How often should CCTV be serviced, and what is checked?

By the CRM Ground team · 9 November 2026

CCTV has a habit of looking fine right up until the moment someone needs the footage. Then it turns out a camera has been pointing at the sky since the last storm, the hard drive stopped recording in March, or the clock is an hour out and the evidence is useless. Regular servicing is how you stop those calls happening.

How often should CCTV be serviced?

For most domestic and small commercial systems, once a year is the sensible minimum. There is no law that says a home CCTV system must be serviced, but an annual visit catches the slow problems: dirty lenses, failing drives, cameras knocked out of position and firmware that hasn’t been updated.

Some systems need more. Busy commercial sites, systems in harsh or coastal environments and anything remotely monitored by a receiving centre usually justify two visits a year. If you install to NSI or SSAIB certification, follow your certification body’s code for the type of system, which may set the frequency for you.

What to check on a service visit

A thorough CCTV service usually covers the cameras, the recorder and the way the customer uses the system.

Cameras

• Clean lenses and domes, and remove cobwebs and anything growing near the housing
• Check each view against the agreed position and correct any that have moved
• Check focus and image quality in daylight, and infrared or low light performance after dark where possible
• Check housings, brackets, seals and cable entries for damage and water

Recorder and storage

• Confirm every camera is recording to its schedule, and play back footage from the oldest date held
• Check the retention period matches what the customer was promised
• Check hard drive health and replace any drive showing errors
• Make sure the date and time are correct and synchronised
• Apply firmware updates for the recorder and cameras
• Check the power supply, any UPS and ventilation around the recorder

Access and the customer

• Review user accounts and passwords, and remove anyone who no longer needs access
• Test remote viewing on the customer’s phone and fix any app problems
• Show the customer how to find and export a clip
• Record what you found and did, with photos, and leave the customer a copy

Explaining the value to customers

Customers don’t buy servicing, they buy the confidence that the footage will be there when they need it. The most persuasive thing you can say is a true story: the burglary where the only camera covering the door had been out of focus for a year. Every installer has one.

It also helps to show them the report afterwards. A short document with photos of each view, the retention period confirmed and the work done makes the visit visible. Without it, a service that found nothing wrong looks like a visit that did nothing.

Turning servicing into a plan

Annual servicing sold one visit at a time is easy to forget, for you and the customer. Bundling it into a monthly plan, collected by Direct Debit, keeps the customer with you and makes your income predictable. Our guide to pricing and selling maintenance contracts covers how to set one up.

How CRM Ground helps

CRM Ground sends service invites with a booking link at 8am on the day you choose, puts the visit in your diary and Google Calendar, and gives your engineer a service checklist to complete on their phone with photos and the customer’s signature. The branded report goes to the customer before the engineer leaves site. See how it works for CCTV installers.