A conversational guide for security company owners who are tired of feeling like their business is a bucket full of holes

Running a security company is not supposed to feel like running a never-ending charity for burnt overtime, no-call-no-shows, and supervisors who mysteriously disappear at 2:00 AM. Leakage is not mysterious. It is predictable. It is measurable. And it is absolutely fixable.

The challenge is that operational leaks rarely show up as a single dramatic failure. They show up as dozens of tiny cuts that bleed margins, morale, and the owner’s sanity.

Let us walk through the five most common leaks I see inside guard companies, why they happen, and the specific actions you can take this month to tighten things up.

Leak #1: Recruitment Waste That Eats Your Budget Alive

If you feel like you are paying Indeed’s rent, you probably are.

Most guard companies lose money long before an officer ever puts on a uniform. The hiring pipeline is so inefficient that the company ends up paying repeatedly for the same candidate, the same ad, and the same broken process.

The math is brutal:

• If you spend 2,000 to 8,000 dollars per month on ads

• And 70 percent of applicants never show up

• And another 20 percent drop off after onboarding

• And only a tiny fraction remain for more than 90 days

You are not “recruiting.”
You are funding a revolving door.

The truth: Recruitment waste is not a people problem. It is a system problem. When you stop treating hiring as an emergency and start treating it as a production line, your costs drop and your stability rises.

Leak #2: Supervision Drift (The Silent Margin Killer)

You know the moment: You check a post and discover that supervision “has been stopping by regularly,” which apparently means “once in March.”

Supervision drift happens when:

• Supervisors lack clear expectations.

• Supervisors are overloaded with tasks unrelated to field performance.

• No one is measuring whether supervision actually happened.

• The company’s culture quietly accepts mediocrity as long as clients do not complain.

The cost is enormous. Officers without presence from leadership lose consistency. Sites start slipping. Overtime rises. Eventually the client calls, and they never call with compliments.

Supervision is not a mystery. It is a calendar. It is a checklist. It is a feedback loop. When you rebuild those three items, supervision drift stops almost overnight.

Leak #3: Scope Creep That Walks Right Past the Gatehouse

Scope creep is how a contract that once required one officer on days and one officer on nights somehow evolves into:

• A fire watch

• Three extra shifts

• A daily log audit

• A last-minute escort service for contractors

• And a “quick report” whenever the client remembers something interesting

None of this is written anywhere, of course. But you are delivering it anyway.

Scope creep grows when companies treat every extra client request as a test of loyalty, instead of a billable change in scope.

The fix: Teach your team that “yes, of course we can support that” must always be followed by “I will send the updated pricing for your approval.”

Leak #4: Documentation That Would Fail a Basic Forensic Review

Every owner says documentation is important. Very few build a system where documentation is consistent, complete, and reviewable.

Common symptoms:

• Post orders that are older than some of your officers.

• Reports that read like an audiobook with missing chapters.

• Supervisors guessing at what the client expects.

• No place where the company’s operational truth actually lives.

Documentation gaps create chaos because no one is operating from the same playbook. When you fix this, morale improves immediately because people finally know what “good” looks like.

Leak #5: Time Theft, Overtime Creep, and Scheduling Chaos

If your payroll seems to have a mind of its own, this is why.

Three things typically combine to create this leak:

• Scheduling decisions made emotionally and reactively.

• Lack of real time visibility across posts.

• Leaders who are afraid to confront availability issues or poor attendance.

You cannot control overtime until you control scheduling. You cannot control scheduling until you build a structure that prevents last-minute miracles from being the standard.

Practical, Quick Solutions That Work

The One Equation Every Security Owner Should Know: The Real Cost of Recruitment Waste

Let us break it down:

Ad Spend + Admin Labor + Time-to-Fill Costs + Early Turnover Losses = Your Actual Cost Per Hire

Most owners think their cost per hire is $150 or less.
Once you calculate the real number, it is usually between $600 and $1,200 dollars.

Multiply that by 15 to 40 hires per month.
Now multiply it again by the turnover.

This is why margins feel tight. You are paying for recruitment twice, sometimes three times, before the officer even hits 90 days.

Fixing recruitment waste does not start with “finding better candidates.” It starts with building a predictable system where candidates move from application to shift with less human friction and fewer opportunities to disappear.

Supervision Drift: How to Fix It in 30 Days

Supervision drift is not about your supervisors being lazy. It is about your company not creating clarity, structure, or accountability.

Here is what stops drift:

1. A Weekly Supervision Route Plan

Every supervisor knows exactly where they are going and why.

2. A Standardized Visit Checklist

Not a novel. A checklist. Five to seven items.

3. A Required Photo, Note, and Timestamp

No timestamp, no visit.

4. A Simple Weekly Review

Leadership checks the routes for completion. Not to punish. To reinforce expectations.

Within two to four weeks, your entire organization will feel different.

Run This Simple One-Hour Stability Audit

Grab a cup of coffee. Sit somewhere quiet. Then answer the following questions honestly:

Staffing Stability

• Are we constantly running ads for the same roles?

• Do we know our actual cost per hire?

• Do we have a standardized hiring pipeline?

Scheduling Stability

• How many shifts last week required emergency coverage?

• Is overtime predictable or chaotic?

• Do supervisors understand scheduling rules?

Supervision Consistency

• Do we know how many site visits happened last week?

• Is documentation consistent across supervisors?

• Do officers know what “good performance” means?

Client Communication

• Are we delivering tasks that are not contracted?

• Do we have a record of every scope change request?

• Are we proactively updating clients, or reacting to problems?

Process Reliability

• Are our post orders updated in the last six months?

• Does everyone know where to find the operational truth?

• Do we have more “tribal knowledge” than documented systems?

When you finish the audit, circle the two biggest gaps.
Fix those first. Ignore the temptation to fix everything at once. Stability comes from steady tightening, not dramatic overhauls.

A Call to Action That Makes Your Life Easier, Not Harder

If you read this and felt equal parts seen, exhausted, and relieved, that is the point. You are not broken. Your company is not broken. You are simply operating the way most security firms operate before they build real systems.

If you want help identifying your biggest leaks and a practical plan to fix them, you can request a Stability Diagnostic Call. It is not a sales pitch. It is a structured review where we walk through the same audit above, but with real data from your business and clear next steps.

You will walk away with clarity, not pressure.

When security companies run smoothly, everyone wins: you, your team, and your clients. And you deserve that.