What is a good profit margin for a security installer?

A healthy security and low-voltage business runs 40–55% gross margin and 8–15% net after overhead. Service, programming, and small camera-add work sit at the high end; full hardware installs run lower because recorders, controllers, and door hardware make up a bigger share of the price.

Why are low-voltage service calls so profitable?

On a service or programming call the client is mostly paying for your time and expertise, and the materials are minimal. That keeps the percentage high. On a full install, expensive hardware and long cabling runs make up more of the price, so the margin percentage drops even when the dollar total is larger.

How do I calculate my real installer margin?

Take a paid job, subtract actual equipment and materials plus actual labor (real hours at a fully-loaded rate) from what the client paid, then divide by revenue. Run it on ten recent jobs to see your true average, which is usually lower and more variable across job types than owners assume.

Average Security Installer Profit Margin

What security installers actually make per job

Security and low-voltage work sits in a healthy margin band because so much of the value is skilled labor — pulling and terminating cable, mounting and aiming cameras, programming panels and access control — rather than the hardware itself.

Gross margin for a typical installer runs 40–55%. Service calls, camera additions, and programming visits land at the top because the materials are cheap relative to the time and expertise. Net margin, after the truck, tools, insurance, licensing, and the hours spent quoting and chasing payment, usually settles at 8–15%.

The thinner work is hardware-heavy installs: a full multi-camera NVR system, an access-control rollout, or an alarm package where the equipment is a big fixed cost you mark up modestly. The dollar totals are large, but the percentage compresses — and long cabling runs give labor overruns plenty of room to eat the margin.

Labor-heavy vs hardware-heavy jobs

As in every trade, one blended margin number hides a wide spread between job types.

Service, programming, and camera adds — highest margin. Minimal materials, paid on the value of your time and expertise.
Structured cabling and network drops — strong margin when priced per drop; the cable is cheap and the labor is the product.
Full CCTV / access-control / alarm installs — biggest tickets, thinnest percentage. Recorders, controllers, and door hardware are a large share of the price and only marked up modestly.

The installer who tracks margin by job type protects and grows the service and small-add work — the steadier, higher-margin half of the business — instead of chasing only the big hardware jobs that feel impressive but barely pay. See Why Contractors Lose Money on Jobs for how that comparison usually plays out.

How to find your real installer margin

Industry ranges are a starting point, not your number. Take a completed, paid job and subtract actual materials and equipment plus actual labor (real hours at a fully-loaded rate) from what the client paid, then divide by revenue. Run it across ten recent jobs and the pattern — which work carries the business and which just keeps the crew busy — becomes obvious.

Run a single job by hand with the job profit calculator, set your true rate with the hourly rate calculator, or let Fieldpaid compare quoted margin to real margin automatically the moment an invoice is paid.

Average Security & Low-Voltage Installer Profit Margin