CCTV Installation
At Cube security we can advise you to buy the correct CCTV products and we provide independent consultancy service to make your CCTV project success. We have been involved in the CCTV industry for more than a decade and have worked with multinational companies. We can advise you to choose the correct path in deciding where to source your CCTV products for your CCTV installation projects.
CCTV installation purchase can be a very confusing task for many companies and individuals. As competition between CCTV products sellers have reached its maximum and dynamic nature of the market, it is a very difficult job to purchase the right products from the right distributors.
On the other hand customers can be quite demanding in requesting for a quick quote, therefore it is very important to draw a purchasing plan before making your purchasing order.
Lets start by listing the steps involved in buying CCTV products.
Step 1 – Comprehensive plan of proposed CCTV system
Draw a comprehensive plan of the proposed CCTV system, this includes floor plan, camera positions, what type of cameras, camera specification, cables to be used, cable run, power supplies to be used, digital recorder specification, broadband connection availability, any DVR, camera housing required, brackets required, monitor specification and other accessories required for example CCTV baluns, CCTV switches and etc.
Step 2 – CCTV equipment’s
List all equipment’s you require and their specifications in detailed, for example camera 1 should be a vari-focal camera, vandal proof, minimum 36cps IR, maximum 420mA power consumption, CCD sensor, preferred SONY chip, OSU menu, special brackets or housing required and etc. By doing this you will be able to know what you exactly want, rather than buying what a sales person advise.
Step 3 – Summary of your order
Prepare a summary of products you required, for example indoor cameras x 16, outdoor cameras x 4, digital video recorder x 1, brackets x 4, cable 500 metres, power supply 18 out puts and etc.
Step 4 – CCTV suppliers
Conduct some research and short list five supplies. Once you have short listed, call them and ask them to quote, it is advisable you take a sales person email address and and ask him to send a quotation. At the end of the day you receive a written quote, which is quite important. Do not just decide by price, always check their track records and past customers. The easiest way to do that is talk some one their past customers or web search for any negative customer’s feedback.
When selecting the a supplier ask for:
- Do you have to call their technical support on premium numbers like 0845, 0870 and etc. Most companies have their sales number as a free number and technical support or customer service as a premium number to demotivate you to call them.
- Ask them about warranty, most companies offer at least one year warranty.
- Ask them about handling fee? This is very important that some companies charge ridiculous amounts for handling return goods. For example you do not want to pay £50.00 handling charge for product worth only £25.00
- Ask them about their return policy, some companies classify their products into different categories and do not accept return on products like cables, connectors, sensors and so on.
- Ask them about any credit facility, it is very important that you have a healthy cash flow.
Step 5 – One supplier for all your CCTV needs
Try to buy all products from one place to avoid duplicated delivery charge and most companies offer FREE delivery for orders above £1000.00 and it is quite easy to build up an order for £1000.00
Step 6 – placing your CCTV order
Make sure you have your products at least 4 days before the project start to avoid any last minute rush.
We wish all the success with your CCTV products purchasing, please subscribe to our mail list for many more useful articles.