What guarding costs in Greece depend on, and when a price is too low

You buy an alarm system once. Guarding you pay for every hour a guard with a work licence stands at your post. So the first question about cost is not “how much is it?” but “how many hours a week do I need cover?”.

Everything else, from nights to supervision, changes the cost of each hour. None of it changes the rule: more hours of cover means more people.

Greece’s Labour Code sets full-time work at 40 hours a week in every sector (article 189). Use that number for any scenario:

• 24/7: 168 hours a week → 168 ÷ 40 = 4.2 full-time positions.
• Every night, 12 hours: 7 × 12 = 84 hours → 2.1 full-time positions.
• Weeknights, 12 hours: 5 × 12 = 60 hours → 1.5 full-time positions.
• Weekends, around the clock: 2 × 24 = 48 hours → 1.2 full-time positions.

These figures are the minimum. Leave, sickness and replacements need extra people so the post is never left empty.

• Nights, Sundays and public holidays: they cost more per hour, because Greece’s Labour Code adds a 25% premium for work between 22:00 and 06:00 (art. 150) and 75% for Sundays and public holidays (art. 219). Ask for them as a separate line.
• Number of posts: two entrances that must be guarded at the same time are two posts, not one.
• Patrols or static guarding: a fixed post keeps one person in one place; patrols cover a larger area and need a route, checkpoints and often a vehicle.
• Special requirements: foreign languages, training on specific systems, equipment, access control or reception duties.
• Supervision and reporting: supervisors who check the post, an operations desk and reports to you all cost money. An offer without them is cheaper because it does not include them.

1. Write down the hours of cover per post per week. A 24/7 post is 168 hours a week, or 168 × 52 ÷ 12 = 728 hours a month.
2. Ask every company for the same scope: the same posts, hours, supervision and reporting.
3. Ask the company to show how the price covers lawful pay for those hours: a 40-hour full-time week, +25% for nights, +75% for Sundays and public holidays, and replacements. If it cannot show this, the offer is rejected.
4. Check that nights, Sundays and public holidays are counted in the same hours in both offers.

If an offer is not broken down into hours and posts, it cannot be checked. Ask for the breakdown; without it, the offer fails the check. For the other questions to ask before signing, see how to choose a security company.

A statutory minimum wage applies to every full-time employee; the amount and what it covers are in our guide to security guard pay in 2026. Every hour at your post must be paid at least at that level, plus 25% for hours between 22:00 and 06:00 and 75% for Sundays and public holidays.

Apply it to a 24/7 post: 168 hours a week, or at least 4.2 full-time positions, with roughly half the hours at night and every Sunday and public holiday at a premium. That is the floor for wages alone, before leave, replacements, supervision, equipment and the company’s other costs. An offer that cannot cover lawful pay for those hours is hiding something that is missing:

• The guard’s pay: fewer hours are declared than are worked.
• Hours of cover: the post is left empty for some hours or days.
• Supervision: nobody checks the post, and you find out after an incident.
• Replacement: when the guard is absent, nobody comes.

Every month the company reports to the police which guards it employs and where (Law 2518/1997, art. 4). A price that does not add up with declared guards is a question worth asking before you sign.

• Posts, with the hours and days of cover for each.
• Price per hour of cover and the monthly total.
• Nights, Sundays and public holidays as separate lines.
• Patrols: route, frequency, checkpoints.
• Supervision and reporting: who, how often, what you receive.
• Replacement time when a guard is absent.
• The company’s operating licence number.

With OVIT’s Guardly platform, clients see patrols, incidents and reports in one live picture, so the supervision they pay for is visible. See our guarding services or request a proposal for your own site.