Office lockout · Greater Manchester · 24/7
Thirty people arrive in an hour. We know.
Get a price in 2 minutes
Tell us what's happened. We ring you straight back with a fixed price.
- From £65
- We answer at 6am
- Invoiced accounts
- No call-out fee
- £1m public liability
A domestic lockout is one person on a doorstep. A commercial one is a countdown: staff arriving, deliveries booked, a shift that starts at eight. The technical job is the same. The pressure is not, and neither is the paperwork.
The bit that slows it down: who are you?
We will not open a commercial door on the word of whoever is stood outside it, and you should not want us to. Anyone can turn up at a unit at 6am in a hi-vis and say they work there.
Have one of these ready and it takes two minutes:
- Photo ID plus something linking you to the business
- A call to a director or the office manager
- Headed paper, a lease, or a utility bill for the unit
- Landlord or managing agent on the phone
- For a franchise or chain: area manager authority
The one that catches people out is the keyholder being on holiday. If the only person who can authorise it is in Spain, ring them anyway: a phone call at 6am is faster than everything else you are about to try.
Which door, and which failure
| What's happened | Whose job | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Key lost or left at home | Ours | £65-110 |
| Key snapped in the lock | Ours | £35-70 |
| Cylinder worn, key won't turn | Ours | £35-60 |
| Shutter lock seized | Ours. Shutters | £70-130 |
| Fob system down, no override | Ours, if there's a mechanical lock | £65-150 |
| Alarm engineer needed too | Not us. Ring them in parallel. | - |
The access control trap
A fob system with no mechanical override is a system that locks you out of your own building when the power goes, the controller dies, or somebody deletes the wrong record.
Every access control install should have a way in that does not need electricity. If yours does not, that is worth fixing on a Tuesday rather than discovering on a Monday. See access control.
Then fix why it happened
Most commercial lockouts are not bad luck. They are a keyholding problem wearing a costume: one key, one person, no spare, no system.
- Spare set with a second keyholder, not in the building
- A key safe, police-rated, bolted into brick
- Master key system so you carry one key
- Fobs if people churn: deleting one is free
What it costs
| Job | Price, any hour |
|---|---|
| Lockout, non-destructive | £65-110 |
| Broken key extraction | £35-70 |
| Cylinder replacement | £35-60 |
| Shutter opened, lock seized | £70-130 |
| Drilled and replaced, last resort | £90-150 |
| Police-rated key safe, fitted | £70-140 |
Invoiced. Same price at 6am as at 2pm. No call-out fee.
Commercial locksmith · Shop security · Warehouse locks
Questions people actually ask
What proof do you need to open a commercial door?
Photo ID plus something linking you to the business, or a phone call to a director or the office manager who can confirm you. Headed paper, a lease or a utility bill for the unit all work, and for a franchise or a chain we will want area manager authority. We will not open a commercial door on the word of whoever is stood outside it, because anyone can turn up at a unit at 6am in a hi-vis and say they work there. With something ready it takes two minutes.
The only keyholder is on holiday. Can you still let us in?
Ring them anyway, because a phone call to Spain at 6am is faster than everything else you are about to try. If they can confirm your authority over the phone, that is usually enough. If nobody at all can authorise it, we cannot open the door, and that is the correct answer rather than an unhelpful one. It is also the moment to sort out a spare set with a second keyholder, because this will happen again.
Our fob system is down and nobody can get in. Can a locksmith help?
Only if there is a mechanical lock in the door somewhere. This is the trap with access control: a system with no mechanical override locks you out of your own building the moment the power goes, the controller dies or somebody deletes the wrong record. If yours has a mechanical override we are £65 to £150. If it genuinely has none, you need your access control engineer, and then you need a serious conversation about having a way in that does not depend on electricity.
Do you charge extra for a 6am callout?
No. There is no early-morning rate, no night rate and no call-out fee, so 6am on a Monday costs exactly what 2pm on a Wednesday costs. We answer at six because that is when this happens: a shutter that will not lift or a key that will not turn is always a before-opening problem. Business accounts are invoiced rather than paid on the doorstep, so you get a paper trail.
How do we stop this happening again?
Most commercial lockouts are a keyholding problem in disguise: one key, one person, no spare, no system. Fix it three ways. Put a spare set with a second keyholder who does not keep it in the building. Fit a police-rated key safe, bolted into brick rather than mortar, sited somewhere sensible. And if people churn, move to fobs, because deleting a fob is free and rekeying a door is £45 to £75 every single time.