Safe Opening Price Guide
Fixed fee safe opening. We're a safe bet.
If your safe eats up twice as many drill bits as expected or takes far more time than planned,
do not worry, our quoted price to you always remains the same. (see bottom of page)
From the highest quality jewellers safe to the cheapest digital home safe, they can all sometimes go wrong.
Keys can be lost or burglars cause damage in their attempted attack.
Please see our identification page before calling. Better still email some pictures please, see "Helpful Information" below.
Basic "Nusafe / S&L / Hika / Keygard " style digital A5 safes are charged at our standard locksmith door opening rates. Because they are not very secure at all.
Guide prices for opening and rekeying safes with lost keys
Older safes with brass handles can be picked open and new keys made from £250 all inclusive.
Domestic plate safes can be picked open and a new lock fitted from £250 all inclusive.
Better quality commercial safes are priced by their insurance grade and the specific locks fitted.
Grade Zero, around £285, Grade One around £350, Grade two around £395, Grade three safes from £495.
We will change the lock so that lost or stolen keys can not be used.
If another ‘locksmith’ has already tried drilling your safe and failed, then our job could be far
more difficult and involved. Always ask why they are drilling and how they will repair it before
letting them damage your property.
Safe key or combination not working
Quality safes have complex door mechanisms which can go wrong. Correct diagnosis of
the problem is essential and requires expert knowledge. Best and worst case estimates
can be given over the phone if enough information is provided. Exact prices can only be
calculated after examining the safe. Photos are a great help please.
Unknown combination
We can manipulate mechanical combination locks such as Sargent Greenleaf S&G or La Gard in order to discover the correct numbers. Just like spy films and James Bond, we sometimes use a stethoscope (ours are hi-tech electronic). In real life though, these things always take longer than the movies 🙂 If you have a safe but do not know the code then send us some pictures to get a quote.
We also have special skills and equipment to open electronic safe locks without putting holes in your safe. We call it spindle hole magic and these techniques can save a huge amount of drilling.
Helpful information to get advice or a quote
We can best help you after seeing photographs of your actual safe, ideally one showing the whole of the safe from the front. Then another picture showing the shape of the keyhole under the cover, or if a combination lock just a clear picture of the whole of the keypad or dial. The next thing is a quick description of the actual problem please, we love safes and collect and admire pictures of safes, but without knowing what went wrong it is tricky to estimate the costs to fix it ! Other locksmiths are especially guilty of just sending us a photo with "How much?" 🙂
Ten common example problems:-
- Keys are lost
- Key stopped working, ( does it turn at all? How far please? )
- We never used the combination but now someone has turned the dial and we don't know the number
- The combination dials in and stops but the handle won't turn
- The key turns as usual, but the handle won't turn
- The key and handle both turn as usual, but the door won't move
- One of the numbers doesn't bleep when we enter the code
- The keypad is dead even after battery change
- Burglars attacked the safe and now it doesn't open
- Not forgetting - "It was REALLY difficult to close it last night now this morning it won't open" or the other classic, "A bit of the key broke off in the lock so we put superglue all over the long bit and tried to stick it together inside the lock!" (Please don't do either of these things)
You can send pictures via text SMS MMS to 07976272132 and that number is also on WhatsApp to save messaging fees. You can add pictures via our contact us page or call 07976 272132 and we will send you an email link.
Strong boxes have been made for hundreds of years. There have been thousands of different safe manufacturers all making different safes for domestic and commercial risk levels. Many companies deliberately make whole ranges of safes look the same, so that burglars cannot tell how secure each one is. Sometimes even we need to actually see the safe before we can give more than a 'to and from' price range to open and repair. The cost can vary just because one year Tann safes used Kromer locks with a flange case and the next they used the slimline case Kromer lock. The more information you can gives us then the more accurately we can price a job. But don't worry, we can always get you in even without this information. We always like to make sure the costs are agreed before proceeding and then they are fixed no matter how long it takes.
Occasionally people say "what if you can't open it?" well in 30 years we have never been beaten. A safe is the last line of defence and it's job is to slow down a criminal, the higher grade of safe means the more time it can buy you. A high tech commercial grade safe with complex locks and mechanics can buy you a lot of time. If the mechanism goes wrong that can mean a long opening, but gaining entry and repairing safes is our speciality.
The See below bit - If we pick open your safe quicker than you expect, our price still remains the same. Making professional repairs or rekeying your safe often takes far longer than opening it.
You are not just paying for our time on the day and the expensive diesel to get our vans to you, but all these other things. See explanation below.
Professions such as solicitors and accountants charge very very high hourly fees. This is because it takes a long time and lots of money to become a solicitor or accountant. It also takes a long time and a lot of money to be able to do what we can do, however our rates are very, very much lower than theirs and we offer fixed fee rather than hourly rates.
Our prices do have to reflect the costs for massive investment of money and time.
Specialist tools, picks, decoders, lathes, milling machines, optical equipment, endoscopes, drilling equipment, many drill bits, diamond hole saws, key machines and stock. Specialist computer equipment software and interfaces.
For carrying lots of stock and discontinued locks so that we can reinstate your safe quickly to minimise any interruption of your business. This also saves you paying for a second visit (which many other firms do as a way of increasing their charges.)
For the twenty five plus years spent learning our craft so that we can open your safe or door in the most professional and speedy manner.
For the countless hours studying, practising, machining, soldering and experimenting. Money cannot buy experience but you can hire time served safe engineers.
For meeting regulatory, legal and clients special requirements, CRB checks, Insurance, Health & Safety training, UKATA Asbestos Awareness certified, ECITB safety passport, Petrol Forecourt Safety Passport SPA etc
Only an elite handful of people have the skills to pick or manipulate Chatwood, Chubb, FAS, Rosengren RKL10 locks, Fichet, Kromer, La Gard, Milner, Ratner, Mauer, Cawi, Stuv, Sargent Greenleaf S&G locks.
You can have our high quality service for a good value price. Call Alan now. Thanks for reading.