Safes in Northland
Home and business safes supplied and properly installed - and opened again when the combination is lost or the lock has failed.
A safe that is not fixed down is a box with your valuables in it and a handle for carrying them away. Installation is not an optional extra on a safe; it is most of what you are paying for.
We supply and install safes for homes and businesses across Northland, service them, change combinations, and open them when nobody can.
Choosing one
Three questions decide it, in this order:
- What is going in it, and what is that worth? Documents and passports are a different problem from cash takings. If you are insuring the contents, your insurer may specify a cash rating - check before you buy, not after a claim.
- Fire, theft, or both? They are different constructions. A fire safe protects paper from heat; a security safe resists attack. Some do both, most do one well. Deeds, wills and photographs argue for fire; cash and jewellery argue for security.
- Where is it going? This decides the size and fixing more than anything else. A safe bolted through a concrete floor is in a different league from one sitting in a wardrobe, and a heavy safe on an upper floor of an older Northland villa needs a thought about what is underneath it.
Do not put it where a burglar would look first. The main bedroom wardrobe is the first place searched in almost every domestic burglary. A safe is far more useful somewhere unremarkable, fixed down properly, and out of sight from a window.
Locked out of your safe
It happens more often than people expect, and it is rarely a disaster:
- The combination has been forgotten, or the only person who knew it has left or died.
- The battery in an electronic keypad has gone flat.
- The key to a key-lock safe is lost.
- The lock has failed mechanically, or the bolts have jammed.
- You have inherited or bought a property with a safe in it and no idea of the code.
We open safes, and wherever possible we do it without destroying the safe - which is usually a matter of manipulating or bypassing the lock rather than cutting it. We will tell you before we start whether your safe is likely to be usable afterwards, and what the realistic options are.
As with vehicles, we will ask you to establish that the safe and its contents are yours. Any locksmith who does not is not one you want in the district.
Servicing
Safes are frequently ignored until the day they will not open. Batteries, worn keypads, dry mechanisms and bolts that have gone stiff are all cheap to deal with in advance and expensive to deal with at the point of failure. If your safe has started to feel notchy or the keypad needs a firm press, that is the warning.
Safe services
- Home safes supplied and installed
- Commercial and cash safes
- Fire-resistant document safes
- Floor and wall fixing
- Safe relocation
- Combination changes
- Electronic keypad replacement
- Battery replacement
- Safe opening - lost combination
- Safe opening - lock failure
- Servicing and lubrication
- Deposit and drop safes
- Key safes and lockboxes
Related
Talk to a locksmith
Tell us what you need and you will know what it costs before we start.
Fixed down properly
An unfixed safe is a portable box. Installation is most of the security you are buying.
Opened, not destroyed
Where the safe can be opened without wrecking it, that is what we do.
Get in touch
Tell us what has happened
We will tell you what the job needs and what it costs before anyone sets out.
Mobile across all of Northland, from Kaitaia, Kerikeri, Paihia and Russell down to Whangarei, Ruakaka, One Tree Point and Marsden Cove - see all 55 areas we cover.
Questions
Common questions
Can you open a safe without wrecking it?
Very often, yes. Manipulating or bypassing the lock leaves the safe usable; cutting it does not. Which is possible depends on the safe, and we will tell you what we expect before starting rather than after.
How do I know what size to buy?
Buy bigger than you think. Almost everybody underestimates, and the second most common regret after not fixing it down is not having room for the next thing.
Does my insurer care which safe I buy?
They may well, particularly for cash or jewellery, and they may specify a rating. Ask them before buying - it is a five-minute call that occasionally saves a declined claim.
Can a safe go upstairs?
Often, but weight matters, especially in older timber-framed Northland houses. We will look at where it is going and tell you if the floor needs consideration.
I have bought a house with a safe in it and no code.
Common, and we can help. Bring proof you own the property and we will open it. What is inside is occasionally interesting and usually a set of 1990s manuals.
Locked out, or want it sorted properly?
One call reaches a mobile locksmith in Northland who will tell you what it costs before any work starts.
0800 243 503