1. Show me your current California BSIS PPO license and your insurance certificate of liability — today.
Any legitimate California security company can email you their PPO license number and a current Certificate of Insurance (COI) within an hour. If a vendor hedges, can't produce one, or sends an expired document, you're done. License lookup: BSIS Search at bsis.ca.gov. Stormhammer holds PPO #121830 — verifiable any business day.
2. How will I verify that your officers actually walked the property last night?
The right answer involves GPS-tracked tours, geofenced check-points, and a PDF report in your inbox by morning. The wrong answer is 'we'll send you a monthly log' or 'you can trust our officers.' Vendors who can't show you live tour pins are billing you for tours they may not be running. See our guide to verifying patrols.
3. What is your dispatch response time, and who picks up the phone at 2 AM?
Ask for a sample call log. A local Sacramento dispatcher should pick up on the first or second ring, 24/7. A national chain routing through a call center in another state often takes 5-15 minutes to reach a supervisor — and that delay is exactly when an active incident is escalating. Stormhammer dispatch is local and answered live.
4. What is the escalation chain when something actually happens?
You want a written escalation matrix: officer → on-duty supervisor → operations manager → owner contact, with time targets at each step. You also want to know who calls Sac PD, who calls you, and who calls your insurer. If the vendor improvises this answer on the call, expect them to improvise it at 3 AM too.
5. What are the termination terms — and can I leave if you under-perform?
A confident vendor offers a 30-day no-fault out and a defined SLA (e.g., 'if 3 tours are missed in a month, you can cancel immediately'). Vendors who demand 12-month locks with steep termination fees are protecting themselves from their own performance. Stormhammer's standard contract is 30-day cancellable.
Bonus: get every answer in writing
If a vendor will tell you something on a call, they should be willing to put it in the contract. Verbal promises about patrol frequency, reporting cadence, or response times that don't appear in the SOW will not be enforced when something goes wrong.
Related reading
Want to vet Stormhammer against this list? Call (530) 902-9390 — we'll answer all five on the first call, on the record.