So what would you expect to pay for a network dome camera? Well a good example of a quality product that is going to do the job is the Panasonic WV-SC385E network dome camera. The unit is well built , easy to install and is able to be powered over Ethernet. (POE) something that we consider to be a basic fundamental part of any network CCTV camera.

SPEC: 12 V DC, PoE (IEEE802.3af compliant)Power consumption: 12 V DC*: Approx. 1 A, PoE: Approx.

With an audio facility and 1.3 megapixels  the sound and picture quality are outstanding….. but how much is it to install?

Well we carried out a survey of what the main distributors were charging, remember these prices are not available to members of the public. The mean price of the WV385E Panasonic network camera came in at £1370 +vat. Not bad for a megapixel dome camera backed by Panasonic built quality.

What would you expect to pay to get it installed though into your premises? Well lets forget about the recording equipment for the moment and concentrate on just the dome. We will need a POE switch for starters. Firstly as a customer you need to decide if you want the installing company to supply this or whether you want your own IT department to take responsibility for the POE switch. For arguments sake lets say your own IT department supply this switch. Then of course we need a network point. Some CCTV companies will run a network in for you, some won’t , they will simply ask for a network point adjacent to the camera. So once again lets assume that the customer supplies the network point.

This leaves us with the cost of installing the dome itself. Do we need a bracket? How easy is the access? If its in a warehouse do we need a cherry picker? Do we need to make considerations for asbestos? Can the installation be done during normal working hours?

We will take the easy option here and say that its easy access and can be done in normal working hours, no cherry picker needed, no asbestos.

So the overall installation costs of the dome will need to take into consideration the cost of the engineers wages, depending how far he will have to travel its likely he will only get one job done a day, so we need to take his whole days wages into account. His travel costs of course , fuel is going through the roof at the moment. The cost of shipping the part to site. What about the companies over heads? Cost of office staff, cost of sale, cost of storage, cost of IT department, mobile phones, and the list goes on. Oh and one last thing, the installation company actually needs to make a profit, sorry guys but this is true!!!

All things being equal you would have to add 65-75% to the purchase price this would mean the cost of an installed Panasonic WV-SC385E camera would come out at £2260+vat.

There are some mitigating factors that may make this unit cheaper. The buying power of the installer may mean they get a significant discount from the distributor, or the installing company may be small with limited overheads so again they may be able to get this price down, but you will need to consider if they will be able to provide the service post installation. Lots to think about, but please bear in mind when you get a cost of a camera off the Internet this is not the price it can be installed for…….something many people forget!!