Start at the boundary
Most villas are approached through a gate, a driveway or over a garden wall. Walk the plot and note every way in — pedestrian gate, vehicle gate, service entrance, low walls, the roof of a garage or majlis. That list decides where cameras and detectors go, not the other way round.
Every door, then the windows
Put an alarm contact on every external door, including the garage and the maid's-room entrance. Add detectors to ground-floor windows and sliding doors onto the garden. With contacts at the edges, the alarm sounds as someone gets in — not once they're already inside.
Cameras that identify
A camera on the roof that shows the whole garden rarely shows a face. Place cameras at gates and doors at a height and angle that capture faces, and one on the driveway that can read a number plate. Make sure the entrances are lit at night, or choose cameras with colour night vision.
Point cameras at your own property. Recording a neighbour's garden or windows is a privacy problem — see our guide on CCTV and privacy.
See who's there from anywhere
A video intercom at the gate, linked to your phone and the gate motor, lets you answer deliveries and let in trusted visitors while you're out. Give household staff their own access codes that only work at set hours rather than spare keys.
Plan for the summer away
Before a long trip: check the app alerts reach you abroad, set lights on schedules, fit water-leak sensors under sinks and near the water heater, and decide who can be let in if something goes wrong. A smart home ties all of this into one app.
Keep it working
Dust and heat shorten the life of outdoor equipment. A maintenance plan with regular visits keeps lenses clean, recorders healthy and gate motors serviced. And test the system yourself every few months — arm the alarm, open the app, play back yesterday's footage.