The single most important number in the security industry — the monthly monitoring fee that drives your commission and the value of every account you sign.
RMR (recurring monthly revenue) is the fixed amount a customer pays every month for alarm monitoring and service under their contract. If a homeowner signs up for professional monitoring at $50 a month, that account adds $50 of RMR. It is the number the entire security industry is built on: the equipment is a one-time sale, but the RMR keeps arriving month after month for the life of the account. Dealers, integrators, and investors value alarm companies almost entirely on the size and quality of their RMR base — and most rep comp plans pay a multiple of it.
Every alarm deal has two revenue pieces, and it's easy for a new rep to focus on the wrong one:
A rep might write $1,200 of equipment on a deal and feel good about it, but the dealer's eyes are on the $45 or $60 of monthly RMR, because that account will pay every month for years. When you build a quote, the monthly rate isn't a detail to discount away to close — it's the lever that decides both your payout and the account's long-term worth. Our alarm quoting software keeps the monthly RMR and the equipment side visible together so you never trade away the number that matters.
Most alarm and security comp plans don't pay a flat dollar amount per deal. They pay a multiple of RMR. A plan described as "36x" pays thirty-six times the monthly rate on the account, minus whatever equipment and install costs the dealer nets out of the deal. That single mechanic is why understanding RMR is worth real money to a rep:
Two deals with identical equipment can pay very differently depending on the monthly rate and term you write. That's the core reason reps who understand RMR out-earn reps who just want to "get the sale." For the full breakdown of how these numbers turn into a paycheck, see how alarm commission works and how much alarm reps actually make.
Say you close a standard residential deal:
Now write the same house at $60/mo instead of $50 — an extra $10 of RMR. At 36x that's another $360 of gross value on a single door, for the same equipment and the same install. Multiply that across a season and the monthly rate you're willing to hold becomes the difference between an average rep and a top one. The exact multiples and deductions vary by dealer, so plug in your own program's numbers — the point is the math, not any specific figure. SecurityQS's rep finances tools do this calculation on every quote so you see your estimated commission before you knock the next door.
RMR isn't just a rep-pay mechanic — it's how the whole industry measures worth. Monitoring revenue is contracted, predictable, and sticky: customers rarely cancel a working alarm system, so a book of accounts behaves like an annuity. Alarm portfolios are routinely bought and sold at a multiple of monthly RMR, meaning every account you sign becomes a durable asset on the dealer's balance sheet, not a one-time transaction. This is the same logic behind any subscription business model — recurring revenue is valued far more richly than one-off sales because it's forecastable. It's why the solo 1099 rep and the national dealer both obsess over the exact same thing: growing and protecting RMR.
Three practical takeaways once RMR clicks:
Understanding RMR is step one. Watching it turn into your estimated payout at the door is where it pays off.
Build a quote with the monitoring RMR and equipment side by side, so you never discount away your multiple.
Your plan's multiple and deductions are applied live — the payout appears before you knock the next door.
Every signed account flows into your rep finances, ready for tax season.
RMR stands for Recurring Monthly Revenue — the fixed amount a customer pays every month for alarm monitoring and service under their contract. If a homeowner signs up for professional monitoring at $50 a month, that account adds $50 of RMR. It is the single most important number in the security industry because monitoring is a subscription business: the equipment sale is a one-time event, but the RMR keeps arriving month after month for the life of the account. Dealers, integrators, and investors value alarm companies almost entirely on the size and quality of their RMR base.
The equipment sale (panel, sensors, cameras, installation) is a one-time transaction, while RMR is the ongoing monthly subscription for monitoring and service. A rep might sell $1,200 of equipment on a deal, but the number the dealer cares about most is the $45 or $60 of RMR that account will generate every month for years. Equipment revenue pays for the install; RMR is what compounds into company value and, in most alarm comp plans, what drives the rep's commission multiple.
Most alarm and security comp plans pay reps a multiple of the account's RMR rather than a flat fee. A "36x" plan on a $50/mo account pays 36 times $50, or $1,800, minus any equipment or install costs the dealer nets out. That means two deals with identical equipment can pay very differently depending on the monthly rate and contract term you write. Higher RMR and a longer term generally lift the multiple you earn, which is why reps who understand RMR structure their quotes deliberately instead of discounting the monthly rate to close.
Multiples vary widely by dealer, program, credit quality, and contract length, but door-to-door alarm programs commonly pay reps somewhere in the range of a low-to-mid double-digit multiple of RMR after costs, while whole-account portfolio valuations trade higher. The exact number depends on your dealer agreement — there is no single industry figure. What matters for a rep is knowing your own plan's multiple, your equipment/install deductions, and the monthly rate, because those three inputs decide your take-home on every deal.
Because monitoring revenue is predictable, contracted, and sticky. Customers rarely cancel a working alarm system, so a book of RMR behaves like an annuity — buyers can forecast years of cash flow from it. Alarm portfolios are routinely bought and sold at a multiple of monthly RMR, which turns every account a rep signs into a durable asset rather than a one-time sale. That is the core reason the whole industry, from the solo 1099 rep to the national dealer, obsesses over growing and protecting RMR.
SecurityQS shows your estimated, RMR-based commission on every quote and tracks it into your 1099 finances. Start a 30-day free trial — no credit card.
