Price check on isle 13

[gilligan 0]

Just curious as what other installers are charging for installs. Say a 4 camera (1.3mp dahua bullet) and a NVR 3208 (room for future expansion), 2TB. All installed with a "basic" install.

 

I know this is subjective to what your market will bare, but I figured I'd get a little survey going.

[buellwinkle 0]

We pay about $1,500/camera above and beyond camera parts costs to run wiring, configure the cameras. The least we paid was about $1,000/cam and that was a very low bid. We've had people bid much higher too.

 

This is is on top of any construction charges, for example, running conduit, installing poles, electrical, external nema boxes, trenching.

[Securame 0]

Wow... I would love to be able to charge $1500/camera

[Dontheo 0]

It's more then what the market will bare that determines our price, it is what your customer expectations are from the system. If it is a "basic" system with no frills, then 1500 per camera is about right for an analog system that we would install.

 

However, all our DVRs and NVRs have a 3-5 year manufacturer warranty and the cameras a five year. It's so hard to compare because we go the high end route of quad shielded or ct6 cable, regulated power supplies, cameras with the right feature for the spplications and UPS back up amd surge.

 

I have not heard of Dahua but something tells me I don't want to. At present, the cameras we are looking at are coming with better proccesors for recording at "the edge" with larger memory cards so data does not have to be constantly transmitted across the network.

[buellwinkle 0]

Here's the problem. Sure, I can find small outfits with a few people but we've done that, what you get is a dependency on one guy that's good, and his helpers that can barely point the camera, that one guy leaves and it's over. So we try and use larger outfits that have several trucks, crews and can come out service our security with access control and network cameras in a timely basis. Honestly, I spend more time getting these guys to setup the cameras and access control correctly than I would if I do it myself. Even with basics like setting the camera time, setting the OSD to the location name instead of the default brand name, setting proper motion detect zones is beyond many techs. Imagine one tech spent over a month just trying to configure a few cameras, onsite every day and still the basics were not done, even focusing and aiming not done in that time. While I could fix it myself, I have to get them to come out and experience their mistakes first hand so the next project goes better. You don't know how many times I feel like just getting the cameras wholesale, get an electrician to run Ethernet and mount the cameras and donate my time and configure everything but then I'm stuck maintaining it.

 

If you think it's easy finding competent people that work for less then please find them for me here in So Cal, really, new projects coming up soon. Has to be knowledgeable with HID Global access control systems, Doorking dialers and Mobotix & Axis cameras.

[GMaster1 0]

If you think it's easy finding competent people that work for less then please find them for me here in So Cal, really, new projects coming up soon.

 

In my area I'm seeing a lot of CCTV veterans who, in an attempt to keep up with new IP based systems, install them and forget to consider basic networking principles that, unless accommodated, become hell for IT dudes. Not saying every camera technician needs their CCNA, but when they start touching some of these complex networks I start raising an eyebrow haha.

[gilligan 0]

Maybe we need to quantify our clients here.

 

I'm specifically curious about residential and small business needs.

 

$1500/cam must be "enterprise" level stuff.

[buellwinkle 0]

Depends what you call Enterprise. Installing 3 camera at a homeowner's association pool (not where I live), is that "Enterprise". We got bids as low as $7,500 up to $25K. 3 Mobotix cameras, $1,599 list for the most expensive one, $999 for the least and NAS for $150 and a PoE switch for $70. So say $3,500 in parts at wholesale, you do the rest of the math. BTW, we chose low bid, after the install, we never saw that guy again, dissapeared off the face of the earth but for $25K we MAY have gotten better service. The community was lucky they had me to fix things they misconfigured. For example, they had a 1TB NAS but limited recordings to 5GB per camera, so that held less than 1 day of video. Found out when someone threw a chair through the clubhouse window only to find we couldn't go back to yesterday.

 

Probably an easier install than what you describe in someone's home where you have to crawl through rat infested attics with fiberglass insulation and 20 years of dust, be at the picky homeowner's whim, install Dahua which you will be liable for providing support but you won't get the support you need. What if a camera breaks? Are you going to provide good service and replace within a few days? What's the repair turnaround from your camera supplier?

 

Now if you just want to hire an electrician to run Ethernet and mount the cameras to the wall, you can get that from $100-$200 per run. That's not the same as aiming/focusing camera, configuring the NVR and each camera, testing, service and support for the warranty period. Also, what's your expertise worth?

[shockwave199 0]

I watched my employer hire an install for seven analog cameras, a dvr, and a power supply. Nothing but trouble and it cost about 17k. Cameras were never aimed right, nor were the proper fov's. Cameras were set with DNR so high that at night, even though the picture was wonderful at night, moving people and cars were nothing but a blur. Coax left exposed. After some snow the plow guy actually plowed up and ripped the trenched conduit down by the warehouse. The dvr was set on lowest settings and left to record full time. Even something as simple as the monitor resolution and centering was off, which in turn cutoff edges. They came back a couple times along the way to fix cameras that went out, but disappeared after a while. I ended up fixing and tweaking everything. Be more than careful who you hire- be obsessive.

[buellwinkle 0]

We got a bid for 4 analog cameras and a 4 channel DVR, $10K, so $17k for 7 cameras and DVR is not out of the ordinary and having people that know what they are doing is a challenge.

 

How about 2 people onsite for an entire week trying to figure out how to get an electric strike to work and this company came highly recomended, does the local toll road cameras so they say. Then finally got this $500 electic strike to work but used cheap screws to hold it in and in 3 days, it broke off. They put a backup battery in place, but never connected it and threw the wires away. They put two circuit boards in metal cabinet but never attached it to the back, within a few months they sagged and touched.

[lowpro 0]

A co-worker of mine (in another state) hired an electrician to run the Ethernet cable and mount 3 cameras. Two guys came out and it took them 6 hours to mount 3 cameras. The biggest problem that they had was figuring out how to put on the cat6 connectors...haha.

 

The company charged her $100 an hour.

[gilligan 0]

I never charge for my ignorance on a job I take. Assuming it should be common knowledge for any competent tech.

[buellwinkle 0]

You can pay electrician rates, but you are responsible for the camera location, pointing, focusing, configuration of the cameras and configuration of the NVR. That's the best way to go if you know what you want, where you want it and know how to configure it all which is most people on this forum.

 

When you pay a premium for a security company, you are paying for their knowledge, skills, experience & warranty but you don't always get your money's worth.

[CamB 0]

What are some tips on selecting the right installers and making sure you are paying a fair price?

[coyoteknee 0]

Have you tried yelping local places? I found some in my area that have good reviews, maybe you can find some in your area. Just make sure to read the reviews on both the positives and negatives, and then you can go from there.

[Baje 0]

Damn,

 

Here in Barbados for a basic analog system with install i charge about $500US A camera :\