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Security guard cost calculator for South San Francisco
Plan your South San Francisco security budget before anyone walks the site. This cost calculator takes the guard hours or patrol visits you have in mind and returns a monthly range you can bring to your next budget meeting.
Get a monthly range in about a minute.
Start by choosing what you want to price: an unarmed officer posted at your site, or mobile patrol visits through the night. Type in your schedule and the calculator shows a low and a high monthly figure right away. Try a second schedule next to the first and you’ll see what an extra night, a shorter shift or one more visit does to the total.
It works for the property types that fill South San Francisco: life-science campuses east of 101, logistics buildings near SFO, hotels along the airport corridor, and the shops and apartments around downtown Grand Avenue.
What to enter for a guard post.
Three inputs drive a guard estimate. Officers on duty is how many people stand post at the same moment: one at most lobby desks, two when a front entrance and a truck gate both stay open. Hours a day is the length of the shift, anywhere from a four-hour closing window to a full 24. Days a week sets how often that shift repeats.
The calculator turns those inputs into guard-hours for an average month and prices every hour alike, so a Saturday night counts the same as a Wednesday morning. The written quote follows your actual shift times, and that’s where holiday and late-night hours are settled.
Haven’t settled on hours yet? Start with our guide to round-the-clock or business-hours security. It compares what each schedule protects, and you can bring the one that fits back here to price it. The guard option here is unarmed; posts that call for armed security guards are priced in your written quote.
When a guard needs a vehicle.
A walking officer can cover a lobby, a single building or a gatehouse. Bigger sites are another matter. A research campus with several buildings and shared garages, a distribution yard lined with parked trailers, or a fence line that runs the length of a block takes too long on foot, and a vehicle lets one officer reach every corner during the shift.
Check the vehicle box and the calculator adds the vehicle cost to each guard-hour. Leave it off for desk, lobby and gate posts where the officer stays within a short walk.
Pricing patrol by the minute.
Mobile patrol is billed on the time an officer spends at your property, so the patrol side asks for three numbers: visits a night, minutes per visit and nights a week. Each visit counts for at least five minutes. A lock and gate check sits near that minimum, while a walk through a parking structure, a loading dock and a back fence takes longer.
Patrol fits sites that empty out after hours, like an office building once the tenants leave, a warehouse between shifts or a storefront after closing. A posted guard fits sites where someone has to be present all shift, such as a busy front desk or a gate that admits late trucks. Our guide on choosing patrol or a guard for your site walks through the decision, and a daytime post often shares the load with overnight patrol visits. Every round is logged with the time and reported back to you.
What else the written quote looks at.
The calculator handles hours, visits and the vehicle. A written quote also weighs the property itself, and these details shift the rate most:
- What the officer does at the post, such as visitor sign-in, badge checks, delivery logging, dock control or interior rounds, all spelled out in your post orders
- The size of the site and how many doors, gates, lots and garages it has
- Recent break-ins, trespassing, vandalism or theft from parked vehicles
- The number of posts staffed side by side
- Holiday coverage and any posts that run 24 hours
- How and when you want shift and incident reports sent
Short jobs are quoted on their own and stay out of a monthly estimate. A company gathering or a product launch calls for event security, a sprinkler or alarm system that’s down calls for fire watch, and a few weeks of cover during a move or a tenant turnover calls for temporary guards.
From estimate to a firm rate.
Use the range to plan and set a budget. The firm rate comes after a free walkthrough, where we look at the entrances, lots and quiet hours behind your numbers and agree on the posts or patrol visits that cover them. Our list for getting ready for a site walkthrough shows what to have on hand so that visit goes quickly.
Once the numbers look right, press the button under your result and the estimate fills in the quote form below it, which means your officer count, hours, days and patrol plan arrive in one message. Coverage runs month to month, so you can add hours or trim them once a few weeks of shift reports show what your site really needs.
A few useful answers
Common questions
Do night and weekend hours raise the calculator’s estimate?
The calculator treats every guard-hour alike, whether it falls on a weekday afternoon or late on a Sunday. Holiday and late-night rates are set in the written quote, which follows your real shift times.
How many minutes should we enter for each patrol visit?
Count how long one officer needs to check everything on your property. A gate and lock check is close to the five-minute minimum, while a route through a garage, a dock and a fence line needs more minutes per stop.
Does a guard at a South San Francisco campus need a vehicle?
It does when the officer has to cover several buildings, shared garages or a long perimeter during the shift. A guard at a single lobby or gate can work on foot, so leave the vehicle box clear.
What if our site needs an armed officer?
This tool prices unarmed posts and mobile patrol only. Armed coverage is priced in your written quote after the walkthrough, alongside any unarmed hours you need.
Is the calculator range the price we’ll pay?
It’s a planning range. The firm rate comes after a free walkthrough of your property, and it comes to you in writing.