The most common question we get is "how much does a CCTV system cost?", and the honest answer is that it is not priced by camera count. Two buildings of identical size with identical camera counts can differ by a factor of two, and the reason is usually something that never appears on the equipment list.
This page publishes no prices — any number written here would be a guess about a site we have not seen. What it does is explain the eight factors that genuinely move the figure, so you can read any quote knowing what you are paying for.
1. Coverage is counted in sightlines, not rooms
A camera does not cover a room; it covers an angle of view. A 600 m² warehouse with one straight aisle may need fewer cameras than a 120 m² shop where shelving breaks the sightline. Working that out is the entire purpose of a site survey — anyone quoting over the phone without seeing the site is guessing.
2. Higher resolution is not automatically better
An 8 MP camera looks like an upgrade over 4 MP until you account for the consequences: roughly double the storage, a network and switch that must carry the stream, and possibly no benefit at all over short distances. The right choice starts from the question — do we need to notice an event, recognise a face, or read a number plate? Each has an appropriate resolution, and exceeding it is cost without return.
3. Cable routes — the biggest hidden line item
This is where quotes really diverge. Pulling cable through existing conduit is quick work. Core-drilling a concrete wall, working out of hours in an occupied building, or running at height with scaffolding are all real labour hours. Always ask: does the price assume existing containment, or new?
4. Storage: how far back do you need to go?
Retention period drives disk capacity, and disks are a tangible cost. Moving from seven days to thirty can quadruple the storage required. Work out the period you genuinely need — our storage guide has a calculator that does the arithmetic.
5. The switch and its PoE budget
Cameras are usually powered over the same network cable (PoE). Every switch has a total power budget, and exceeding it means cameras that drop out at random. Fixed cameras are fine on 802.3af; PTZ or high-power illuminators need 802.3at. An underspecified switch is the single most common cause of the "camera keeps disconnecting" fault we are called out to.
6. What infrastructure you already have
An existing patch panel, a comms room and clean power reduce cost materially. Their absence means part of the project is building infrastructure before a single camera goes up. That is not an invented extra — it is a genuine difference in scope.
7. Handover, documentation and training
A quote that includes a camera location drawing, an IP address schedule, handover of credentials, and training your staff to export a clip costs more than one that ends when the recorder powers on. The difference shows up the day you need footage and cannot retrieve it.
8. Warranty and what happens afterwards
Ask about the equipment warranty and the workmanship warranty separately — they are different things — and whether a post-installation visit is included or chargeable. An annual maintenance contract looks like an extra until you compare it with an emergency callout at open rates.
Practical takeaway: insist the quote is itemised — equipment, cable and containment, storage, network and power, commissioning and documentation, warranty. An itemised quote can be compared. A single number on a single line cannot.