Is a mobile patrol enough, or do I need a guard on site?

It depends on what is exposed and for how long. A mobile patrol buys unpredictability and documentation at a fraction of the cost of a live post, and for a site with little of value on it that is often the right trade. Once high-value material is staged — copper before it is in the walls, appliances, finish materials, expensive equipment left overnight — the gaps between patrol visits are long enough to lose a truckload, and a live post or a monitored trailer starts to make sense.

Are camera trailers cheaper than guards?

Generally yes on a monthly basis, because you are renting equipment and shared monitoring rather than paying hourly for a person. They also cover continuously, which no patrol does. The trade-off is that a trailer sees what its cameras are pointed at and its response depends on police arriving, whereas a person on site can check a container, walk a blind corner, and make a judgment. Many sites end up using a trailer for baseline coverage and adding a live post during the high-value phases.

What gets stolen from construction sites most?

The things that are easy to move and easy to sell without paperwork: copper wire, power tools, fuel, appliances and finish materials once they are delivered, and catalytic converters cut off equipment and trucks left on site. Large equipment is stolen less often but hurts far more when it goes, and it is usually taken by someone who knew it was there.

Do I need armed guards on a construction site?

Usually not. Most job site theft is opportunistic and a visible presence is what prevents it. Armed posts cost more, carry higher insurance and liability exposure for you, and a guard's correct response to finding someone on site is to call police rather than to engage. Sites with a documented history of violent incidents are a separate conversation to have with both the guard company and your insurer.

When during the build should I start security?

Before the first delivery you would hate to lose, which tends to be earlier than it gets planned for. A site that is still excavation has little worth stealing; the risk steps up sharply the week copper, fuel, tools, or appliances arrive. Treating coverage as a fixed monthly line for the whole build usually means overpaying early and being underprotected exactly when the material lands.

How do I keep my construction site from being robbed at night?

Job site theft happens overnight, on weekends, and in the gap between when the trades leave and when anyone comes back. The things that walk are the things that are easy to move and easy to sell: copper wire, power tools, fuel, appliances, catalytic converters off the equipment. Your realistic options are a live guard on site, a mobile patrol that checks the site several times a night, or a monitored camera trailer — and they cost very different amounts because they do very different things. The right answer depends on how much is exposed and how long the site stays that way.

The three real options

A live guard on site

One or more officers physically present through the night. This is the most expensive option per night and the only one that puts a person between a thief and your material continuously. It makes sense on high-value phases — when the copper is in and not yet in the walls, when finish materials and appliances are staged, when expensive equipment sits on site — and on sites where there is already a theft history or a hostile neighbor situation. It is billed hourly per officer, so a 12-hour overnight post is 12 billable hours before anything else.

A mobile patrol

A marked vehicle that arrives several times a night at irregular intervals, walks the site, checks the gates and containers, and leaves. You are billed per visit or on a route contract rather than per hour, which makes it a fraction of the cost of a live post. What you are buying is unpredictability and a documented presence — a site that gets checked at random is a worse target than one that is empty until 6am. What you are not buying is continuous coverage: a patrol that hits your site four times a night still leaves long windows.

A monitored camera trailer

A solar or generator-powered trailer with cameras, lighting, and often speakers, watched by a remote monitoring center that can talk down an intruder and dispatch police. Sold as a monthly rental. It covers continuously and never gets tired, and the live voice-down is genuinely effective at making someone leave. Its weaknesses are the ones you would expect: it sees what the cameras are pointed at, response depends on police arriving, and a determined crew that knows the layout can work outside a camera's view. Rental terms and what counts as 'monitored' vary enormously between vendors, so read that part carefully.

Most sites do not need the same coverage for the whole build. Match the spend to the phase — heavy when the copper and appliances are on site, light when the site is a hole in the ground.

What moves the price

How many hours of darkness you are covering, and whether weekends and holidays are included. Weekends are when the long, uninterrupted thefts happen.
Site size and the number of access points. A site with four gates cannot be walked like a site with one.
Whether the officer needs to be armed. On most job sites the honest answer is no, and armed posts cost meaningfully more.
Access control duties. If you also want deliveries logged and trade access controlled during the day, that is a second post, not an extension of the night one.
How long the contract runs. A six-month site prices better per night than a two-week emergency response to a theft that already happened.
Whether the vendor supplies lighting, temporary fencing, or the trailer, and whether that is rental or included.

The cheap things that make any of it work better

Security spend works best on a site that is not making itself easy. None of this replaces coverage, and all of it makes coverage cheaper by shrinking what has to be watched.

Consolidate. Material scattered across a site needs the whole site watched; material in one locked, lit, camera-covered area needs one area watched.
Do not take delivery of copper, appliances, or finish materials before you can secure them. Delivery scheduling is a security decision.
Light the access points and the storage area. Lighting is the cheapest deterrent there is.
One gate in and out after hours. Every additional opening is another thing your patrol has to check and another way out for a loaded truck.
Mark and record equipment — serial numbers photographed and stored off site. It does not stop the theft, but it is the difference between a police report that goes nowhere and one that can.
Lock the fuel. Fuel theft is constant, rarely reported, and adds up quietly across a long build.

What to ask a company before you hire them

Have they covered construction sites specifically, and can they describe the difference between that and a retail post. The answer tells you fast whether they know the work.
For patrols: how many checks per night, at what interval, and is the interval randomized. A fixed 11pm check is a schedule for the thief too.
How is each visit documented, and do you get the report the next morning. GPS-stamped or scan-point-verified reports are the standard to ask for.
What does the officer or patrol actually do if they find someone on site. The correct answer involves calling police, not confronting.
For trailers: who is doing the monitoring, are they watching live or reviewing alerts, and what is the escalation path.
Certificate of insurance showing general liability and workers' compensation, and confirmation their officers are licensed in your state.
What the termination terms are if the site finishes early or the phase changes. Construction schedules move; your contract should be able to.

Construction site work is a specialty inside guarding, and not every company that shows up in a search does it well. These are the companies AI actually recommends, measured metro by metro:

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Questions people ask next

Is a mobile patrol enough, or do I need a guard on site?: It depends on what is exposed and for how long. A mobile patrol buys unpredictability and documentation at a fraction of the cost of a live post, and for a site with little of value on it that is often the right trade. Once high-value material is staged — copper before it is in the walls, appliances, finish materials, expensive equipment left overnight — the gaps between patrol visits are long enough to lose a truckload, and a live post or a monitored trailer starts to make sense.
Are camera trailers cheaper than guards?: Generally yes on a monthly basis, because you are renting equipment and shared monitoring rather than paying hourly for a person. They also cover continuously, which no patrol does. The trade-off is that a trailer sees what its cameras are pointed at and its response depends on police arriving, whereas a person on site can check a container, walk a blind corner, and make a judgment. Many sites end up using a trailer for baseline coverage and adding a live post during the high-value phases.
What gets stolen from construction sites most?: The things that are easy to move and easy to sell without paperwork: copper wire, power tools, fuel, appliances and finish materials once they are delivered, and catalytic converters cut off equipment and trucks left on site. Large equipment is stolen less often but hurts far more when it goes, and it is usually taken by someone who knew it was there.
Do I need armed guards on a construction site?: Usually not. Most job site theft is opportunistic and a visible presence is what prevents it. Armed posts cost more, carry higher insurance and liability exposure for you, and a guard's correct response to finding someone on site is to call police rather than to engage. Sites with a documented history of violent incidents are a separate conversation to have with both the guard company and your insurer.
When during the build should I start security?: Before the first delivery you would hate to lose, which tends to be earlier than it gets planned for. A site that is still excavation has little worth stealing; the risk steps up sharply the week copper, fuel, tools, or appliances arrive. Treating coverage as a fixed monthly line for the whole build usually means overpaying early and being underprotected exactly when the material lands.

Written for business owners by Most Recommended Security Guards, which measures which security guard companies AI assistants actually recommend in 8 U.S. metros. Nobody can pay to be on those lists. How we measure.