When deciding to purchase a surveillance system for your home or business it is generally a good idea to determine whether you want to design it yourself or delegate the responsibility to someone else. There are pros and cons to going with either route and its best to have an idea of what these are before going forward.
Surveillance System Costs
Cost doesn’t necessarily mean the price of the products alone. In fact cost can include such factors as your time, the product prices, and costs of hiring someone. So first off you need to consider the value of your own time and determine whether it is more valuable to do it yourself or have someone install it for you.
Surveillance System Knowledge – Installation
Be honest with yourself when it comes to this topic. How technically savvy are you and will you be able to install and purchase the equipment when it comes time. If you are a fairly adept and knowledgeable person when it comes to the tech side of things; then you may feel a good level of comfort when installing your own surveillance system. On the other hand if you’re more like the people who can’t adjust the VCR clock and still have issues learning to send an email; then it will probably cause you more of a headache than necessary, and you should look into hiring a professional.
Surveillance System Knowledge – Design
The previous consideration also applies to designing the CCTV system. If you have the ability to pick out the proper surveillance equipment and to determine what CCTV products you need; then by all means go ahead. Otherwise it may save you time and money to have a professional do it for you.
As an additional note however there are some smaller pre-made systems available on the market and at that point the issue would be more on the installation side of things rather than the design.
A Few Pros/Cons Summarized
Professional Installation and Design
Pros
1. Save yourself from wasting time and creating headaches by having a CCTV installer design and implement the system.
2. Have constant support if something should fail.
3. This can be very beneficial for larger systems with lots of components that could take a long time to implement.
Cons
1. Cost may be higher than they would be if you purchased and installed the system yourself.
2. Having to wait on someone else to fix a problem with the system if it occurs.
Self Installation & Design
Pros
1. Cost will be cheaper than they would be if paying someone to do the work for you.
2. You will be able to troubleshoot your surveillance system without having to rely on someone else.
3. Great option for smaller budget systems such as in homes or small businesses.
Cons
1. Having to pick out the right equipment and determine how to install each piece on your own.
2. Less immediate support available for fixing problems.
Ultimately it comes down to a time/cost benefit analysis when you decide whether to design and build a surveillance system on your own or not. You will have to determine which is more valuable to you in the long run. Is it your time? If so then you will probably want to hire a professional to install your system. If it is a cost issue however it will most likely be a more financially wise choice to do a bit of research and build and implement the system yourself.