracts, I just haven't seen the specifics that I need help with. THANKS!

Yes, you are right, it's not an issue but it's a pretty big deal. I would like to think they are working on that as we speak as it's a fairly basic feature and a rather needed feature to have.

I have a customer with a slow upload connection, live view works well because I can chose between main/secondary streams, and by default I have configured it to use the 2nd stream, but for remote playback I haven't found a way to adjust the resolution. Is there a way to optimize for slower connections?

That's what I feared, I couldn't find any way to compress based on network quality or record both streams. This is a fairly big issue, I hope it's addressed soon.

Remote playback seems to be using the maximum resolution regardless of the platform. Do you know of any way to control the remote playback resolution without having to lower the cameras' actual recording resolution/fps?

I have had this problem occur twice already in two different NVR models and ISPs/locations. I correctly configure the DDNS settings using "no-ip" from the dropdown box, the NVR successfully updates no-ip and everything looks good for a while until all the sudden the system doesn't resolve correctly, and the no-ip host shows 0.0.0.0. Has anyone else seen this? I would think that this is an NVR problem, but it happened in 2 completely different cases. I'm wondering if using the customer's own router might be a more reliable choice, but these are often replaced by ISPs. BTW, on the NVR side, I use google's 8.8.8.8 dns server as the primary dns, so I doubt resolving the no-ip updater is the problem.

Thanks, I'll give Hik ddns another try.

Good question, I will have to give them another try, I can't remember atm what problems I had in the past... Have you ever seen this using Hik's ddns?

Thanks for your reply. Regarding repairs, I plan on including a discounted labor rate and probably equipment at cost, is that what your maintenance contracts offer?

Yes, the cameras are mounted at least 10ft high, and some about 16ft. I wouldn't expect the customer to clean them. I have seen spider webs in all installations so far (only visible at night). Those were examples for a customer to understand, I understand that maintenance entails a lot more than just cleaning and adjusting. I just want to hear from experienced installers like yourself what is that you sell in such contracts and what it's covered.

Those are some great (and somewhat bizarre) anecdotes. Thanks for taking the time to respond, I now look forward to getting tickets lol.

That makes total sense and it's my ultimate goal, but for me as a new business, I have to start somewhere and advertising should help to get there. If you don't mind me asking, how would you start building relationships and networking for a new business? Trade-shows, distributors? I've been following your tweets and your company is transparent and honest. Definitely a business model to look up to.

I just started a small but highly targeted PPC campaign. So far it seems that terms including "cctv" as part of the keyword are searched far more often than terms like "surveillance camera" or "security camera". It's obviously too soon to tell

Hi Don, great points! I also fear that direct mail is a thing of the past, but I still might try a small, targeted campaign to know for sure. Regarding PPC, I agree with you. I happen to have extensive PPC experience as that is something that I do for other businesses, and will start it for myself very soon. I'll give local publications another shot by moving it to a more affluent area. Would you say that small businesses are you core business? Thanks!

Hi Eric, thanks for your response. I also plan on keeping my 9-5 job as an IT director until this business works well. I love IT, but I'm tired of sitting on a desk most of the day :/ I have gotten my state's low voltage license and I'm looking into CCTV certifications and attending trade shows, have you taken any certification exams yet?

I actually really like Hikvision, and that's what I plan on using for all my small-to-mid sized jobs. The image quality on the 3MP bullet or domes is quite amazing. Remote monitoring is a breeze.