The questions to ask a security guard company fall into three groups: proof of compliance, proof of staffing, and proof of what happens when something goes wrong at 2am. Twelve questions cover all three.
What separates a useful question from a wasted one is the answer you plan to accept. Each question below includes what a prepared vendor says.
Compliance
1. What is your Michigan agency license number?
A prepared vendor gives the 10-digit number without looking it up. Check it yourself against the state record using the license verification steps.
2. Is the officer assigned to my site on your most recent quarterly roster?
Michigan requires every licensed agency to file an employee roster with the state four times a year. A vendor that files those rosters answers this from its own paperwork.
3. Can I see the additional insured endorsement, not the certificate alone?
The certificate is evidence. The endorsement is coverage.
A broker who produces the endorsement the same day has been asked before. Reading the certificate takes ten minutes once you know the four fields.
4. What screening does every officer clear before a first shift?
Listen for background check, drug testing, and the point in the process where each happens. A vendor that screens after placement has told you something.
Staffing
5. What is your annual officer turnover, and how do you measure it?
Ask for the number and the method together. A vendor that has never measured turnover reveals that in the pause before answering.
6. Who covers a post when the assigned officer calls off?
The useful answer names a process: a supervisor pool, a standby list, or a field supervisor who fills the post. An answer built on hope sounds like one.
7. How long does a new post take to fill from a cold start?
Separate this from emergency deployment. A permanent post and an overnight fire watch are different asks with different lead times.
8. Do you subcontract any posts?
Some vendors broker coverage in outlying areas. Ask which counties they staff directly. Your contract, your insurance requirements, and your license check apply to whoever shows up.
Performance
9. Who writes the post orders, and when do I approve them?
Post orders are the document that decides what an officer does on your property. Listen for a vendor that drafts them, sends them for your approval, and updates them after incidents. The alternative hands the officer a clipboard.
10. Who do I call at 2am, and what is that person’s name?
A phone number answered by a service is not the same as a supervisor with a cell phone. Ask for the name.
11. What does a daily activity report contain, and how do I receive it?
Look for patrol times, incidents, maintenance issues noticed, and a delivery method that reaches you without a request. Reports that arrive only when you ask stop arriving.
12. What triggers a rate change during the term, and what is the notice period?
Wage floors move, and a clear contract says how that flows through. Ask the same question about termination: what notice, on which side, and what happens to the deposit.
The three answers that decide it
Questions 2, 6, and 10 predict how the contract performs.
The roster question tells you whether the company files what the state requires. The call-off question tells you whether coverage survives a Tuesday. The 2am question tells you whether anyone answers when it counts.
Compliance answers can be verified against public records. Staffing and performance answers cannot, which is why the specificity of the response is the signal.
Before you sign
Put the license number, the certificate, and the endorsement in the file. Put the post orders in the contract as an exhibit rather than a promise.
Metro One Security provides corporate security services across Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw counties, and we answer all twelve on the first call. Call (248) 436-4799 or request a quote.