Having Your Security System Professionally Installed vs. Doing It Yourself
Professionally installed security systems:
One of the biggest advantages of opting for a professionally installed system is that you have a service provider on call at all times if you have any questions or your system isn't working properly. They will almost always answer you questions promptly and concisely and will send people over to fix your system immediately. Not bad right?
Another advantage of having your system professionally installed is that you have the option of having your house monitored around the clock by your service provider. This is great for when your away from home on a long vacation; if anything sounds the alarm or something suspicious is going on, they will contact you and send the proper authorities over to your house.
Professionally installed systems do have their downfalls. When going with a pro, you usually have to purchase an entire home security set in order to get their service. Professional systems are always more expensive than the do it yourself systems since they require you to buy a lot of extra equipment, pay a monthly fee (usually pretty high) and more often than not, a long term contract as well.
Do it yourself:
Deciding to install a home security system yourself will cut installing costs by almost half. In the end you'll save a lot of money but there is a lot more work involved and sometimes the quality and safety of it all is subpar as compared to a professionally installed system. Unless of course you go all out and this usually means you'll be paying the same amount of money -- if not more than if you got a professional installation.
You'll need a decent amount of time and some electrical prowess if you want to install a system yourself. You need to go online and research different types of equipment and look at reviews for each. You also have to understand EVERYTHING
Most of the time when installing a system yourself, you wont get that personalized home monitoring that you would get with a service provider. You can, however, buddy up with your local dealer and see if they will provide with some over the phone assistance but this is not guaranteed and would usually require you to be pretty charming.
All in all, a do it yourself system will provide you with decent protection at an affordable price. You'll have to install it yourself and do a lot of research, but for the independent person this is nothing. Professional service providers like Brinks and ADT are a lot more expensive but a lot less time consuming and provide better overall service and protection. In the end, it comes down to how much money your looking to spend and how much protection you really need. If you have a fairly large property and the extra cash a professional installation might be the way to go. If not than do it up yourself and have fun! Oh yeah, good luck either way!