Construction Camera Systems

Camera Systems

Camera Systems for construction sites from Monarc Technology – If you have been thinking about using surveillance cameras on your construction site, be it for monitoring progress, monitoring activity, improving communication or for time-lapse recording, or even for security. We have compiled a list of 15 factors to consider from Monarc Technology regarding your project investment.

The primary and really only reason to purchase a construction site security camera system is to increase and improve construction job-site productivity.  Construction cameras improve job-site communication, construction cameras document vendor/supplier shipments, construction cameras employ sub-contractor accountability, construction cameras create employee accountability, and these are factors in choosing our system.

A GOOD and EFFECTIVE camera system for your construction project involves managing the flow of information within the confines of the data transfer.  With the proper equipment, coupled with a solid control IT platform (computer and user controls), you have a great management tool.  Contact Monarc Technology for more information.  To learn more about how our construction site cameras are designed, please visit our Product Design page or our Custom Designs we offer.

You’ll be able to watch your security cameras wherever you want.

• iPad, iPhone, Android Apps
• Mac and Windows Desktop Apps
• Web-browser support includes Internet Explorer and Safari.
• $0 monthly fees

Construction site video systems are an essential part of your business.  Our construction cameras are designed to detect a security breach or operational breach and this can defined many ways:

1. Construction surveillance cameras on your job site present a tangible layer of security over your construction site.  According to a University study, the most effective deterrent to preventing a crime against your property is a security and/or surveillance system.
2. Employee productivity will improve when they know that they have a real-time accountability.
3. Job-site safety will improve when the potential for an incident decreases by virtue that all events are recorded continually.

There are several important considerations when considering construction site cameras.  Below is a list of 15 design criteria that needs to be considered for your construction site.

1. Power

Electricity in construction.  Power is not always available everywhere around the site.  As part of your site preparation, arrange to have power supplied to the specific location where the cameras will be needed.  When considering installing a camera to monitor your construction project, keep in mind that cameras and other equipment necessary to make them work will need power.

Cameras and other equipment will need power for the entire duration of the project.

Generators can be handy in construction, but they do not provide a perfect source of power.   Generators should NOT be used to power cameras. Solar power can be an alternative; however, you will be surprised at how much panels and batteries you will need to keep a simple camera running 24/7. Generators of Solar Power are not Recommended.  Camera Systems for construction sites from Monarc Technology

The bottom line.  Insure that you will be connecting your camera system to a quality, reliable power source that will be available throughout the duration of your construction project.

2. Internet

Your cameras will be transmitting large quantities of data in the form of snapshots or video, which even in normal circumstances would require a high-quality internet connection.  Internet service is crucial, don’t settle for an inferior wireless system.  Additionally, inferior internet connections simply do not work and do not record enough information to make the service worthwhile.

Construction sites, especially greenfield ones, typically provide challenges for internet connections ONLY if left un-planned.   Internet service is prevalent and available in most everywhere today.  Internet service has to be supplied to the building eventually, best be NOW than LATER.  Make prior arrangements to have service installed during the pre-construction phase.

Your camera system has the potential for using a lot of bandwidth and data.  Make sure that your internet connection provides unlimited transfer rates or you will be in trouble.  There are ways to get around this issue if unlimited services are absolutely not available at your site.  However, it is certainly better to exhaust all possibilities before going that route.

The internet speed advertised by providers usually refers to the top download speed.  Your camera will not be downloading anything, but uploading data out of your construction site.

Though you might not be able to have an internet connection at your camera location, wireless cameras are available but have serious draw-backs in terms of camera resolution and image capture.  Camera Systems for construction sites from Monarc Technology

3. In-house vs. Outsourced

Don’t try to configure your own system, it will be a horrific failure!.  We can make the proper arrangements to get you the right system, the right cameras, the proper amount of storage, and most importantly, a virtual video platform at  a competitive price.

Maintaining cameras in construction sites takes work and ongoing maintenance.  Monarc Technology will maintain your camera system on a per call basis without the need for unnecessary monthly maintenance plans.

4. Location for Mounting

The cameras and other necessary equipment will need to be mounted in strategic locations.  This location will have to be in a place that will remain undisturbed during the project.  Also, you will need a good vantage point from which to see all the construction activity that you need to keep an eye on.  Plan the scope of the project from start to finish from a depth and height standpoint to minimize service calls.  Our product is completely scalable, so we can add units as the project progresses

Monarc Technology suggest that poles provide a great vantage point, but remember: these cameras undoubtedly will need to be adjusted or maintained, so ensure that you have easy access to them.

Height: some cameras, especially dome cameras, cannot adjust to point higher than the horizon.  All of our systems use bullet cameras for the best amount of flexibility.  Is this location going to remain undisturbed throughout the project?  The bottom line: choose a location for mounting that is high enough, provides easy access, and that will remain undisturbed.  Camera Systems for construction sites from Monarc Technology

5. Progress of Construction

Gantt Charts.  Here’s an opportunity to save you a headache: think about how the construction project will progress physically over time.

What will be built first?  How this activity be captured?  What will come next?  Are the cameras going to have to be removed for the next construction phase to take place?  If yes, planning needs to be considered for phasing.

6. Activities of Interest

It is virtually impossible to document every single corner of a construction project, so decisions need to be made as to what is most important to document.  The most important element is to designate a staging area for incoming and outgoing shipments.  Purchasing and purchasing confirmation is one of the most critical elements.  If you constantly monitor incoming and outgoing activities, you can reduce shrinkage drastically.

Monitoring equipment needs to be used as a tool for project management, it is important that we are keeping an eye on activities that will have the most impact on the project. This usually translates into monitoring activities that are part of the critical path of the project schedule.

A great place to start would be to look at the gantt chart and single out all activities in the critical path. They may not make the most interesting video, but they will certainly have the most impact on the project.  It is important to ensure that they are being done on time and within scope.  Camera Systems for construction sites from Monarc Technology

7. Site Layout

Site layout is extremely important when planning for construction cameras. Cameras and other monitoring equipment need maintenance from time to time and it is important to be able to access them when necessary.

8. Type of Cameras

At Monarc Technology, we offer a full range of products from the finest and highest resolution systems to inexpensive systems used in home-building.  Our system is assembled and packaged with a “plug and play” design.  By using our systems, you can get the highest resolution available.  We offer bullet cameras in either a standard case or an environmental enclosure for added protection.  Monarc Technology offers units with a heating element that helps keep the camera from freezing.  They also have a blowing fan that prevents condensation on the lens. Monarc Technology uses IP cameras with PoE.

IP cameras are Digital and connect via Cat5 (Networking) Cable
IP cameras are digital cameras.

Cat5 Cable, as shown in the image to the left, is the cable used in creating computer networks. With an IP camera system, this one wire caries both your video data and your power. The power is added by the NVR (if you made a home run and are using our Networker Pro POE models, which has built-in POE ports) or you can use a POE injector or POE switch to power your cameras at convenient locations.

 

Monarc Technology offers a full range of Cameras.  Contact us to get more information on a surveillance systems customized to your specific project.  Listed below are general specification we offer in each critical systems category.  HD quality recording makes identifying faces and license plates much, much easier than standard definition. Although IP cameras are more expensive, HD recording can also mean that you don’t need to purchase as many cameras to properly secure an area, since you can record at a wider angle and still get footage that can identify suspects and be used in court.

• Resolution: 1080P, 2 x 1808P, 1.5 x 1080P, up to 4 MP resolution
• Aspect: 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440, 2048 x 1536
• Weather: IP66 (full protection from dust, rain and sprinklers)
• Temperature:  -22° F to 140° F
• Lens: Fixed and Variafocal
• IR (night vision): 100′ to 300′, some with .01 Lux
• All cameras have one or more of the following features::
  • Vandal proof housing
  • Digital zoom and optical zoom
  • Wide dynamic range
  • Motorized zoom focus

9. Privacy Concerns

Many construction sites will border residential areas.  Others will be located next to industrial plants, or even government buildings. Is the construction site next to a government building, or industrial site, or residential area?  Are the cameras looking at any location that might pose a privacy concern?  Are the cameras looking at any location that might become the interest of law enforcement?  Even if the cameras are not recording any area of concern, will the cameras be seen as a threat to privacy by stakeholders?  Camera Systems for construction sites from Monarc Technology

10.  Enclosures

Monarc Technology uses NEMA 3R weatherproof equipment enclosures.  All of our products are wired with 4 (four) 120VAC outlets, wiring blocks, CAT5e, output for video DVR access and playback.  Our enclosures can be mounted on an existing building and we also have pole mounting brackets as an option and we offer interior fans for required cooling.

 

11. Fixed vs. Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ)

Depending on the location and what you are trying to capture, you may want to invest on a camera that allows you to remotely pan, tilt, and adjust its zoom level.  If the camera is being used for long term time-lapse recording, you might want to choose a fixed camera.  A camera that is moved all the time do not yield a good time-lapse video.  It should be noted that bullet cameras are typically best in construction environments.

12. Live Viewing

Construction project managers and other personal including vendors can have access to real-time video collaboration.  We can provide smart phone apps for real time “live” viewing and conferencing.

Collaboration: when talking about the project with other stakeholders, it can be extremely helpful for everyone to be looking at live images from the construction project.  This is true especially if the project is remote.

Supervision: for owners and project managers, it will be helpful to convey to contractors and subcontractors that you might be looking.  It’s like being on site all the time.

Clarity and openness: Do you require projects in the public sector who wanted the live feed broadly available as a way to show transparency and reassure the public that the construction project was moving well.  Camera Systems for construction sites from Monarc Technology

13. Recording

This almost sounds like a silly question – if the cameras are there, why wouldn’t you? Well, recording adds a layer of complexity to a monitoring system.  We offer systems that have a 1 TB to 4 TB storage capacity.  This can be as much as current day plus 30 days in arrears depending on several factors.  However, you can always subscribe to cloud recording for an additional fee.

NVRs are like DVRs, except they record in HD. You can only record IP Cameras with a NVR.  Whereas in a traditional DVR, the video files are encoded (changed from video feeds to files) in the DVR; with NVRs, the video is encoded and processed in the IP Camera and then sent to the NVR to be saved, viewed, and stored. NVRs do not have video capture cards but usually have sophisticated (or multiple) Ethernet or wireless ports.

Often NVRs are mistakenly called DVRs, however they are different.

NVRs work with IP (Network) Cameras; rather than BNC analog (standard definition) security cameras.

Our NVRs have True 1080P Quality on Every Channel, and  we can configure 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 channel systems.

14. Maintenance and Support

System Maintenance.  Keeping a camera system running on a volatile and aggressive environment such as a construction site takes work.  Monarc Technology offers on-site maintenance to our customers in the DFW on a pay per incident basis which is the most cost-effective method.

The system components are warranted for a period of 3 years.  Our installation is warranted for a period of 1 year.

15.  Portability

Monarc Technology products can be moved from site to site, reducing overhead cost and expensive lease/rental programs.

A job-site camera system has enormous benefits and provides management with the opportunity to monitor several critical aspects of your project.  Camera Systems for construction sites from Monarc Technology

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• Job-site Productivity – A camera system will increase and improve job-site productivity.  Your company can monitor employee movement throughout the project ensuring that the right resources are employed in the right areas.
• Job-site communication – When the architectural plans conflict with the field conditions, all parties can easily collaborate on a solution without visiting the site through video conferencing. This process can accelerate  the design changes and field changes to improve job-site productivity.
• Vendor/supplier confirmation – When you encounter a discrepancy between job-site shipments and POD’s (Proof of delivery documents), a camera system can document the receipt of merchandise and accelerate process of payment.
• Sub-contractor accountability – Your subcontractors are the life-blood of your project.  Camera systems provide an intellectual process of tracing the events of the project.  Cameras provide accountability and documentation in the event of litigation.
• Employee accountability – Construction cameras provide management with peace of mind.   Position cameras at all entry and exit points to prevent material shrinkage.  It is estimated that companies incur as much as 2% shrinkage costing them , collectively, as much as $1 billion annually.  The sheer presence of a camera system prevents any shrinkage.

Contact Monarc Technology or call 214.507.3415 for more information

Camera Systems from Monarc Technology: 214-507-3415, Contact Ted.  Extend Your Job-site to Your Office, for construction camera systems and construction job site security systems.  Monarc Technology designs and assembles construction site camera systems and portable construction site surveillance systems. Our company is based in Dallas Texas furthermore we serve the entire Dallas market including the Fort Worth Texas market.