Alarm system installation, set up around how you live

Every alarm system has the same basic parts. What makes one work better than another is where they go and how they're set up.

• The control panel and keypad, where you arm and disarm the system.
• Indoor motion sensors, which pick up movement in a room or passage.
• Door and window contacts, which trigger when something is opened.
• Outdoor beams and sensors, which pick up movement in the yard before anyone reaches the house.
• Panic buttons, fixed or on a remote, for when you're home and need help.
• A siren, inside, outside or both.
• A communicator, which sends the alarm signal off-site so someone else knows about it.

Indoor sensors only go off once someone is already inside. They're essential when you're out, but at night you want to know sooner. Outdoor beams and sensors cover the yard, the side passages and the back of the house, so the alarm goes off while someone is still outside your walls or windows.

Most homes are best served by both, set up in zones. At night, you arm the outside and the empty rooms while you move freely in the bedrooms. When you leave, you arm everything. An electric fence on the wall adds a layer further out still, and it can feed into the same alarm panel.

False alarms are the quickest way to end up with a useless alarm. After the third night the siren goes off for nothing, people stop arming it, and the neighbours stop looking up.

False alarms usually come down to a few things: pets moving through a sensor's view, curtains moving in a draught, outdoor sensors pointed at trees or the street, and weak batteries in wireless parts. We choose and place sensors with those in mind. Tell us about your pets, how big they are and where they sleep, and we'll plan around them.

Many false alarms come from people, not sensors: a wrong code, a door opened before the alarm is off, or a domestic worker who was never shown the keypad. At hand-over, we take everyone who uses the alarm through it, not only the person who signed the quote. If a sensor keeps giving trouble afterwards, you phone Pieter or Marco.

A siren on its own relies on someone nearby hearing it and doing something. On a busy street, or when you're away for the weekend, that's a lot to hope for.

With 24-hour off-site monitoring, the alarm signal goes to people whose job is to watch for it, day and night. Because DBS fits the alarm and provides the monitoring, there's one company to call if something isn't working, not two companies blaming each other. You can add CCTV cameras to the same setup, so there's footage to look at when the alarm goes off.

We don't publish prices, because every property is laid out differently. These are the things that change the quote:

• The size and layout of the property, and how many zones it needs.
• Indoor sensors only, or outdoor beams and sensors too.
• Wired or wireless parts, depending on how the building is built.
• Pets, and the type of sensor they need.
• Panic buttons, fixed or on a remote.
• Linking the alarm to an electric fence and to off-site monitoring.

Already have an alarm? Tell Marco the make of the panel. He'll tell you straight whether it can be kept and linked, or whether it's time for a new one.

DBS Security is a family business with 25 years in the trade, owned by Pieter de Bruyn Jr and his son Marco. They handle every quote themselves, and a specialised technical team does the installation. Get a free quote for an alarm system, or see the areas we cover.