Mobile patrol cost is set by the work on your site, not by a standard hourly rate. Two properties on the same street can get very different quotes. One needs two quick exterior checks a night. The other needs four visits, a full lock-up at 10 p.m. and someone on call for alarms. Once you know what moves the number, you can read any quote line by line and decide what you actually need.
This guide is for property managers, plaza owners and facility staff in Hamilton and across southern Ontario. It explains each cost driver, the costs every licensed provider carries, and the changes that bring a price down without leaving the site uncovered.
Why mobile patrol cost is priced per visit, not per hour
A static guard stays on one property for the whole shift, so you pay for every hour. A mobile patrol officer drives a route and covers several properties in one night. As a result, you pay for your share of that officer’s time and vehicle, not for the full shift.
That is why most providers quote per visit or per month for a set number of visits. The officer’s time on your site, the drive to reach it, and any extra duties are what you are buying. Everything else in a quote follows from those three things.
The six things that move a mobile patrol cost
1. Visits per night
This is the biggest lever. Two visits a night cost less than four, and seven nights a week cost more than five. Before you ask for more visits, look at when trouble actually happens. For instance, a yard that gets walked through after the bars close needs a visit between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. more than it needs one at 9 p.m.
Ask for visits at unpredictable times inside the window you choose. Fixed times are easy for anyone watching to learn, so they buy less deterrence for the same money.
2. Time on site for each visit
A visit can mean very different amounts of work:
- A drive-through of the lot with the lights on, a few minutes long.
- An exterior foot check of doors, gates, fences and loading docks, which takes longer on a large lot.
- An interior walk-through of corridors, mechanical rooms or vacant units, which takes longer again.
Write down exactly what the officer should do at each visit. Otherwise, two providers may quote two different jobs and the cheaper one may simply be doing less.
3. Where your site sits on the route
Drive time is paid time. A site in the middle of a busy route shares the officer’s travel with many other clients. In contrast, an isolated property means a longer drive that only you are paying for.
Our officers are dispatched from Hamilton. For example, a site in Brantford is about 40 km away on Highway 403, typically 35 to 45 minutes each way. That travel is part of the price, which is why routes with several nearby properties price better than one-off sites far from dispatch.
4. The hours and days you need covered
Overnight and weekend coverage is standard for patrol work, but some dates carry higher labour costs. Under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, an eligible employee who works a public holiday gets either regular pay plus a substitute day off, or public holiday pay plus premium pay at 1½ times their regular rate. Similarly, overtime starts after 44 hours in a work week at the same 1½ rate.
So, if you need extra visits over Christmas or a long weekend, expect those nights to price higher than a normal Tuesday.
5. Alarm response calls
Alarm response is usually priced separately from scheduled visits, often per call. It matters more in Hamilton than many owners realize. Since 2019, the Hamilton Police Service has run a verified alarm response program: police will not be dispatched to an alarm until it is verified. An on-scene witness, such as the owner, a keyholder or a guard, is one accepted way to verify it.
False alarms also cost money. The program invoices the monitoring station $169.50 ($150 plus HST) for a police dispatch to an alarm found to be false, and $84.75 for a cancelled dispatch. A patrol officer who checks the site first can save that fee and a manager’s 3 a.m. drive. However, a panel that triggers several times a week will add up quickly on a per-call plan, so fix the faulty sensor first.
6. Extra duties on each visit
Each added task adds time on site. Common extras include:
- Locking the building at night and unlocking it in the morning.
- Holding keys or access cards so an officer can enter during an alarm.
- Checking mechanical rooms, sump pumps or sprinkler rooms on a cold night.
- Asking people to leave the property and writing up what happened.
- Photos and a written report sent to you after each visit.
Costs every licensed provider carries
Some parts of a mobile patrol cost are the same for every legitimate company. Knowing them helps you spot a quote that is too low to be real.
- Licensed officers. Every patrol officer needs an individual Ontario security guard licence, and the company needs an agency licence under the Private Security and Investigative Services Act, 2005. Wages start from a legal floor: Ontario’s general minimum wage rose to $17.95 an hour on October 1, 2026.
- A compliant vehicle. Under O. Reg. 364/07, a marked security vehicle must show the word SECURITY in a contrasting colour on both sides, the front and the back, and must not carry red, blue, gold or yellow stripes outside the company’s logo. Fuel, insurance, maintenance and winter tires all sit inside the price.
- Insurance and WSIB. Licensed agencies must carry at least $2,000,000 in general liability insurance under O. Reg. 462/07, plus workplace insurance for their staff.
- Dispatch and supervision. Someone has to answer the alarm call at 3 a.m. and send the nearest officer. A provider with no dispatch desk is cheaper only until you need it.
How mobile patrol cost compares with a static guard
Our standard unarmed guard posts are priced in a band of about $28 to $45 an hour. At that rate, one guard on site for a 12-hour night comes to roughly $336 to $540, every night. By comparison, a mobile patrol plan pays for a few short visits and a share of the drive, so it usually lands well below that figure.
Still, patrol is not always the right purchase. If you need someone watching a gate all night, controlling access or staying with an impaired fire system, a static guard is the correct answer. Patrol suits sites that are empty overnight and need regular, visible checks plus a fast response when an alarm goes off.
How to lower your mobile patrol cost without losing coverage
- Put visits where the risk is. Use your incident history to pick the window, then let the provider randomize times inside it.
- Bundle your properties. If you manage several sites, one route covering all of them shares the drive time and usually prices better than separate contracts.
- Fix false alarms. A loose door contact or a dirty motion sensor can turn a per-call plan into a large monthly bill.
- Give clear site instructions. A one-page post order with keys, codes, contacts and the exact check list keeps each visit short and useful.
- Scale with the season. Add visits for holidays, construction phases or a vacancy, then step back down when the risk passes.
What to include when you ask for a quote
The more precise the request, the closer each quote will be to the final mobile patrol cost. Send every provider the same details:
- The site address and a rough plan, including gates, doors and parking areas.
- The number of visits per night, the time window and the days of the week.
- What the officer should do on each visit, and whether interior access is needed.
- Whether you need alarm response, lock-up or unlock, and key holding.
- Recent incidents, such as break-ins, dumping or people sleeping on site.
- How you want reports delivered, and who to call during an incident.
Then ask each company for its agency licence number, proof of insurance, and a sample visit report. A licensed provider should be able to show all three.
Getting a mobile patrol quote in Hamilton
StandBy Security runs mobile patrol security in Hamilton and the surrounding area, with 24/7 dispatch from 175 Catharine St S. We also cover the Niagara Region, including mobile patrol in St. Catharines. Our agency licence is #30000322, and you can check it on our licensing and insurance page.
Tell us the site, the hours and what you want checked, and we will price the visits around your real risk. Call (289) 309-3633 or request a quote online.
Reviewed by the StandBy Security operations team. Last reviewed: .