House Alarm

Cameron1590_2

Hello,

A few neighbours have been burgled recently. 

We have looked into a house alarm and the only people who have provided us with a quote for an alarm is ADT (local firms have been asked but fail to get back to us). 

We were with ADT many years ago, they were ok, not fabulous but not terrible either. 

The quote is £380 for installation and then £46 a month which covers servicing, maintenance and monitoring on their police response package. 

Any experience of what a local firm are likely to charge for monitoring etc? It’s hard for us to gauge with just a single quote to go off. 

Thanks,

C

cymruchris

I would challenge if you need monitoring these days. Many new fit alarms are 'smart' - and so will phone you/text you/notify you of anything going on at the property when you're not at home (and even when you are at home). Unless you're away for weeks at a time on a different time zone, it's not something I'd be overly worried about. The important thing is that it looks modern/maintained and is capable of making a noise. Many older alarms have very dated looking bell boxes - that in itself can be an invitation for burglars. You want to deter someone from entering your property and moving on down the road. A nice shiny modern bell box front and rear tends to be enough

£46 a month sounds quite steep as well. 

Mr.Generous

cymruchris said:

I would challenge if you need monitoring these days. Many new fit alarms are 'smart' - and so will phone you/text you/notify you of anything going on at the property when you're not at home (and even when you are at home). Unless you're away for weeks at a time on a different time zone, it's not something I'd be overly worried about. The important thing is that it looks modern/maintained and is capable of making a noise. Many older alarms have very dated looking bell boxes - that in itself can be an invitation for burglars. You want to deter someone from entering your property and moving on down the road. A nice shiny modern bell box front and rear tends to be enough

£46 a month sounds quite steep as well. 

Spot on in my opinion, Never been burgled - always fit a modern alarm. When I was actively property developing (renovating empty houses) day 1 of every job was change the locks and fit an alarm. Typically they were empty for between 3-6 months. All had tools and equipment inside. None ever broken into. Twice a property next door was broken into who didn't have an alarm. Burglers always choose the easy option unless you are a specific target for some high value goods or vehicle keys.

We have fitted a few varients, but Yale wireless are the best value and simple to fit.

HHarry

After we got burgaled I fitted an alarm.  When they came back (as they tend to do) they didn’t hang around once the alarm went off.  No monitoring needed.

Ch4rlie

You could always have a look at getting full alarm kits if you wanted to.

While it's up to you as to whether or not you go for a monitored alarm for peace of mind, I'd agree that a good alarm system for your home could be the best bet for now at at least.

There are loads of options out there like Texecom or ERA: https://alertelectrical.com/alarms-and-cctv/burglar-alarms-systems/complete-burglar-intruder-alarm-systems.html

ERA looks like it's more residentially focused: https://www.erahomesecurity.com/

They tend to be reviewed well as far as I could see.