Making Sense Of Your CCTV Options
Have you seen a plethora of CCTV offers in the market and been confused at the spread of pricing & providers? In this month’s post we provide a run down of the basics and what to look for when considering a CCTV offer.
Ebay, General Retailer, Gumtree Installer or Security Professional?
A quick search on the internet will show you a variety of places from which you can buy a CCTV system that broadly fall into 3 categories: providers that sell the equipment only and leave you to DIY the installation (Ebay, Harvey Norman, JB Hifi), electricians & other installers lacking specific security licenses (like you might find on Gumtree) & genuine WA Police Licensed Security Installers.
DIY Security
Pro’s: cheapest solution
Con’s: your time & sanity getting it to work, may not be recognised by your insurer, you may inadvertently be in breach of the law (restrictions exist for positioning of CCTV cameras), no/poor ongoing service & support, difficulty in future repairs/service, setup may leave significant security vulnerabilities and may not provide all of your required features..
A Cheap Unlicensed Installer
Pro’s: upfront price may be cheaper
Con’s: may use non-standard (cheapest they could find) components, may be a person of questionable character, business may not be around to provide adequate after sales service & care.
WA Police Licensed Security Installer
Pro’s: Likely to use industry standard equipment, installer properly trained & accredited & examined to be of good character, will obey all required legislation, will eliminate ongoing security vulnerabilities, will provide ongoing service & support
Con’s: Likely to be priced higher than DIY or unlicensed options.
Choosing a CCTV system isn’t like choosing a new washing machine for your home, it is a product that you should expect will require significant skill in installing correctly and to require ongoing support & backup over the years to correctly setup, maintain & expand its operation.
Our business is flooded with calls from customers of other providers & those who took the DIY route and have encountered issues with their installation or system performance & reliability months later and have been left in the lurch. Often the systems provided have used cheap knock-offs or obscure brands that have no official Australian presence for backup and support. Most commonly customers have turned to us in desperation after their original installer has been unwilling or unable to resolve the issue and moved on to their next opportunity.
We welcome every opportunity to provide our service but still it is hard not to feel that in most of these instances a lot of pain & anguish could have been avoided by first making sure the system being provided met Australian Standards and that the installer held an official WA Police Security License for its installation.
It is a legal requirement in Western Australia that a Security Installer be official licensed to undertake security installations yet many still exist that ply their trade in community directories or as side streams to their other licensed work (e.g. electricians). By making sure you choose an appropriately licensed provider you can be sure that your installer has been appropriately vetted by the West Australian Police to be of good character & appropriately trained & knowledgable of the legal requirements of the trade.
Whilst the DIY home improvement trend is strong, Home Security is one area where it pays to have the work completed by a professional.
For the very best in CCTV for home or business consult our CCTV page onsite.
