Site Security · Calgary
Guards on your site, not cameras on a wall.
Copper, tools and appliances walk off Calgary sites overnight and on long weekends. Post the hours you need covered and the reviewed guarding companies who work your area reply.
Free for subcontractors · Reviewed by hand · Commercial only
About this trade
A building mid-construction is a warehouse with no doors. The copper is on the floor, the rooftop units are craned in and unlocked, and the appliances land weeks before the tenant does. Most losses on a Calgary commercial site happen overnight, on a long weekend, or during a shutdown — the exact hours nobody is scheduled.
This is a guarding trade: people posted on site, doing patrols and writing them down. It is not the same list as the crews who install your cameras and card readers. Syndex keeps the two separate so you can hire either one, or both, without one being sold to you as the other.
Common project types
What Calgary GCs hire security guards / site security subs for.
Overnight site guarding
Static post from end of shift to first trade in. The standard answer to overnight copper and tool theft.
Weekend & shutdown coverage
Long weekends, Christmas shutdown, and stat holidays — the longest unwatched stretches on any schedule.
Mobile patrol
Scheduled drive-by checks with a logged visit. Cheaper than a post; not the same deterrent.
Gate & access control
A person checking trades in and out, controlling deliveries, and keeping a record of who was on site.
Post-incident coverage
Short-term guarding after a break-in, a fire, or a vandalism claim, until the site is closed back up.
What to know when hiring
Four things GCs check before they sign.
Ask for the Alberta licence — the company's and the guards'
Security work in Alberta is licensed under the Security Services and Investigators Act: the business holds a licence and every guard on your site holds an individual one. Ask for both numbers, not just the company's.
Guarding and electronic security are two contracts
Cameras, alarms, and access control are low-voltage work. A guarding company may recommend them, and some subcontract the install — but the install crew and the guard on the gate are different trades, priced and scheduled separately.
Price the window, not the phrase
"24/7" and "6pm to 6am plus weekends" are different money by a wide margin. Write the hours you need — including stat holidays and shutdown — into the request, and compare quotes against those hours.
Get the patrol log in writing
A documented patrol log and incident report is the paper your insurer asks for after a loss. Confirm what the guard records, how often, and how you receive it before the first shift.
How Syndex works for this trade
Post the site, the hours and the start date. It goes to every reviewed site-security member who covers that part of Calgary, and you see the companies that reply with what they can staff, with their contact details.
Frequently asked
Security Guards / Site Security hiring — questions GCs ask first.
- Do I need a licensed security company for a construction site in Alberta?
- Security services in Alberta are licensed under the Security Services and Investigators Act, covering both the business and the individual guards. Ask any company you are considering for both licences.
- Is site security the same as the low-voltage security trade on Syndex?
- No. Site security is guarding — people posted on site. Cameras, access control, and alarms are Low Voltage / Security, a separate trade with a separate list of subs.
- Can I book guards for a single long weekend?
- You can post any window. Whether a company can staff a three-day post on short notice depends on its roster, and the replies tell you that rather than a sales call.
- Is mobile patrol enough, or do I need a guard on site?
- A patrol logs a visit; a post is a presence. Sites with loose copper, unlocked rooftop units, or delivered appliances usually justify a post. Say which you want in the request so the quotes compare.
- Are Syndex security subs WCB-verified?
- No — not all of them, and the card tells you which. A person reviews every company before it joins the matching pool, but a WCB clearance letter is not a condition of joining. Where each sub stands is shown on the card beside their reply: the date on their letter when we hold one, and plainly that we don't when we don't. You decide who to call.
Guides
How to get a WCB Alberta clearance letter
For subcontractors: how to request a clearance on your own account, the screen where most people get stuck, how long a letter covers you, and what a denial means.
Read the guideWCB personal coverage for owners and directors in Alberta
If you own the company, WCB does not cover you unless you buy personal coverage. What it pays, what it costs in your trade, and why a GC hiring a small crew cares.
Read the guideCGL insurance for subcontractors: what a GC will ask for
What commercial general liability insurance covers, what it leaves out, and the four things a GC will ask about it before you start on a commercial job.
Read the guideGetting paid on a commercial job in Alberta: prompt payment, holdback and liens
The deadlines Alberta's Prompt Payment and Construction Lien Act puts on every link of the payment chain, what a GC has to do if the owner does not pay, and the lien deadline you cannot fix later.
Read the guideWhat a GC checks before hiring a subcontractor in Calgary
The seven things a general contractor checks before letting a new trade onto a commercial site in Calgary, which of them are the law, and how a sub can have all of them in one folder.
Read the guideT5018: reporting what you pay subcontractors
Who has to file a T5018, what goes on the slip, the GST rule people get wrong, and the deadlines and penalties, from the CRA's own pages.
Read the guideConstruction hours and the noise bylaw in Calgary
The hours Calgary's Community Standards Bylaw allows noisy work, the sound limits near homes and downtown, the fines, and how to get a noise exemption permit for night work.
Read the guideHow to find commercial work as a subcontractor in Calgary
Public work is advertised and private work is not. How to see which GCs are bidding on public jobs, how to get onto the bid lists for private ones, and what to have ready before you call.
Read the guideSubcontractor or employee? How the CRA and WCB decide
Calling someone a sub does not make them one. The CRA's six factors, WCB Alberta's own test, and a quick check for a crew lead paying helpers.
Read the guideGST for subcontractors in Alberta
Alberta charges 5% GST and nothing else. When the $30,000 small supplier test makes you register, why registering early pays, and what a GC needs on your invoice.
Read the guideWhat to put in a subcontract: a checklist for Alberta trades
A verbal deal can be a contract in Alberta, but it settles nothing when memories differ. What to find in a subcontract before you sign it, and how to turn a phone call into a record.
Read the guideCity of Calgary business licence for contractors
Who needs a Calgary contractor licence, the 2026 fees, the surcharge for crews based outside the city, and the renewal trap that makes you start over.
Read the guideHow to get a COR or SECOR in Alberta
What a COR proves, when a SECOR is enough, the four steps from Certifying Partner to certificate, and how to keep it from expiring.
Read the guideHow to register a construction lien in Alberta
Step by step: the deadline, what goes on the Statement of Lien and the affidavit, what it costs, the overclaim rule, and what an owner can do once it is on title.
Read the guideHow to open a WCB Alberta account as a contractor
Who has to register, the 15-day rule when you hire, the $200 that unlocks your first clearance letter, what it costs by trade, and the annual return.
Read the guideCommercial building permits in Calgary: how long they take
The City's published targets and actual averages for commercial permits, why incomplete applications are what makes them slow, and who pulls which permit.
Read the guide
Ready to post?
See who says yes.
Post the job once. It goes to the reviewed members in that trade who cover your area, and you see the ones who reply.