The posting message lands in the spring, the move happens in the summer, and somewhere between the house-hunting trip and the moving truck you start thinking about the practical stuff — including whether the new place needs an alarm. For a military family the question has a twist that most security companies never address: you will probably be here for a few years, not forever, and the system should be chosen with that in mind.
Both of Loch Security's founders served in the Canadian Armed Forces, so we have a fairly specific view on this. Here is what we think a posting household should look for.
Where CAF Families Actually Land
3rd Canadian Division Support Base Edmonton — the garrison most people still call CFB Edmonton — sits in Sturgeon County on the north edge of the city and is home to 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group. That geography shapes where families end up: St. Albert, Morinville and the north Edmonton neighbourhoods are the obvious short commutes, but plenty of families choose Sherwood Park, Spruce Grove, Beaumont or Leduc for schools, house prices or a spouse's job.
If you are moving into military housing, your housing office sets the rules on what can be installed — ask them first. This guide is for families buying or renting off base.
The Three Things That Matter for a Posting Household
1. Own the equipment outright. The national alarm brands build their business on multi-year monitoring contracts and hardware you never own — a model designed around a homeowner who is staying put. Get posted to Petawawa in year two and you may be on the hook for the rest of the term. When you buy an Ajax system from us you own the hub, keypad, sensors and cameras from the day they are installed — there is no multi-year contract to break and nothing to buy out. Our pricing page lays it out plainly.
2. Choose hardware that moves with you. Ajax is a professional-grade wireless platform: door and window sensors, motion detectors, keypads and sirens that talk to the hub over an encrypted radio link, with no drilling and no mess. When you are posted again, the portable parts come off the wall and go in a box. You can reinstall at the next house, or leave the system for the new owners and let it become a selling feature. Either way we are happy to help, and because nothing about Ajax is proprietary to us, an installer at your next posting can pick it up too. Wired cameras are the exception — cabling generally stays with the house — and we will tell you honestly what is worth taking.
3. Keep monitoring on your terms. Monitoring is optional, not mandatory. Many families self-monitor through the Ajax app at no monthly cost. If you want professional 24/7 monitoring, your alarm reports to a ULC-listed monitoring centre operated by our monitoring partner LANVAC, month-to-month with no long-term lock-in — a fully-monitored option is available, just request a quote. The ULC listing also matters for home insurance: most Canadian insurers ask for a certificate from a ULC-listed centre before they credit a monitored alarm, and we can provide that documentation on request. Any discount is set by your insurer, so ask your broker — more in our FAQ.
The Deployment Problem Nobody Designs For
Military households run on one adult a lot of the time. Courses, exercises in Wainwright, taskings and deployments mean the system has to work for the person who is home, not the person who set it up.
A few things we recommend for exactly that reason:
- A Yale smart lock with guest codes. The spouse at home can give the neighbour, the babysitter or the furnace tech their own temporary code, and can check from a phone whether the kids locked the door after school. A member who is away can still lock up remotely. (Smart lock and video doorbell pricing is itemized on your quote.)
- Alerts that reach whoever is available. The Ajax app works anywhere there is a data connection, so an alarm or a door-open notification can go to both partners at once — one of you in Edmonton, one in a tent somewhere.
- Cameras that know the difference between a person and a deer. The NDAA-compliant AI cameras we install distinguish people from passing vehicles and wildlife, so you are not woken at 2 a.m. by a jackrabbit on the step. Why NDAA-compliant matters.
- A hub that stays up when the power doesn't. Ajax hubs carry an internal backup battery and, depending on the model, can communicate over cellular as well as Wi-Fi or Ethernet — worth having in an Alberta January regardless of who is home.
What It Costs
Our Ajax starter package starts at $2,095 plus installation, and NDAA-compliant AI cameras start at $180 each. Every quote is itemized, assessments are free, and most homes are installed in a few hours in a single visit. You can put together a setup and see a live price with our system builder, or see the current packages on the pricing page.
Timing It Around the Move
Book the free assessment as soon as you have a possession date; we can walk the house before the furniture arrives and install once you are in. If the new place is inside the City of Edmonton it needs an alarm permit from the Edmonton Police Service — we flag it at install, and this post explains the bylaw. St. Albert, Leduc, Beaumont and the other corridor communities each set their own rules, so check with your municipality.
And when the next posting message arrives, call us. We will tell you what to take, what to leave, and how to hand the rest over to the buyers.
Talk to a Veteran-Owned Installer
We serve Edmonton, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Spruce Grove, Beaumont, Leduc, Nisku and the surrounding communities, plus acreages — travel is always confirmed in your quote. Call 825-957-1200, read about us, or reach out through the contact page. Welcome to Alberta.