Security is a topic that comes up in almost every consultation we do. Most clients in the Bel Air, Malibu, and Pacific Palisades market have had a system before — usually something the builder spec'd, installed by a company they've since stopped calling. It looks bad, it's annoying to use, half the cameras are pointed at nothing useful, and they have no idea what the monitoring situation actually is.
We do this differently.
Design-First Security
Security equipment should be invisible or architectural. Dome cameras that blend with soffits. Cameras integrated into landscape lighting. Door contacts and motion sensors that don't look like they were ordered from a catalog and screwed onto your millwork.
The hardware matters. We use Lutron for door/window sensors where control integration is important, and Alarm.com as the monitoring and platform layer on most builds. For camera systems, we're primarily using Axis and Hanwha on high-end installs — enterprise-grade equipment that belongs on a $10M property, not the consumer gear that gets installed on 90% of luxury homes.
Coverage Strategy
Effective security isn't about the number of cameras — it's about coverage logic. We design systems around the threat model: what are you protecting against, what are the access points, where are the blind spots? A 30-camera system with bad placement is less effective than a 12-camera system placed correctly.
Key coverage areas on a luxury residential install: all entry points (including windows and secondary doors that people forget about), the driveway approach with license plate capture capability, pool area if children are in the home, and interior cameras in high-value rooms if the client wants them.
Access Control
Intercom and access control have come a long way. We're integrating 2N and Doorbird video intercoms that tie directly into Control4 — a visitor rings the gate, the client sees them on any screen in the house, on their phone, and can speak with them and release the gate from wherever they are in the world. This is a baseline feature for gated properties now.
For larger estates, we design full access control systems with credential-based entry — keypads, card readers, or mobile credentials — that log every entry. Who came in through which door, at what time. Useful for household staff management and for any incident investigation.
Monitoring
The monitoring conversation is more nuanced than people think. Central station monitoring is standard and appropriate for most clients. But we also set up clients with direct notification workflows — if a camera detects motion in a specific zone at 2 AM, you get a push notification with a clip, not just an alarm sounding in a building somewhere.
Alarm.com's AI-powered video analytics have reduced false alarms dramatically. The system learns to ignore the gardener, the dog, the pool service. It flags what it should flag.
Integration
All of this integrates. Your security system is not a separate app — it lives in your Control4 or Savant interface. Arming modes that set automatically when you leave and disarm when you arrive. Cameras on your TV when someone rings the door. Lighting that turns on when motion is detected in the driveway at night.
If your security feels like a burden rather than a background feature, it was designed wrong. Let's fix it.
