SCP-5818 — SCP-5818 | Cost Breakdown

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SCP-5818 Unknown ~ medium confidence

SCP-5818

Expected annual

$3.7M

One-time setup

$4.3M

Annual recurring

$3.6M

Personnel

One-time setup to secure and covertly convert a tourist-area Burger King is roughly $4.26M, with recurring annual costs of about $3.53M driven primarily by embedded specialized staff, security, webcrawler operations, and contingency/reserve funds.

🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $4.3M

Facilities $3.2M

[#1, #2] Property purchase (~$3,000,000 midpoint of $1.5M–$4.5M) and renovation/covertization (~$187,500 midpoint of $75k–$300k); includes closing costs, initial taxes, and structural concealment/hidden agent spaces.

Webcrawler Development $525K

[#9] One-time development of Webcrawler Beta-8 / ML/NLP systems (~$525,000 midpoint of $250k–$800k).

Equipment $282K

[#7, #8] Surveillance hardware (cameras/microphones/tamper-resistant gear ~$95,000 midpoint) and hardened on-site servers/secure review terminals/network hardware for encrypted storage (~$187,500 midpoint).

Amnestic Setup $90K

[#13, #19] Initial clinical setup and amnestic stockpile ($50k setup + ~$40k initial stock; covers approved compounds, storage, and basic clinical equipment).

Public Operation Conversion $82K

[#3] One-time legal/licensing/franchise negotiation and setup (~$82,500 midpoint of $15k–$150k) required to operate as a plausible public restaurant cover.

Initial Research And Lab Setup $30K

[#16] Initial secure sample storage / vault and basic archiving setup (~$30,000 midpoint of $15k–$40k).

Disposal Setup $30K

[#15] One-time specialized hazardous/biological evidence containment and disposal arrangement (incineration/autoclave cabinet) (~$30,000 midpoint of $10k–$50k).

Energy Resilience $30K

[#20] UPS/backup generator and install (~$30,000 midpoint of $10k–$50k) to ensure recording and containment remain powered.

🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $3.6M/yr

Staff Wages $2.2M/yr

[#5, #6, #11, #17] Embedded agents (6 @ $160k avg), civilian restaurant staff (9 @ ~$32.5k avg), memetic researchers/transcribers (3 researchers + 1 transcriber), security guards (7 @ ~$45k avg) and rapid-response team (3 contracted specialists aggregated).

Webcrawler Operations $360K/yr

[#9] Hosting, moderation/analyst operators, and operational costs for Beta-8 crawler (~$10k–$75k/mo; midpoint used inclusive of analysts and tooling).

Contingency Reserve $250K/yr

[#25] Annual reserve contribution for low-frequency high-cost escalations (keeps a pool available for large-scale amnestic campaigns / site lockdowns).

Supplies And Consumables $180K/yr

[#4] Food, disposables, packaging, and day-to-day restaurant consumables to maintain public cover (~$100k–$300k/yr range; midpoint used).

Insurance $100K/yr

[#21] Insurance/liability reserve or equivalent self-insurance allocation (~$25k–$200k/yr).

Secure It Hosting $60K/yr

[#8] Encrypted replication, off-site backups, hardened hosting, VPNs and secure review terminal hosting costs (~$2k–$10k/mo range).

Takedown And Pr Retainer $60K/yr

[#10] Legal/PR retainer and routine takedown budget (~$2k–$10k/mo retainer); major-incident legal spend accounted separately per incident.

Cover Story And Legal $50K/yr

[#18] Annual budget for coordination with local authorities, small payments, and legal/cover measures reserved for local interactions (separate from takedown retainer).

Amnestic Administration Per Year $48K/yr

[#13] Per-event amnestic administration costs aggregated annually (assumes ~8 participants/event, ~6 events/yr, ~$1,000 per person avg -> ~$48k/yr).

Forensic Analysis $36K/yr

[#16] Annualized forensic/memetic analysis runs (~$2k–$15k per analysis; assumed multiple analyses across ~6 events).

Training $35K/yr

[#24] Annual memetic-resistance, training refreshers, simulations and materials (~$10k–$60k/yr).

Facilities Maintenance $30K/yr

[#4] Utilities, routine structural maintenance, POS and physical upkeep for public-facing site.

Data Redaction $30K/yr

[#23] Annual budget for redaction/secure deletion campaigns and SEO/archive suppression (~$2k–$25k per significant takedown; aggregated).

Incident Response Reserve $30K/yr

[#10, #18] Per-incident legal/takedown contingency for persistent leaks or moderate incidents (~$5k–$50k per incident; aggregated reserve).

Audit And Records $30K/yr

[#26] Annual audit, compliance work, and records management (~$10k–$50k/yr).

Surveillance Maintenance $24K/yr

[#7] Ongoing maintenance, tamper-detection servicing, and replacement for cameras/microphones (~$1k–$3k/month range).

Medical Aftercare $20K/yr

[#14] Post-amnestic medical/psychological aftercare aggregated (~$200–$600 per participant; annualized estimate).

Amnestic Replenishment $15K/yr

[#19] Annual replacement/rotation of amnestic stock (~$5k–$30k/yr).

Public Relations And Signage $15K/yr

[#22] PR, signage upkeep, and local advertising to manage closures or rumor control (~$5k–$50k/yr).

Evidence Disposal Per Year $12K/yr

[#15] Per-event hazardous/biological evidence handling and disposal aggregated (~$500–$5k per event; assumed average ~$2k * 6 events).

Franchise And Licensing $10K/yr

[#3] Small recurring licensing/franchise fees or local permit renewals associated with public operation (~annual small fees).

Transcription And Review $9K/yr

[#12] Per-event transcription and expert review marginal costs (~$500–$2,500 per event; assumes ~6 events/yr -> ~$1,500 avg per event).

Energy Resilience $3K/yr

[#20] Fuel and maintenance for backup generator/UPS (~$1k–$4k/yr).

Research And Monitoring $0/yr

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Logistics And Transport $0/yr

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⚡ Cost Scenarios

📊 Baseline (baseline) $3.6M/yr

65.0% probability / year

Normal year with site open to public, routine monitoring and average event frequency; no major leaks or escalations.

routine_public_events no_major_media_exposure

🚨 Minor Incident $3.6M/yr

30.0% probability / year +$-22000 vs baseline

Small localized incident or leak requiring additional legal action, targeted takedowns, and modest increased medical/amnestic response.

small_media_leak single_event_with_multiple_participants

🚨 Major Escalation $4.8M/yr

5.0% probability / year +$1.2M vs baseline

Significant narrative deviation or large-scale media exposure requiring mass amnestic campaigns, region-level containment, and major legal/PR mobilization.

national_media_exposure narrative_deviation mass-casualty_or_mass-participant_event

👥 Personnel 29 total

Role	Count	Notes
Security Officer / MTF Agent	6	Embedded Foundation agents implanted on-site with high Kull memetic resistance; salaries and hazard pay included in staff_wages. [#5]
Civilian Staff (Front-of-house / Kitchen)	9	Local hires maintaining normal restaurant operations and cover; wages included in staff_wages. [#6]
Research Scientist (Memetics)	3	Memetic researchers reviewing events; wages included in staff_wages. [#11]
Transcriber / Administrative	1	Transcription and records support for memetic research; wages included in staff_wages. [#11, #12]
Security Guards (On-site)	7	Day/night on-site guards to cover public hours; wages included in staff_wages. [#17]
Rapid Response Team (Contracted Specialists)	3	Rapid extraction/containment specialists (aggregated team cost included in staff_wages). [#17]

📋 Confidence Notes

Line items and ranges are well-specified in analyst notes (property, staffing, surveillance, webcrawler), but key uncertainties remain around property purchase price variability, event frequency/size, and the scale of occasional legal/takedown incidents, so estimates are medium confidence.

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