Raymate

Hi,

Just moved over and looking for a house, it seem not many people have house alarms. Can anyone recommend a company for fitting and a rough guide to the going rate.

Not bothered about it being connected to anyone like emergency services (if they indeed do that sort of thing)

R

iaink

I dont know anyone with a house alarm out here in the Boonies. No need, unless its a requirement for an insurance policy for particularly valuable stuff.

Those signs I do see tend to be for people like ADT

Bill_S

When you decide on a house, drive around the neighborhood and look for the security company signs. That will tell you which companies arethe most popular in the area. We have a basic ADT system (not in Toronto, though). The cost is not easily predictable, it will depend on how fancy a system you want, how many doors/windows need to be protected, how easy/hard it will be to run the wires. You might be able to negotiate somewhat on the upfront costs, because what these companies are really interested in is the monthly monitoring fee. With our system, ADT is monitoring the status. If the alarm sounds they call the house. If nobody answers they call the local police. If the call is answered they ask for a code word. If no code word, they also call the police. If you don't want a monitored service, I don't know if the big companies would price such a system.

MikeUK

Burglary is really rare here so alarms aren’t common

We do have house invasions, they’re slightly different in so much as they want you to be home, you’ll help them collect the valuables

Which is why the linked ADT systems or Alarm force type stuff is the choice if required

Raymate

Thanks for the reply, that's a good idea about doing a look around the area first

Purley

We have ADT too. It costs about $35 a month but we have a system where, if there is a fire and we are not home, the system calls the fire department. I chose that because I have dogs and it was more to protect them than the house. I can get the house fixed but I couldn't handle having a fire and my animals not able to get out.

It works very well. A few years ago I was outside with my granddaughter down the garden - we have a large garden - and we could hear this funny beeping noise and couldn't figure out what it was. Then all hell broke loose in the house and I knew at once what the beeping noise was because the alarm went off and at the same time I could hear the fire engines!! My stupid husband had left bacon in a pan on high (what other temperature is there to a man?) and come outside to nose into what we were doing. It was probably only 2 minutes from the time the alarm started beeping until the fire department got here!

Anyway, I think its worth the money just for this reason alone.

iaink

Low, medium, medium low. There are a few others too. Why do you ask?

MarkG

We inherited the alarm from the previous owners; not much likelihood of burglary around here, but having it dial out if the house catches fire or floods seems like a good idea. We found that the discount on the house insurance was about half the cost of the alarm monitoring, so it works out to about $0.50 a day for peace of mind.

P.S. This thread has reminded me that I have a load of bacon in the freezer... guess I'll be taking bacon sandwiches to work next week!

Sunny Dulai

hi

funny you mention ADT and house alarms as i am an ADT engineer here in the UK and moving to Toronto this month - perhaps i should come and give you a quote

pete66

Hi

I also used to work for ADT in London UK...perhaps I could under cut Sunny!

Pete

JLT

Well I am going to undercut both Sunny and Pete! Sorry Guys having been in Toronto area for nearly 12 years I feel no need to have any kind of alarm that is the great thing about our city really not too much to worry about. Although, what area of the city are thinking of moving to?

MB-Realtor

Here in Winnipeg we use AAA Alarms its owned by MTS (Manitoba Telephone Co) and monthly monitoring is $18.50. We get a 10% discount off our home insurance.

Snave

A colleague has something similar which offers a non-security related alarm. He has this connected somehow to float sensors in his sump pumps. What this results in, is if his house loses power or something and the water in his sumps raises above a certain level, ADT see the alarm and call or email him at work.

Tangram

So at least he knows his house is flooding.

Howard1944

I have full system, monotors water in sump, Smoke, security, temp in house so alarm will go off if we are away before pipes freeze(power outages).

Max, our Yorkie, is our best security, plus two very large, Beware of Dog signs.