Commercial locksmith
Commercial Locksmith in Farnborough
Call with your postcode for a current arrival estimate.
- 24-hour emergency cover
- No call-out charge
- Price agreed before work starts
When a Business Cannot Open, Every Hour Counts
A failed lock at home is a security problem; at a business it is a trading problem. Wilds Locksmiths Farnborough works on business premises across Farnborough, from a shop that cannot open at eight in the morning to a planned lock change after hours.
A shop that cannot open loses a day's takings, and an office that cannot be secured cannot be left, so these jobs are prioritised and scheduled around trading, not through it. Calls are taken 24 hours a day, with no call-out charge.
What Businesses Call About
When a business in Farnborough calls a locksmith, it is nearly always about one of five things. Before you call, follow any heading to its linked page for an explanation of the work and what to expect.
The premises have been broken into
The shutters have been forced, the entrance door is damaged, or the unit cannot be made secure until police have finished on site. Our first job is to make the premises safe; anything repairable is repaired, and anything that is not gets boarded.
You are locked out of the premises
A key has broken off in the door first thing, the one keyholder is out of contact, or nobody can open up. The door is usually opened without causing damage, so the lock that is already fitted keeps working.
The door at the entrance has failed
Heavy daily traffic wears mechanisms out, handles go slack and entrances stop locking. Frequently it is one component that has failed while the door remains perfectly sound.
A member of staff left with keys
Homes do not tend to have this problem. With keys unaccounted for after someone goes, only new cylinders on each door they had access to give certainty, since an old key turns the lock for anyone. With the lock cases and handles normally kept, it takes less time than replacing the locks outright.
A lock upgrade is required by insurance or a lease
Insurers and landlords sometimes write a required lock standard for the entrance into the paperwork. Knowing precisely what that document says usually makes the rest simple.
Why a Commercial Lock Is Not a Domestic Lock
The amount of use a lock gets is the key distinction. A shop or office entrance can be opened several hundred times in a day, while a front door at home sees perhaps a dozen. Commercial door specifications call for heavier-duty cylinders, handles and closers because hardware suited to a house soon wears out at a trading entrance. The part is rarely the real expense; the repeat call-out and the disruption each time are.
Commercial entrances also take forms a home seldom has:
- Aluminium shopfront doors, which use different lock cases and cylinders from uPVC or timber.
- Protection for the frontage when trading has finished, using roller shutters and shutter locks.
- Escape doors with panic bars or push pads that must open from inside without a key.
- Planned key arrangements for suites of doors, allowing one key to open multiple doors while another opens a single door.
Get the specification wrong and you pay for it again and again; get it right and the door simply works. Let us know the door's material and its existing fittings.
Premises That We Work On
Businesses across Farnborough trade from very different buildings, and the locks follow suit. We work on:
- shops and retail units, shopfronts and shutters as well;
- offices and professional premises;
- industrial units, workshops and storage;
- pubs, bars, cafés and restaurants;
- schools, surgeries, salons and community buildings;
- commercial units let by landlords and managing agents.
For a home or a residential let, see the residential locksmith page instead.
Key Control When Staff Change
Businesses lose track of keys more easily than households, and it is not carelessness. With a dozen staff and only a handful of keys, keys are lent, duplicated and sometimes kept. If a member of staff walks out on bad terms, or just does not hand their key back, the honest truth is that you can no longer say who is able to open your door.
What fixes it. Change the cylinder on each door that key opened. Every existing key stops working at once, and that is the point, because an old key works for anyone who has it. The lock case and handles usually stay, which is why the job is quicker and cheaper than most businesses assume.
Keeping it fixed. Doors that need to stay on a single key can be given cylinders keyed alike. Mention keyed-alike options during your call if you want to reduce the number of keys in circulation; we will advise which arrangements are practical for your doors. A basic keyholder record costs nothing and stops the question arising again.
Fire Doors and Routes of Escape
Keyless exit is the rule for escape routes: anyone inside must be able to get out without a key. That is normally achieved with a thumbturn, a push pad or a panic bar on the inside, leaving the outside locked against entry. The British Standard for lock assemblies offering keyless egress is BS 8621, which relies on an inside thumbturn rather than a key on each side, and panic hardware has separate standards. Which of these suits a given door is set by the premises' fire risk assessment and its use, so it pays to check before altering an escape route. We should be clear that we do not certify any building's fire compliance.
Work Is Scheduled Around Your Trading Hours
Round-the-clock cover is usually sold as an emergency promise, but for a business it is just as useful for planning. That might be a cylinder change, a new lock for a stockroom door or a replacement shutter lock, done while the shop floor is empty so no customer sees a locksmith at the entrance. When you call, let us know when you open and close so we can consider appointment times outside those hours. Bookings outside Monday to Friday, 7am to 6pm, carry a higher labour rate; the call-out is still free, and the price is given on the call before anything is booked.
Locksmith pricing
How Much Does a Commercial Locksmith Cost?
Ask what a commercial locksmith costs and the honest answer is that it depends on the door, the scale and the timing. Specifically:
Price is explained before attendance, and no call-out charge applies. You pay for the work carried out, any parts needed, and VAT. Rates outside Monday to Friday, 7am to 6pm, are higher, but the call-out itself is never charged.
Whatever the problem, from premises you cannot open to an entrance that will not secure or a planned repair, replacement or security upgrade, the first step is a call. We cover emergencies 24 hours a day. In an emergency, give your business postcode and a short account of the problem. When arranging a planned job, give us your operating hours and details of the affected door or lock to discuss the work needed and possible appointments.
Door type.
A timber door uses parts that differ from those fitted to aluminium shopfront doors, shutters and composite doors.
Number of doors and cylinders.
A full key change across a unit involves far more cylinders than a single lock.
Required standard.
Some insurers and leases name a lock standard.
Urgency and timing.
Is it urgent, or booked outside trading hours?
Locksmith pricing
Invoicing and Paperwork
You will get an itemised VAT invoice for every job. It records the work carried out, the premises where it was done and any hardware fitted, so it drops straight into your accounts and stands up as evidence for an insurance claim where one is made. For multi-site businesses there is flexibility: work across your premises can be invoiced in the way your accounts department finds easiest. Tell us the split you want, and it is one less thing to sort out later.
What affects the cost?
Service required, time of attendance, lock and door type, labour and parts.
Commercial Locksmith Work Across Farnborough
Shops, offices, industrial units and managed premises across Farnborough are within reach, in every postcode of GU14. Premises in North Camp, North Farnborough, South Farnborough, Cove, Fox Lane and West Heath, along Farnborough Road or near Farnborough (Main) and Farnborough North stations, all go through the same number. Farnborough is a built-up area of around 60,700 usual residents at the 2021 Census (ONS).
If a break-in has left premises open, report it to Hampshire Constabulary on 101 or at hampshire.police.uk, then call us about securing the entry point once the police say work may start. See all areas we cover.
Emergency and planned locksmith services
Call Wilds Locksmiths Farnborough
Ring 01252 493213 if you cannot open or secure the premises, or to book work outside trading hours when it can wait.
- Phone: 01252 493213
01252 493213
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you come out before we open?
Yes, emergency help is available before you open, as our cover runs at every hour, every day. Give your opening and closing times when booking. A lockout or failed entrance can need urgent attention because it stops the business opening.
A member of staff has left and not returned their keys. What now?
Replace the cylinders on each door that person could open. There is no way to disable a mechanical key, so as long as the old cylinders are fitted, the old keys work for anyone holding them. Handles and lock cases normally remain, which keeps the job quicker than new locks throughout. If a set of doors should share one key, the replacement cylinders can usually be keyed alike.
Are commercial locks different from the ones on a house?
In how much use they get, above all. Where a household door sees a dozen openings a day, a shop entrance may see hundreds, so its cylinders, handles and closers are specified for heavier use. Domestic-grade hardware on a trading entrance tends to fail early, and the cost lies in the repeat call-outs. Escape doors, shutters and shopfronts also need hardware a house never needs.
Do you work on aluminium shopfront doors?
Yes. Shopfront and office doors are frequently made of aluminium rather than uPVC or timber, and they need their own lock cases and cylinders. Let us know on the call what the door is, so we turn up with the right parts; the door type also affects how much time the job needs on site.
Our insurance says we need a particular lock standard. Can you help?
Yes. Insurers and landlords of Farnborough business premises often write a lock standard for the entrance into the policy or lease. Once you know precisely what the document names, it is usually a straightforward job. Send the wording over if you can: "insurance approved" varies between policies, and fitting the right lock once is better than fitting twice.
Can you do work across more than one of our sites?
We can. Work across more than one of your premises can be carried out and then invoiced however your accounts team prefers. Let us know the number of sites when you first call and how you want things arranged; planning them together beats handling each as a separate visit.
Will we get a proper invoice for our accounts?
Yes, a proper itemised VAT invoice. It describes the work done, identifies the premises and lists the hardware fitted, giving your accounts the detail they need and giving you a clear record for an insurance claim. Ask on the call if your accounts team needs it arranged a particular way.
Our fire exit door needs a new lock. What do we need?
First, a lock that opens without a key from the inside, as every escape-route lock must. The keyless egress standard is BS 8621, built around an inside thumbturn; push pads and panic bars are dealt with under their own standards. Your building's fire risk assessment and how the premises are used set the exact requirement, so it is worth checking before changing the lock and telling us what it says when you call.
Still have a question or need urgent assistance? Call 01252 493213, tell us what has happened and receive a current arrival estimate.