How do I compare a security guard company’s day shifts with its overnight posts?
Compare them as two businesses inside one. For each, ask for the hours sold, hours worked, who staffs them, how often shifts go uncovered and what the incident and complaint records show. Overnight posts may run with fewer supervisors and different turnover, so check how each is supervised and how much each contributes to the results.
Day and overnight work can feel very different to run. Day posts may involve more public contact and client interaction, while overnight posts may run with less supervision and different staffing problems. A buyer who treats them as one block can miss real differences.
Ask the seller to split the records by shift type. For each post, look at hours billed versus hours actually worked, how often the company had to cover with overtime or a last-minute replacement, and how many guards cycle through the post over a year. High turnover on overnight posts means more recruiting, training and disruption to the client.
Next, ask how supervision works after dark. Who checks the guards, how are patrol records kept, and what happens when a guard calls in sick at short notice? Review incident reports and any client complaints for each shift, and read whether they were resolved. Finally, compare how each group of posts contributes to the results. Ask your accountant to separate the figures so you can see whether one shift quietly carries the other. Speak with a few clients about how they see each shift, and ask the sitting guards what makes one post harder to keep staffed than another.
Key takeaways
- Ask for hours sold against hours worked, split by day and overnight.
- Compare turnover, uncovered shifts and supervision between the two.
- Have your accountant separate the figures so you can see what each group contributes.
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Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat are the steps to buying a business?
- 03Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to reduce employee turnover
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