Securing the home during construction phase

[Kristin Feerst]

Hi Everyone,

I am getting to close on my first BRRRR project next week and it will be a full gut rehab of the property. The area is "up and coming", but still has a long way up to go. I definitely want to secure the property and ideally would have some sort of alarm system in place during the construction phase. During demo I'm obviously not as concerned, and until there are windows there isn't much point....

...but once we have windows and a roof and start putting in new materials I feel there is a real risk of a break in since it will be obvious from the construction dumpster in front what's going on, that and the new windows :-)

What does everyone recommend for security systems?  I've heard Simplisafe is good, but what do I do prior to having electrical in the house?  Can Simplisafe or another system run off battery?  What about need for wifi?  We obviously wont have that till late in the project. 

Thanks in advance for the help!

Cheers, 

Kristin

[Jim K.]

@Kristin Feerst

Renovations are prime robbery targets because the thieves know that no one's around and also because they know that power tools can be easily resold.

I'm a bit confused about the power question. You are going to have power to the site to do any sort of BRRRR, except perhaps for 1 or 2 days for a board upgrade to happen (this will be one of the first tasks planned). You'll need that power. The guys doing the renovating aren't going to be running their power tools off a big mobile generator except under special circumstances.

SimpliSafe runs off regular electrical power with a short-term battery backup. You need to plug the base station into a power outlet. You don't need Wi-Fi to the run the system -- calls go out to first responders through an integrated cellular connection. That's one of the reasons why we use it for our rehab properties. However, SimpliSafe also sells cameras that can be integrated into the system. You will need Wi-Fi if you choose to use those cameras.

I am an enthusiastic supporter of this system versus others because it delivers exactly what it promises with no hidden surprises, not because the company is paying me to promote it.