How to vet a security company in Queensland.

Before signing a security contract in Queensland, verify the firm's Class 1 licence on the Office of Fair Trading public register, confirm every officer on your site holds a current individual licence, ask for a public liability certificate of currency with a live expiry date, get the subcontracting policy in writing, request two reference clients in your industry, and insist on a site-visit-based written scope rather than a price quoted over the phone. If a provider hesitates on any of those, choose someone else.

Why this matters more than it should

The Queensland security industry runs the full quality range. At the top end, you have firms that hold current licences, employ vetted staff, pay properly, carry real insurance, and document everything. At the bottom end, you have operators who rebadge unlicensed subcontractors, work expired insurance, and quote prices that can only exist because someone in the chain is being underpaid or untrained.

The gap is invisible from a website. Both ends produce glossy marketing. The only way to tell them apart is to run the checks below.

1. Verify the Class 1 firm licence

Every business that provides security services in Queensland must hold a Security Firm Licence, issued by the Office of Fair Trading. There is a public register. You search by the firm's legal name or by licence number, and the record tells you the class, the categories the firm is authorised for, and whether the licence is current, expired, or suspended.

Ask the provider for their firm licence number up front. A legitimate firm will give it freely. We list ours in the footer of every page on this site (#4572076), and you are welcome to verify it before calling us.

2. Check individual officer licences

The firm licence covers the company. Each individual officer also needs a current security licence covering the function they are performing on your site (unarmed guard, crowd controller, monitoring, and so on). For a long-term contract, ask whether the firm will commit to a small named roster rather than rotating unfamiliar officers through your site, and ask to sight their licences before they start.

This isn't paranoia. It's the same check a freight broker runs on a driver before handing over a trailer.

3. Insurance: certificate, not screenshot

Public liability is the baseline insurance. $20 million is the common figure for commercial contracts, with some clients (events, body corporate, hospitality groups) asking higher. Workers compensation is mandatory for any Queensland employer.

What to ask for: a current certificate of currency on the insurer's letterhead, with a policy number, sum insured, and an expiry date that covers your contract window. Reject screenshots, verbal assurances, and certificates older than the current policy year.

4. Subcontracting policy, in writing

Subcontracting isn't inherently a problem. It's how the industry covers surge work, last-minute event cover, and jobs outside a firm's home territory. What's a problem is hidden subcontracting: you sign with one firm and a stranger's officer turns up.

Ask three questions: Do you subcontract any of this work? If yes, to whom and under what arrangement? Will the subcontractor's licence and insurance be available to me on request? Get the answer in writing. A firm that says "we don't subcontract" should be willing to put that in the contract.

5. Two real references in your industry

Generic testimonials on a website are not references. Ask for two clients in your industry that you can call. Construction firms, retail groups, body corporate committees, and event organisers all have very different needs, and a firm that's great with one isn't automatically great with the next.

If the provider can't or won't supply two industry-specific references, that's a signal. Either they haven't done the work or the work didn't go well enough to ask the client.

6. Site-visit-based scope, not a phone quote

Any commercial security scope worth signing is built off a physical site visit. Patrol cadence, vulnerable entry points, lighting, vehicle access, alarm response time from the nearest officer position. None of that survives a phone call. Anyone willing to quote without inspecting the site is either pricing off a template or planning to under-deliver.

The deliverable should be a written scope: what's covered, what's not, response times, escalation contacts, reporting cadence, and the price as a fixed monthly figure or a clear per-shift / per-patrol rate. If the quote is one line on a PDF, ask for the scope behind it.

Red flags worth walking away over

• "We can start tomorrow" without seeing the site.
• A price meaningfully below market without an obvious explanation.
• No firm licence number on the website or in the proposal.
• Officers without uniforms, IDs, or vehicle livery.
• No written incident reporting after a job.
• Pressure to sign a 24-month contract on the first call.
• Refusal to put the subcontracting policy in writing.

How we handle the same checks on our side

We publish our licence number on every page, list our insurer's certificate on request, and prefer to start every commercial scope with a free site visit. Our founder, Anthony Tupper, holds his own current individual security licence (#4063312) alongside the firm licence. See more on the about page, browse our mobile patrols, static guards, and alarm response services, or read the companion piece mobile patrols vs static guards.

Areas we cover most often: Ipswich, Silkstone, Springfield, Ripley, Brisbane CBD.

Get a written scope

Tell us about the site, the risk, and the contract window. We'll do the site visit and come back with a written scope. Request a site visit → or call 0414 829 850.

Published 21 May 2026 · Anthony Tupper, Founder · Tupper Security Services holds Queensland Security Firm Licence (Class 1) #4572076.