Kenno Armstrong and his son, John Armstrong, are owners of IHR Security, one of the associate members of the North Texas Home Builders Association. They purchased the business on Nov. 1, 2007, from the estate of founder Hugh Rains after he was tragically killed in an airplane crash.
The company started in 1969 and currently has offices in Wichita Falls, Dallas, and Kerrville and also provides customer service from Oklahoma City to Wichita Falls. “We have clients from the Kansas border to the Gulf of Mexico,” said Kenno. “We monitor our own accounts. This separates us from many other security firms.”
The firm installs and monitors both burglar and fire alarms. “Our primary equipment we use is manufactured in the United States by DMP (Digital Monitoring Products). We are the distributor for the product which is really top quality equipment. It is the only brand that is not built in China or some other foreign country. We can also sell and service other brands of equipment, but the U.S. made product is our preference.”
In addition to quality equipment and in-house monitoring, IHR Security is known for very reasonable prices. A burglar alarm costs only $20 to monitor per month, while burglar and fire alarms can be monitored for just $25 per month. These low rates apply to both commercial and residential customers.
Kenno explained that the installation charge depends on what the client wants installed. Clients can receive a homeowner’s insurance discount if they have all doors and windows covered. There’s also an additional discount with fire coverage of up to 20 percent. Each individual household needs to check with their insurance company to see what discounts are available for their home.
“It truly pays for itself over a period of years in insurance savings,” stressed Kenno.
He added that all new homes and commercial buildings are required to have hard-wired fire alarms per Wichita Falls building code. He noted that the new photo electric receivers they have for fire alarms work off light refraction. “Any smoke gets inside the receptacle and interferes with the light beam; we will know about it as much as 15 minutes quicker than with the traditional ionization-style system that picks up particles in the air. With a completely wired home, we can actually tell the fire department which room set off the alarm. It really is a sensational system.”
He explained that for the long term, the hardwired systems work best, but they also have wireless systems. The hard wire system has a much cleaner installation when installed at the time of building. The wireless system has to change batteries every three to five years.
IHR Security also offers complete guard service for construction locations. “This summer we had a contract to guard the new dorm while it was under construction at Midwestern State University.”
The firm also has a patrol service that monitors residential and business locations all night.
Kenno said all monitoring equipment used by their central station is new digital technology and the entire facility is Underwriter Laboratory Approved (UL). “We have just gone through a complete upgrade with 100 percent replacement of all monitoring hardware and software. All alarms in Texas and Oklahoma are monitored in the Wichita Falls office.”
To learn more about IHR Security or to become a client, call 766-1553.
