It is the first question almost everyone asks, and the honest answer is that it depends on four things. Here is how we work it out, so you can sanity check any quote you are given, including ours.

1. What are you actually protecting?

People, property, stock or cash. That single answer usually decides armed against unarmed on its own. A vacant construction site with copper on the ground has a different risk profile to a bank lobby, and pretending otherwise is how businesses end up paying for cover they do not need.

2. How many ways in are there?

Count every entrance a person could realistically use, not just the front door. Loading bays, fire exits propped open in summer, the gap in the fence everyone knows about. One officer can hold one controlled point properly. Asking them to watch three at once means all three are watched badly.

3. When does the risk actually occur?

If your incidents happen between midnight and 5am, a posted officer through the working day is the wrong spend. Mobile patrol at irregular intervals through the night usually costs a fraction of a permanent post and delivers most of the deterrent.

4. How fast do you need a response?

An officer already on site responds in seconds. A patrol vehicle responds in minutes. There is a real cost difference between those two, and the right answer depends on what happens in the gap.

A rough starting point

For most Houston properties we see:

  • Small retail or office, one unarmed officer at the main entrance during trading hours.
  • Apartment community, one officer on evenings and weekends, or nightly mobile patrol if incidents are sporadic.
  • Construction site, mobile patrol with three to four visits per night, moving to a posted officer once high value materials arrive.
  • Event, one officer per hundred guests as a baseline, more where alcohol is served or there are multiple entrances.

These are starting points, not quotes. The only way to get the number right is for someone to look at the site.

What we will not do

We will not quote you more officers than the site needs. If mobile patrol solves your problem for a fraction of the cost of a posted guard, we will tell you that, even though it is the smaller invoice. A client who stays for five years is worth more than one who overpays for six months and leaves.

Tell us the address, the hours, and anything that has already happened on site. We will come back with a number and the reasoning behind it.