CCTV Maintenance

Yes, that's the majority of our maintenance work. We support Axis, Dahua, Hikvision, Bosch, Hanwha, Avigilon, and most other major manufacturers, including legacy DVR systems. We start with a baseline inspection so we know exactly what we're working with.

Most commercial sites are best served by quarterly visits. Sites in harsh environments (coastal, dusty industrial, food-production) benefit from monthly or bi-monthly. Sites with low-stakes coverage can drop to bi-annually or annually, though we'd flag that as a minimum, not a recommendation.

That's exactly what we're there to find. Failed cameras get diagnosed during the visit and quoted for replacement on the spot. Most camera failures are repairable; some need full unit replacement. Either way you'll have a clear quote before any work proceeds.

Drive monitoring is included; drives themselves are quoted separately when replacement is needed. We can flag a drive as at-risk months before it fails, giving you time to budget. Drive replacement is typically a one-hour job once on site.

Every contract is quoted from a site survey rather than a fixed price list, because a single-camera office and a multi-building industrial site need very different things. The main variables are the number of cameras, the number of sites, how often you want us on site, the age and accessibility of the equipment, whether you want parts cover included, and any response-time commitment. We explain how each of these affects your quote in the section above.

There is no law that says you must hold a maintenance contract. However, if your cameras capture areas beyond your own boundary you are a data controller under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and you are expected to keep the system working as intended, retain footage only as long as needed, and be able to produce usable footage on request. A system that has quietly stopped recording, or that overwrites footage sooner than you think, exposes you to both compliance and insurance problems. Maintenance is how you evidence that the system does what you claim it does.

Scheduled visits cover the full checklist above: physical camera and housing cleaning, image and focus checks, recording and retention verification, NVR/DVR health, firmware and software updates, and a user-account audit. You also get priority reactive cover between visits at reduced-rate callouts, optional remote NVR health monitoring, and a written report with photos after every visit. Parts can be included or quoted as needed, depending on how you want the contract structured.

A well-installed commercial system typically gives seven to ten years of service, though recorders and hard drives usually need attention sooner than cameras. Coastal and industrial environments shorten that. Regular maintenance extends usable life by catching seal failures, drive degradation and IR decline early, and it tells you honestly when a system is reaching the point where replacement is more sensible than repair, rather than letting it fail at the worst moment.

Three ways. First, retention: we verify the recorder is actually keeping footage for the period you have documented in your privacy policy, neither less (so the evidence exists when you need it) nor more (so you are not holding footage longer than your lawful basis allows). Second, integrity: we confirm timestamps are accurate and footage is exportable in a usable format, which matters if it is ever requested as evidence or under a subject access request. Third, access control: our user audit removes accounts for leavers and old credentials, so only authorised people can view footage. We document all of this in the visit report.

Yes. Multi-site contracts are common for us, including estates where each site has a different recorder, camera count, or even manufacturer. We schedule visits per site, can stagger them through the year, and report on each site separately while giving you one point of contact and one renewal. Remote NVR monitoring is particularly useful across multiple sites because it flags a problem at any location without waiting for the next visit.

Yes, and it is something we do regularly when a previous installer has gone quiet or stopped trading. We start with a baseline inspection to document the real condition of the system, what is recording, what has failed, what is end-of-life, and what undocumented changes have crept in over the years. From there we quote any catch-up remedial work separately and bring the system onto a normal schedule. You are not penalised for inheriting someone else's neglect.

In most cases, yes. Plenty of older Axis, Dahua, Hikvision and generic DVR systems run reliably for years after the manufacturer stops issuing firmware. We keep them clean, monitored and recording, source compatible spares where they still exist, and tell you plainly when a component can no longer be supported safely, for example when a recorder can no longer receive security patches. We will never push a full replacement you don't need, but we will be honest about when end-of-life equipment has become a liability.

Yes. Every visit produces a written report with photographs covering what was checked, what was found, what was done, and any recommendations. This is exactly the kind of documentary evidence insurers and auditors look for, and it gives you a dated record that the system was maintained and working, which is far stronger than simply asserting it after an incident.

A one-off callout fixes a problem you already know about. A maintenance contract is designed to stop you ever reaching that point, and to find the faults you can't see, a camera that stopped recording weeks ago, a drive about to fail, footage that isn't being retained. Contract sites also get priority response and reduced-rate callouts if something does go wrong between visits. If you only need a single fault resolved, our CCTV repair service covers that without a contract.