Not every security booking is a contract. Sometimes you need two officers for one Saturday.
A retail opening. A wedding at a venue that requires it. A single night while a door is being replaced. An insurer asking for attendance while a sprinkler is offline.
Short bookings are normal work. Here is how they actually work, and what they cost.
The four-hour minimum
This catches people out, so it comes first.
Almost every BC provider has a four-hour minimum per officer. If you need someone for ninety minutes, you pay for four hours.
It is not a markup. An officer cannot reasonably travel to a site, work ninety minutes, and have the shift be worth taking. Four hours is roughly where a shift becomes a job someone will accept.
Plan around it. If you need coverage for two separate two-hour windows on the same day, ask whether one officer can cover both with a gap, rather than booking two shifts.
What a one-day booking costs
Expect to pay more per hour than an ongoing contract. Short bookings price higher because the provider cannot spread scheduling across a term.
As planning figures: standing guard work from around $28 per hour, event coverage from the mid-$30s, both with that four-hour minimum. Short notice adds to it. Our price guide has the fuller picture.
For a typical single-event booking of two officers for six hours, you are looking at a few hundred dollars rather than a few thousand.
How much notice you need
The honest version from our own scheduling:
Two weeks or more and it is straightforward. You get the officers you want at standard rates.
One week is fine for most bookings.
Two or three days is usually achievable, sometimes at a premium.
Same day or next day depends entirely on what else is running. Summer weekends in Vancouver and the Okanagan are tight. Call rather than email, and we will tell you within the hour whether we can staff it.
Nobody can promise same-day coverage in advance. Any provider who does has not checked their roster.
What you need to tell us
Short bookings go wrong when the brief is thin. Five minutes on this saves the day:
- Address, date, start and realistic finish time
- How many people will be there
- What the officer is actually there to do
- Whether alcohol is involved
- Who they report to on site, with a phone number
- Anything unusual
That last point matters more than it sounds. If there is a specific person you are worried about, or a past incident, say so. An officer who knows what they are watching for is worth three who do not.
Common one-off bookings
A single event. Opening, party, function, wedding. See our event security guide for scoping.
Fire watch. When a sprinkler or alarm system is impaired, or during and after hot work. This is often not optional. Our fire watch guide covers when it is required.
After a break-in. Overnight coverage while a door or window is repaired. Common, and usually urgent.
A vacant period. A few nights between tenants, or while a building sits empty over a holiday.
A difficult conversation. A termination, an eviction, a meeting someone expects to go badly. Discreet presence rather than visible security.
Deliveries or installs. High-value goods arriving, or equipment left on site overnight mid-installation.
What you still get on a one-day booking
Short does not mean informal.
The officer holds a current BC security worker licence. The company holds a security business licence. Both are required under the Security Services Act regardless of how long the booking is.
You should still receive a written report of the shift, with times and anything that happened. And the provider's liability insurance still applies. Ours is $2M CAD in comprehensive general liability.
If a provider is noticeably more casual about licensing for a one-day job, that tells you how they operate generally.
When a one-off should become something regular
Sometimes a single booking reveals a pattern.
If you book officers after a break-in and the reports show people trying doors on two of the four nights, that is information. It usually points toward mobile patrol rather than continued staffing, at a fraction of the cost.
A good provider will tell you that rather than keep selling you shifts.
Talk to us
Fireball Security takes short bookings across British Columbia, from a single evening to a few weeks. Operating since 2020, 100+ licensed guards, 100+ clients in 11 cities.
Send us the details or call 250-899-6620. If it is for the next day or two, phone.
