Lewisham is a varied borough. Around the centre and towards Catford and Brockley you will find Victorian terraces, converted flats, purpose-built blocks and busy parades of shops. Each needs a slightly different approach to security, and the right answer for a ground-floor maisonette is rarely the right answer for a top-floor flat. This guide walks through how we would think about it, using the packages we actually fit. All prices are inc. VAT.
Start with the entrances, not the gadgets
Most home security decisions come down to three questions. Where does someone realistically get in? What would you want to see if something happened? And how do you want to be told about it?
Walk the property as a visitor would. Look at the front door, the back door or garden gate, any ground-floor or basement windows, and any side passage. Terraced houses usually have two main routes: the front and the rear. Flats often have one: the front door, plus a balcony or low window for ground-floor homes.
Once you have your list, you can match equipment to each point rather than buying a box of cameras and hoping they cover it. If you would like an engineer to do this for you, the Home Survey & Design is £99 inc. VAT. It includes an engineer site visit, a written recommendation with a fixed quote and a camera and device placement plan. The fee is credited in full against any booking of £500 or more.
Cameras for a Lewisham house
For a terrace or semi, two cameras often cover the essentials: one on the front approach and one at the back. Our Home Starter is £899 inc. VAT and includes 2 x 5MP turret cameras in grey or white, a 1TB drive with around 2 weeks of footage, live viewing from your phone and motion detection alerts, installed neatly in a single visit.
If you want coverage of the sides and the garden too, Home Protect is £1,499 inc. VAT. It has 4 x 4K ColorVu cameras that record in full colour even in darkness, a 2TB drive with 3-4 weeks of footage, smart human and vehicle detection, instant alerts to your phone and active deterrence with a strobe and siren.
A few placement tips that apply to either:
- Mount cameras high enough to be out of easy reach, but low enough to capture faces rather than the top of heads.
- Avoid pointing directly at a neighbour's window or garden. Keep the view focused on your own property.
- If your camera captures public space or neighbouring land, check the data protection guidance before you install.
Alarms for flats and houses
An alarm and a camera do different jobs. A camera records and alerts; an alarm sounds when a door or room is breached. For a flat, the Flat/Apartment alarm is £699 inc. VAT. It is a wireless system with a smart hub and keypad, 1 door contact and 2 motion sensors, with app control and instant notifications. It is fully wireless, with no mess and no drilling, which suits many flat owners and anyone who would rather not chase cables through a period conversion.
For a larger house, the Family Home alarm is £1,099 inc. VAT. It includes an advanced hub with 4G backup, 2 door contacts and 4 motion sensors, photo-verification sensors that show the cause of an alarm, an external solar siren and 2 proximity key fobs.
Renting? Check your tenancy agreement and speak to your landlord before fixing anything to walls. Our wireless options are designed to minimise disruption, but permission still matters.
The doorbell question
Parcel theft and doorstep callers are common concerns in any London borough. If you have already bought a smart doorbell, the Video Doorbell Fit is £129 inc. VAT. We fit it, wire it to your existing chime or transformer, set up the app and alerts and add an angle bracket where needed. It works with any major brand.
If you would rather we supply one, Video Doorbell Pro is £399 inc. VAT. It has 2K HD video with night vision, two-way audio through the app, smart person detection and an indoor chime included.
Keeping it working
Kit that is installed and forgotten tends to drift: lenses get dirty, apps need updating, and notifications stop arriving. Ask about maintenance when you book. CarePlan Home is £199 per year inc. VAT and includes an annual health-check visit covering CCTV, alarm and smart devices, remote support, a priority 48-hour response and 10% off additional call-outs. CarePlan Home Plus is £349 per year inc. VAT and adds 2 service visits per year, camera clean and refocus, firmware and app updates and priority response within 24 hours, Monday to Saturday.
Our engineers hold NICEIC, NSI and SSAIB accreditations between them, and we work Monday to Saturday, 08:00 to 19:30.
Where to go next
For local details on our CCTV work in the borough, see our CCTV installation in Lewisham page. For the full range of cameras, alarms and entry systems, see CCTV and security services. If you are thinking about layering a camera with an alarm, our guide to how much a burglar alarm costs in London is a useful companion.
Tell us about your property and what you want to protect, and we will recommend a sensible starting point.