Overview
Security company quotes are sold by the contract, and the contract is a stack of recurring lines
A security company is the umbrella over several trades: alarm installation, monitoring, armed or unarmed response, sometimes physical guarding and patrols. The customer is rarely buying one of those in isolation; they're buying a package. A homeowner pays a monthly fee for monitoring plus armed response; a commercial customer pays a higher fee that adds patrol visits, key-holding services, and incident reporting. A one-page quote that says 'security package, $90/month' tells the customer nothing about what they get for the monthly fee, and it doesn't survive comparison to the competitor's quote that itemises monitoring, response, and patrol separately.
QuoteGenio gives security companies a quoting shape that fits the recurring model. Alarm install priced as a one-off, monthly monitoring as a recurring record, armed response as a named tier (with the response time committed in writing), key-holding services, patrol visits per week with the route named, and incident reporting cadence. Send via WhatsApp or email to the customer or the procurement contact, take card-on-file for the recurring billing, and the contract opens with the monitoring activation reference attached. Customers stay when they can see what they're paying for each month.
Who it is for
Who uses QuoteGenio
Built for every type of security and guarding business.
The problem
The quoting headaches every security operator knows
Monitoring contracts, guarding rosters, and site assessments all need quotes that line up with how you actually bill. Spreadsheets do not cut it.
Quotes built after the site visit
You inspect the site at 4pm and only build the quote at 9pm. By then the client has called two competitors.
Monitoring and guarding mixed up
Recurring monitoring fees, once-off install costs, and per-hour guarding all in one ugly Word document. Clients get confused and stall.
Slow quotes lose contracts
Estates and businesses compare three or four providers. The fastest professional quote almost always wins the contract.
The fix
QuoteGenio makes it simple
A clean, structured workflow built around the way security companies actually sell. Monitoring, guarding, install, and recurring fees on one branded document.
The payoff
What you get with QuoteGenio
The everyday wins that add up across a year of quoting and invoicing.
Built for security
Line items for monitoring fees, guarding hours, response retainers, and install costs. Everything a security quote needs, structured the way you bill.
Works from your phone
Quote from the boardroom, the gatehouse, or the estate clubhouse. No laptop, no office trip.
Quote in under 2 minutes
A repeatable workflow that gets you from site walk to sent quote before the client finishes their tea.
Track recurring contracts
See which monthly monitoring contracts are active, paid, or overdue without opening a spreadsheet.
Built for your trade
Quoting calibrated to how security companies actually work
Pick your trade in Settings and the entire quote flow switches to fit. Line item presets, compliance fields, on-the-quote calculators, and per-m² / after-hours pricing all change to match your industry.
Trade-specific line items
Quick add picker pre-fills the common items your trade quotes. Skip the blank rows.
Brand-specific catalogues
Pylontech, Hikvision, Canadian Solar, Sunsynk and others pre-named. Pick the brand, the description writes itself.
Compliance fields built in
IOPSA, ECASA, PIRB, PSIRA, NHBRC, SAQCC. Set once. Every quote prints them under FROM.
Registration expiry alerts
Dashboard notification 60 days before your PSIRA, CoC or any dated registration lapses.
Per-m² / hour / day billing
Unit selector on every line item: m², hr, linear m, days. Stop doing the maths externally.
After-hours and emergency
1.5× and 2× multipliers as a one-tap toggle. Customer sees the breakdown on the quote.
Quote-flow calculators
Solar size, battery backup, cable run cost. Compute on the spot, drop straight onto the quote.
Staged payments
Deposit on acceptance + balance on completion as two separate amounts on the quote PDF.
Scope-of-work checklist
Structured Included / Not included lists. Client acceptance = signing the scope.
Site-survey mode
Log a location per line item: camera positions, fixtures by room, sensors by zone.
Regional rate hints
Pricing ranges per item per currency shown as you quote.
Free on every plan
All of the above included on the free plan. Premium is for capacity, not the trade tooling.
Why QuoteGenio
Why Security Companies choose QuoteGenio
The tools that matter most when you are quoting on-site, under pressure, and between jobs.
Quote from your phone
Most Security Companies build and send quotes directly from the job site. No laptop, no office, no delays.
Win more jobs, faster
The first professional quote a client receives usually wins. Respond in minutes, not hours.
Quote to invoice in one click
When the job is accepted, convert to an invoice instantly. No retyping, no double entry.
Pricing guide
Typical Security Companies job pricing
A rough guide to what security companies charge for monitoring and guarding work. Pricing varies by region, risk profile, and whether officers are armed or unarmed. Use these as a sanity check when building your own rate card, not as fixed numbers.
| Job | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Risk assessment and site survey | R1,240 - R2,479 |
| Monthly monitoring (residential, single property) | R578 - R1,240 / month |
| Monthly monitoring (commercial, multi-zone) | R1,570 - R4,628 / month |
| Static guarding (per officer, per hour) | R132 - R297 / hr |
| Mobile patrol contract (nightly) | R2,975 - R9,090 / month |
| Event security (per officer, 8 hour shift) | R1,570 - R3,966 |
| Estate security package (24/7, mid-size) | R74,372 - R297,486 / month |
Pricing converted from USD to ZAR at indicative rates. Rates vary significantly by country, region, currency, and market.
Call-out fees
Most security companies charge a one-off site survey or risk assessment fee of R1,240 to R2,479. Many credit it back to the client if the monitoring or guarding contract is signed. List it as its own line so the client sees you value the assessment, even if it is later discounted on the invoice.
Hourly vs fixed pricing
Use hourly pricing for guarding, mobile patrol, and event work where shifts vary. Use fixed monthly pricing for monitoring contracts, response retainers, and estate packages. Mix both on the same quote when a client wants guarding plus a monitored panel.
See it in action
Example quote breakdown
Here is what a clean estate security quote looks like with monitoring, guarding hours, patrols, and response broken out cleanly. Transparent line items win contracts because boards and HOAs need to defend the spend to residents.
Try it yourself
Job size
Region
Sample quote
Estate security package, 80-unit complex
Risk assessment and site survey
Monthly monitoring (24/7 control room)
Static guarding (2 officers, 12 hr shift)
Nightly mobile patrol (random windows)
Armed response retainer
| Description | Qty | Rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Risk assessment and site survey | 1 | R1,983 | R1,983 |
| Monthly monitoring (24/7 control room) | 1 | R7,933 / month | R7,933 |
| Static guarding (2 officers, 12 hr shift) | 360 | R198 / hr | R71,397 |
| Nightly mobile patrol (random windows) | 1 | R6,280 / month | R6,280 |
| Armed response retainer | 1 | R3,636 / month | R3,636 |
| Subtotal | R91,229 | ||
| Tax (10%) | R9,123 | ||
| Total incl. tax | R100,352 | ||
Totals recalculate as you change the controls above. Tax rate inferred from the sample quote.
Items often forgotten
Uniforms, radio rental, control room access fees, vehicle costs for mobile patrol, the once-off panel programming, and the monthly cost of SIM data on IP-linked alarms. Add these to your template once and stop absorbing them out of your monthly margin.
Peer snapshot
How Security Companies actually use QuoteGenio
Indicative activity for Security Companies on the platform. Use it as a benchmark for how often to quote and how fast to respond.
24
Quotes sent per month
48%
Average quote acceptance
4 min
Median time to send quote
R100,352
Typical quote value
Figures are indicative platform averages for this trade segment.
Start quoting Security Companie jobs like this, free
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Avoid these
Common quoting mistakes
We talk to a lot of security operators. The same quoting and contract mistakes come up again and again. Fixing these will protect your monthly margin and make your quotes harder to unbundle.
Mistake: Quoting monitoring as a flat fee with no scope
Better: Spell out what monitoring includes: signal types, control room hours, escalation steps, and monthly test signals. Vague monitoring quotes get undercut by competitors with cheaper exclusions.
Mistake: Bundling guarding hours into a single monthly figure
Better: Show hours per officer per shift, then total monthly hours, then rate. Clients want to see the maths so they can compare against in-house staffing.
Mistake: No mention of armed versus unarmed
Better: Always state on the quote whether guarding is armed or unarmed. The cost difference is significant and the wrong assumption leads to disputes at invoice time.
Mistake: Ignoring radio, uniform, and SIM costs
Better: Build a small monthly equipment line into every guarding or monitoring quote. These costs are real and bleed margin if absorbed silently.
Mistake: Verbal agreements on monthly contracts
Better: Always issue a written quote with a clear monthly start date and notice period. WhatsApp the quote link before you leave the site so the client can accept on the spot.
Mistake: No annual escalation clause
Better: State the annual escalation (typically 6 to 8 percent) on the quote itself. Trying to push escalation through after sign-up is the fastest way to lose a contract.
Mistake: Mixing once-off install with monthly fees
Better: Group once-off costs (panel, install, programming) separately from monthly recurring fees. Subtotal each so the client knows exactly what they pay today and what they pay every month.
Mistake: No follow-up after sending the quote
Better: Most quotes that don't close, don't close because nobody followed up. Send a polite check-in 48 hours after the quote lands, and a second nudge at day 7. Two of every three accepted quotes get there because someone followed up.
Step by step
How to quote security and guarding contracts
Walk the site with a risk lens before you quote. Drive the perimeter, count the entry points and blind corners, and note the lighting and camera coverage that already exists. For guarding, confirm the number of posts required, the shift pattern (12 hour doubles are standard estate cover), and whether posts need armed or unarmed officers. For monitoring, inspect the existing panel, zone count, and signal path (radio, IP, or SIM-linked), and confirm whether the control room already has a test signal relationship with the panel brand. Ask about incident history, typical after-hours alarm volume, and whether the client wants mobile patrol integrated or priced separately.
Itemise monitoring, guarding, patrol, and response on separate lines with the maths visible. Show hours per officer per shift, total monthly hours, and the hourly rate so a board or HOA can defend the spend against in-house alternatives. Price armed and unarmed guarding at different rates because the PSiRA grading, firearm licensing, and insurance costs are materially different. Monitoring sits on a monthly line with signal type, control room hours, and escalation steps in the description, and response retainers belong on their own line. Uniforms, radios, and SIM data fees for IP-linked alarms should appear as a small monthly equipment line rather than being absorbed. Keep once-off install costs (panel programming, integration) subtotalled separately from monthly recurring fees so clients see today's cost versus the ongoing commitment.
Set a 30 day validity on every monitoring or guarding quote. Wage adjustments, fuel for mobile patrol, and equipment costs all move enough that an open-ended quote exposes your monthly margin. State the annual escalation (typically 6 to 8 percent linked to wage increases) on the quote itself so the client agrees to it in writing at sign-up, rather than discovering it a year later. Spell out the notice period (30 or 60 days is standard for guarding contracts), the VAT treatment as its own line, and the response SLA in plain minutes. Include the site survey fee on the quote even when you credit it back on contract sign-up, so the client sees the assessment time is worth real money.
Send the quote before the client leaves the meeting. Estates, schools, and commercial clients compare three or four providers and the first professional document in their inbox usually wins the contract, even at a slightly higher price, because boards need something written to defend the decision. Build the quote on your phone during the walkaround, share it as a WhatsApp link before you leave the gate, and follow up after two days with a short note referencing the post count and SLA. For estate committees, offer to present the quote at their next committee meeting so the decision is made with you in the room, not in a shortlisting email thread.
FAQ
Common questions from security companies
Everything you need to know before getting started.
Yes. Add the monthly monitoring fee as its own line item and label the rate as 'per month'. You can also break out once-off install and panel costs as separate lines on the same quote.
Yes. Once your quote is ready, share it as a link via WhatsApp directly from your phone. The client gets a branded PDF instantly without downloading an app.
Use one line for guarding (with hours and rate) and another line for the monthly monitoring fee. Each line item has its own description, quantity, and rate so structure is fully flexible.
Yes. Every quote has a unique public link. Your client opens it on their phone and accepts online. The accepted timestamp acts as a written agreement.
Yes. Convert any accepted quote to an invoice in one click. For monthly contracts, duplicate the invoice each month. All line items carry over with no re-entry.
Yes. The free plan gives you 5 quotes and 2 invoices per month with no credit card required. Upgrade to Premium for unlimited quotes, invoices, statements, and reports.
Yes, always. Armed guarding carries higher PSiRA grading, firearm licensing, training, and insurance costs. Quote them as separate line items at different hourly rates so the client sees the value of armed posts and you do not absorb the cost difference.
Build a separate response retainer line into the monthly contract, then quote per-callout fees on top for non-included incidents (typically R413 to R1,240 per callout). Make the response SLA explicit on the quote so the client knows what they are paying for.
Yes. Most security companies build in a 6 to 8 percent annual escalation linked to wage increases and equipment costs. State the escalation clearly on the quote so it is agreed in writing when the client accepts. Trying to add it later costs you contracts.
30 days is standard for monitoring and guarding contracts. Wage adjustments, fuel for mobile patrol, and equipment costs all move enough that an open-ended quote exposes you. QuoteGenio lets you set an expiry that appears clearly on the PDF.
Still have questions? We would rather answer them now than after you have signed up.
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Reviews
Trusted by tradespeople
Real feedback from people who quote for a living.
"Security quotes with six or seven cameras and zones used to be a nightmare. The line item structure handles it easily and clients understand exactly what they are getting."
Seán McKenna
CCTV Installer · Cork
"Keeping track of who has paid and who has not used to be a mess. Now I can see everything at a glance and follow up properly."
Jason Petersen
Handyman · Port Elizabeth
"Quoting per head with add-ons for staffing and equipment is straightforward. Clients can see exactly what they are paying for and they stop haggling on the total."
Amira Hassan
Caterer · Dubai
Guides
Guides for Security Companies
Practical advice to help you quote better, get paid faster, and grow your business.
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