When Wulf Security was smaller, Patrick Wulf could manage the roster with pen and paper. But as the business grew to more than 100 shifts a week, a handwritten roster became harder to keep accurate. A missed cancellation could mean two guards arriving for the same shift, while another shift appeared covered when it wasn't.
For a growing security business, that is not a minor inconvenience. It is a direct operational and financial risk.
Growth made the old roster unsustainable
Founded more than 10 years ago, the New Zealand-based, family-owned business has expanded its operations across Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, with construction sites making up around 70% of its work. The company's sites include a seven-day security operation at a large temple project in Manukau, and it has continued taking on larger projects, including work on a Microsoft data centre with Icon Construction.
Before Guardhouse, Patrick managed the roster manually, writing down clients, times, and staff names by hand. As shift volume increased, keeping track of changes and cancellations became increasingly difficult.
"So, I used to do old school hours, write down the clients, times and names next to it."
The risk wasn't simply that the process took longer. Patrick recalls instances where two guards would arrive for the same shift because a previous allocation hadn't been crossed off, and other occasions where a cancelled shift left the business thinking it was covered when it wasn't.
Guardhouse gave Wulf operational visibility
Guardhouse replaced the paper process with a central roster, where shifts are allocated to staff and accepted or declined by them. Once a shift is accepted, Patrick has a clearer view of who is expected to be working.
"So, that's probably the biggest improvement or help from my old ways to Guardhouse."
That visibility has become central to how Patrick runs the business day to day. Rather than searching through paper records or working backwards through changes, he can check the roster directly.
"If someone's calling me, I can just go on it, check who's supposed to be working tonight and so forth."
Guardhouse also gives the business a record of attendance through clock-in and clock-out data, catching discrepancies between when staff say they arrived and when the system recorded it. Patrick has made shift-end reporting compulsory for his team and has been direct with staff about the standard he expects.
"I got to the point where I said to them, if we're not going to pay you, that means you're not working."
This has given Wulf Security a more consistent record of what happened on each shift.
Better control reduced admin and avoidable costs
The shift to Guardhouse has had a measurable impact on how the administration team operates. Rather than staff sending through their hours for someone to calculate manually, the team can see directly which shifts employees worked and which they accepted.
Patrick estimates this has reduced administrative work by around three to four hours a day across rostering and preparing information for payroll.
"With Guardhouse, is cut down maybe three or four hours a day."
Just as significant is the reduction in avoidable staff costs. The roster errors that used to result in two guards being paid for the same shift no longer happen in the same way, which Patrick describes directly as a saving to the business.
Visibility became a client differentiator
Wulf Security has also put Guardhouse to work beyond internal operations. For patrols and construction sites, the company has introduced NFC tags around sites. Guards scan the tags as part of their patrols, creating reports that can be provided to clients, including photographs documenting issues such as an open window or broken item.
For Wulf Security, this has become part of its client proposition, and Patrick says the capability has helped the company win contracts, particularly where clients want greater visibility over patrol activity.
"To offer the extra service of free reports, we can send it to you weekly, monthly, whatever."
He also says the reporting capability has helped the company take over existing clients by offering a level of detail some previous providers didn't.
A platform that grows with the business
Wulf Security first started using Guardhouse several years ago, when the company was considerably smaller. Since then, Patrick says the business's turnover has roughly tripled, growth that has taken the company from a smaller operation to the roughly 70-strong team it runs today across three cities.
"We definitely needed it because it's pretty hard to run a growing business without Guardhouse and the features that it has."
Wulf Security was recently a finalist at the Outstanding Security Performance Awards (OSPAs), winning three major categories, including a company award and Security Guard of the Year for one of its officers. Patrick credits Guardhouse as part of what has allowed the business to operate at that standard.
"I honestly believe with Guardhouse helping us to be efficient with the roster, the reporting and stuff like that, we wouldn't be able to run a smooth operation without, honestly, the help of Guardhouse."
Confidence to step away
For Patrick, the value of Guardhouse extends to how he runs the business as its owner. Having a reliable, central view of shifts, attendance and reporting means he isn't tied to the office to know what's happening.
He describes being able to run the business, go on holiday, and still have things operationally moving.
"It will make your life a lot easier or your team, especially with the rostering part, keeping tab of who's working where, especially when you got a lot of clients."
Asked how he'd react if Guardhouse disappeared overnight, Patrick was candid about how central the platform has become to running the business.
"Honestly, this is honest truth. I tell people I don't know what I do. I literally tell them because me, I'm the director owner, I like to keep telling what's happening. Honestly, if that happens, I'm gonna cry."
When asked to describe Guardhouse if it were a person, his answer was simple.
"Professional. Definitely professional. Professional assistant. Professional sidekick."
Building a more efficient operation
For Wulf Security, Guardhouse has become part of the infrastructure supporting its growth. The shift from handwritten rosters to a central system has reduced scheduling errors, cut administrative work, avoided unnecessary staff costs, and given clients a more detailed view of patrol activity, all while giving Patrick the confidence to step back from day-to-day oversight without losing visibility of the operation.
Learn more about how Guardhouse can help your security business manage rostering, operations, reporting, and workforce activity in one platform.
