Security system subcontractors carry overhead driven by certification requirements, programming and commissioning expertise, and the recurring revenue model that many security contractors pursue alongside project work.
These benchmarks are drawn from SPM's work with commercial security system contractors and industry data. Calculate your actual overhead rate — total G&A expenses divided by total revenue for the trailing 12 months — and compare to your revenue band below.
How to use this data: If you're above the top of the range, specific categories need review. If you're below the bottom, you may be underinvesting in systems and staff. Use the benchmark as a target range, not a single number.
Trade note for Security System Contractors: Security contractors with recurring monthly revenue (RMR) from monitoring and service contracts carry different overhead profiles than pure installation contractors. RMR operations require customer service infrastructure, monitoring center relationships, and service response overhead that changes the overhead rate benchmark. The benchmarks above apply to installation-focused operations.
Maintaining certifications across multiple manufacturer platforms — Lenel, Genetec, Milestone, Axis — involves training costs, certification fees, and continuing education that's often scattered across multiple budget lines rather than tracked as a consolidated overhead category.
System database setup, programming, and commissioning for specific projects are direct job costs — not overhead. When this technical labor gets coded to overhead, installation jobs look less profitable and overhead is artificially high.
Security contractors who operate both installation and service divisions often have service infrastructure overhead — dispatch, parts inventory, vehicle maintenance — that bleeds into the installation division's overhead rate without clear separation.
SPM tracks all manufacturer certification and training costs as a consolidated overhead category in ControlQore — giving a clear picture of the true cost of maintaining multi-manufacturer capability and supporting pricing decisions about which manufacturer platforms to prioritize.
System programming, database setup, and commissioning labor for specific projects is coded to those jobs in ControlQore — not to overhead. Technical labor that directly supports a specific installation belongs in that job's direct cost.
For security contractors with installation and service divisions, SPM builds separate overhead rate tracking for each division — preventing service infrastructure overhead from distorting installation division overhead rates.
Find out in a free 30-minute call. Josh will tell you straight where your overhead rate stands and what to do about it.
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