American Alarm's N.H. move promotes its growth plan

ARLINGTON, Mass.—In keeping with its plan for aggressive growth, New England security provider American Alarm and Communications expects to increase its customer service capabilities and add jobs with a new and bigger New Hampshire office.

The residential and commercial provider of security and life-safety systems across New England, with corporate offices based here, has relocated its New Hampshire headquarters to a 4,500 square-foot office and service center in Manchester.

The former New Hampshire office was in Windham, where the company consolidated operations in 2008 after acquiring Riel Security. That location was close to Boston, and “we already had the Boston market covered,” company president Wells Sampson told Security Systems News.

American Alarm and Communications also has offices in Auburn and Randolph, Mass., and in Warwick, R.I.

The new New Hampshire office, warehouse and service center, which is more than twice as large as the previous WIndham office, is located near the Manchester airport, the largest in the state.

“It's in a better location, so logistically it be will easier for us to reach our customers throughout the state,” Sampson said, noting that the move also will enable the operation to upgrade and be scalable.

A few new employees already have been hired for the site and a few more will be added soon, he said. At the first of the year, additional employees will be added. “We're looking to add more techs,” he said.

Overall, the company has more than 200 employees servicing 24,000 accounts, of which 50 percent to 55 percent are residential, Sampson said. Its total revenue is $33 million, and it has RMR of $1.1 million, which Sampson expects will reach more than $1.2 million in 2015.

“We start with basic residential accounts and go up to the largest commercial accounts,” Sampson said.

Large commercial accounts include TD Garden, home of the Bruins and the Celtics, for badge access control and surveillance cameras.

A 24-hour monitoring station is in Arlington, Mass. "We like to control every aspect that we can,” he said.

The New Hampshire office relocation fits into American Alarm's 2015 goal “to march forward with our business plan, with both organic growth and acquisition growth,” Sampson said.

“We have a nice history of growth in both of those areas,” he said.