What to look for when hiring a security company comes down to one thing: whether they can prove what they are claiming. Ask for individual Ontario security guard licence numbers, a certificate of insurance, a WSIB clearance certificate, written post orders for your site, and a sample incident report. A company that can produce all five within a day is already ahead of most of the market.
Every provider will tell you their guards are professional, reliable and well trained. None of that is checkable. The eight checks below are, and they are the ones that actually separate providers once the quotes are on the table.
1. A Licence You Can Verify, Not Just an Agency Licence
In Ontario, security work is licensed under the Private Security and Investigative Services Act, 2005. Two separate things are licensed: the agency, and every individual guard working for it.
Plenty of providers will show you the agency licence and stop there. That tells you nothing about the people who will actually stand in your lobby.
Ask: “Can you give me the individual licence numbers for the guards assigned to my site, and will they carry them visibly on shift?”
A good answer: yes, with numbers, plus a note that any replacement guard is licensed too. A provider who hesitates here is the answer to your question.
2. Insurance and WSIB on Paper, Before You Sign
If a guard is injured on your property, or something gets damaged during a shift, the paperwork you asked for at the quote stage is what decides how that goes.
Ask for two documents: a certificate of insurance showing commercial general liability with your corporation named, and a WSIB clearance certificate that is current.
A good answer: both arrive as PDFs without a follow-up call. A clearance certificate expires, so check the date rather than the logo.
3. Written Post Orders for Your Site Specifically
Post orders are the written instructions a guard works from: which doors, at what times, what to do when something happens, and who to call. They are the difference between a guard who is present and a guard who is working.
“We will patrol the building” is not a post order. A real one names the doors, the rounds, the times and the escalation path.
Ask: “Who writes the post orders, when do I see them, and how do they change if my site changes?”
A good answer: a supervisor walks the property before the first shift, drafts the orders, and you approve them. If a provider plans to start without them, you are buying a uniform, not a service.
4. Supervision, and What Happens When Someone Calls In Sick
This is the question that gets skipped, and it is the one that decides whether your coverage is real. A post is only as good as the plan for the morning someone does not show up.
Ask: “How many sites does the supervisor cover, how often do they attend mine, and who fills the post at 5am on a Sunday?”
A good answer: a named supervisor, a stated visit frequency, and a dispatch line that is staffed rather than forwarded to a mobile. Ask what happened the last time a guard did not arrive. The answer will be specific or it will be vague, and that tells you plenty.
5. Incident Reports a Manager, Board or Insurer Can Use
Most of what you are paying for is a record. When something goes wrong, the report is what your property manager forwards, your board reads, and your insurer relies on.
Ask to see a sample report with the client details removed.
A good answer: it has a date and time, the people involved, what was observed rather than what was assumed, what action was taken, who was notified and when. If the sample is three sentences of narrative, that is what you will receive at 2am.
6. Real Experience With Your Type of Property
Guarding a condo lobby, a construction site and a retail plaza are three different jobs. A provider who is strong at one is not automatically strong at the others.
Ask: “How many sites like mine do you run right now, and can I speak to one of those property managers?”
A good answer: a number and a reference. Vague claims about serving “hundreds of clients across the GTA” tell you nothing about whether they have ever staffed a building like yours. If you run a residential building, concierge security is a different post from a patrol route, and the provider should say so unprompted.
7. Pricing That Shows the Whole Bill
An hourly rate is not a quote. The number that matters is what you pay across a year, and the gap between those two numbers is where disputes start.
Ask what the rate becomes for: statutory holidays, overtime, short-notice call-outs, minimum call-out length, and any supervisor or administrative charge.
A good answer: a written breakdown. Most GTA contracts bill statutory holidays at 1.5x to 2x, and that is normal. Being surprised by it in January is not.
Treat an unusually low rate as information rather than a win. Below a certain hourly figure the provider is either paying unlicensed staff, not paying overtime properly, or planning to under-supervise the post.
8. A Contract You Can Leave
Read the exit terms before the service terms. They tell you how confident the provider is.
Ask: “What notice do I give to end this, what notice do you give me, and what happens if I need to change the hours in month three?”
A good answer: a clear notice period, usually 30 to 90 days, with a stated process for changing coverage. Auto-renewal clauses with a short cancellation window are worth negotiating before signing rather than discovering at renewal.
Questions to Ask on the First Call
If you only have ten minutes with each provider, these separate them quickly:
- Are the guards your employees or subcontractors?
- What is your turnover on a site like mine, and how long has the longest-serving guard been there?
- Who writes the post orders and when do I approve them?
- What does a shift handover look like?
- Who answers the phone at 3am, and are they in Ontario?
- What happens, step by step, the first time a guard does not show up?
- Can I see a sample incident report and a current WSIB clearance certificate?
Red Flags Worth Walking Away From
- Only the agency licence is offered, never individual guard licences.
- The quote arrives as a single hourly rate with no breakdown.
- No site visit is proposed before the first shift.
- Insurance and WSIB documents need chasing more than once.
- References are promised but never arrive.
- The contract auto-renews with a cancellation window of under 30 days.
How This Works at Supreme
We are a licensed Ontario security company operating across Toronto and the GTA, with head office in Concord and 24/7 dispatch. Every guard we post holds an individual PSISA licence, every site gets written post orders approved before the first shift, and insurance and WSIB documents go out with the quote rather than after it.
If you are comparing providers right now, you are welcome to use the eight checks above on us. Our services run from condo concierge coverage and mobile patrol to live video monitoring, and the full list is on our security services page. We cover Toronto, Vaughan and the surrounding region.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I look for when hiring a security company?
Look for things you can verify rather than things you are told. The eight that matter: individual Ontario guard licences, a certificate of insurance and current WSIB clearance, written post orders for your site, named supervision with a stated plan for uncovered shifts, a usable sample incident report, genuine experience with your property type, a full pricing breakdown including statutory holidays and call-outs, and contract exit terms you have read.
How do I check that a security company is licensed in Ontario?
Ask for the agency licence number and the individual licence numbers of the guards assigned to you. Individual licences are mandatory under the Private Security and Investigative Services Act, 2005, and guards must carry them while working. A provider who can only produce the agency licence has not answered the question.
How much does it cost to hire a security guard in Ontario?
Rates in the GTA generally run from roughly $28 to $45 per hour for a licensed guard, depending on the site, the hours and the risk. Overnight shifts, statutory holidays and short-notice coverage sit higher. Ask for the annual figure rather than the hourly one, because that is what you are actually committing to.
Should I hire in-house security staff or use a security company?
In-house works when the hours are steady and predictable and you are prepared to carry recruitment, licensing, training, scheduling and coverage for absence yourself. A contracted provider absorbs those, and is usually the better fit when coverage varies, when overnight or weekend shifts are involved, or when you need someone else to be responsible for filling a post at short notice.
How long does it take to put guards on site?
A straightforward post can usually start within a week once the site visit and post orders are done. Same-week starts are common, and urgent coverage such as fire watch can move faster. Be careful of a provider who promises to start tomorrow with no site visit, because it means nobody has written down what the guard is supposed to do.
What is the difference between a security guard company and a monitoring company?
A guard company puts licensed people on your property. A monitoring company watches alarms or cameras remotely and calls someone when a signal triggers. They solve different problems, and a lot of buildings end up using both. If you are weighing them against each other, decide first whether you need someone physically able to intervene.
