Design and consulting

Solution studies

A solution study answers a specific question before money is committed: how to secure a new warehouse, whether an existing camera system can be extended, what a hotel needs to open on schedule. It contains the requirements, the options considered with their trade-offs, a recommended design, and a budget estimate with its basis stated.

We base studies on a site visit wherever one is possible. Drawings don't show the sun in a lobby at 4 pm, the corroded fence posts, or the network cabinet that is already full.

Security assessments

A security assessment looks at a site as an attacker or an auditor would. Our method:

1. Context: what the site holds, who uses it, what has happened before, and any requirements set by authorities, insurers or the owner.
2. Site inspection: perimeter, entrances, vehicle routes, critical rooms, lighting, by day and, where it matters, by night.
3. Systems audit: camera views tested against what they should show, access control user lists and door behaviour, alarm zones, recording retention, network exposure.
4. Findings: each one rated by risk, with a practical recommendation and an indicative cost.
5. Roadmap: what to fix now, what to plan for next budget, and what to accept.

Many findings cost little to fix: a camera re-aimed, a door closer adjusted, former staff removed from the access system, default passwords changed.

How a design stage runs

The stages are the same for a villa or a campus; only their depth changes. Timing is agreed at the start and depends on the size of the site and how quickly information reaches us.

1. Brief: the objectives, the budget range, the programme and who approves what.
2. Survey: site visit, existing systems, cable routes, power, network and environmental conditions, recorded with photos.
3. Concept: the options with their trade-offs and a budget range, reviewed with you before detail is drawn.
4. Detailed design: drawings, calculations, door and device schedules, specification and BOQ.
5. Review and issue: coordination with the architect, the electrical and mechanical designers and the IT team, comments closed out, then the design is issued for tender or construction.

Each stage ends with a review meeting and a written record of decisions, so a change of mind later is a visible change of scope and not a misunderstanding.

What we need from you

The design is only as good as the information behind it. Early in the work we ask for:

• Architectural drawings (plans, sections, ceiling heights and finishes) in a CAD or PDF format, or a site visit if none exist.
• Existing system information: layouts, equipment lists, user lists and access to the administrators.
• Operational requirements: who enters where and when, how long recordings must be kept, who watches the system and from where.
• Any rules set by the authority, insurer, landlord or your own policy.
• The network and power arrangements of the building, and the contact for the IT team.
• A named decision-maker, so comments arrive as one answer and not five.

Where something is missing, we write the assumption down and mark it for confirmation instead of guessing silently.

Specifications and BOQs

A good specification lets several contractors price the same thing. Ours define performance requirements (pixel density per view, door fail modes, retention days, autonomy times), name acceptable manufacturers where the client requires it, and set the testing and documentation each contractor must deliver. The bill of quantities is built from the drawings, so quantities can be checked.

How vendor-neutral specifications work

A vendor-neutral specification describes what the system must do and prove, not which product must be bought. It lets several contractors price the same requirement and lets you compare their offers fairly.

• Performance first: for example a minimum pixel density at a given distance (see our note on pixel density), a retention period, a door fail mode, a battery autonomy time.
• Open standards: ONVIF for cameras and recorders, OSDP for readers, SIP for voice, IEEE 802.3 PoE for power. These keep you free to add or replace parts later.
• Acceptable products: more than one manufacturer where the market allows it, and a clear process for proposing an equivalent.
• Ownership: administrator rights, licence terms and configuration files belong to you. Per-device licences and recurring fees are stated up front so that they appear in the price and not after handover.
• Proof: the tests, records and documents the contractor must deliver before the work is accepted.

Where you already run a platform and want to stay on it, we write the specification around that platform and say so openly.

Tender and construction support

We can evaluate tender returns on technical compliance, review material submittals and shop drawings, attend coordination meetings, and witness testing on the client's behalf. When a contractor proposes an alternative product, we compare it against the specification line by line rather than accepting "equivalent" on trust.

Reviewing contractor submittals

Between award and installation, the contractor submits the products, shop drawings and method it proposes. This is where the design is either protected or quietly diluted. We review each submittal against the specification:

• Datasheets compared line by line with the required performance, with a compliance table for anything that differs.
• Shop drawings checked against the design drawings and against the other trades' coordination drawings.
• Power, PoE, storage and bandwidth calculations repeated for the products actually proposed.
• Licences, firmware versions and interfaces checked, including fire alarm and lift interfaces.

Each submittal is returned as approved, approved with comments, revise and resubmit, or rejected, with the reason written beside it. The log of submittals and dates is kept, so the client can see where time was spent.

Design only, or design and build

Design can be bought on its own, or together with installation and maintenance. Neither is better in every case. The table shows what changes.

Because the design is written to stand on its own, a client can start with design only and decide on the installer afterwards without redoing any work. For the other services see installation and commissioning and maintenance.

What you receive

Design questions we hear often

Do I need a design if I already have a contractor?

An independent design gives you a document to measure the contractor against: the same specification, drawings and test list. It is most valuable before the contract is signed, when scope and exclusions are still negotiable.

How long does a design take?

It depends on the number of buildings, the quality of the drawings and how fast comments come back. A villa or single floor can take days; a multi-building site takes weeks. We give a programme once we have seen the drawings.

Can you design around the system we already have?

Yes. We survey what exists, record what can be kept, and design the extension or migration to work with it. Keeping a sound platform is often the cheapest answer.

How reliable is the budget in a design?

The budget is built from counted quantities and states its basis and exclusions. It is an estimate for planning; firm prices come from tender returns or from our own offer after the survey.

Do you design outside the large cities?

We work across Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Khobar, Makkah, Madinah and the other regions. Remote sites are designed with their access, power and communication limits in mind.

Systems we design most often include video surveillance, access control, intrusion and perimeter detection and power continuity. The note on fail-safe and fail-secure locks shows the kind of decision a design settles in writing.