If you are pricing manned guarding for your site in 2026, expect to pay somewhere between R8,000 and R28,000 per guard per month, depending on what you actually need. That is a wide range, and the difference between the bottom and the top is not luck. It is the brief.
This piece breaks down what each tier actually buys you, what hides inside the price, and where most procurement decisions go wrong. No fluff.
The quick answer: what you should expect to pay in 2026
For a 24-hour static guarding post in South Africa, typical 2026 monthly pricing looks like this:
| Tier | Typical monthly range (per post) | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Unarmed Grade C/D | R8,000 to R12,000 | Static guard, PSIRA Grade C or D, gate or reception, basic radio |
| Unarmed Grade B | R12,000 to R15,000 | Better-graded officer, supervisor visits, proper post orders, written daily report |
| Armed Grade B/A | R15,000 to R20,000 | Firearm-competent officer, psych-cleared, integrated with armed response backup |
| Industrial / specialist | R18,000 to R25,000 | Specialised site (mining, port, petrochem), site induction, MHSA or ISPS protocols |
| K9 / control room | R22,000 to R28,000+ | K9 unit, control room overlay, biometric access, fully reported shifts |
Those numbers are for a single 24-hour post, which means three 8-hour shifts (or two 12-hour shifts) covered by rotating officers. Not one guard standing for 24 hours.
If you have only one shift to cover, divide accordingly. Daytime-only retail guarding for a 12-hour shift typically lands between R5,500 and R8,000 per month.
What actually drives the price
Five things move the number more than anything else.
1. PSIRA grade of the officer
Grade A guards are the most experienced and most expensive. Grade E is entry-level. The PSIRA wage determination sets the minimum hourly rates by grade, and that flows directly through to your monthly bill. Asking for Grade B coverage and paying Grade D rates is the single most common pricing trick in the industry.
2. Armed or unarmed
Armed officers require firearm competency, psych clearance, ongoing training and additional insurance. Expect a R4,000 to R6,000 monthly premium per guard for armed cover versus unarmed equivalent.
3. Hours and shift pattern
A 24-hour post needs at least three officers in rotation (often four, to cover leave and absence). Night shifts attract a premium under the wage determination. Sunday and public holiday shifts cost more again. If you only need a guard from 18:00 to 06:00, your price drops sharply.
4. Supervisor overlay
A guard without a supervisor checking on them is a guard sleeping at 3am. Proper supervisor overlay means a roving supervisor visits the post on randomised intervals through every shift, signs the occurrence book, checks the post orders are being followed and reports back to management. That overlay costs R1,500 to R3,500 per month per post, but it is the line item that separates a working brief from a brief on paper.
5. Control room and reporting
If your guards are sending their reports to a real control room with 24/7 dispatch capability, that is part of what you are paying for. If they are sending reports to a WhatsApp group, that is also part of what you are paying for. The two are not the same. Real control room overlay adds R800 to R2,000 per post per month.
What a R12,000 guard looks like versus a R20,000 guard
At R12,000 per month for a 24-hour post, you are paying the absolute minimum of what the PSIRA wage determination allows for an unarmed Grade C or D officer, with no supervisor overlay built in, no real control room, and a thin profit margin for the company. The company has to make money somewhere. Usually that somewhere is leave cover (replacement guards paid less than the regular), uniform charges to the guard, or skipped supervisor visits.
At R20,000 per month for the same post, you should be getting: an armed Grade B officer with firearm competency, supervisor overlay with randomised visits, a control room receiving daily occurrence reports, an electronic patrol-monitoring system (the wand or app that proves the guard moved through patrol points), structured leave replacement on the same grade, and a named operations manager you can call.
Both prices exist in the market. Both are technically PSIRA-compliant. They are not the same service.
Where most procurement decisions go wrong
Three traps repeat across every RFP we see.
Trap one is comparing headline rates only. Two companies quote R14,500 a month per post. Company A includes supervisor overlay, the company B explicitly excludes it. Same headline, different service. Always read the line items, not the summary.
Trap two is ignoring leave replacement. Every guard takes leave. If your contract does not specify who covers their post and at what grade, you will end up with a Grade D officer covering a Grade B post when your regular guard is away. The company saves money. You do not get what you ordered.
Trap three is buying on price alone. The cheapest quote you get is almost always the company that has skipped the supervisor overlay, paid the guards below market, or built leave replacement out of the price. They will deliver for the first three months, then turnover will spike, supervisors will go missing, and you will spend the next six months trying to switch.
How to compare quotes properly
Before you sign anything, demand that every quote breaks down the monthly cost into these line items:
- Officer salary cost (per grade, per shift pattern)
- Supervisor overlay (visit frequency and reporting)
- Equipment and uniform allowance
- Communications (radio, phone, control room link)
- Leave replacement structure (which grade replaces which)
- Public holiday and night shift premiums (explicit, not bundled)
- Management fee (the company’s margin, named)
If a company refuses to break it down or tells you that the total is the total, that is your answer. Walk away.
What this means for your budget
For most South African business owners, body corporates and property managers in 2026:
- A standard office park reception with a single 24-hour unarmed post will cost R12,000 to R15,000 per month done properly
- A residential estate with two access points and one roving patrol will run R35,000 to R55,000 per month
- An industrial site with armed guarding and supervisor overlay will run R18,000 to R25,000 per month per post
- A retail store with a single daytime loss-prevention officer will run R6,000 to R10,000 per month
Anything materially below those numbers is either a corner cut somewhere, or a quote that will escalate in month four. Anything materially above is either a specialist site (mining, port, petrochem) or a company taking margin you do not need to pay.
Frequently asked questions
Why are some quotes 30% cheaper than others for the same brief?
Almost always because the cheap quote excludes supervisor overlay, has weaker leave replacement structure, or is paying the guard below market and assuming high turnover. The headline price wins the tender. The service collapses by month three.
What is the difference between PSIRA Grade B, C and D?
Grade D is entry-level guard training, Grade C is the standard for most static and patrol work, Grade B requires more training and is typical for armed officers and supervisors, Grade A is senior supervisor and management level. The PSIRA wage determination sets minimum hourly rates by grade.
How much does adding armed response on top of guarding cost?
For most residential and small commercial sites, armed response as a backup layer to existing guarding costs around R400 to R900 per month per site. That gets you panic response, alarm dispatch and incident escalation. It is added on top of your guarding cost, not instead of it.
Should I pay for K9 or control room overlay?
K9 only if you have a specific risk profile that benefits from canine deterrent (large industrial perimeters, high-value asset sites). Control room overlay is almost always worth the extra R800 to R2,000 per post per month because it is the difference between your guard reporting to a real operations centre and your guard reporting to a WhatsApp group.
Can a security company quote me without visiting the site?
They can. They should not. Any quote written without an on-site risk assessment is guesswork, and you will pay for the guesswork in month three when the brief turns out to need more guards, more hours, or a different post structure. A proper company will run a free site assessment before quoting.
What does Bolwa typically quote for guarding?
Bolwa Security Services operates across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, with most of our static guarding work falling in the R12,000 to R22,000 per month per post range depending on grade, armed cover and site specifics. We always do a free site assessment first, then return a written quote inside 48 hours with every line item named.
Get a Written Guarding Quote (No Sales Pitch)
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