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Dedicated Post Coverage
A steady presence at your post for every hour you book.
On-Site Security Guards
On-site security guards provide a visible presence at your property, with dedicated post coverage, entrance attention, and patrols along the routes you choose for the hours you book.
Dedicated Guard Coverage for Your Property
Your guard holds the post you choose for the hours you book, handles visitors and vendors by your rules, and checks shared spaces, restricted areas, parking and loading zones between arrivals.
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Entrance Activity
Eyes on the doors your employees, visitors, vendors or residents use.
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Visitors and Vendors
Your sign-in, vendor and delivery rules, applied the same way on every shift.
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Closing and Lock-Up
At the end of the day, your guard sees staff out, checks the doors and secures the entrance.
Reports, Handoffs and Rounds
Your guard checks the areas you name, writes up what matters with photos and keeps your contacts informed. Shift handoffs pass open items to the next guard.
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Rounds Between Arrivals
Between arrivals, your guard walks the inside or outside route you pick, then returns to the post.
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Incident Notes
You get incident reports with photos covering what you asked the guard to watch.
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Updates For Your Contacts
Your guard reaches the people on your contact list, in the order you set.
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Shift Handoffs
At each shift change, open items and your instructions pass to the next guard, so nothing is lost overnight.
Services That Work Beside an On-Site Guard
An on-site post can share a property with a patrol route, an event team or a fire watch.
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Mobile Patrol Services
Overnight route checks of the lot, gates and fence line.
Mobile Patrol Services02
Event Security
Extra guards for guest entry on event days.
Event Security03
Fire Watch Services
Timed rounds and a written log while fire protection is down.
Fire Watch ServicesWhat a Guard’s Shift Looks Like
A shift starts with the instructions for your property: the post, the routes to check and who to contact. Through the shift, the guard stays visible at the entrance, supports visitor and vendor procedures, and makes patrol checks along the interior or exterior routes you have selected. Every guard on your post carries a BSIS guard card, and a supervisor stops in for quality inspections to see that the post runs the way you wrote it.
Relevant observations go into incident reports with photos for your named contact, and open items carry forward at the shift handoff so the next guard starts informed. If other areas of the property need regular checks, a mobile patrol can be added, and the full services list shows every option.
Where On-Site Guards Are Posted
The post location follows the property. In an office tower or campus, it is the lobby or reception desk. At a residential community, it is the main entrance or gatehouse where residents, visitors and deliveries arrive. At a distribution facility or an agricultural or processing operation, it is the vehicle gate or the dock area. Retail properties place the guard at the customer entrance, with attention on merchandise areas and closing.
Luxury residential properties and high-end buildings put extra weight on presentation. The guard greets residents and guests, follows the building’s visitor and delivery procedure and keeps the entrance orderly, while patrol checks of the garage and shared spaces happen on the route you select.
Choosing Guard Hours
Guard hours work best when they match the moments that need a person at the door. One plan covers business hours at the main entrance. Others focus on evenings, when staff leave and visitor traffic drops off, or on early mornings when deliveries arrive. Properties with activity late into the night extend the hours, and shift handoffs keep each coverage period connected to the last.
Security consulting helps match post hours to your property’s activity when the busy periods are hard to pin down. If you are still deciding between a post and a route, our guide to choosing a mobile patrol or an on-site guard compares the two.
What an On-Site Guard Costs Across the Bay Area and Monterey Bay
An on-site guard typically costs $37 to $55 an hour across the areas Vantage serves, based on 2026 market rates. Watsonville and Salinas properties sit toward the bottom of that band and San Francisco buildings toward the top, because local guard pay sets most of the rate.
Hours multiplied by the hourly rate gives the monthly cost. A Salinas cold-storage facility with a gate post from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, books 72 hours a week, about 312 hours a month. At $42 an hour, that guard costs roughly $13,100 a month. Narrow the post to the two busiest delivery windows of four hours each, and the same site books about 208 hours a month.
The rate moves toward $68 when a post combines visitor check-in, deliveries and interior or exterior route checks, when coverage runs through weekends and holidays, or when the start date is short notice. A weekday post at a single entrance with clear instructions stays near the low end. Our rate guide compares posts with patrols, events and fire watch, and the quote request form is where you send your entrances, hours and priority areas for a price on your post.
Services
Related services
A few useful answers
On-Site Security Guards Questions
What does on-site security guard coverage include?
A guard holds your post, handles visitors and vendors by your rules, walks the routes you pick and sends incident reports with photos.
Can an on-site guard cover entrances and patrol routes?
Yes. At times you set, the guard steps away from the post to walk an interior or exterior route and comes straight back to the door.
How are shift handoffs handled?
The outgoing guard passes open items, recent notes and any changed instructions to the next guard.
Who receives a guard's incident notes?
The people you name, in the order you set, with photos attached to each report.
Are your on-site guards screened and insured?
Yes. Each guard clears a background check and carries a BSIS guard card before the first shift, and Vantage provides a certificate of insurance showing its liability and workers’ compensation coverage.
Can an on-site guard work at a luxury residential building?
Yes. At residential properties the guard welcomes residents and guests, supports visitor and delivery procedures and checks the garage and shared spaces along the selected route.
Can we book a guard for a short stretch, such as a move or a construction phase?
Yes. A temporary post can often be in place within 24 hours of your request, and it runs for as many days or weeks as the job needs before you end it or turn it into regular coverage.
What information does a guard need on the first shift?
The post location, the routes to check, your visitor and vendor procedures, the property boundaries and the contact order for incident notes.