How Much Does an Alarm or CCTV System Cost in Perth?

Many installers will not put a price on their website. I do, because "how much?" is the first thing everyone wants to know, and a fixed price is easier to compare than a call-out. Every price on this page is supplied and installed, includes GST, and comes from the same price list as my quotes.

How much does an Ajax alarm cost in Perth?

These are my Ajax packages, supplied and installed:

• Apartment Security: $1,280. 1 × Ajax Hub 2, 1 × MotionProtect, 1 × DoorProtect, 1 × SpaceControl.
• Home Essentials: $1,460. 1 × Ajax Hub 2, 2 × MotionProtect, 1 × HomeSiren, 1 × SpaceControl.
• Home Protection: $1,960. 1 × Ajax Hub 2, 3 × MotionProtect, 1 × HomeSiren, 1 × StreetSiren, 2 × SpaceControl.

Extra detectors, sirens, keypads and key fobs are priced individually on the Ajax alarm systems page, so you can see what adding a room or a window costs before you call. The packages use the wireless Ajax line. Wired commercial systems are always quoted to the site.

How much does CCTV installation cost in Perth?

Camera prices depend mostly on how many cameras and which camera. These are my packages:

• Dahua 6MP Smart Dual Light (our standard camera): 4 cameras from $2,000, 6 cameras from $2,810, 8 cameras from $3,560.
• Dahua 6MP TiOC PRO Deterrent (active deterrence): 4 cameras from $2,580, 6 cameras from $3,680, 8 cameras from $4,720.
• HiLook 6MP Turret (budget option): 4 cameras from $1,800, 6 cameras from $2,530, 8 cameras from $3,190.
• HiLook 6MP Strobe Turret (budget deterrence): 4 cameras from $2,280, 6 cameras from $3,250, 8 cameras from $4,150.

Every camera package includes:

• Recorder: 4-channel for 4 cameras, 8-channel for 6 or 8
• 4TB surveillance hard drive
• Cabling and installation of every camera
• Recorder setup, and the app set up on your phone before we leave

The full comparison of the cameras, with their datasheets, is on the CCTV installation page.

What the published prices assume

The camera prices are for a single-storey home in the Perth metro area; a pitched roof with clear access for cabling; cameras mounted under the main roof line. Some jobs are always quoted to the site: commercial sites, double-storey homes, steel-framed roofs, skillion or tight roof spaces (for example full of ducting), and any job that needs a scissor lift or elevated work platform. [A] Commercial jobs are covered on the business alarm and CCTV page.

Those are the jobs where the cabling takes longer, not where the equipment costs more, which is why a double-storey home, a steel-framed roof or a flat roof changes the price.

What changes the price

• Which camera. Dahua is my standard, with very good picture quality for a little more than HiLook. The Dahua TiOC PRO adds a light, a siren and two-way talk to scare people off. Ajax cameras are my second choice, Hikvision is available on request, and HiLook is the budget option. The long version is in which cameras I install and why.
• 4K. Both Dahua cameras come in an 8MP version for $90 a camera more. It is worth it where you may want to zoom into a driveway or an entry.
• Room to grow. Six or eight cameras come with an 8-channel recorder. If you want four cameras now and more later, ask for the 8-channel recorder from the start.
• The building. Double storey, a flat or tight roof space, or work at height means more labour.
• An old alarm. Removing an old system is priced per job. You can remove it yourself, but if any old detector cables are to be reused, every cable has to be labelled so I know which detector it belongs to.

Keeping your existing cameras

If you already have cameras, they can often stay. Send me the model number from the label on the camera or from the app, and I will tell you whether it works with the new recorder or system.

Ongoing costs

• A backup SIM for the alarm (optional). An Ajax SIM is $120 a year, paid to me annually, or you can use a prepaid SIM of your own. Why it matters is covered in what happens when the power or internet goes out.
• Batteries. Ajax detectors and key fobs run for years on a battery, then the battery is replaced.
• Monitoring (optional). See below.
• No subscription for the cameras. They record to the hard drive in your recorder, not to someone else's cloud.

Monitoring

I do not sell monitoring, so I have no reason to push it. Most of my home customers monitor the alarm themselves: the Ajax app alerts their phones and they decide what to do. A monitoring company watches the alarm for you and calls you when it goes off, for a monthly fee. If you want monitoring, I connect the alarm to the monitoring company of your choice, and you deal with them directly.

Deposit, payment and warranty

• Deposit: 20% on acceptance of any quote over $1,000, with the balance on completion. [A]
• Changing the date: you can move the date once, free, with at least three business days’ notice. With less notice, a $330 rebooking fee applies. [A]
• Warranty: my workmanship is warranted for as long as the manufacturer’s warranty on the equipment I install, from a minimum of 12 months up to 5 years. The equipment I supply also has a 12-month on-site service warranty. [A]
• On top of that: your rights under the Australian Consumer Law cannot be excluded. If something I supplied fails, you call me, not the manufacturer. [B]

I do not quote an hourly rate for security work. Every job gets a written, fixed-price quote, so you know the total before anything starts. How the job runs from the quote to the finished install is covered in from quote to install day.

Are Dahua cameras safe? (the question about China)

A customer asked me this recently, and it is a fair question. In 2023 the federal government ordered Hikvision and Dahua devices removed from Defence and other government buildings after an audit found almost 1,000 of them. [C] That decision was about national security sites.

For a home, the practical risks are the ordinary ones: a weak password, firmware that is never updated, and a recorder left open to the internet. This is what I do on every camera system:

• Strong, unique passwords on the recorder, never the defaults.
• Current firmware at installation.
• No port forwarding on your modem. The app connects through Dahua's own connection service instead of a hole in your firewall.

If the brand origin still matters to you, say so and I will quote another brand. HiLook is made by Hikvision, so it does not answer that concern.

Rebates

Some Perth councils and the WA Government offer rebates on security equipment, and WA small businesses can claim up to $2,000 back on CCTV. See Perth CCTV and security rebates and the WA small business CCTV rebate.

Common questions

Sources

1. Dextel terms and conditions: clause 5 (deposit), clause 16A (postponing a booked job), clause 22 (warranty), clause 29.8 (package prices). dextel.com.au/terms.php
2. ACCC, Repair, replace, refund, cancel. www.accc.gov.au
3. Senator James Paterson, Marles orders removal of Chinese cameras (10 February 2023). www.senatorpaterson.com.au