Saved 87,360 on Boston Security

Saved 87,360 on Boston Security

The Bottom Line and the Human Touch: Why Switching to Hub Security Was My Best Move This Year

As a property manager, my days are usually a balancing act between two often-competing forces: the safety and comfort of my residents and the hard reality of the bottom line. For years, I operated under the assumption that “you get what you pay for” when it came to security. I stayed with a massive, national security provider because I thought their size equated to reliability, despite the fact that their hourly rates were climbing every year while their actual service quality seemed to be plummeting.

Sixteen months ago, I hit a breaking point. Between the unresponsive corporate “account managers” and the high turnover of guards who didn’t know the building layout—or even the names of our residents—I knew I had to make a change. That was when I discovered Hub Security and Investigative Group.

Looking back over a full year of partnership with them, the results have been nothing short of transformative. Not only did they improve the atmosphere of our apartment community, but they also fundamentally changed our financial outlook.

The $10-an-Hour Revelation

When I first sat down with the team at Hub, I was skeptical. They offered a rate that was exactly $10 per hour less than what I was paying my previous provider. In the world of high-end property management, a $10-an-hour difference usually signals a “budget” service—the kind where guards show up out of uniform and spend their shifts on their phones.

However, Hub wasn’t a budget company; they were an efficient one. Because they are a family-owned, specialized firm, they don’t have the massive corporate overhead, bloated middle management, and national advertising budgets that my previous provider forced me to subsidize through high rates.

Let’s look at the math, because seeing it on paper was what finally convinced my board of directors. For our building, we require 24/7 security presence at the main desk and periodic nightly patrols. That’s 168 hours of coverage a week.

• Previous Provider: $X per hour

• Hub Security: $X – $10 per hour

• Weekly Savings: $1,680

• Monthly Savings: Approximately $7,280

• Annual Savings: $87,360

Saving over $87,000 in a single year without cutting a single hour of coverage felt like finding buried treasure. That was money we were able to reinvest into building amenities, upgraded LED lighting for the parking garage, and a long-overdue lobby renovation.

Professionalism That Goes Beyond a Uniform

The financial savings were the initial hook, but the professionalism of the Hub team is why I’ll never go back to a national chain.

With our previous provider, the “guards” were often just people in polyester suits who had received four hours of classroom training. With Hub, the caliber of personnel is on a different level. Because they also operate as a licensed investigative group, their staff has an “investigative mindset.” They aren’t just standing there; they are observing.

Within the first month, the Hub team identified three separate security vulnerabilities in our secondary exits that our previous provider had ignored for years. They brought me a detailed report—complete with photos and recommended mechanical fixes—before I even realized there was a problem. Their background in surveillance and security audits means they see the things that ordinary security guards miss.

They arrive on time, their uniforms are crisp, and they carry themselves with an authority that is firm but polite. They understand that in a residential setting, they aren’t just “security”—they are the first face my residents see when they come home.

The Comfort of a Family-Owned Business

There is a specific kind of anxiety that comes with calling a 1-800 number to report a security lapse and being told by a call center in another time zone that “a ticket has been opened.”

Switching to Hub Security and Investigative Group gave me something I hadn’t had in years: peace of mind. As a family-owned and operated company, there is a level of skin-in-the-game that you simply cannot find in a multi-billion-dollar corporation. When I call Hub, I’m talking to people who know my building, know my staff, and care about their own reputation in the community.

This “family” atmosphere extends to how they treat their own employees, which in turn benefits my building. We’ve had the same core team of guards for the entire year. That continuity is priceless. My residents know them by name. They know which residents need a little extra help with their groceries and which guests are authorized to be in the building. That level of familiarity creates a culture of safety that a rotating door of corporate contractors can never replicate.

Responsiveness: No More “Tickets,” Just Solutions

In the property management world, concerns usually don’t happen during 9-to-5 business hours. Whether it’s a noise complaint at 2:00 AM, a mechanical failure at a secure gate, or a suspicious person in the lobby, I need answers immediately.

The responsiveness of Hub has been the “easy button” for my job. Because they are locally managed and family-driven, the lines of communication are incredibly short. If I have a concern about a specific patrol route or need to adjust coverage for a holiday weekend, I don’t have to wait for three levels of regional vice presidents to sign off on it. I send a text or make a phone call, and it’s handled—often within the hour.

I remember a specific incident last winter where a water pipe burst in a vacant unit on a Sunday evening. The Hub officer on duty didn’t just call the emergency line and wait; he used the protocol we had established to shut off the local valve, potentially saving us thousands in water damage before the plumber even arrived. That’s the kind of proactive care you get when a company takes personal pride in the properties they protect.

A Year in Review: The Best Decision We Made

As I prepare the year-end report for the building owners, the section on “Security Services” is the one I’m most proud of. Usually, this is where I have to explain why costs went up. This year, I get to show a significant surplus.

But more than the $87,000 saved, I’m reporting a 40% drop in resident complaints regarding security and a 100% satisfaction rate with the new team. We moved from a provider that viewed us as a contract number to a partner that treats us like neighbors.

If you are a property owner or manager who is tired of paying premium prices for mediocre service, I cannot recommend Hub Security and Investigative Group highly enough. They proved to me that you can find elite-level professionalism and significant cost savings in the same place. All it takes is moving away from the “big box” mentality and trusting a team that puts their name and their family reputation on the line every day.

Our building is safer, our budget is healthier, and my job is easier. That is what I call a successful partnership.