A security company answering service picks up when you cannot: a live receptionist, a call center or software that answers and books. Many callers are shaken and want cameras or an alarm soon; others are planning a new build. This guide covers the options, published prices, what a security caller needs and how to set your after-hours rules. It is about booking installs, not alarm monitoring.
- When the call is about a break-in, with the owner wanting cameras up the same week, the caller dials the next company within minutes. The first answer usually wins the job.
- The busy stretch for security installers is the weeks after break-ins in the area and the fall and holiday season. Size and price any service for those weeks.
- Your options are voicemail, a live answering service or an AI receptionist. The best setup books calls into real open times and only wakes you for what you decide is an emergency.
- Late winter is for a yearly system check. The same system that answers calls can fill those weeks.
Why security and low voltage calls are hard to cover
- Calls come in waves. One break-in on a street brings several calls the same evening.
- Many come after hours. People call when they get home and see what happened.
- You are up a ladder. Running cable and mounting cameras leave no hand for the phone.
- Callers are shaken. They want a calm voice and a date, not voicemail.
Voicemail is where many security and low voltage jobs quietly go to a competitor. Count your own missed calls for a week, then run them through the free missed call calculator to see the jobs and profit at stake.
When the phone rings for security installers
Most callers are homeowners after a break-in nearby, new homeowners and small business owners, who want someone they can trust in the house and a clear price. Others are property managers, small business owners and HOAs, and electricians, locksmiths, realtors and home builders who pass your name along.
| Month | Pace | What callers want |
|---|---|---|
| March | Get ready | Spring moves |
| May | Busy | Move-in season |
| June | Busy | Summer travel and empty houses |
| September | Get ready | Business upgrades |
| October | Busy | Dark evenings |
| November | Busy | Package theft and holiday travel |
| December | Busy | Holiday travel and gifts |
In late winter the phone slows down, so a plan priced for the busy months is mostly wasted then.
Your three options
For security installers, the deciding question is who answers when the call is a break-in, with the owner wanting cameras up the same week. There are three ways to cover it.
Voicemail costs nothing but books nothing, so text every missed caller back fast. A live service puts trained people on your line, answering in your name; they handle unusual calls well and cost the most. An AI receptionist answers or texts back at once, at any hour, offers open times from your schedule and passes anything unusual to you.
What answering services cost
Some answering services post their prices. Here is a sample, with identical columns for each:
| Service and plan | Price a month | What is included | Past the allowance | Per-person fee | Card payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby Starter (live) | $250 | 50 receptionist minutes | Not listed on its pricing page | Not listed | Payment collection listed as a feature |
| Rosie Professional (AI) | $49 | 250 minutes | Not listed on its pricing page | Not listed | Not listed |
| Dialzara Business Pro (AI) | $99 | 220 minutes | $0.45 a minute | Not listed | Not listed |
| Koira Grow (AI receptionist and text-back) | $249 | Receptionist, text-back, booking by text, site, estimates, invoices, campaigns | Usage at cost: texts, call minutes and emails | None: same price with one person or fifteen | Stripe 2.9% + 30¢, plus Koira keeps 1% |
Ruby says there are no extra fees for activation, onboarding, setup, customization or coverage at certain times. Every published plan we found, plus a worked example, is on answering service cost.
What a security and low voltage caller needs
- After a break-in. Is everyone safe, what they want covered. Book the soonest visit your rules allow and flag it.
- Cameras. Home or business, how many and where. Book a visit.
- Alarm system. Current setup and whether they want monitoring. Book a visit.
- Doorbell or smart lock. Price from your list and book.
- Builder or business. A wiring schedule. Flag it, since these repeat.
- Existing customer. A camera offline or a system question. Book a service visit.
Put this list on one page, along with your rule for what gets you out of bed. A live service reads it as a script; software follows it as a playbook.
What to ask before you sign up
- Can it book into my real schedule, with the drive between stops in mind?
- What happens around the weeks after break-ins in the area and the fall and holiday season? Ask how the bill changes when calls double.
- Does it answer in my business name, and in Spanish if I need it?
- What will it never do? Quoting prices you did not set and promising dates should be off limits.
- Contract or month to month, and is there a per-person fee?
How Koira's AI receptionist handles security and low voltage calls
Koira's AI receptionist answers on your number and, when you cannot pick up, texts the caller back in about a minute with three open times from your day. One reply books it, and the visit lands on your day with the address and the problem. A caller who wants a video doorbell install can be offered times from your list; a question about a full camera and alarm system for a business comes to you to price. It works in English or Spanish, sends anything it cannot price to you as a question, and at night wakes you only for the emergencies you defined.
Koira Grow is $249 a month plus usage at cost: texts, call minutes and emails with nothing added. Adding a helper never adds a seat fee; the price is the same with one person or fifteen. Times offered by booking by text fit the stops you already have.
Use the quiet weeks
Late winter is quiet. Write to property managers and businesses, offer yearly checks to past customers and follow up open quotes. Koira's maintenance plans bill the yearly check on Front Office. See how a security company runs on Koira and the plans.
Getting more calls to answer
An answering service catches the calls you already get. To get more of them, see SEO for security installers, security and low voltage marketing ideas and where security and low voltage leads come from.
Questions contractors ask
Do security installers need an answering service?
If calls go to voicemail in the evening, yes. People call after a break-in and book whoever answers.
Can an AI receptionist book security installs?
Koira asks the questions you set, prices small jobs from your list and books visits for systems. It never gives security advice you did not write.
What does a security company answering service cost?
See the table above for published plans from live and AI services and Koira's Grow plan, with the same columns for each.
Is there a contract with Koira?
No. Koira is month to month. Check each answering service's own terms before you sign.
Sources
- Ruby: plans and pricing, checked October 9, 2026
- Rosie: pricing, checked October 9, 2026
- Dialzara: AI receptionist pricing, checked October 9, 2026
- Koira: pricing, checked October 9, 2026
