How do we hire a security patrol company for our HOA?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 23, 2026

How an HOA board hires a security patrol company: patrol vs guard post, state license checks, post orders, contract and insurance terms, and what guards can't do.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

Decide what problem you are paying to solve, write it down as post orders, and then hire only a company that holds the state license for guard work and can show you the individual license of every officer it sends. Most HOAs of 26 to 150 homes do not need a guard standing at a booth. They need a marked car that drives the community at set times, checks the pool gate and clubhouse doors, writes down what it sees and calls the police when something is wrong. That is a different contract, at a different price, from a staffed post. The board's job is to buy the right one, sign a contract that says exactly what the officers do, and keep the association from promising owners more safety than it can deliver. Licensing rules differ by state and city, and your declaration decides whether security is a common expense the board can fund on its own, so treat this as education and not legal advice.

Decide what you are buying

There are three common setups, and bids are useless until the board picks one. A courtesy patrol is a vehicle that visits the community a few times a night on a varied schedule, with a log of each stop. A standing post puts an officer at a gate, a pool or a clubhouse for set hours, which costs far more because you pay for every hour the post is staffed. The third option is hiring off-duty police officers directly, which some boards do for holiday weekends or a run of car break-ins. Start with the incident history. Pull the last 12 months of owner complaints, police calls the board knows about, vandalism repairs and pool rule violations, and note the days and hours they happened. If the trouble is teenagers at the pool after 10 p.m. in summer, you are buying a summer evening patrol with pool checks, not a year-round guard. Put the chosen setup, the hours and the season in a one-page scope before you call anyone. Our guide on how to set up HOA common area security cameras covers the other half of this decision, since many boards end up pairing a lighter patrol with cameras at the amenities.

Check the license in your state

Texas regulates guard work through the Private Security Act, Occupations Code chapter 1702, administered by the Department of Public Safety. Section 1702.108 defines a guard company to include anyone who provides a private watchman, guard or street patrol service on a contract basis to prevent trespass, theft or vandalism on private property, and section 1702.102 bars acting as a guard company without a security services contractor license. Each unarmed officer must hold an individual license and work for a licensed company (1702.221), and an armed officer needs a security officer commission (1702.161). Look up both the company and the officers in the DPS TOPS public search before you sign. There is one exception boards ask about: section 1702.322 lets a full-time peace officer take a patrol or guard job hired directly by the association, but only if the officer works as a peace officer an average of at least 32 hours a week, is paid by a public employer and receives full peace officer benefits. In Florida, chapter 493 requires a Class B license for the security agency, a Class D license for each security officer and a Class G license for anyone armed (493.6301). A Class D applicant needs at least 40 hours of training at a licensed school (493.6303). FDACS runs a public license search. Colorado has no statewide guard license. A 2025 bill to create one, HB25-1262, was postponed indefinitely in committee. Some cities fill the gap: Denver licenses both security employers and individual guards and requires a 16-hour course for a new guard license. If your community sits in a Colorado city, call the city clerk or licensing office and ask whether it licenses security companies.

Write post orders the officers can follow

Post orders are the written instructions the officers carry. Without them, the company decides what your money buys. Attach them to the RFP so every company prices the same work, and attach them again to the contract. Keep them to one or two pages. Here is a sample a board can adapt: 'Patrol hours are 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., Thursday through Sunday, May 15 through September 15. Officer makes at least three visits per night at varied times, each at least 20 minutes. Each visit includes a drive of every street, a walk of the pool deck and a check that the pool gate, clubhouse doors and maintenance shed are locked. Officer does not enter any home, garage or fenced yard. Officer logs the time of each visit, plate numbers of vehicles parked in the amenity lot after hours, open or damaged property, and any contact with residents or guests. Officer calls 911 for any crime in progress, fire, injury or medical emergency, then calls the board contact listed below. Officer may ask people to leave the pool after hours and reports refusals to the board; officer does not detain anyone.' Name one board contact and a backup, with phone numbers, and say which incidents need a call that night and which can wait for the morning report.

Know what guards can and cannot do

Owners often expect a patrol to act like police. It cannot, and the post orders should say so. In Texas, Code of Criminal Procedure article 14.01 lets any person, including a security officer, arrest without a warrant only for a felony or an offense against the public peace committed in their presence. Only a peace officer may arrest for any offense in view. The Texas guard company definition lets officers direct the movement of vehicles only as far as needed to protect property, which is not the same as writing speeding tickets. Florida and Colorado have their own private arrest rules, and the association's attorney is the right person to explain them, but the safe job description is the same in every state: observe, document, ask a person to leave association property, and call law enforcement. Write the patrol's role into the owner announcement in those words. A notice that says 'the patrol will make our community safe' sets up an argument the first time a car is broken into. A notice that says 'the patrol checks the amenities and common areas at night and reports what it finds to the police and the board' describes a service the association can actually deliver.

Contract and insurance terms to require

Put the price in a form you can check: an hourly rate for posts, or a per-visit or monthly rate for patrol, with a stated minimum number of visits and a credit for any missed visit. Require GPS or electronic checkpoint records for every visit, delivered with each invoice, so the treasurer pays for patrols that happened. Ask for a daily or weekly written report and same-night notice of serious incidents. Keep the term to one year with a 30-day termination right for either side. In Florida, section 720.3055 requires every HOA service contract to be in writing and requires competitive bids when the contract's payments will exceed 10 percent of the association's total annual budget including reserves. The association does not have to take the lowest bid. Require the company to carry general liability insurance naming the association as an additional insured, workers' compensation for its officers, and auto liability for the patrol vehicles. Our guide on how to check a vendor certificate of insurance walks through reading the certificate. Ask your own agent whether the association's general liability and directors and officers policies cover a security contract before you sign, not after the first incident.

A sample hiring timeline

Week 1: the board reviews 12 months of incidents and adopts a one-page scope and draft post orders at a noticed meeting. Week 2: send the scope, post orders and a bid form to three or four licensed companies, with a two-week deadline. Ask for license numbers, three references from other residential communities and a sample incident report. Week 3: look up every license in the state or city database and call references. Ask each reference whether the officers showed up on schedule, whether invoices matched the visit logs, and how the company handled a complaint about an officer. Week 4: vote on the contract in an open meeting and record the reason for the choice in the minutes. Week 5: announce the start date to owners with the patrol's role, hours and the number to call. Day 30 and day 90: the board compares the visit logs against the invoices and reviews the incident reports, then decides whether to adjust hours, add pool checks or end the trial.

Mistakes boards make with patrol contracts

Hiring a director's friend who 'does security' without a company license. In Texas and Florida that is unlicensed guard work, and the association carries the risk if something goes wrong. Paying invoices without the visit logs, which is how boards end up paying for a car that drove through once at 11 p.m. Signing the company's standard three-year contract with automatic renewal and a 90-day cancellation window. Letting officers enforce parking or architectural rules by confronting owners, when those violations belong in the association's own notice and hearing process. Marketing the community as secure in resale materials or the welcome packet. And skipping the review at day 90, so a patrol bought for one bad summer runs for five years because nobody asked whether it was still needed.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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