I have made my living protecting people and property for many years, and I quite often see the quotes that clients have received from other providers. Here is what I ask when I'm the one hiring a security company, and what the answers tell you before the first shift even starts.
Several quotes on the table, each one different
People regularly call me with quotes from several providers on the table, for site security or occasional travel escorts, and no way of comparing them. Each is written differently, and each promises a professional team and round-the-clock availability.
They ask me which one is best. My honest answer is that I can't see it from the paperwork either. What I can judge is how a provider answers a few specific questions, and whether those answers give them any trouble.
Over the years I've come to expect one thing. The difference between a good choice and a bad one almost never shows on the first day. It shows when something doesn't go to plan, and by then it's too late to ask questions.
Experience of the same type of contract, not a general portfolio
The first question is about experience, but not in general terms. What matters is not how long the provider has been in the industry. It's whether they have done exactly what you need: guarding a corporate site, escorting a senior executive, protecting a family, a retail outlet, a construction site or an event with visitors.
Guarding premises and protecting a person are two different trades. Someone who has spent years on a static post may not cope with the pace of a moving escort, and an experienced close protection officer may not know how to set up the security regime for a large site with outside contractors working on it. Ask about specific contracts of a similar kind and have them explain how they were structured.
Pay attention to how the provider talks about them. A specific account of situations, and an open admission of what proved to be a weak point and how it was fixed, is usually a better sign than a polished portfolio without a single flaw.
Who actually turns up, and what covers them
You're not buying a brand. You're buying the specific people who will turn up for a shift at your premises. So ask who selects them, how they are vetted and what is checked: a clean criminal record, verifiable experience, references from previous employers.
Just as important is what happens when someone drops out. Illness and cover are a normal part of operations. You want to know whether the replacement knows your site and your rules, or will be turning up for the first time and finding their feet as they go.
People come with paperwork. Ask for it up front, not at the point of signing.
A reputable provider will send it without excuses. If it takes a whole week to find the documents, that tells you a lot about how communication will work once the contract is running.
- a copy of their valid operating licence
- a liability insurance certificate, including the limits of cover
- a summary of insurance exclusions (for example, damage to third-party property or incidents involving crowd panic)
- proof of the team's training: first aid, crowd management and dealing with confrontational people
- a confidentiality undertaking and rules for handling your data
A written plan and a clear chain of command
A good contract starts not with people but with a site visit. I walk the premises, look at the vehicle entrances, blind spots and escape routes, watch where staff move and where outsiders move, and listen to what has happened there in the past.
From that comes a written plan: zones, perimeters, staffed posts, rules for entry and bags, evacuation routes and named individuals for each role. It should also include a list of risks ranked by severity, showing how each one is handled.
The other half is command. Ask who leads each shift, who incidents are reported to, how quickly they are escalated, what the team communicates on and what the fallback is if the main channel goes down. Ask about the handover procedure between shifts too, because handovers are where information is most easily lost.
If you're offered people without a plan, you're buying presence, not protection.
Technology, data and what you receive after each shift
Technology solves nothing on its own, but it says a lot about a provider's standards. Ask what they actually use: CCTV and how it is reviewed, a remote monitoring centre, body-worn cameras, patrol checkpoints, digital shift logs. If drones come up, you'll also want to hear what legal framework they operate them under.
Then ask about data. Who operates the equipment, who has access to the recordings, where they are stored and how long they are kept. Data protection is no formality here: with CCTV, body-worn cameras and visitor lists, the responsibility is yours as much as the provider's.
The last part is what you receive. Ask for sample documents: the daily log, the incident report and the final report. Agree in writing what counts as a timely response and what level of cover the contract provides. A report that, alongside a description of events, suggests what to do differently next time shows that the provider is thinking about your security beyond the end of the shift.
References, a short pilot and clear terms
Ask for named references from contracts of a similar nature, not the best-known name in the portfolio. A short call with someone who faced the same situation as you will tell you more than an entire presentation.
For a long-term arrangement, consider a short pilot: one shift, one event, one transfer. You can check the quality without a long commitment and, above all, see how the provider behaves when something doesn't add up.
Insist on a clear scope, the number of staffed posts, rules for rapid deployment, cancellation terms and how replacements are handled. A vague brief usually shows up later in staffing levels, qualifications or accountability.
Key takeaways
Choosing a security company is not an ordinary purchase. It's a decision about whose judgement you will rely on at the moment when you have no time to decide for yourself.
If you take away just one thing, make it this: ask specific questions, and listen for whether the answers contain names, procedures and documents or just adjectives. Experience of the same type of contract, vetted people, a valid licence and insurance, a written plan with a clear chain of command, agreed reporting and a clearly defined scope. That is the whole foundation, and you can judge much of it at the very first meeting.
If you simply want to check whether the quote in front of you makes sense, get in touch. The consultation carries no obligation, and sometimes the conclusion is that your current arrangement works and nothing needs to change. I treat everything you tell me at the meeting as confidential.
“You're not buying a brand. You're buying the judgement of specific people at the moment when there's no time left to ask.”— Robert Václavík
