Count cameras by zone, not by square footage
Two 20,000 sq ft buildings can need very different camera counts. One with two dock doors and no yard needs far fewer cameras than one with twelve doors, a fenced trailer yard and a guarded gate. Start with a floor plan and list the zones below, then count what each zone needs.
| Zone | What the camera has to show | Typical camera |
|---|---|---|
| Dock doors | The trailer, the door and who is loading, at each door | One fixed camera per door |
| Dock and staging floor | Forklift traffic, dock levelers and staged pallets | Wide fixed cameras over the staging lanes |
| High-bay aisles | Activity along the length of each aisle | High-resolution turret cameras aimed down the aisle |
| Yard and fence line | Trailers, equipment and anyone along the fence after hours | Weather-rated (IP66 / IP67) bullet cameras, plus a PTZ for the yard |
| Gate or truck entrance | Each vehicle and its license plate | A close fixed camera, or one license plate camera per lane |
| Entries, office and IT closet | Faces at each door and access to the recorder | Small dome or turret cameras |
| Dark perimeter (optional) | That a person is present, in darkness, fog or dust | Thermal camera paired with a color camera |
Decide what each camera has to do
A camera that only needs to show that someone walked into the yard can cover a wide area. A camera that needs to show who it was must be much closer, or zoomed much tighter. The international video surveillance standard IEC 62676-4 expresses this as pixel density on the target, often called DORI:
| Goal | Pixels per meter | About pixels per foot |
|---|---|---|
| Detect that a person is there | 25 | 8 |
| Observe what they are doing | 62 | 19 |
| Recognize someone you know | 125 | 38 |
| Identify a stranger | 250 | 76 |
In practice this means wide cameras watch the yard and the aisles for activity, and identification happens at choke points: building entries, the gate and each dock door. That is why counts climb with the number of doors and gates, not just with floor area.
Example: adding up a count for a 10,000 sq ft building
This is an illustrative worksheet, not a specific customer job. For a 10,000 sq ft warehouse with 4 dock doors, a small office and a gated lot, the count might add up like this:
- Dock doors: 4 cameras, one per door
- Dock and staging floor: 1–2 cameras
- Aisles: 3–4 cameras, depending on racking
- Main entry and office: 2 cameras
- Building corners and parking: 2–3 cameras
- Gate: 1 camera
That lands at 13–16 cameras, in line with the 12–16 we usually see for this size of building. A 50,000+ sq ft distribution center with more doors, longer aisles, a trailer yard and several gates often runs 32–64 cameras.
Plan recording and storage at the same time
Most warehouses keep 30 to 90 days of video. Storage grows with the number of cameras, resolution, frame rate and whether cameras record continuously or only on motion. As a reference point, a 16-camera 4MP system recording continuously for 30 days typically needs 8–16 TB of surveillance-grade drive space. Put the recorder in a climate-controlled closet on a UPS battery backup. For where the footage should live, see NVR vs cloud video storage.
How long a warehouse install takes
Warehouses with 16–32 cameras and outdoor cable runs usually take 3–5 days to install. Overhead runs in high-bay space need lifts, so the work is scheduled around forklift traffic and shift changes, with lift work staged outside peak hours.
What it costs
Small-business systems of 4–8 cameras run roughly $2,500–$6,000 installed, and mid-size systems of 12–24 cameras typically run $7,000–$18,000. Warehouse builds are quoted per project after a free site walk, because lift work, exterior runs, yard coverage and storage vary a lot from one building to the next.
Before the site walk: a short checklist
- A floor plan or a phone photo of the fire-exit map
- The number of dock doors, roll-up doors and gates
- How many days of video your insurer, customers or franchise require
- Where the IT closet is and whether it has internet
- Who needs to view cameras, and from where
- Any problem you want solved first: shortage claims, yard theft, forklift incidents
Ready to get a count for your building? See warehouse camera installation or call (208) 544-9675.