← SCP Cost Explorer Read on SCP Wiki ↗
SCP-5491 Safe ~ medium confidence
SCP-5491
Expected annual
$100K
One-time setup
$467K
Annual recurring
$91K
Personnel
2
Initial one-time setup is moderate-to-high driven primarily by property acquisition, structural stabilization, and preservation/restoration of vintage audio/lighting systems. Ongoing annual costs are modest, dominated by staff wages, specialized maintenance, utilities, and research/monitoring.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $467K
Facilities $300K
[#1, #3, #4] Building purchase ($250,000), initial structural stabilization/conservation ($31,000), and initial soundproofing installation ($18,500).
Equipment $72K
[#6, #7, #8, #12] Initial restoration of vintage lighting/sound systems ($31,000), custom hardened control interface ($17,500), audio playback hardware and initial preservation hardware ($7,250) plus archival storage hardware ($6,250), and CCTV/sensor installation ($10,000).
Decommissioning And Transfer $36K
[#24] One-time estimate for future decommissioning/transfer, remediation, and legal settlement if containment is terminated.
Initial Research And Lab Setup $25K
[#15, #9] Initial research/monitoring kit and specialized instrumentation ($15,000) plus acquisition/digitization of music library and cataloguing ($9,600).
Legal And Cover Setup $19K
[#2] One-time solicitor/heritage/cover-entity setup and fees to secure Listed status and conceal Foundation involvement.
Replacement Reserve Establishment $15K
[#20] One-time establishment of a replacement/upgrade reserve fund for long-term capital depreciation/replacement.
Emergency Kit Initial $1K
[#16] One-time purchase of first-aid/decontamination/medical contingency kit.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $91K/yr
Staff Wages $29K/yr
[#10, #11] Nightly operator/security guard (approx. 0.53 FTE, ~$19,000/yr) and part-time/contract technical maintenance (~$10,000/yr).
Cover Story And Legal $16K/yr
[#18, #23, #14] Community relations/cover operations (~$3,300/yr), periodic legal/ethical/containment reviews (~$5,500/yr), plus insurance and property tax/rates (~$6,700/yr).
Research And Monitoring $8K/yr
[#15, #12] Ongoing archival research/monitoring budget ($6,000/yr) plus CCTV/sensor data storage and maintenance (~$2,000/yr).
Utilities $8K/yr
[#13] Electricity for nightly strobes and amplifiers plus HVAC/water/baseline climate control for media preservation (~$8,000/yr).
Vintage System Servicing $7K/yr
[#6] Annual servicing/spares for vintage lighting/strobe/sound systems (transformers, xenon tubes, technician hours).
Records Management And Admin $6K/yr
[#19] Cataloguing, incident logs, secure database hosting, and administrative costs for archival/records management.
Logistics And Transport $4K/yr
[#21] Mileage, fuel and occasional overnight stays for off-site specialists/technicians.
Containment Growth Allowance $3K/yr
[#17] Set-aside for documentation/additional monitoring related to new SCP-5491-1 instances (~$10,000 every 3 years ≈ $3,300/yr).
Emergency Response Fund $3K/yr
[#16] Annual emergency/medical contingency fund and arrangements for decontamination/repairs (~$3,000/yr).
Replacement Reserve Annual $3K/yr
[#20] Annual contribution to replacement/upgrade reserve (~$2,750/yr equivalent).
Facilities Maintenance $2K/yr
[#5] Ongoing soundproofing maintenance/repairs (panels, seals, vandalism remediation).
Supplies And Consumables $2K/yr
[#22] Janitorial supplies, spare non-strobe bulbs, tape heads, styluses, gloves, batteries, and small repairs.
Media Conservation $1K/yr
[#9] Ongoing replacement/repair/conservation of tapes and vinyl and preservation copies (~$1,250/yr).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $91K/yr
49.7% probability / year
Uneventful year with routine operation, nightly activations, scheduled maintenance, and regular research/monitoring.
normal_operations routine_maintenance scheduled_research
🚨 New Manifestation $101K/yr
33.3% probability / year +$10K vs baseline
A new SCP-5491-1 instance appears (historical average ~1 every 3 years) requiring extra documentation and temporary monitoring.
appearance_of_new_instance additional_documentation temporary_monitoring_increase
🚨 Minor Incident $106K/yr
10.0% probability / year +$15K vs baseline
Localized damage, vandalism, or moderate weather-related damage requiring repairs and increased security/clean-up.
vandalism weather_damage minor_equipment_failure
🚨 Major Equipment Failure $141K/yr
5.0% probability / year +$50K vs baseline
Failure of critical vintage lighting or control systems requiring expensive restoration or partial replacement of irreplaceable hardware.
controller_failure xenon_transformer_damage loss_of_original_hardware
🚨 Political Exposure $166K/yr
2.0% probability / year +$75K vs baseline
Local political or legal exposure of the site/cover leading to heavy legal costs, settlements, or expensive cover overhaul.
public_exposure legal_challenge cover_story_failure
👥 Personnel 2 total
Role Count Notes
Security Officer / Nightly Operator 1 Onsite operator/guard responsible for nightly unlocking/locking and oversight (~0.5–0.6 FTE represented by a single part-time position). Mapped to [#10].
Engineer / Maintenance (contractor) 1 Part-time technical maintenance/contractor for lighting/audio servicing and inspections (~0.1–0.3 FTE equivalent). Mapped to [#11].
📋 Confidence Notes
Cost estimates are assembled from mid-range values in analyst notes and include both well-defined items (property purchase, salaries) and uncertain vintage/restoration costs. Some line items (vintage equipment failures, decommissioning) have high variability, so overall confidence is medium.
← SCP-5490 ↑ All SCPs SCP-5492 →