How to compare three security quotes that all look different

Collecting three quotes is good practice. Comparing them is where it falls apart, because no two installers itemise the same way and the cheapest total is frequently the most expensive system.

What follows is the method we would use ourselves, including on our own quote. If ours cannot survive it, you should not buy it.

Why three quotes never line up

Each quote encodes a different set of assumptions that are usually invisible on the page: how many days of footage you will keep, what grade of cable is being run, whether civil work is included, whether the price assumes an existing conduit that may not exist. Two quotes for “8 cameras and a recorder” can describe systems that behave completely differently in year three.

So the first job is not comparison. It is translation.

Normalise before you compare

Put the three quotes side by side and fill in the same eight rows for each. Where a quote does not say, write “not stated” — that is itself a finding.

Row	What you are looking for
Camera count and type	How many of each — dome, bullet, PTZ — and at what resolution
Recorder and channels	Model, channel count, and how many channels remain free
Disk supplied	Capacity in TB, and bays left empty
Retention in days	At the quoted resolution and recording mode, not a round number
Cable	Type, grade, and metres included — and what happens if more is needed
Civil and trunking work	Included, excluded, or “as required” (which means excluded)
Power and backup	Supplies, UPS, and whether the recorder survives an outage
Warranty and AMC	Duration, what it covers, and what the renewal costs

Once those eight rows are filled, the quotes usually stop being comparable in the way you expected — and start being comparable in the way that matters.

The line items that hide the real difference

• “Cabling as required”. An open-ended line. On an older building this is where a quote grows after work starts. Ask for a metre figure and a rate for anything beyond it.
• A recorder with no free channels. Cheaper today, and it makes adding one camera next year a recorder replacement.
• Disk sized to the quote, not the retention. The commonest way to make a total look competitive. It surfaces as shortened history months later.
• Unbranded or unnamed hardware. If the make and model are not on the quote, the warranty path does not exist and firmware support is nobody’s responsibility.
• Labour bundled into a single figure. Not dishonest, but it makes the quote impossible to question line by line.
• No mention of handover. Passwords, app access, a layout of what is where. Systems without a handover become unmaintainable the moment the installer stops answering.

Questions that separate the quotes fast

Four questions, asked of all three vendors, usually resolve the decision without further analysis:

• “What retention will this deliver at the resolution you have quoted, and how did you calculate it?” The answer reveals immediately whether the number was computed or copied.
• “What is not included that might be needed?” A good installer has a ready answer, because they surveyed. A poor one says “nothing”.
• “Who attends when it fails, and how fast, in writing?” Installation is one day. Support is five years.
• “Can I speak to a site like mine that you installed?” Reluctance here is more informative than any brochure.

When the cheapest quote is the right one

Often. A cheaper quote that names its hardware, states its retention honestly, includes its cable and admits what it excludes is a better buy than an expensive one that does none of those things. Price is not the problem — unstated assumptions are.

The aim of this exercise is not to talk you into the most expensive option. It is to make sure that whichever you choose, you know what you bought.