CCTV & Security Camera Installation

Yes, in common areas — lobbies, hallways, entrances, elevators, basements, package rooms, and building exteriors are legitimate camera locations, and NYC buildings use them everywhere. The lines you cannot cross: no cameras in places with a reasonable expectation of privacy such as bathrooms or locker rooms, and no cameras aimed into apartment interiors or positioned to see through a neighbor's windows. Audio recording is a separate and stricter legal question than video, so we install video-only in common areas unless you've gotten specific legal guidance. For co-ops and condos, camera placement in common elements is a board decision, and we provide placement drawings that make that approval straightforward.

You decide, and hardware is sized to match. Retention is a function of hard-drive capacity against camera count, resolution, and recording mode — motion-triggered recording can multiply the days the same drives hold. Around 30 days is the common target for residential boards and what many insurers expect; some properties choose 60 or 90 for problem locations. The critical detail is that the system overwrites oldest footage automatically and never just stops recording when full — a misconfiguration we regularly find in inherited systems. If an incident happens, export the clip promptly; once the retention window passes, it's gone.

Yes — remote viewing is standard on every system we install. The NVR connects to your building's internet, and authorized users get live view and playback on iOS, Android, and desktop, with per-user permissions so the super, the board president, and the managing agent can each see what they should and nothing more. We set this up securely: strong credentials, no default passwords, and no cameras exposed directly to the open internet — the misconfiguration behind most 'hacked camera' stories. If the building has no internet service at the NVR location, footage still records locally and we can discuss options for connectivity.

Survey first — it's often a partial answer. Old analog systems record at resolutions where a face at the front door is an unidentifiable smudge, which defeats the purpose. Full IP/PoE replacement gives the best result, and in some buildings the existing coax can be reused with converters to carry HD video, which saves significant cabling labor in finished hallways. The DVR is almost always replaced with an NVR either way, and drive sizing gets redone for the new resolution. We'll tell you which cables are salvageable and which runs need Cat6 before quoting, so you're comparing real options rather than a reflexive rip-and-replace.

If the cameras go in common areas or on the building exterior, yes — those are common elements, and installation there is a board or managing-agent decision. An individual owner generally cannot mount a private camera in a shared hallway without approval, and boards do make people take them down. What we do in practice: prepare the placement plan, coverage rationale, and insurance certificates the board needs, present the privacy boundaries clearly (common areas only, no sightlines into units), and schedule installation under the building's contractor rules. For commercial tenants, your lease and landlord approval govern exterior mounting — we've handled that workflow across the five boroughs.

A typical storefront or small-building system — four to eight cameras and an NVR — is usually installed in one to two days once hardware is confirmed, and common configurations are not long-lead items. Larger multi-building or high-camera-count projects get phased so recording starts on the most critical doors first. After installation, we service what we install and what others installed: dead cameras, failed hard drives, lost remote access, and storm-damaged exterior units. We're open 24/7 with offices in Brooklyn Heights and Williamsburg, so a failed camera on a door that just had an incident doesn't wait until Monday.