Where Cunningham works in Massachusetts
Three offices cover eastern Massachusetts — Topsfield on the North Shore, Wakefield north of Boston, and Pocasset just over the Bourne bridge. Our technicians live across that territory rather than clustering around the offices, so the person who turns up is usually the closest one qualified for your system.
Much past I‑495 we take jobs case by case. Call us with the address and we'll tell you straight whether we're the right fit.
Or call the office nearest you: Topsfield (978) 887-8341 · Wakefield (781) 321-9551 · Pocasset (800) 564-8273
Schematic. These are the areas we work in routinely, not a boundary line.
Four regions, three offices
Which office coordinates the work depends on the address, but the technician assigned to it may already be closer than any of them.
North Shore & Essex County
Run out of Topsfield. A lot of this is antique housing stock — lath and plaster, balloon framing, additions that don't share a wall — which changes where devices can go and how far a wireless signal actually carries. Plus the commercial corridors along Route 1 and 128.
Towns we work in most Newburyport, Gloucester, Ipswich, Beverly, Salem, Danvers, Peabody, Topsfield, Boxford and neighboring towns.
Metro North & Greater Boston
Run out of Wakefield. Heavier on multifamily, mixed-use and institutional buildings, where the fire alarm, the access control and the intrusion system all have to agree with each other — and where tenants change often enough that credential management matters more than hardware.
Towns we work in most Wakefield, Reading, Stoneham, Melrose, Lynnfield, Woburn, Burlington, Medford and surrounding communities.
Plymouth County & Southeastern Massachusetts
Split between Wakefield and Pocasset depending on where the property sits. Mostly year-round homes and smaller commercial buildings, with the same coastal weather problems the Cape has.
Towns we work in most Plymouth, Wareham, Carver and nearby coastal and inland towns.
Cape Cod, Upper to Outer
Run out of Pocasset. A lot of Cape work is on houses nobody is living in for months at a stretch. On those, the device that earns its keep is usually the one watching for a frozen pipe or a dead furnace, not the siren.
Towns we work in most Bourne, Falmouth, Sandwich, Mashpee, Barnstable, Hyannis, Yarmouth, Dennis, Brewster, Harwich, Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro and Provincetown.
Somewhere else in Massachusetts? MetroWest and central Massachusetts we look at case by case — it depends on the size of the job more than the distance. Call (800) 564-8273 or send the address through the quote form.
The building decides most of it
Two houses a mile apart in Massachusetts can need completely different systems. Usually it comes down to one of these.
Antique and historic houses
Plaster over wire lath is close to a Faraday cage, so wireless range drops off far faster than the spec sheet suggests. Add unheated additions, no continuous stud bays, and historic-district rules on what can be mounted outside, and device placement stops being obvious.
Multifamily and mixed-use
Shared entrances, tenants who turn over, common areas that belong to nobody in particular, and a ground-floor business on a different schedule than the apartments above it. The intrusion, video, access and fire systems need to be planned together or they fight.
Coastal and seasonal property
Salt air eats exterior hardware. Nor'easters take the power and sometimes the broadband with it, which is why a cellular path matters more here than inland. And an empty house in February needs a low temperature alert and a water sensor before it needs anything else.
Commercial and institutional
Schools, churches, warehouses, restaurants, medical offices and town buildings each answer to different code sections and different inspectors. The documentation trail usually takes longer than the install.
Who's licensed, and under what name
Massachusetts requires that security and fire-warning systems be installed and repaired by licensed systems contractors and technicians. Here is ours, so you can check it before you let anyone into the building.
contractor license 7068C
Licensed entity: Major Security Holdings of Massachusetts, LLC — the company that operates the Topsfield, Wakefield and Pocasset branches.
Trading as: Cunningham Security Systems. That is a registered trade name, not the licensee, so searching the state database for "Cunningham" will not find the license. Search the entity name above.
Parent company: Major Security Holdings, LLC.
Permits are a town-by-town business
Depending on the job, that can mean police alarm registration, a wiring permit, fire protection drawings, plan review, an inspection and an acceptance test. Registering an alarm with the police department does not replace a wiring or fire permit — they are separate things, and people get caught out by that regularly.
The one that surprises people most on commercial work is how the fire department wants the building connected. Some Massachusetts departments still require a tie into the municipal fire alarm circuit — a master box or a radio box — rather than accepting a digital or cellular path on its own. That decision alone can move the cost of a job by thousands, and it changes at the town line. We check it before we quote, not after.
Worth bookmarking: the Comprehensive Fire Safety Code and the S-license requirements for technicians. For the code side of commercial fire alarm work in detail, read our guide to Massachusetts fire alarm systems.
Call whichever one is closest
Any of the three can take your call and route it. Addresses, hours and directions all live on the office directory.
Pocasset
(800) 564-8273Cape Cod, Plymouth County and southeastern Massachusetts.
Address, hours and directions →Offices are open Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monitored alarm signals are handled around the clock, which is a different thing.
You may know us by another name
Two of our Massachusetts offices came to Cunningham through acquisitions, and plenty of accounts here were originally signed with the old companies. If your paperwork, yard sign or alarm sticker says one of these, your account is with us and nothing about your service has to change.
Not sure who holds your account? Call (800) 564-8273 and we'll look it up.
What we install and service here
This page is about geography. For how the systems themselves work, start with whichever of these fits.
Home security systems
Intrusion, smoke and CO, water and freeze sensors, and control from your phone.
Commercial security systems
Built around how the business actually opens, closes and staffs up.
Fire alarm systems in Massachusetts
Design, permitting, installation and the inspections that follow.
Fire alarm inspection and testing
Scheduled testing, device records and written deficiency reports.
Security cameras
Recording, remote viewing and analytics sized to the property.
Access control
Doors, credentials, schedules and a record of who went where.
Alarm monitoring in Massachusetts
Signal handling for security, fire, CO and environmental devices.
Taking over an existing system
What can stay, what has to go, and what it costs to find out.
Video monitoring and virtual guard
For sites that need someone actually watching, not just recording.
Coverage questions we get
Do you cover the whole state?
No, and we'd rather say so. Eastern Massachusetts we cover properly: the North Shore, Greater Boston, Plymouth County, the southeast and the Cape. Further west it depends on the size of the job. Call and ask.
Which office will I be dealing with?
Topsfield for the North Shore and Essex County, Wakefield for Greater Boston and Metro North, Pocasset for the Cape, Plymouth County and the southeast. In practice the technician assigned to your job may be based somewhere else entirely, which is usually good news for how fast we get there.
Do I need a permit for an alarm at my address?
Often yes, and it varies by town. Many police departments require alarm registration, most wiring work needs a permit from the Inspector of Wires, and commercial fire alarm jobs usually need drawings, permits and an acceptance test. Tell us the address and we'll confirm what your town wants before the job starts, not at inspection.
Can you take over the system I already have?
Usually. We'll look at the panel, the devices, the wiring and whether we can get into the programming. Sometimes everything stays and we change the communicator. Sometimes the panel is old enough that replacing it costs less than working around it. We'll tell you which before you commit.
Is 24/7 monitoring the same as 24/7 office hours?
No. Alarm signals are handled around the clock. The offices run Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and scheduled service happens in those hours unless it's urgent.
Tell us the address
Send us the property address and what you're trying to protect. We'll tell you which office covers you, what your town is likely to require, and what the next step costs.
