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San Francisco security guard cost calculator: plan a post or a patrol route
Put rough numbers on a San Francisco security plan before anyone visits the property. Choose an on-site officer or mobile patrol stops, type in your schedule, and this security guard cost calculator gives you a monthly range to plan around.
Run the numbers on guard coverage or patrol stops
Pick the type of coverage, fill in a handful of numbers about your week and the calculator shows a monthly range for an on-site officer or a patrol route. Change any field and the range moves with it, which makes it easy to test a lean plan against a fuller one before you talk to us.
The numbers behind a guard estimate
Three inputs drive the guard side. Start with how many officers need to be on duty at once: one at a residential front desk, say, or two when a lobby and a garage entrance both need a person. Next comes how many hours a day the post runs, then how many days a week.
The calculator turns those into guard-hours for the month. A shift from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. counts the same as an eight-hour day post, so a night schedule and a day schedule with matching hours land on the same estimate. Shift premiums for overnight, Saturday, Sunday and holiday work belong to the quote we write after seeing the schedule.
Not sure which hours to type in? Our security coverage hours planner breaks a week into business hours, after hours and round-the-clock coverage by property type. Enter the schedule it points you to, then trim or add hours until the range fits both the budget and the risk.
When a post needs a vehicle
Plenty of city posts are covered on foot. A lobby, a front desk, a building entrance or a single garage level is well within walking reach for one officer. Others are not. A construction yard that fills a whole block, a warehouse with a long truck court, or two parking garages a few streets apart all ask the officer to drive between checks.
Tick the vehicle box for those sites and the calculator adds the vehicle to every guard-hour in the estimate. Leave it unticked for compact properties, and the range covers the officer alone.
Pricing patrol stops by the minute
Patrol is priced by the time an officer spends on your property, so this side of the calculator asks for stops per night, minutes per stop and nights per week. Each stop counts as at least five minutes. A quick check of a gate and a couple of doors sits close to that floor; a pass through a parking structure, a loading area and a back fence line takes more time and earns more minutes.
Patrol fits properties that sit quiet after closing, where the trouble shows up in the small hours: an office building once tenants leave, a closed retail block, a storage yard behind a locked gate. A posted officer fits places where people need someone there all shift. Our guide to patrol or a full-time officer walks through that choice, and a daytime post can hand the overnight hours to patrol stops. Every stop is timestamped in the log, and anything an officer finds is written up with photos.
What moves the written quote
The calculator covers hours, stops and the vehicle box. The quote we write for you also reflects how your property actually works, and these details shift it the most:
- What the officer does on post: visitor sign-in, package and courier checks, interior rounds or dock control, set out in your post orders
- The size and layout of the property, plus any recent break-ins, car prowls or trespass
- Holiday coverage and posts that run every hour of the week
- The number of posts staffed side by side
- Whether an armed officer is needed, which the calculator leaves out and the quote covers; our armed security guards page explains when that step fits
- One-off dates, such as an event or a fire system outage, which are quoted separately from a monthly plan
Turning the range into a firm monthly rate
Use the range to plan and to compare options. The exact rate is set after a free walkthrough, where we look at the entrances, garages and quiet hours behind your numbers and confirm the posts or stops that cover them. Our walkthrough prep guide lists what to bring so the quote lands closer to right the first time.
When the estimate looks right, the button under the result sends it with a quote request, so your officers, hours, days and patrol stops reach us together. Terms are month to month, which lets the plan grow before a busy season and shrink once the shift reports show the property has settled down.
A few useful answers
Common questions
Do night and weekend shifts cost more in the calculator?
Every guard-hour counts the same in the calculator, whatever the time or day. Any premium for overnight, weekend or holiday shifts is set in the written quote, once we know your real schedule.
How many minutes should we enter for each patrol stop?
Enter the time a stop needs to cover what matters on your property. A gate and door check sits near the five-minute minimum, while a walk through a garage, loading area and fence line needs more.
Can the calculator price an armed officer?
The calculator covers unarmed officers and mobile patrol. Armed coverage is priced in your written quote after the walkthrough, once we have looked at what the post needs to handle.
Is the calculator result what we will pay?
Treat it as a planning range. The rate in your written quote is set after a free walkthrough of the property and the duties the officer will carry.
Can we send our estimate along with a quote request?
Yes. The button under the result sends your estimate and the numbers behind it with a quote request, so we start from your plan.
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