You’ve started a business and even have your own premises. You’ve hired the right people, you’ve got the right clients, you may even be successful.
But, how much have you thought about security?
In all, around 34% of all the burglaries that happen each year affect small businesses. In summer 2020, many small businesses suffered and went into debt due to looting.
No matter how successful your business is, sometimes you can’t avoid a worst-case scenario. If you care about the future of your business, you should strongly look into the world of security guard towers.
This guide will help you navigate that world of the security guard tower, and provide you with insight into whether or not you should buy a portable guard tower.
Why Buy a Guard Booth at All?
Before we even get to guard towers, you may be wondering what the advantages of a guard booth might be.
A good guard booth provides your security guard a 360-vantage point to spot any potential threats on the premises. It also lends an official attitude to your workspace and tells your clients and employees that safety is something that you care about. A prefabricated gatehouse is an enclosure that is positioned near a gateway or entry area to secure the premises and block unauthorized intrusions.
At Guardian Booth, we provide many customization options for any of your guard-shack needs. A more comfortable, productive space will attract the top guards in the industry, and lead to said guards paying more attention to the task at hand.
We offer services to customize your prefabricated gatehouse and to make the space more comfortable and efficient. These add-on features include extra desk space, built-in heat/cooling, vinyl protective wrap, LED spotlights, tinted windows, and more. Our customizations come with all sorts of advantages, from increased security to more comfort to customizing your guard-shack to use as a marketing tool.
With a booth of 6 x 8 or larger, we offer the option of a bathroom within the shack. This can have many pros and cons but is highly recommended for employee satisfaction when you have security personnel situated in a prefabricated gatehouse for extensive periods of time.
If all of this sounds interesting to you, you can read all about our customization options for your prefabricated gatehouse on our site.
At Guardian Booth, we believe that guard-shacks aren’t just ergonomic, militaristic structures. We understand that guard booths can be comfortable, marketable, and even fun.
All of our guard booths are prefabricated, which means we put the individual parts together in our factory and then move the booth to your premises. This saves you both time and money.
Check out our guide for the prefabricated security shack you need.
At first, tower guard importance and a guard shack may seem paranoid, but when considering the importance of security, employee morale, and potential marketing benefits, it’s a no-brainer that a guard booth should be in your plans for the future.
What Makes Guard Towers Different?
Now you understand guard booths, but why invest in a guard tower?
A guard tower is a guard booth placed on a raised platform — similar to prison guard towers. The advantage of a guard tower is that the raised position of the observation towers apex gives a security guard a wider range of vision, so they can see anybody approaching from far away. It’s no wonder people refer to this type of tower as an observation tower.
Observation towers have many parts, consisting of framing, decking, and stairs. Because of the increased height of a guard watch tower, a full-perimeter guard rail is provided to ensure the safety of the security officer. The stairs also feature handrails for additional safety.
Most guard towers are constructed with double-bar grating. All guard towers are built out of strong, galvanized steel to ensure maximum safety and durability. Steel is also eco-friendly, lightweight, and resistant to erosion.
Each tower is built to withstand inclement weather and features rust testing. All of our guard shacks have our hallmark stamp of quality and craftsmanship, and that extends to our towers as well.
Guard towers don’t just defend against intruder-threat. Due to their high vantage point, a tower guard can also spot other dangers, such as injuries and fires.
In essence, the guard tower is essentially an enhanced guard booth. With its raised height, a security tower can take a standard security guard and transform him into a highly efficient protector of your business, your employees, and your property. A security tower also shouts a loud message to potential intruders, letting them know you take security seriously, acting as a deterrent. And a portable observation tower is placed on a platform that can be easily relocated as needed.
How does a Security Tower Compare to a Guard Shack?
Though standard shacks and towers have differences in use and appearances, they offer many of the same advantages.
All of our towers are also prefabricated — which again means that they’re saving you money. Our guard booths are assembled in our factory while the tower is set up on your premises. Then we bring in a crane to lift the booth and complete the construction.
As far as observation tower plans, all of our guard towers are mezzanine floor structures. This is the standard for guard tower design.
Through our company, you still have many customization options available to help you optimize your security tower. For example, hooking up your guard tower with a phone line will allow your security guard to not only see anyone approaching the premises but to immediately alert whoever is necessary. Adding LED lights to the exterior of your security tower would allow your guard wide access to vantage points, even in the darkness. And a portable observation tower is placed on a platform that can be easily relocated as needed.
Your prefab observation tower can also be set up with cameras for even more security. This would already be useful in a booth but with the additional height of the tower, the camera would be an even more useful tool for safety. Investing in a guard tower could mean getting more out of each accessory.
Our guard towers are also portable, so you don’t need to worry about choosing the correct position right away. Investing in portable guard towers means you can try out various options with your security guard, for maximum comfort and tower security protection. A portable observation tower is placed on a platform that can be easily relocated as needed.
We manufacture ballistics-resistant booths, as well as bulletproof windows as add-on features, in case of worst-case scenarios. We also have many contacts in the security industry and can put you in touch with arms-sellers.
Though towers are much larger structures than guard-booths, working with our company ensures quality no matter what size prefabricated gatehouse or guard tower you buy.
Why You Need a Guard Tower
The COVID-19 pandemic has left many police officers busy with virus-related incidents, and the presence of protest from all sides of the political spectrum has busied them even more.
You need to protect your business, and a security tower is an excellent step in that direction.
Many businesses have already taken the step of hiring private security or designating a prefabricated gatehouse. They’ve learned that security isn’t a militaristic, paranoid measure, but a form of customer service. And that guard tower hours for security coverage should be full time. However, could they be taking extra steps?
We say yes.
A guard tower is a step beyond hiring a personal security guard because it makes the guard become part of the workspace. Giving a security guard a tower is liking giving a worker an office. You only need to read our testimonials to see that security guards find it easier to do a job from a centralized location.
Giving a guard a centralized position is important because without one they might be blind-sighted. In a guard booth, security has a defensible position to protect, and something as big as a watch-tower may even scare off potential intruders before there’s ever an issue. Some businesses have already noticed this — you may have even seen guard towers at malls.
In addition to this, a guard tower brings comfort to employees and customers. A security booth or tower creates a more optimized workstation for security, which in turn means fewer mistakes and fewer distractions.
And how do we know?
Our two founders have personal experience working in small, portable workspaces. Their own experience grants them a personal guarantee in the efficiency of their system.
If you have any questions about guard booths, consider visiting our FAQ.
Our world is rapidly changing. Your business should be prepared and ready in case things take a bad turn. This last year showed how easily that could happen. Invest in a security tower today and you won’t regret it.
Permits and Pricing
In terms of the security watch tower design and size, permit laws are different depending on where in the country you’re based. The larger build of a tower is more likely to require a special building permit.
The cost for a guard tower will be more than the cost of a standard booth due to the higher amount of materials and size. Customization also costs extra, so keep that in mind when looking at security towers for sale.
We ship for free but charge extra for expedited shipping. We do ship to Canada and Mexico, but shipping costs extra there.
We also have a multi-unit discount on purchases of three units or more.
If you have any further questions on pricing or want a quote on a security tower, get in touch with us, and visit our page on pricing.
You may be eager to rush into purchasing a security tower, but consider issues like permits and pricing before you make one.
Consider Buying a Guard Tower
Hopefully, by now this article has convinced you that the security of your business is a no-brainer.
A security booth is a strong option to enhance the efficiency of your security personnel. A guard tower can only serve to give you a greater sense of production.
If you’ve seen any guard towers for sale, you’ll know that they’re costly and large, but in our ever-changing world, a guard tower for sale will offer you a deeper sense of comfort and stability.
Stay safe, and remember that Guardian Booth has you covered for all security booth purposes. You’ll be glad to have the purchase of a guard tower checked off your list!
If you’re interested in other types of booths — like ticket booths — we do that as well! Feel free to contact us.
