Business CCTV Installation Costs: What UK Companies Pay in 2026
By the DC Fire & Security engineering team — installing and maintaining fire and security systems since 2010. Updated July 2026.
Quick answer
A small business site — shop, office, small yard — runs £1,295 installed for a 2-camera system or £1,995 for our 4-camera 8MP package. Mid-size premises with 8–16 cameras land between £3,500 and £8,500. Large networked estates with gates, ANPR and integrations run £30,000–£70,000. Monitoring adds £60 a month. All prices +VAT, fixed in writing before work starts.
Package prices most businesses actually pay
These are installed prices — cameras, recorder, cabling, setup, handover and a 36-month warranty. No surprises on the invoice at the end.
| System | Fits | Installed price (+VAT) |
|---|---|---|
| 2-camera starter system | Small shop, office entrance, single access point | £1,295 |
| 4-camera 8MP system | Retail unit, small office, workshop | £1,995 |
| 8-camera system | Larger premises, two buildings, yard + interior | £3,500–£5,500 |
| 16-camera networked system | Warehouse, multi-tenant building, school | £6,500–£12,000 |
| Large estate with gates, ANPR, integrations | Industrial estate, logistics site, campus | £30,000–£70,000 |
Per-camera and recorder prices
When a job doesn't fit a package we price it per item. This is the current rate card — Hikvision and Dynamic CCTV kit we buy every week, not catalogue prices.
| Item | Price (+VAT) |
|---|---|
| 1080p camera | £75 |
| 4MP IP camera | £155 |
| 8MP ColorVu turret (colour at night, built-in mic) | £215–£245 |
| 8MP AI camera with audio analytics | £410 |
| PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) 4K | £600–£1,200 |
| 4-channel NVR | £260 |
| 8-channel NVR with 4TB storage | £380 |
| 16-channel NVR | £400 |
| 32-channel AI NVR | £850 |
| Extra 4TB surveillance drive | £130 |
| Engineer day (installation labour) | £475 |
What different sectors pay
Blocks of flats usually pair cameras with door entry on the same visit. Schools get safeguarding-aware camera placement and term-time-friendly installation. Warehouses drive cost through columns, IR range and sometimes a PTZ on the yard.
| Premises | Typical camera count | Typical spend (+VAT) |
|---|---|---|
| Retail shop | 2–4 | £1,295–£1,995 |
| Office | 4–8 | £1,995–£3,800 |
| Warehouse or yard | 8–16 | £3,800–£8,500 |
| Block of flats (communal areas) | 6–12 | £2,800–£6,000 |
| School | 8–24 | £4,000–£12,000 |
| Restaurant / hospitality | 4–8 | £1,995–£4,200 |
Ongoing costs: monitoring, maintenance, storage
- Professional monitoring through an alarm receiving centre: £60/month plus £250 station setup — a human watches events and calls keyholders or police
- Annual service visit: £100, or £250/year with remote fault monitoring so we know a camera has dropped before you do
- Storage: most businesses keep 14–31 days. H.265 compression halves what the same footage used to need — see our storage guide
- No subscription required to simply record and review your own footage
Why one quote says £2,000 and another says £60,000
Camera count is the smallest part of it. What actually moves commercial CCTV money: civils and poles (a camera on a building costs a fraction of a camera on a new column with groundworks), network links between buildings, integration with gates, barriers and access control, analytics (ANPR, people counting, AI detection), and how much of the site needs coverage to evidence standard rather than deterrence standard.
We've priced everything from a two-camera shopfront to a multi-building commercial estate where CCTV ran alongside gates, access-controlled doors and networked recording — a project in the tens of thousands. Same trade, different job. A site survey sorts out which one yours is, which is why ours are free and the quote that follows is fixed.
CCTV and GDPR for business premises
Cameras on business premises watching staff or the public make you a data controller. In practice that means: visible signage saying CCTV is in operation and who runs it, a written retention policy (14–31 days covers most uses), access to footage controlled and logged, and the ability to answer a subject access request without handing over other people's images. Public-facing systems and anything with audio deserve a short data protection impact assessment.
None of this is onerous and all of it comes set up in our handover pack — signage, retention settings and a one-page policy your ops manager can actually use.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does business CCTV cost per camera?
Is CCTV tax deductible for a business?
Wired or wireless for business premises?
How long does installation take?
Can you take over or upgrade an existing system?
Do you offer monitored CCTV?
Want a number for your site?
Tell us the building and what you want the cameras to do. We'll survey it free, quote it in writing at fixed prices, and install with a 36-month warranty — SSAIB certificated, across Luton, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and North London.
Request a free quote
Free site visit · No obligation · Response within 24 hours