Your home is the place where you keep all your most valuable possessions. It is also the place where you should feel relaxed with the peace of mind to know you are safe in your own place of residence.
The only way to ensure your house is safe from break-ins and theft is to get your home security up to standard, and ideally, this should be to a professional level.
So how can you ensure your home is professionally secured? It is actually straightforward.
All you really need is one good contact – a trustworthy home security locksmith.
But it would help if you didn’t settle for any old locksmith. Instead, it would help if you had a reliable, honest, highly reputable, and experienced locksmith you can rely on.
Create A Shortlist Of Quality Locksmiths
To successfully secure your home, you need a quality locksmith. If you already have one on your contact list, you can jump ahead to the next step. Otherwise, read on.
Now is the time to do some research. Ask neighbors and friends for the details of a reliable and fair priced locksmith in your area. If you cannot get a referral from them, then hit Google and start searching for “locksmiths near me.”
Google will most likely return a plethora of results, so here are some tips to reduce the list and be left with the best of the best.
Look for locksmiths that provide a range of services, including lock repairs, door, and window lock installations, rekeying, gaining entry for lockouts, and other home security services relating to intercoms, CCTV and security alarms, etc.
You also want to choose a company that provides a 24-hour emergency 24 service. You will learn why this is important later on.
When you have a shortlist of local locksmiths that meet these criteria, check out each of their online reputations. This will allow you to cull your list even more.
Be aware of any companies that have repeated bad feedback from customers. Also, beware of companies that only have 5-star reviews, as this could be a sign of fake reviews.
Keep in mind that even the best companies in the world can’t please everyone, so 1 or 2 bad reviews from time to time is to be expected. Read all the bad reviews to see what people are complaining about. It just may be that the bad reviewers are too hard to please.
At this point, you don’t need to call any of the locksmiths just yet, but you will use this list very soon.
Ensure All Entry Points Have Suitable Locks
Now is the time for you to assess your own property and list all the entry points. Most commonly will be front and back doors, but also include windows, gates, garages, and any other place someone can gain access to your property.
For all of these entry points, make sure they all have suitable locks or locking devices in good working order. Any old, rust damaged, dated, or otherwise questionable locks should be noted down to replace or change altogether.
At this point, you may be tempted to head to your local hardware store and purchase some new locks and do the installations yourself. But before you do this, follow the next step to take your home security to the next level.
Request A Home Security Assessment
Now is the time to start calling locksmiths. During this initial contact, you want to find out how they price their services and offer home security assessments.
Many of them will offer free security assessments, but they make sure their price seems reasonable if they charge. After all, a proper home security assessment will take time to complete, and there is no obligation for you to get any work completed, so they have every right to charge for their time.
After you have spoken with a few locksmiths from your list, you should have an idea of who you would like actually to come out to assess your home. To ensure you gain the best security level for your home, get at least 3 different locksmiths to attend to your property and provide assessments.
Next, compare the assessments with each other and your own assessment of your property. This, combined with meeting each of the locksmiths, may give you a good indication of which one you prefer to add to your contacts list.
Or, if they are all similar, then you can add them all to your contacts list. There is no harm in having multiple options for a locksmith, just if one is too busy to assist you later down the track, especially if you find yourself in an emergency.
Follow All Reasonable Recommendations
To take your home security to the professionally secured standard, you should follow all recommendations from your security assessments.
Of course, only follow recommendations that you feel are suitable to your budget and requirements. There is no point going overboard. Just find the balance between security and cost-effectiveness.
Also, by having your preferred locksmith carry out all the work, you are ensured that all locks and security devices will be installed to a professional level.
You will also be covered by warranties and guarantees if there are any faults in the warranty period. This is something you miss out on when you perform lock installation yourself.
Bonus – You Are Now Prepared for Emergency Lockouts
The worst time to look for a new locksmith is when you experience a lockout. At these desperate times, it is easy to make a rash decision, and you could run into one of the following issues:
- Price Gouging: This is where locksmiths offer a cheap callout rate, but once onsite and the work is completed, the final price is significantly higher. This can cause an expected price of $45 to result in a $500+ job. Just ridiculous!
- Shoddy Work: When you don’t have time to research the best locksmith online, you often choose the first one you see. However, this may be the dodgiest locksmith in town who just happened to have his Ad online when you did your search.
The good thing about going through the steps above is you now have a reliable and quality locksmith in your contact list that provides a 24-hour service.
So, if ever you run into a lockout emergency, you do not doubt in your mind who to call. Also, you know they can be trusted as you have already dealt with them previously.
