Big Ambitions Security and Cleaning Guide

Security and cleaning are the two systems that quietly drain a shop that otherwise looks like it is doing fine. Both show up as costs rather than as alerts, which is why people miss them.

How Theft Works

Theft is the result of a low security score. The money lost shows up in the EconoView app under the specific business, categorised as an ongoing expense — so a store with healthy revenue and disappointing net income is worth checking here before you blame pricing.

You can read your current security rating in the BizMan app, with one caveat that catches people out: the store needs to be open for the analysis to be accurate. Checking a closed shop gives you a misleading number.

What Security Equipment Costs

All of it comes from Essentials Appliances in Lower Manhattan, which is also where the game’s other facilities fixtures live. Full supplier map in where to buy.

A $25 security sign is the single best value purchase in the game. Buy it for every shop, immediately, regardless of what you sell.

How Much Security Do You Need?

The game scales this to your inventory value:

• Security panels go in a pair at the entrance. They provide a low level of security and are enough for smaller stores with lower-value inventory.
• Cameras — wall-mounted or ceiling dome — should be placed to cover all merchandise in the store. This is the tier for anything with real unit value.
• Security guards are recommended for high-value products. A jewelry store or an electronics store wants one; a fruit and vegetable store does not.

That progression matches the business tier list: the businesses with the highest revenue per customer are also the ones with the highest security overhead. See the business tier list.

Cleaning Is Two Systems at Once

Businesses get dirty from customer foot traffic and need floors mopped. That has two separate consequences:

1. Cleanliness directly affects customer satisfaction, which caps how many customers a business can attract.
2. A clean business can be listed as an employee want or demand, so cleaning coverage feeds staff satisfaction too — and unhappy staff are the ones rivals poach.

Cleaning employees can be assigned to any business type except warehouses, and they come from Anderson Recruitment Corp. or via a headhunter. The important efficiency: customer service employees carry a secondary cleaning skill, so in a small shop one good customer service hire can cover mopping duty, and you do not necessarily need a dedicated cleaner from day one.

Cleaning stations cost $100 and are stocked by Square Appliances, Essentials Appliances and AJ Pederson & Son — one of the few items you can pick up wherever you happen to be. A trash bin is $30.

Do Offices Need Cleaners?

Yes — cleaning staff can be assigned to office businesses as well as retail. Offices do not have customers walking through them, but workplace cleanliness still appears in employee demands, and office staff are exactly the specialists (lawyers, purchasing agents, logistics managers) you least want a rival poaching.

A Checklist for Every New Shop

1. Security sign — $25, no exceptions
2. Cleaning station — $100, plus a trash bin at $30
3. Security panels at the entrance — $1,200, once you carry anything with value
4. Cameras covering merchandise — $2,500 each, once inventory value justifies it
5. A security guard — for jewelry and electronics specifically
6. Cleaning coverage — a dedicated cleaner, or a customer service hire doing double duty in a small shop

Then check BizMan’s security rating while the shop is open, and watch EconoView’s ongoing expenses for the theft line over the following week.