Margate CCTV installation and repair
Margate needs every kind of camera system: shared entrances in Cliftonville, shops and galleries in the old town, and family homes in Westbrook and Garlinge.
Established 2000. £5 million public liability insurance. Cameras fitted, upgraded and repaired across CT9.
CCTVfitted and fixed
Thinking about cameras in Margate?
Many of the big Victorian houses in Cliftonville are now flats or shared houses. Landlords and freeholders want the main door, the hallway and the bins covered, and residents want to know their footage is not being watched by everyone. We fit cameras on the shared areas only, hide the recorder in a locked cupboard and give each person the access they need.
In the old town and along the harbour arm, small shops and galleries want a dome over the counter, one on the door and a clear picture after dark when the shutters are down. Out in Westbrook, Garlinge and Westgate it is mostly family homes, where a camera on the drive and one on the side return do most of the work.
Plan your Margate cameras, one spot at a time
Pick a place on the house and answer three short questions about it. The planner suggests the camera we would put there on a Margate job. Build up a list and send it over for us to check, free of charge.
Back garden
Turret
Our standard home camera. The lens sits in a ball outside the main housing, which keeps infrared glare down and makes it easy to angle neatly.
Back garden
Dome
Mounted flush under a soffit or ceiling inside a toughened bubble. Vandal-resistant, and it is hard to tell which direction it points.
Back garden
Bullet
A tube-shaped camera with a narrower field of view for distance. Very visible, which is a deterrent in itself.
Back garden
Varifocal
Its adjustable lens is zoomed in during installation, so an entrance a long way off still shows a recognisable face.
Back garden
Colour night
Makes use of low ambient light to record in colour after dark, so clothing and vehicles keep their real colours.
Back garden
Number plate (ANPR)
Tuned to capture registrations as vehicles enter, in daylight and darkness, with a searchable record of plates.
Back garden
Video doorbell
Lets you see and speak to visitors from your phone. We wire ours into the bell circuit, so it never runs flat.
Back garden
PTZ
Can be steered and zoomed remotely, or set to sweep a route automatically, covering ground that would need many fixed cameras.
Back garden
360° fisheye
A single ceiling lens covers the whole room, and the software flattens the image into normal camera views.
Back garden
Solar and 4G
Powered by a small solar panel and connected over the mobile network, so no mains supply or broadband is required.
Covers the garden right back to the fence.
There is some light, so a colour night version keeps full colour after dark.
1. Where is it going?
2. What do you need to see?
3. After dark
4. Can we run a cable to it?
Camera jobs we take on in Margate
A single doorbell, a camera over the drive or a dozen for a yard: one Margate team surveys it, wires it and comes back if anything goes wrong.
Home CCTV in Margate
A typical house needs cameras on its approaches: the front, the driveway, the side passage and the back. Larger plots need a few more.
What we doPositions are agreed with you on site, wiring is routed through the loft and walls, and the recorder goes in a cupboard or the loft.
Shops and business units in Margate
Retail, offices and industrial units need identifiable faces at entrances, coverage of tills and stock, and plates captured at the gate.
What we doInterior domes, wide-angle yard cameras, ANPR on the entrance, and a recorder sized to hold several weeks.
Video doorbells in Margate
See and speak to callers from anywhere. A wired doorbell takes its power from the bell circuit, so there is nothing to recharge.
What we doWe connect it to the existing bell wiring, adding a transformer if needed, and link it into the same app as the cameras.
Landlords and flats in Margate
Shared entrances, stairs, bin stores and car parks in blocks, conversions and shared houses.
What we doWe cover the shared areas only, never the inside of a flat, add signs and set up who can view and export footage.
Farms and outbuildings in Margate
Yards, barns, stables, workshops and gateways, often a long way from the house and the router.
What we doWe run cable underground or use a wireless link, and fit solar or 4G cameras where there is no power or broadband.
Repairs and upgrades in Margate
Cameras that have gone dark, a recorder that stopped saving, a drive that is full, an app that will not connect, or grainy analogue pictures.
What we doWe repair whatever has failed, regardless of the original installer. Old analogue wiring can often carry new HD cameras, and if replacement is better value we say so.
The cameras Margate customers pick
All of these run back to a single recorder kept inside, in 4MP or 8MP (4K). Here are the ones we use most around Margate and what each is best at.
Turret
Homes: doorways, paths and gardens
Our standard home camera. The lens sits in a ball outside the main housing, which keeps infrared glare down and makes it easy to angle neatly.
Dome
Under porches, inside shops and in shared hallways
Mounted flush under a soffit or ceiling inside a toughened bubble. Vandal-resistant, and it is hard to tell which direction it points.
Varifocal
Distant gates and long driveways
Its adjustable lens is zoomed in during installation, so an entrance a long way off still shows a recognisable face.
Number plate (ANPR)
Entrances to drives, yards and car parks
Tuned to capture registrations as vehicles enter, in daylight and darkness, with a searchable record of plates.
Video doorbell
Front doors and individual flats
Lets you see and speak to visitors from your phone. We wire ours into the bell circuit, so it never runs flat.
360° fisheye
Shops, offices and open-plan spaces
A single ceiling lens covers the whole room, and the software flattens the image into normal camera views.
Your Margate CCTV, from survey to handover
A typical Margate house is surveyed, wired and working on your phone within one visit.
- 01
Look at the property
You send photos on WhatsApp or an engineer visits. We decide together which areas need covering and what each camera should capture.
- 02
Fixed price
We confirm the camera positions, the recorder location and the total cost before you commit.
- 03
Installation
Wiring is hidden in lofts, walls and cupboards wherever possible, outside connections are sealed, and the recorder is kept out of sight.
- 04
Handover
We test each camera in daylight and set it for night, apply privacy zones, and install the app for everyone in the household who wants it.
When your Margate cameras stop working
In Cliftonville’s shared houses and flats, the most common fault we see is a recorder that someone unplugged to free up a socket, or a hard drive that filled up years ago. Freeholders also ask us to sort out systems where nobody knows who has the login. In the old town, shop cameras often give a white, washed-out picture at night because the infrared bounces off the shop front or awning, which we cure by moving or swapping the camera.
Choose the problem that sounds most like yours to read what usually causes it.
What is the system doing?
Nothing has been recorded
Usual cause
Usually a hard drive that is full and set not to overwrite, a drive that has died, or settings lost in a power cut.
What we do
We check the drive, fit a new surveillance-grade one if it has failed, switch on overwriting, and set the recorder to message your phone if it ever stops saving.
Arrange a repairThe app won’t show my cameras
Usual cause
Most often a replaced router, a new WiFi password, or an old app the manufacturer has withdrawn.
What we do
We put the recorder back on your network, move you onto the supported app and prove it works away from home over 4G.
Arrange a repairOne camera keeps going offline
Usual cause
Typically a damp or corroded connection outside, a tired power supply, or a cable that has been nicked.
What we do
We test the run end to end, remake joints inside weatherproof boxes, and swap the power supply or camera if either has given up.
Arrange a repairNight footage looks washed out
Usual cause
The camera’s infrared is reflecting off something close by: the soffit, a wall, a cobweb, or a scuffed dome.
What we do
We clean it, change the angle or position, and where glare persists replace a dome with a turret, which handles it much better.
Arrange a repairThe recorder is beeping
Usual cause
It is warning you about something: a disk error, a camera that has dropped off, or a full drive.
What we do
We check the recorder’s log, sort out the cause, and redirect warnings to the app so you get a notification instead of a noise.
Arrange a repairI need a clip for the police or insurer
Usual cause
Recordings are replaced automatically after a few weeks, so it pays to act quickly.
What we do
We locate the incident, save it in a format police systems accept, and show you the steps for next time.
Arrange a repairWork out your Margate recording time
Your footage lives on a hard drive inside the recorder. When the drive fills up, the newest recording replaces the oldest, so the system never stops. Try the buttons to see how far back a system like yours would go.
These are rough figures for H.265 recording. A busy street, or trees moving in the wind, uses more space than a quiet view, so we check the real figure on the recorder before we hand it over.
days
About a month, which suits most homes.
Parts of Margate we cover for CCTV
All of CT9 and the estates and villages on the edge of Margate. These are the places our vans visit most often.
- Cliftonville
- Westbrook
- Garlinge
- Westgate-on-Sea
- Birchington
- The old town
Before you book CCTV in Margate
Quick answers for Margate. If yours is not here, send a WhatsApp or give us a ring.
Can you fit CCTV in a Cliftonville block of flats?
Yes, for the freeholder, managing agent or residents’ company. We cover the entrances, stairs and bin store, never the inside of a flat, and set up who can see what.
Will cameras work at night on a Margate shop front?
Yes. We fit colour night cameras where there is street lighting and infrared ones where there is not, so you still get a usable picture after closing.
Do you cover Westgate-on-Sea and Birchington?
Yes. Both are part of our regular Thanet round, along with Garlinge and Westwood.
Nobody knows the login for our Cliftonville block’s CCTV. Can you sort it?
Yes. With the freeholder’s or agent’s permission we reset the recorder, set up new logins for the right people and record who holds them.
Why is my Margate shop camera white at night?
Infrared light is bouncing back off the awning, glass or wall next to the lens. We re-angle or move the camera, or fit a colour night camera that uses the street light.
How far back can I look at Margate footage?
It depends on the number of cameras, the picture quality and the size of the drive. A typical four camera system on a 4TB drive goes back around a month. Our calculator on this page gives you a figure for your own setup.
Will you fix a Margate system we did not fit?
Yes, most of our repairs are on other installers’ work. We test each camera, cable, power supply and the drive, then give you a plain answer on whether a repair or a replacement makes more sense.
Am I allowed CCTV on my Margate home?
Yes. A camera that only covers your own property is outside data protection rules. If it takes in a pavement or a neighbour’s garden, you take on duties for that footage, so we angle each camera carefully, black out areas that are not yours and leave you a sign for the front.
Quicker with a few photos
Take a few pictures of the front, the drive and the back of the property and WhatsApp them with your postcode. An engineer suggests camera positions and replies with a guide price.
WhatsApp a photoThe rest of our Margate services
We also put up aerials and dishes, mount TVs and fix the WiFi that the cameras rely on.
TV aerials in Margate
New aerials and extra TV points, aimed at the right transmitter.
Aerial repairs in Margate
Lost channels and no signal, usually fixed the same day.
from £99same-day repairs
Satellite dishes in Margate
Freesat, Sky and TV from abroad, fitted and realigned.
WiFi that reaches the cameras
Mesh points and data cable so every camera and doorbell stays online.
TV wall mounting
Watch the cameras on the TV as well as your phone.
CCTV in towns next to Margate
Each larger town has its own CCTV page. Questions about a bigger job? Contact the CCTV team.
Talk to a CCTV engineer
Ring the CCTV line, or WhatsApp a few photos of the outside of the property with your postcode. We suggest where the cameras should go and give you a guide price before anything is booked.
WhatsApp us- Our base
- Canterbury, since 2000
- Open
- Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm
- Where
- Every part of Kent: Thanet, the coast, Medway, Maidstone, Ashford and the Weald
- Cost
- A clear price before any work starts