When you have been doing this as long as I have, you begin to pickup on some trends in the questions people ask you. Here are some of the questions that I hear quite often. I hope these answers help out a bit. If they don’t please give us a call at Dixon Security. We are an award winning security company in Salt Lake City and can give you the best answers you can find.
Isn’t a $200 flat rate for a two hour service call a little high?
I have been asked by some people about our rates for service calls. They seem to have an idea that $200 is too high. I have done a lot of research into what we charge and have come up with this price structure so that we can make a small profit and provide great service. Over the past couple of weeks, I have used a plumber, an HVAC contractor, and an electrician for small service calls and all of the bills were over $200 for less than two hours not including parts. It is important to understand that when a professional service tech from any company comes out to your business or home there are a lot of expenses for the company. Some of these include: Salary of the tech, insurance, workers comp, gas, vehicle cost and maintenance, office personnel to answer the phone and book the appointment and do the billing, and a little bit of profit. (If that doesn’t exist then why should they send the tech at all.) Besides, many people fail to realize that the company has to pay the tech for their time to drive to the service call and back as well.
Why don’t you install wireless cameras?
Many people ask about wireless cameras because they believe they will be easier and less expensive because they won’t require as much labor and therefore will cost less money. There are multiple problems that wireless cameras present when trying to install an entire camera system. The first problem is that most wireless cameras still require a wire. They need to have power so they come with a cable to plug into the nearest wall outlet. This doesn’t work very well when you want to mount a camera in the corner of your room by the ceiling and then you need to plug it in. Most people do not have power outlets near their ceilings.
The second issue that people face with wireless cameras is interference. From a business standpoint, I feel that it is not wise to install a product that depends on an environment that I cannot control. If I hard wire cameras and something goes wrong, I can fix a connection. If a wireless camera develops interference because of the wireless environment, I have no way to correct the problem. Security camera repair can be tricky but even more so with wireless security cameras.
Over the last few years, there are some wireless cameras that have been developed that are battery operated. These can work effectively as a do it yourself kit but switching out the batteries becomes a maintenance ritual that many people don’t stay on top of. My experience with most people that use these types of cameras is that they eventually become expensive paperweights.
At Dixon Security we are security camera experts! Call us at 801-455-0413 for a FREE on-site evaluation of your security camera needs.
