Guarding cost calculator for security companies

Put in your own numbers. See what rota admin, unplanned overtime, unbilled hours and last-minute cover cost you each month, and what you'd keep by cutting them.

Your figures

  • Rota and admin time — Building rotas, ringing round for cover, chasing book-ons, typing up timesheets.
  • Unplanned overtime — Hours nobody approved in advance: late reliefs, no-shows, double shifts.
  • Unbilled hours — Hours officers worked that never made it onto a client invoice.
  • Last-minute cover — Shifts filled at the last minute through an agency or at a premium rate.

Worked example (illustrative figures, not industry data)

A guarding company with 40 officers on 8 sites, paying £13 an hour, spending 15 office hours a week on rotas and admin at £18 an hour, with 4 hours of unplanned overtime per officer a month, 3 unbilled hours per site a month at a £22 charge rate, and 12 last-minute covers a month costing £45 extra each.

  • Rota and admin time: £1,170 a month
  • Unplanned overtime: £2,080 a month
  • Unbilled hours: £528 a month
  • Last-minute cover: £540 a month

Cost of running it by hand: £4,318 a month (£51,816 a year). Cutting it by 25% — a figure the visitor sets, not a Pulcify benchmark — keeps £1,080 a month. Pulcify Growth for 40 users costs £279.60 a month, leaving £800 a month.

How the maths works

Every figure is your own number multiplied out. The only thing not taken from you directly is Pulcify's published price.

  • Rota and admin time — Office hours a week × 52 ÷ 12 weeks in a month × office staff cost per hour.
  • Unplanned overtime — Unplanned overtime hours per officer × officers × pay rate × the overtime rate you picked.
  • Unbilled hours — Unbilled hours per site × sites × your charge rate to clients.
  • Last-minute cover — Last-minute covers a month × the extra each one costs.
  • What you keep — The monthly total × the cut you set. Office hours back are the admin hours × the same cut.
  • Pulcify's price — Free for up to 20 employees on 2 sites. Otherwise Growth at £6.99 per user per month, billed for at least 15 users. Scale, for 100+ users, is £9.99 and adds advanced reporting.

What it leaves out

  • Fines and lost contracts after a compliance failure. They're real, but too case-specific to price honestly.
  • Recruitment and staff turnover.
  • Payroll processing beyond timesheets.

Questions about the calculator

How does this calculator work?

You enter your own figures for officers, sites, pay and four common cost leaks. It multiplies them out per month and per year, applies the cut you choose, and subtracts Pulcify's published price.

Where do the example figures come from?

They're illustrative starting points for a mid-sized guarding company, not industry data. Replace every one with your own numbers.

Why doesn't Pulcify tell me how much I'll save?

Because it depends on how you run today. You know your admin time and overtime better than any benchmark, so the cut is yours to set.

How much does Pulcify cost?

Free for up to 20 employees, 2 sites and 2 admin accounts, with no credit card. Growth is £6.99 per user per month with a 15-user minimum. Scale is £9.99 per user per month for 100 or more users.

Which parts of Pulcify reduce these costs?

Rotas by site and post matched to licences, face-verified and geofenced book-ons, nearest available officers when a shift is at risk, and verified hours that flow into timesheets, payroll and client invoices at contract rates.

About Pulcify

Pulcify replaces paper rotas, fragmented clock-in apps and manual compliance trackers with a single operations-grade platform, with native iOS and Android apps for the field.

Start the Free plan (up to 20 employees, 2 sites and 2 admin accounts, no credit card), see pricing or book a demo.