Security Guards Cost Australia 2026
Security guards in Australia are priced by the hour, and the hour is priced by when it falls: a static guard is $40–$60 per hour on a weekday day shift, $55–$75 per hour for a night or weekend shift and $80–$120 per hour on a public holiday. Most firms set a minimum booking length, and whole shifts are quoted too - one 8-hour weekday static shift at $280–$480 and one 10-hour overnight site shift at $500–$750.
What separates two quotes for the same site is the kind of officer. A concierge or front-desk security officer is $40–$65 per hour, a construction site guard $45–$70 per hour, an event security guard $45–$70 per guard per hour and a licensed crowd controller $55–$85 per guard per hour. Where a site only needs checking, a mobile patrol costs $30–$60 per site visit, and a contract of nightly patrols on one site $400–$1,200 per month.
Two event lines finish the table: a private party or wedding with 2 guards for 6 hours at $660–$840 per event, and the event security charge some councils set for their own halls at $68–$198 per guard per hour. Prices are as published by security firms and councils, mostly ex GST where a basis is stated. The bands on this page are national; each city guide below carries the same bands with that city's own year-on-year movement and local notes.
| City | Static guard, weekday day shift, per hour | Year on year |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.3% |
| Melbourne | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.1% |
| Brisbane | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.4% |
| Perth | $40-$60 | ↑ +2.7% |
| Adelaide | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.8% |
| Gold Coast | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.4% |
| Canberra | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.2% |
| Hobart | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.2% |
| Darwin | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.2% |
| Newcastle | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.3% |
| Geelong | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.1% |
| Sunshine Coast | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.4% |
| Wollongong | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.3% |
| Townsville | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.4% |
| Byron Bay | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.3% |
| Central Coast | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.3% |
| Cairns | $40-$60 | ↑ +3.4% |
Security Guards Cost by City — Australia
Security Guards Prices in Australia 2026: Cost Table, Price List and Hourly Rates
| Service | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Static security guard, weekday day shift | $40per hour | $45 | $60 |
| Event security guard | $45per guard per hour | $55 | $70 |
| Licensed crowd controller (venues, events) | $55per guard per hour | $60 | $85 |
| Mobile patrol, per site visit | $30per visit | $35 | $60 |
| Static guard, public holiday | $80per hour | $100 | $120 |
| Static guard, night or weekend shift | $55per hour | $65 | $75 |
| Concierge or front-desk security officer | $40per hour | $50 | $65 |
| Construction site guard | $45per hour | $50 | $70 |
| Overnight site guard, one 10-hour shift | $500per shift | $650 | $750 |
| Static guard, one 8-hour weekday shift | $280per shift | $360 | $480 |
| Mobile patrol contract, one site, nightly patrols | $400per month | $600 | $1,200 |
| Private party or wedding, 2 guards for 6 hours | $660per event | $780 | $840 |
| Event security guard at a council venue (council-set hourly charge) | $68per guard per hour | $80 | $198 |
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Get free quotes →Prices are as published by security firms and councils, mostly ex GST where a basis is stated. National figures, November 2026.
Worked Security Guards Cost Scenarios — Australia
Three examples priced from the national rows above. Each line names the row it draws on; the quote you receive prices your own hours, guard count and site.
- Office building front desk. A multi-tenant office building books a concierge or front-desk security officer at $40–$65 per hour ($50 typical) for business hours, with a static guard at $55–$75 per hour for weekend fit-out works and $80–$120 per hour on any public holiday the building opens.
- Warehouse build, day and night. A builder on a warehouse site has a construction site guard at $45–$70 per hour while the trades work and one overnight site guard at $500–$750 per 10-hour shift ($650 typical) once they leave, then moves to mobile patrols at $30–$60 per site visit, or $400–$1,200 per month on a nightly contract, when the shed can be locked.
- Wedding or private function. A private party or wedding with 2 guards for 6 hours is $660–$840 per event ($780 typical); a larger public event adds event security guards at $45–$70 and licensed crowd controllers at $55–$85 per guard per hour, and a council-run hall may set its own event security charge of $68–$198 per guard per hour.
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Get free quotes →Security Guards Costs by Sector — Australia
Sector sets the kind of officer and the hours, and the site sets whether a guard, a patrol or a desk is the right booking.
- Offices and commercial buildings - Concierge or front-desk security officers at $40–$65 per hour through business hours, static guards at $40–$60 per hour for weekday cover beyond the desk, and one 8-hour weekday shift at $280–$480.
- Construction sites and laydown yards - Construction site guards at $45–$70 per hour, overnight site guards at $500–$750 per 10-hour shift, and mobile patrols at $30–$60 per site visit once the site can be locked.
- Events, venues and functions - Event security guards at $45–$70 per guard per hour, licensed crowd controllers at $55–$85, a private party or wedding of 2 guards for 6 hours at $660–$840 per event, and council halls at $68–$198 per guard per hour where the council sets the charge.
- Retail stores and shopping centres - Static guards on the floor at $40–$60 per hour on weekdays and $55–$75 per hour for late-trading and weekend shifts, with public holiday trading at $80–$120 per hour.
- Warehouses, depots and industrial estates - Mobile patrols at $30–$60 per site visit, a nightly patrol contract on one site at $400–$1,200 per month, and a static guard at $55–$75 per hour where a gate has to be staffed at night or on weekends.
What Security Guards Jobs Actually Cost in Australia
Across Australia, guard bookings sit near the typical rates on plain weekday cover: an office front desk near $50 per hour for a concierge officer, and a store or site guard on a weekday near $45 per hour, inside the $40–$60 band. They climb when the hours move to nights and weekends at $55–$75 per hour or to a public holiday at $80–$120, which is where late venues, weekend builds and public holiday trading sit.
Builds, depots and events are bought by the shift and the visit. A warehouse build has a construction site guard at $45–$70 per hour through the day and one overnight guard at $500–$750 per 10-hour shift, then drops to mobile patrols at $30–$60 per site visit or a nightly contract at $400–$1,200 per month; a function books event guards at $45–$70 per guard per hour, and a private party or wedding with 2 guards for 6 hours prices at $660–$840 per event.
What Affects Security Guards Costs in Australia
Guard prices move with the hours, the kind of officer, the length of the booking and how far the site is from the firm's base.
- Day of the week and time of day - The same static guard is $40–$60 per hour on a weekday day shift, $55–$75 per hour at night or on a weekend and $80–$120 per hour on a public holiday, so the roster pattern sets the rate before anything else does.
- Minimum booking length - Most firms set a minimum booking, so a short job is billed to that minimum rather than to the hours the guard was needed; booked as a whole shift, 8 weekday hours are priced at $280–$480.
- Kind of officer - A concierge officer at $40–$65 per hour, an event guard at $45–$70 and a licensed crowd controller at $55–$85 per guard per hour are separate bookings and belong on separate quote lines.
- Construction and overnight cover - A construction site guard is $45–$70 per hour, and overnight cover is priced as a 10-hour shift at $500–$750; whether the guard stays at the gate or walks perimeter rounds should be written into the quote.
- Patrols instead of a guard on site - A site that only needs checking pays $30–$60 per site visit, or $400–$1,200 per month on a nightly contract for one site; site size, how long each visit lasts and the distance from the patrol base move the per-visit price.
- Venue type - A council hall that sets its own event security charge prices guards at $68–$198 per guard per hour, while a private party or wedding with 2 guards for 6 hours is $660–$840 per event.
How to Control Security Guards Costs in Australia
The main lever anywhere in Australia is matching the officer and the hours to the risk: a guard on site only while one is needed, a patrol where a check will do, and one rate card across every site a business runs.
- Price mobile patrols at $30–$60 per site visit against an overnight guard at $500–$750 per 10-hour shift for any site that is locked overnight, before booking either.
- Book construction cover for the stages that carry the risk - plant, materials and tools on site before lock-up - and step down to patrols once the building can be locked.
- Ask for weekday, night and weekend, and public holiday rates on one quote, so a roster is costed for the whole year rather than the first month.
- For an event, fix the guard count and the bump-in and bump-out times in writing, so a long night is not billed for guard hours nobody agreed.
What a Compliant Security Guards Quote Includes — Cost in Australia
Before comparing quotes, check each one prices the same shifts at the same rate type - weekday day, night or weekend, public holiday - states the minimum booking, and lists event guards, crowd controllers, concierge officers and patrols on their own lines with the GST basis stated.
- The hourly rate for each shift type: weekday day shifts at $40–$60, night or weekend shifts at $55–$75 and public holidays at $80–$120 per hour
- The minimum booking length, and what a whole shift comes to - one 8-hour weekday shift at $280–$480 or one 10-hour overnight shift at $500–$750
- Event security guards at $45–$70 and licensed crowd controllers at $55–$85 per guard per hour, with the guard count and the hours on site written down
- Mobile patrols at $30–$60 per site visit, or a nightly patrol contract at $400–$1,200 per month, with the visits per night and what each visit checks
- Construction site guards at $45–$70 per hour, with day cover and overnight cover shown as separate lines
- Concierge or front-desk security officers at $40–$65 per hour, with the duties - visitor sign-in, deliveries, floor rounds - listed
- For a private party or wedding, the per-event price of $660–$840 for 2 guards for 6 hours; at a council venue, whether the council's own charge of $68–$198 per guard per hour applies instead
- The licence numbers held by each guard and by the company supplying them, with the company's ABN and public liability insurance
- A single GST basis across every line, with public holiday dates, cancellation terms and any travel charge for an outlying site stated
Security guards cost in Australia: hourly rates, whole shifts and patrols
Security guards cost in Australia comes in three parts: the hourly rate for the shift, the whole-shift price, and the lines that are not a static guard at all. The hourly rate is $40–$60 on a weekday day shift (typically $45), $55–$75 for a night or weekend shift (typically $65) and $80–$120 on a public holiday (typically $100); a whole 8-hour weekday shift is $280–$480 and a 10-hour overnight site shift $500–$750.
Outside the static guard sit the officers and services bought on their own terms: concierge or front-desk officers at $40–$65 per hour, construction site guards at $45–$70 per hour, event guards at $45–$70 and licensed crowd controllers at $55–$85 per guard per hour, mobile patrols at $30–$60 per site visit or $400–$1,200 per month on a nightly contract, a private party or wedding with 2 guards for 6 hours at $660–$840 per event, and council-set hall charges at $68–$198 per guard per hour.
Service NSW says that anyone working in the security industry in NSW must hold the appropriate Class 1 or Class 2 security operative licence, that the Class 1 subclasses include 1A Security Officer, and that the licence is applied for with the Security Licensing & Enforcement Directorate (NSW Police Force). It also says that any business that employs or subcontracts people to carry on defined security activities, unless exempted by security industry legislation, must hold a master licence, and that the people employed or subcontracted under it must hold Class 1 or Class 2 security operator licences. Victoria Police says the Licensing and Regulation Division of Victoria Police regulates the private security industry in Victoria, and that to work in Victoria you must have a current Victorian private security licence and/or registration. The Queensland Government's fair trading pages say that to work as a crowd controller in Queensland you need a Queensland security provider class 1 licence, and that a business needs a security firm licence if it supplies staff to provide security services. The WA Police Force's security licence types say a Security Officer licence authorises the holder to watch, guard and protect property, and that a Crowd Controller licence is required for licensed premises, places of entertainment and public or private events or functions. The South Australian Government says businesses and their employees must hold a security agent's licence when undertaking crowd or venue control work or guarding property or people, and that South Australia Police will contact business applicants to arrange fingerprinting as part of the application. The Security and Investigation Industry Act 1995 says a person must not carry on business, or otherwise act, as a security agent except as authorised by a licence, counts protecting or guarding a person or property and controlling crowds for fee or reward as the work of a security agent, and names the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs as its Commissioner. This guide quotes security licensing wording only from government pages fetched in November 2026, which cover New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. For work in the ACT, Tasmania or the Northern Territory, ask the security company to name the licence each guard holds and any business licence, and to print the numbers on the quote.
Security guards cost by shift type and site in Australia
Shift type moves the price in steps, not a slope: $40–$60 per hour on a weekday day shift, $55–$75 for a night or weekend shift and $80–$120 on a public holiday. Booked as whole shifts, one 8-hour weekday shift is $280–$480 and one 10-hour overnight shift $500–$750, and a short job is billed to the firm's minimum booking.
Site type sets the officer. An office building uses concierge officers at $40–$65 per hour; a depot or yard after hours can use mobile patrols at $30–$60 per site visit or a nightly contract at $400–$1,200 per month instead of a guard on site all night; an event books event guards at $45–$70 and crowd controllers at $55–$85 per guard per hour; and a council hall with its own charge prices the guard at $68–$198 per guard per hour.
Security guards cost in Australia: what the jobs are priced at
Guard work anywhere in the country starts with the same short list of lines; what shifts the number is when the hours fall, the kind of officer, the length of the booking and the distance from the firm's base to the site.
- Static guards, by shift: $40–$60 per hour on a weekday day shift, with $45 typical; $55–$75 per hour for a night or weekend shift; $80–$120 per hour on a public holiday.
- Whole shifts: $280–$480 for one 8-hour weekday static shift; $500–$750 for one 10-hour overnight site shift.
- Events and crowds: $45–$70 per guard per hour for an event security guard; $55–$85 per guard per hour for a licensed crowd controller; $68–$198 per guard per hour where a council sets the charge for its own venue.
- Private functions: $660–$840 per event for a private party or wedding with 2 guards for 6 hours.
- Desks and sites: $40–$65 per hour for a concierge or front-desk security officer; $45–$70 per hour for a construction site guard.
- Patrols: $30–$60 per site visit for a mobile patrol; $400–$1,200 per month for a contract of nightly patrols on one site.