At 8 p.m., most of the shops in a plaza may be locking up while a restaurant is still seating guests. If a guard is assigned to the customer entrance, who can walk the shared parking area as retail staff leave? That question is easier to settle on a weekly schedule than during Friday’s closing shift.
To build a guard schedule for a shopping center, write down when activity changes, where a guard needs to be, and which duties overlap. Then ask security companies to price the same hours and responsibilities.
Start with one ordinary week
Ask the tenant managers when staff arrive, when customers leave, and when the last employee usually finishes. Add deliveries that use shared space, cleaning shifts, and weekend trading hours. A shop that closes its doors at eight may still have employees walking to their cars at eight-thirty.
For each time window, name the part of the property your management team controls. A tenant’s request for help inside a store and a landlord’s request for a guard in a common walkway are different assignments. Agree who can authorize each one before it goes into a bid.
Count guard-hours where duties overlap
Consider an illustrative Los Angeles County plaza. Management wants one guard at a fixed customer entrance from 4 to 10 p.m. every day. On Fridays and Saturdays, management also wants a guard walking the shared lot from 8 to 10 p.m.
- The entrance requires 6 hours × 7 days, or 42 guard-hours per week.
- The Friday and Saturday lot rounds require 2 hours × 2 days, or 4 additional guard-hours.
- The weekly request comes to 46 guard-hours, including two people on duty during those four overlapping hours.
If one proposal quotes 42 hours and another quotes 46, ask each bidder to show who stays at the entrance during the parking rounds. The lower total might assume the entrance can be left. If management accepts that, update the written scope so both bidders can price it. Ask how each bidder will maintain any required continuous post during breaks and shift changes.
A worksheet to send with the bid request
Copy these six lines for each recurring time window. Use a separate entry for Friday or Saturday when the work changes.
- On which days does this assignment run, and at what hours?
- Where should the guard be, and what duty does management need performed there?
- Must the guard stay at a fixed post, or can they leave it under agreed conditions?
- Which duties overlap, and who will cover each one?
- Who receives tenant requests, and who can approve a change?
- What should management receive about exceptions or unfinished items at the end of the shift?
Have a tenant manager walk through the busiest closing window with you. If the guard would need to be in two places at once, settle that line before asking for prices. Keep access codes and detailed site instructions for the private planning conversation.
For a plaza in Los Angeles County, review our shopping center and plaza security services. When you’re ready to request a security proposal, share your property ZIP code, the days you need recurring coverage, and the busiest overlap in your week.