Shadowing Practice: How to Price a Security Guard Contract in 2026 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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59 sentences
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If you pay a guard $20 an hour and charge the client $25, you are not automatically making $5 an hour.
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Your billing rate has to cover the guard's wage, employer payroll costs, workers' compensation, insurance, overhead, staffing problems, and then profit.
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So start with the guard's wage.
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For this example, we'll use $20 an hour.
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That wage still has to meet any minimum wage, prevailing wage, or contract -specific requirements where you're operating.
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The guard costs you more than the hourly wage.
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You may also be paying employer payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, paid leave, and benefits.
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Those costs vary by state, company, insurance history, and benefits, so don't copy somebody else's percentage.
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For this example only, let's say those costs add another $5 per hour.
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Our $20 guard now costs approximately $25 per hour.
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Now add what it costs to actually run the account.
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That can include general liability insurance, uniforms, equipment, training, scheduling, payroll processing,
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supervision, software, licensing, administration, and vehicle costs if the contract requires them.
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For this example, we'll allocate another $3 per guard hour.
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We're now at an estimated cost of $28 per hour.
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Now look at how you're actually going to cover the schedule.
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If the contract requires 56 hours of coverage every week, Don't assume one employee can work all 56 at straight time.
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Under federal law, most covered non -exempt employees must receive time and a half after 40 hours in a work week.
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And some states have additional overtime rules.
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Maybe you split those hours between two guards.
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Maybe you need relief officers.
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Maybe call -outs create occasional overtime.
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Build your pricing around the staffing plan you're actually going to use.
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For this example, let's assume expected overtime and relief coverage add an average of another $2 per billed hour.
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That brings our estimated cost to $30 per hour.
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Now add profit.
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If it costs you $30 an hour to provide the service and you charge the client $30, you're not making anything.
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Let's say you add $6 per hour.
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Your billing rate becomes $36 dollars.
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That $6 is a 20 % markup on your $30 cost, but it is only about a 16 .7 % profit margin on the $36 selling price.
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If you actually want a 20 % margin on a $30 cost, you would need to charge $37 .50.
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Know whether you're calculating markup or margin, they're not the same thing.
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If you're actually trying to land your first security contract, I also put together a security contract prospecting kit to help you organize the process.
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It includes a practical prospecting guide, cold call and email templates, follow -up scripts, an editable outreach document,
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and an Excel lead tracker with a dashboard so you can keep track of who you contacted and what comes next.
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It's a set of tools to help you prospect more professionally and stay organized.
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All links are in the video description.
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Now multiply the billing rate by the number of hours the client needs.
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Say the client wants one guard on post eight hours per night, seven nights per week.
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That's 56 guard hours.
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At $36 per hour, the client would be billed $2 ,016 per week,
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or about $104 ,832 over 52 weeks.
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At our estimated $30 cost, the contract costs approximately $1 ,680 per week to operate.
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That leaves about $336 per week in projected profit, or $17 ,472 over 52 weeks.
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That's why revenue is not profit.
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Don't hear that another security company charges $35 or $40 an hour and automatically copy them.
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Their wages, insurance, workers' comp, benefits, overhead, and staffing costs may be completely different from yours.
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The assignment matters too.
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Armed security, mobile patrol, temporary coverage, emergency work, short shifts, and irregular schedules can all cost more to provide.
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You may also want minimum billable hours for small assignments.
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Government contracts can have required prevailing wages or benefits, so always read the solicitation before pricing those jobs.
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Calculate your own costs first, then compare your rate against the market.
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Find out when the client actually pays you.
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You may have to pay your guards every week or every two weeks while the client pays your invoice 30 days later.
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That means you may have to fund several payrolls before the first payment arrives.
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So before you sign, know your wage cost, payroll burden, overhead, staffing costs,
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profit target, billing rate, and how much cash you'll need to keep the account running until the client pays you.
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If you'd like to support the channel directly, consider becoming a member for perks like emojis, members only videos, member shoutouts, and early access to videos.
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Don't forget to like and subscribe for more guard guides, and be safe.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “How to Price a Security Guard Contract in 2026”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: hour, cost, wage, guard, client. This video has 59 sentences and 742 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:06. The speaker talks at a steady 146 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| payroll noun | /ˈpeɪˌɹəʊl/ | A list of employees who receive salary or wages, together with the amounts due to each. |
| overhead noun | /ˈəʊvəˌhɛd/ | The expense of a business not directly assigned to goods or services provided. |
| overtime noun | /ˈoʊ.vɚˌtaɪm/ | Working time outside of one's regular hours. |
| prospect noun | /ˈpɹɑspɛkt/ | The region which the eye overlooks at one time; a view; a scene; an outlook. |
| markup noun | /ˈmɑː(ɹ)k.ʌp/ | The percentage or amount by which a seller hikes up their buy-in price when determining their selling price. |
| prevail verb | /pɹɪˈveɪl/ | To be superior in strength, dominance, influence, or frequency; to have or gain the advantage over others; to have the upper hand; to outnumber others. |
| calculate verb | /ˈkælkjʊleɪt/ | To determine the value of something or the solution to something by a mathematical process. |
| organize verb | /ˈɔɹɡənaɪz/ | To arrange in working order. |
| assignment noun | /əˈsaɪn.mənt/ | The act of assigning; the allocation of a job or a set of tasks. |
| allocate verb | /ˈæl.ə.keɪt/ | To set aside for a purpose. |
| billable adjective | /ˈbɪləbəl/ | Capable of being billed for. |
| dashboard noun | /ˈdæʃˌboɹd/ | A panel beneath the windshield of a vehicle or aircraft containing indicator gauges, compartments, and sometimes controls and indicator lights. |
| editable adjective | Capable of being edited. | |
| invoice noun | /ˈɪnˌvɔɪs/ | A bill; a commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer indicating the products, quantities and agreed prices for products or services that the seller has… |
| multiply verb | /ˈmʌltɪplaɪ/ | To increase the amount, degree or number of (something). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| follow up verb | To take further actions remaining after an event; to continue, revisit, or persist; especially, to maintain communication or verify. |
| put together verb | To assemble, construct, build, or formulate. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 16 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, we'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: dashboard /ˈdæʃˌboɹd/, solicitation /səˌlɪsɪˈteɪʃən/, supervision /ˌs(j)uːpəˈvɪʒən/, occasional /əˈkeɪʒ(ə)nəl/
- Long words — get the stress right: solicitation /səˌlɪsɪˈteɪʃən/, irregular /ɪˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ/, comparative /kəmˈpæɹətɪv/, supervision /ˌs(j)uːpəˈvɪʒən/, occasional /əˈkeɪʒ(ə)nəl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like payroll, overhead, overtime.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.