By Greg Allan, tradesman and creator of Data First Coaching
Why does licensing feel like a hidden cost for a security technician's business?
Most security technician businesses sort out their licence when they start up, then put it out of mind. The certificate goes on the wall or in a folder and the attention goes back to the next install. But a private security business carries renewal dates, record-keeping and reporting that sit inside every job, not beside it. A CCTV fit-out for a small shop, an alarm and access control contract for a commercial tenant, or a monitored intercom system on a strata building all carry the same background cost of staying licensed to do the work at all. When that cost is not built into what the job is quoted at, the business can look busy and compliant while the actual margin on install and service contract work quietly disappears.
What licence does a security technician need to install CCTV, alarms and access control in New Zealand?
A business that installs, services or removes security devices such as cameras, alarms, access control systems or intercoms for payment needs a private security business licence under the Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Act 2010. The Act defines a security technician in these terms, and the licence covers the business carrying out that work, not only the person who owns it.
Applications go to a Licensing Authority, a role the Governor-General appoints by warrant on the recommendation of the responsible Minister, with people holding that office required to be experienced barristers or solicitors, under the same Act. The Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Act 2010 also sets out how an individual applies for a licence, and once a licence is issued, the licensee must send the Licensing Authority a return at regular intervals confirming the business is still operating the way the licence allows.
That makes a security technician's licence an ongoing obligation, not a document filed away once and forgotten.
Does the electrical cabling in a security install need its own registration?
Often, yes, if the cabling or network wiring crosses into what counts as prescribed electrical work. The Electrical Workers Registration Board (EWRB) registers and licenses electrical workers to protect public safety, and its prescribed electrical work guidance says only individuals who are registered and hold a current practising licence from the Board are authorised to carry out or supervise that work.
This matters to security technicians doing cabling and network work as part of a camera, access control or alarm install, because some of that work can sit inside the Board's definition of prescribed electrical work rather than outside it. The EWRB's own electrical installer pathway recognises security systems installation experience as relevant when assessing an overseas-trained applicant, which shows how closely the two trades sit together. The Board's notice on prescribed classes of registration sets out the classes of registration and the work each one is authorised to do, which is the place to check whether a specific cabling job on a security install needs an EWRB-registered person on it.
Do the technicians on the tools need their own certificate as well as the business licence?
Often yes. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment notes that the sector covered by the Act, which includes security technicians, requires that companies employing these workers must be licensed and the workers must obtain Certificates of Approval and wear identification badges. So the obligation sits at two levels: the business holds the licence, and the individual technician working under it holds their own certificate.
For a security technician business with more than one installer or service tech, that means two sets of paperwork to track, not one, and both need to stay current for every CCTV, alarm or access control job the business takes on.
This is general information, not legal, tax or employment advice. Check your own situation with the body named here or a qualified adviser.
What does staying licensed actually cost the business, and how should that show up in pricing?
Staying licensed costs a security technician business time and money that rarely gets counted job by job: renewal fees, the yearly return, training to keep certificates current, and the admin of tracking who on the crew holds what. If that cost only gets added up once a year, it usually gets absorbed rather than priced, and CCTV, alarm and access control jobs end up carrying less margin than the quote suggested.
An AI agent, which is software that does a job the way the owner would, with their prices, wording and rules, can hold the renewal dates, certificate records and training costs against the business's own job data, so the true cost of being licensed shows up in what a commercial or strata job is actually priced at. That is a data first way of pricing: instead of guessing at overhead once a year, the business can see what licensing actually costs against what each job earns, and let AI agents keep that picture current instead of relying on someone remembering to check a wall calendar.
Where can you check the current rules?
- Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Act 2010: the Act covering private security business licences, Licensing Authorities and the definition of a security technician.
- Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Act 2010, updated version: how an individual applies for a licence.
- Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Act 2010, definitions: the legal definition of a security technician and a private security business.
- Electrical Workers Registration Board Annual Report: the Board's role registering and licensing electrical workers.
- EWRB prescribed electrical work guidance: who is authorised to carry out prescribed electrical work.
- EWRB electrical installer pathway: recognising security systems installation experience.
- EWRB notice on prescribed classes of registration: the classes of registration and what each is authorised to do.
- MBIE case for adding security guards to Schedule 1A: Certificates of Approval and identification badges for individual workers.
How does Data First Coaching approach this?
Data First Coaching, created by Greg Allan, starts by looking at what a security technician business actually spends keeping its licence, registrations and certificates current, set against what each CCTV, alarm or access control job is priced to earn, through the Trade Business Intelligence. That is often where the real problem sits, not in the install itself but in overhead that never made it into the quote. Greg asks owners “What is your method? Like, what is your method of doing things?” because a licence obligation left to memory is not a method, it is a hope. The how, built from the owner's own data, is worked through inside the Academy, with members, because the Trade Business Intelligence is powered by every member who is open minded, innovative and willing to share.
