Construction and Security

Planning sites with security efforts in mind

By Anthony Gardner

Securityin the self-storage business has undergone a dramatic evolution. No longer arepadlocks and a chainlink fence enough to keep burglars out of a facility andaway from tenants' belongings. Prospective tenants may not always ask specificquestions, but they are certainly looking at the services you offer to protecttheir valuables.

Your security considerations must span from the planning stage through toyour grand opening and beyond. This article will cover potential pitfalls anddescribe how to plan security that will draw tenants and repel criminals. Evenmature and established facilities will find dozens of valuable tips andprofessional security strategies.

Initial Planning

Location is everything. Select a site that has great visibility from thepublic road, passing freeway or highway. This is not only a great way toshowcase and advertise your new facility, but it also inhibits potentialburglars from sneaking around your site unseen.

As with all construction, an affordable and attractive building requires askilled general contractor (GC). I have seen self-storage projects that exceedtwice their scheduled time and budget due to the inexperience or inability of aGC. The GC will select the other trades and vendors that will construct yourfacility; this includes the electricians and possibly your security vendor.There are some great contractors across the country, and I have worked with manyof them. Do your research at this stage; your overall profitability and yourtenants' happiness will depend heavily upon it.

You need to get everything on blueprints before the contractors and vendorshave been chosen, and well before construction begins. The GC will usually takecare of all the construction permits. Confirm with the GC that he hasfamiliarity with your local codes. For example, low-voltage permits are requiredin some counties and not others. It was just a few months ago that one of mylargest clients ran into problems in Dade County, Fla. They had not securedtheir low-voltage permits and had to pay heavy fines and redo sections of theirwork.

Avoid change orders and extras whenever possible as they can cause yourconstruction costs to skyrocket. This means you and your GC should geteverything onto the plans. Any trade/vendor, particularly a security vendor,that is an afterthought can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars in extrafees once your building is nearing completion. The big killers are conduit andelectrical capacity. Including more conduit or electrical capacity from theget-go adds very little to the overall job price. But adding just one conduit ormore circuits and electrical capacity can cost thousands of dollars worth ofchange orders. A little more planning now will save a lot of headaches later.

Landscaping and Lighting

Landscapingis often an overlooked part of construction. Let's examine this from a securitypoint of view. Large trees and bushes visually block your facility fromprospective tenants and provide places for thieves to hide in wait for tenants.Trees are rarely a good choice because they can quickly grow too large for thelandscaping of your site. Keep bushes and hedges trimmed low and keep the numberof trees to a minimum.

Lighting is often an afterthought, too. A well-lit storage facility isimportant for the safety of your tenants and minimizes vandalism. Make sure theentrance gate and offices are spotlighted. These areas are the first places yourtenants see. Hallways or corridors should have sufficient lighting to illuminatewalkways and the storage units.

For energy-conscious owners (and you all should be), I recommend puttinghallway and corridor lighting on a motion sensor, so electricity is only beingused when needed or when someone is moving about. This is another good way for amanager who lives on-site to be able to tell when someone is on the premisesafter hours. A light coming on late at night could indicate someone lurkingaround your facility.

Security Systems

Pay careful attention to your electric security options. Storage security hasmatured rapidly over the last few years, and some solutions can even become anactive source of income. Some companies specialize in one field of security,such as software, access controls, video surveillance or door sensors. Theobvious choice is to select a company that caters to all of the above. The fewervendors required, the easier your installation and ongoing maintenance.

Look at the record of the security vendors you are considering. How long havethey been in the business? What security options do they offer? How manyfacilities have they secured with the type of system you want? What is the levelof customer satisfaction with their products and installation? Ask them for anearby facility where you can view the security installation and overallappearance. Talk with the owners or managers of the site about the system.Question its ease of use for tenants and management.

What types of security components should you include at your site? What doyou really need to keep your site and tenants safe? Have a consultation withyour security vendor. Together you can determine where to concentrate oremphasize security and what is needed most. Security options include:

Individual Door Alarms

There are two technologies with door alarms: wired and wireless. The correctchoice will depend on the layout of your site and which phase of constructionyou are in. There are advantages and disadvantages to both as listed below.

Wired--Pros

Wired--Cons

Wireless--Pros

Wireless--Cons

The most vulnerable part of a wired security system is the alignment of thedoor magnet. This is the primary cause of false alarms. Rather than atraditional bracket-mount magnetic alarm contact, you can use a door-latchcontact. These are fairly new devices that show good promise but lack the trackrecord to guarantee performance.

Another method for wired systems, albeit more expensive, is to have the doorcontacts mounted flush into the ground. This is very reliable, but quiteintrusive to the infrastructure of the building. It is time-consuming to eithersaw-cut the concrete after the slab is poured or form the hundreds of smallholes that need to be in place during construction (plus running all theconduit).

Wireless comes in two varieties: narrow band and 900 MHz. Narrow band is abetter choice for cavernous metal hallways. The metal surfaces act as mirrors toprovide extraordinary area coverage. The 900 MHz variety uses brute force and isbest suited for cement structures. Sites with both types of structures will needto be analyzed to determine the correct technology. Regardless of the chosensystem, wired or wireless, select a security vendor that has proven experiencein the field and installations you can visit before buying.

Access Controls

Create a logical flow of traffic throughout your facility. If you plan onhaving multiple access gates, consider making one an "entrance only"and the other "exit only." This will accomplish two things: It willprevent bottlenecks of people trying to come in and go out of the same gate, andit will provide one point of entry to monitor.

Keypads for gate entrance and exit, elevator control and access doors havebeen a standard for storage security for decades. New keypad features are nowavailable for tenant services and property management. Gone are the days of asmall featureless keypad that just lets a tenant in and out of a facility. Now,when a tenant comes to your site, he sees a screen display that welcomes him byname. He can also use a built-in intercom to summon the manager. An extremelypopular feature is the ability for delinquent tenants to make payments at thekeypad using a credit card.

Sirens and False Alarms

Sirens can create a love/hate relationship between managers and tenants. Onthe one hand, they quickly and effectively indicate a break-in for a particularunit; on the other hand, they can be very annoying to tenants if they soundoften, especially due to false alarms. What causes a false alarm? There are twokey considerations:

Is it really a false alarm? When a tenant enters an access code at the gate,elevator or door, the system proceeds to disable his sensor so no alarm eventhappens when the unit door is opened. If the tenant follows, or tailgates,another tenant into the facility, the system cannot know the tenant is onsite.Therefore, that space is still armed. When the tenant opens the space, the sirensounds. This scenario is very common and can cause grief to the tenant andmanager. With any alarm system, some tenants may need to be reminded how to usetheir security protection.

Was the door-alarm sensor installed properly? This is something that needs tobe addressed during construction and installation. There are two parts to aunit-alarm sensor: the actual sensor and a magnet. The magnet is installed onthe door and the sensor is installed next to it on the doorframe. If the gapbetween these two components is misaligned or too wide, then false alarms willoccur. Outside units are especially vulnerable to a bad installation as highwinds shift the door in its tracks.

Sirens can be placed on each floor and/or in exterior locations. You mustbalance your desire to scare away intruders with the need of nearby shops andhomes for quiet. The above scenarios describe legitimate alarm soundings thatwill be perceived as false alarms and disruptive to other businesses. Telephonedialers are less intrusive to your neighbors, but can result in expensiveresponse calls if faulty installation allows normal door play to cause"false" alarms. Spot check the installer's work by trying to shack aclosed unit door to cause a false alarm.

Security Controllers

The controller is the brain of your security system. Whether you only have asingle access point or a total security solution with all the bells andwhistles, you will have a centralized source to control and monitor everything.Controllers come in two varieties: hard-coded and PC-based.

A hard-coded controller is a stable, featureless box that has minimal usersettings and expandability. PC-based controllers reside on the other end of thespectrum. These are jam-packed with features, and most can be easily customizedand upgraded. For example, a good PC-based controller can specify which sirensreact to which door events. PC-based controllers are similar to your officecomputer. They depend on a Windows operating system and have vulnerable movingparts. Both systems should easily integrate with your management software orwork as a stand-alone system. The newest controller systems are Linux-baseddedicated systems. They have no moving parts yet provide all the features of aflexible PC controller, plus the stability of a hard-coded unit.

Video Cameras

A typical self-storage facility contains a maze of hallways and driveways.These hidden areas are a natural place for surveillance cameras. The mainentrance gate and office should be monitored at all times. Those cameras shouldbe highly visible to serve as a marketing tool and crime deterrent. To increasevisibility, use an auto-panning camera system. The next most important areas tomonitor are the elevator lobbies and exterior access doors. Since these are onthe protected side of your facility, static cameras are acceptable here.

By this time, you will have anywhere from six to 16 cameras. Rather thanhaving a separate monitor screen for each camera, you should use a videomultiplexer to display several cameras on one screen simultaneously. Multiplexermodels are available to share four, nine or 16 cameras. The 16-camera versiondivides the monitor screen into squares too small to be useful. If you have ahigh quantity of cameras, it is better to have two monitors, each with anine-camera multiplexer.

Use a large monitor or television to show off your video-camera coverage. Irecommend using one or two 19- to 25-inch monitors mounted to a wall bracket inthe rear corner of the office. This allows the tenants and manager to see yoursecurity monitors with minimal effort.

The office should have two VCRs. One is a dummy VCR that is publicly seenbehind the manager, while the real VCR is hidden in the back room or otherlockable space. You will need one real VCR for each multiplexer in use at yoursite. Rather than using a common six-hour VCR, select a 40-hour, time-lapsesystem that can record without frequent tape changes. For about a 25 percentincrease on your video budget, you can have a motion-sensitive,digital-recording VCR. This provides recording from only the cameras that areseeing movement. As an added bonus, the digital picture quality is superior toits analog counterpart.

Site Graphics

Site graphics display a graphical layout of your facility. The most commonsystem uses a large monitor mounted to a wall bracket in the rear corner of theoffice, opposite the surveillance monitor. Each storage unit is shown in a colorthat represents its current status. A vacant unit may appear green, while a unitopened by a tenant may show as blue. With one glance, your manager can see thestatus of every unit at your site. The key consideration is to plan for thesite-graphics monitor to be large and visible to your tenants. This is apowerful sales tool and conveys a strong sense of security.

Motion Sensors

Motion detectors enhance your site security to also include hallways andoffice space. These are typically passive infrared (PIR) devices that detectmotion and transmit an invisible signal back to your security controller. Somevendors offer wireless tabletop motion sensors your tenants set in their boat orRV. Tabletop units can be easily added or removed and rented to your tenants.Tabletop PIR has the added advantage of not requiring any installation. Justselect some free counter space in the RV and aim the PIR unit at the door.

Another form of motion detector is the perimeter beam. This is a chain ofinvisible, laser-like beams that encircle your facility. If an intruder passesthrough any beam, the interrupted light signal triggers the controller to soundthe alarm. Birds or guard dogs can also trip these light beams, so their useshould be balanced against the risks of false alarms.

Protecting Your Protection

Your keypads, door alarms and cameras provide strong protection for yoursite, but they can come under attack by a determined thief or careless tenant.Consider the following:

When it comes to planning your site security, a few hours spent now will saveyou valuable time and money later. A secure and profitable site will not happenby accident. It requires your participation in the planning and preparationstage. Take the time to ensure the planned security matches your business goals.

Tony Gardner is director of security installation for QuikStor Security& Software, based in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He specializes in commercial andindustrial security. For more information, visit www.quikstor.com.