Security upgrade · Greater Manchester
Spend it in this order, not the order you're sold.
Get a price in 2 minutes
Tell us what's happened. We ring you straight back with a fixed price.
- Survey £45-75
- 3-star fitted £65-110
- BS3621 fitted £85-140
- We'll tell you to stop
Security is sold as a mood. It should be bought as a priority list. Here is the order we would spend it in on a Manchester house, cheapest first, and the point where we would tell you to stop.
1. Look at your back door. Free.
Open it. Find the faceplate on the edge. Kitemark and BS3621 stamped on it, or not?
Most policies say all external doors. Most people upgraded the front. If your back door is a 2-lever from the seventies, facing a garden nobody overlooks, that is your weakest point and your biggest insurance exposure, and finding out costs nothing. See BS3621 explained.
2. Look at your cylinder. Also free.
Does it stick out past the handle by more than about 3mm? If so, somebody has something to grip, and gripping is the entire basis of lock snapping. That is a wrong-sized cylinder, fitted by whoever had one in the van. See euro cylinders.
3. Anti-snap cylinder. £65-110.
If your door is uPVC or composite and was fitted before roughly 2012, it almost certainly has no snap protection at all. A genuine TS007 3-star or SS312 Diamond closes the quietest, fastest, most common way into a house in this country.
Watch the 1-star trap: a 1-star cylinder only reaches 3-star with 2-star handles. Sold on its own it is not enough and it will be described as anti-snap anyway. See anti-snap locks.
4. BS3621 on every external door. £85-140 each.
Not because it stops everything. Because your policy says so, and a declined claim costs more than every lock on this page put together.
5. Window locks. £25-55 per window.
Ground floor and anything reachable from a flat roof or a bin store. In Victorian Manchester that means sash windows, and the fix fits the original timber. You do not need new windows.
6. Reinforce the frame. £35-90.
Half the forced entries we attend, the timber gave and the lock came out intact. A decent strike plate with long screws into the structural stud, rather than the 20mm ones in the box, costs almost nothing and is the difference between a kicked door and a bruised foot.
Stop here.
That is roughly £300-500 on an average Manchester house and it closes every common route in. Everything past this point has a worse return, and this is where the selling usually starts.
Things we will talk you out of
| The pitch | The honest answer |
|---|---|
| Replace all your doors | Your doors are fine. It is the cylinders and the frame. |
| Smart lock on everything | Solves convenience, not security, and may break your policy. |
| Highest-grade lock on an internal door | Nobody is picking your bathroom. |
| Upgrade the front, ignore the back | Exactly backwards. |
| "Police-approved" with no marking | Look for TS007 3-star or SS312 Diamond. Words are free. |
| Replace period sashes with uPVC | Sash stops are £25-55 and keep the windows. |
Or pay us £45-75 to tell you
A full survey: every external door, every accessible window, your actual policy wording, and a written report saying what complies and what does not.
If you already comply, that is what the report will say, and you will have paid us for the survey and nothing else. That happens more than you would think on newer builds. See insurance work.
Questions people actually ask
What's the single best security upgrade for the money?
A genuine anti-snap cylinder on your uPVC or composite front and back doors, at £65 to £110 per door. Lock snapping is the quietest, fastest and most common way into a British house, it needs no skill, and it works on almost everything fitted before around 2012. Nothing else closes a route that cheaply. Before you spend anything at all, though, go and look at your back door's faceplate for a BS3621 Kitemark, because that costs nothing and it is where most people are exposed.
How much should I spend on home security?
About £300 to £500 on an average Manchester house closes every common route in: anti-snap cylinders on the external uPVC doors, BS3621 mortice locks where your policy requires them, key-operated locks on accessible windows, and a properly reinforced strike plate. Past that the returns fall off sharply, and that is exactly where the selling usually starts. If someone is quoting you thousands, ask them which specific route each item closes.
Is a security survey worth paying for?
It is £45 to £75 and it covers every external door, every accessible window and your actual policy wording, with a written report. It is worth it if you do not know whether you comply, because the alternative is finding out at claim time. And if you already comply, that is what the report will say and you will have paid for the survey and nothing else, which happens more often than people expect on newer builds. We would rather charge you £50 to tell you that than £400 to fit things you did not need.
Do I need to replace my doors to be secure?
Almost never, and it is the most expensive thing you can be sold. Your doors are usually fine. What is not fine is the cylinder, which snaps, and the frame, which splits. In half the forced entries we attend the timber gave way and the lock came out intact, which tells you where the money should go. A reinforced strike plate with long screws into the structural stud is £35 to £90 and does more than a new door costing £900.
What about my Victorian sash windows?
Keep them. Sash stops and key-operated sash bolts fit into the original timber at £25 to £55 per window, they are discreet and reversible, and they satisfy the key-operated window lock requirement in most policies. Some of them lock the window in a partly open position so you keep ventilation. Anybody telling you that compliance means ripping out original sashes and fitting uPVC is selling windows, not security.