Updated August 2026 to reflect current Victorian private security licensing requirements.
Knowing how to work in security and knowing how to run a security business are two different things.
You may understand rosters, incidents, clients and managing people on the ground. Starting a security company adds another layer: licensing, employment obligations, pricing, insurance, cash flow and the systems needed to keep everything working once guards are deployed.
In Victoria, obtaining a Private Security Business Licence is an important part of that process. It is not the whole process.
If you are considering starting a security business, this is the practical order in which to approach it.
1. Decide what security services you actually intend to provide
Start with the business model, not the paperwork.
Victoria’s private security framework covers activities including security guarding, crowd control, bodyguarding, investigation, private security training, security equipment installation and security advice. A Private Security Business Licence can authorise the business to supply people for one or more activities approved under that licence.
Before preparing the application, be clear about what you intend to offer. Will the business provide guarding, crowd control, patrols or another activity? Will you employ other licensed people, and do you intend to personally perform security work?
Start with a business model you can explain and operate properly.
The GuardHERE Start pathway is a useful starting point if you are still working through those early decisions.
2. Establish the business behind the licence
The security licence sits on top of an underlying business.
You will need to choose an appropriate business structure, such as a sole trader, company or partnership, and arrange the registrations that apply. That may include an ABN, company registration, business name and relevant tax registrations. The Australian Government’s business structure guidance is a sensible starting point.
How much does it cost to start a security company?
There is no meaningful universal startup figure.
Costs depend on the structure and services being established, but commonly include registrations, licence application costs, insurance, professional assistance, licensing documents, equipment, uniforms, software and employment systems.
Working capital matters just as much. Security businesses often pay employees before the corresponding client invoice has been paid, so a new operator needs to think beyond the setup bill.
The better question is not simply, “What does it cost to start?” It is also, “What will it cost to establish and operate the business until the client money arrives?”
THE BUSINESS OF PROTECTION goes deeper into those commercial foundations, including employment costs, charge rates, cash flow and the systems behind running a security business.
3. Understand the Victorian Private Security Business Licence
If the business is going to supply other people to perform private security activities in Victoria, the relevant authority is a Private Security Business Licence, administered by Victoria Police’s Licensing and Regulation Division.
The important distinction is between the business and the person doing the work.
A Private Security Business Licence authorises the business to supply appropriately licensed people to perform the security activities covered by the business licence. An Individual Operator Licence authorises an individual to personally perform the activities listed on their individual licence.
So, if you own a licensed security business and also intend to work security shifts yourself, the business licence does not replace your individual authority.
Independent contractors and sole traders also need to check the current dual-licensing requirements. Victoria Police states that an independent contractor carrying on a security activity under an ABN related to that activity generally needs both a Private Security Business Licence and a Private Security Individual Operator Licence.
Victoria Police’s current private security licence guidance states that a business licence applicant must demonstrate competency in the activities they wish the licence to cover. The business licence then identifies the activities the business is authorised to provide.
The application also involves supporting material. Victoria Police identifies items such as Standard Operating Procedures, a Business Plan, public liability insurance, evidence of financial viability, employer responsibilities and business documentation.
There is also an important pre-licence boundary. Section 6 of the Private Security Act 2004 restricts a person from indicating that they carry on, or are willing to carry on, relevant private security business unless appropriately licensed.
Advertising, representations and tender activity before licensing therefore need care. This does not mean every preparatory discussion or tender-related step automatically breaches the Act, but lodging an application is not authority to operate or represent the business as licensed.
4. Prepare the licensing documents around the real business
Two documents deserve particular attention because they connect licensing preparation with the way the business is supposed to operate.
Business Plan
The Business Plan should describe the business you are genuinely proposing to establish, rather than being a generic document produced only for the application.
The services and operating model should align with the licence application and the rest of the business documentation.
Standard Operating Procedures
The SOPs should support the activities the business intends to provide and the way it expects people to operate.
They are of little value if they describe another company, another jurisdiction or an operating model you do not intend to follow. After licensing, they should remain part of how the business communicates expectations and manages consistent service delivery.
The key is alignment. Your application, Business Plan and SOPs should describe the same business.
For operators who want a coordinated framework rather than preparing these documents separately, the Victorian Licensing Package provides the core licensing-document pathway.
5. Understand employment costs before setting charge rates
One of the easiest ways to create a busy but financially weak security company is to treat the employee’s hourly wage as the cost of providing the labour.
For many guarding and crowd-control businesses, the Security Services Industry Award will be central to employment conditions. Actual Award coverage and classification should still be checked against the work being performed.
The base wage is only one part of employment cost. Depending on the circumstances, the business may also need to account for penalties, allowances, superannuation, workers compensation, leave or casual employment costs, payroll tax and other applicable on-costs.
Then there are business overheads and the margin required to make the work commercially worthwhile.
That is why copying a competitor’s charge rate is not a pricing strategy. Their workforce, overheads and commercial position may be completely different from yours.
Our article on security charge rates after the 2026 wage increase explains the issue in more detail.
6. Check whether Victorian labour hire licensing also applies
A Victorian Private Security Business Licence and a Victorian labour hire licence deal with different regulatory requirements.
Not every security-service contract is automatically labour hire. At a high level, the Labour Hire Authority explains that the regime can apply where a provider supplies individuals to perform work in and as part of another person’s business or undertaking and the provider is obliged to pay those individuals for that work.
The real arrangement matters, not simply what the contract is called. The Labour Hire Authority’s current definition and guidance should therefore be checked when setting up the operating model.
Where the arrangement does amount to labour hire, the Private Security Business Licence does not replace the separate labour hire licensing requirement.
GuardHERE’s Labour Hire Compliance Plan provides a separate pathway for businesses that need to address that regime.
7. Build the operating foundations before taking on clients
Getting licensed does not automatically make the business operationally ready.
Before deploying staff, you should have workable arrangements for areas such as:
- client scope and agreements;
- workforce and employment systems;
- induction and operating instructions;
- incident reporting, supervision and escalation; and
- payroll, invoicing and record keeping.
A small security business does not need layers of corporate paperwork. It does need enough structure that important processes do not depend entirely on the owner remembering everything.
What should you do next?
The sensible next step depends on where you are now.
If you are still deciding what the business will look like, start with the GuardHERE Start pathway. For deeper commercial and operational education, THE BUSINESS OF PROTECTION covers the business behind service delivery in considerably more detail.
If you have settled the business model and are preparing the Victorian licence application, the Victorian Licensing Package provides the core licensing-document pathway.
If you are building the wider business at the same time, the Security Business Starter Package or Security Business Complete Package may be the more appropriate starting point.
The important part is the order: decide what business you are building, establish it properly, understand the activities the business licence will cover, know the real cost of employing people, and put the basic operating systems in place before chasing growth.
A Private Security Business Licence authorises the business entity to supply appropriately licensed people for the security activities covered by the licence. An Individual Operator Licence authorises the individual to personally perform licensed security work.
Neither, by itself, builds a commercially viable security company. That requires the business systems behind the licence.
This article provides general information only and is not legal, financial, employment, tax or safety advice. Operators should check the current requirements that apply to their business and seek appropriately qualified professional advice where required.