Guards, Cameras, or Both? The Hybrid Model for Condo Security

Most condo boards eventually face the same question. The security line is one of the largest items in the budget, owners want fees to stop rising, and someone suggests replacing the overnight guard with cameras. Someone else points out that cameras don't open the door for the paramedics.

Both are right. The answer for most buildings isn't guards or cameras. It's guards where a person is needed, live-monitored cameras where they aren't, and one company running both so nothing falls between them. Here's how that model works.

What a guard actually does

A condo guard's shift is a mix of tasks that need a human and tasks that don't. Greeting residents, checking in contractors, signing for packages, responding to a noise complaint, helping a resident who's locked out, escorting emergency services to the right floor, and making judgment calls when something is off: those need a person on site.

But a large part of the same shift, especially overnight, is watching. Watching the parking garage, watching the loading dock, watching the amenity floor, watching the same lobby feed that a camera is already recording. Guards are expensive, and they're least effective at exactly this kind of repetitive vigilance, because everyone's attention fades at 3 a.m.

What live monitoring does better

Verkada cameras with live monitoring put that watching job with a monitoring centre instead. The cameras use person and vehicle detection to flag activity in areas that should be empty. An operator sees the alert within seconds, looks at the video, and decides what to do. If it's a resident taking out the garbage, nothing. If it's someone tailgating into the garage, the operator uses the talk-down speaker, which is loud, specific, and unsettling to someone who thought nobody was watching. If that doesn't work, police or a mobile patrol are dispatched with a verified description.

One operator can do this for many cameras across many buildings, which is why it costs a fraction of a guard hour. And unlike a guard, the operator is never on a break, never distracted, and never alone in the lobby with a problem.

The hybrid model

Put the two together and a typical building looks like this:

• A guard or concierge during the hours residents need a person: usually days and evenings, sometimes with a shorter overnight presence in larger towers.
• Live-monitored Verkada cameras on the garage, entrances, loading area, and amenities, armed for monitoring during the hours the guard isn't there, or continuously as a second layer.
• A mobile patrol that can be dispatched by the monitoring operator, so there's still a physical response overnight.
• Access control integrated with the cameras, so a door held open or a fob used at an odd hour shows up as an alert with video attached.

The result for the board is fewer guard hours, better coverage, and a system that produces a written record of every alert and every response. For residents, the lobby still has a face in it during the day, and the garage is watched all night by someone who can speak.

What about the money

Every building is different, but the arithmetic is usually straightforward. An overnight guard shift, seven nights a week, costs the corporation tens of thousands of dollars a year. Live monitoring of the same building costs a fraction of that per month, and the Verkada cameras can be leased so there's no draw on the reserve fund. Many boards find they can reduce guard hours by a third or more, add live monitoring and a patrol, and still come out ahead.

What to ask before you change anything

If your board is considering this, get answers to these questions from any provider:

1. Who is watching the cameras, and are they licensed security personnel in Ontario?
2. What happens between an alert and a response, and how fast?
3. Can the operator speak through the camera, or only watch?
4. Does the same company run the guards, so shifts and handoffs are coordinated?
5. What does the board receive each month: a report, incident logs, video?

KingsGuard has run guards, live monitoring, and mobile patrols for condos across the GTA and Kitchener-Waterloo since 2015, so we can answer all five from one contract.

Want to see what the hybrid model would look like for your building? Ask us about remote monitoring for your condo and we'll come back with a plan and a price.