Smart Locks near you

A careful installer measures before anyone buys anything: the thickness of the door, the size and spacing of the existing holes, the backset from the edge of the door to the centre of the bore, whether the door is solid or hollow core, and whether a security screen sits close enough in front to foul an external keypad or a thumb-turn. Older homes with mortice locks and narrow-stile aluminium doors are the ones most likely to need a different model than the one you had in mind.

Fitting starts with the door, not the lock. The bolt has to throw fully and freely into the strike by hand before any motor is asked to do it, which often means adjusting hinges, planing a sticking edge or moving the strike plate and anchoring it with longer screws into the frame rather than the jamb lining alone. Installers who skip that step are the reason so many smart locks are described as having a battery problem a year later.

Handover is where the value is either kept or lost. Insist on the administrator account being created in your name and your email, not the installer's, with your own code replacing any default. Every household code should be labelled with the person it belongs to, the auto-lock and any unlock-on-approach behaviour explained and deliberately chosen, and the whole thing tested from both sides with the security screen closed, the way you will actually use it.

Who may install locks for payment is decided by each state and territory, not nationally. Western Australia publishes the clearest example of what that looks like: its Security Installer licence is split into classes, where Class 1 covers installing, maintaining and repairing safes, vaults and locks of a kind prescribed in Regulation 6, and Class 4 covers installing locks of that same kind, while Class 2 covers security alarms and closed circuit television for security purposes and Class 3 covers security doors. WA also states that Security Installers who are self-employed or subcontracting under their own ABN must hold their own Security Agent's licence. In New South Wales, security industry licensing is directed to NSW Police rather than to the fair trading body. Ask which licence and class the person holds and check it with that state's regulator.

The electrical line is national and there is nothing to negotiate. Energy Safe Victoria puts it plainly: doing your own electrical work may look easy, but it is extremely dangerous, there is no grey area, and doing unqualified electrical work is not only extremely dangerous, it is also illegal, including tasks people assume are minor such as changing power points or light switches. New South Wales requires an electrical licence or certificate before any electrical wiring work, regardless of the cost of the work and regardless of whether it is residential, commercial or industrial.

For a battery lock none of that bites, which is the point of choosing one. It bites the moment the job grows: an electric strike, a maglock, a hardwired keypad or a new powerpoint for a bridge in the roof space. In Western Australia all electrical work must be carried out by a person who holds the relevant electrical licence, it is illegal for an unlicensed person to carry out electrical work including modifications to fixed wiring, and for work other than maintenance or a like-for-like replacement the electrical contractor must give you an electrical safety certificate within 28 days. Ask any quote to separate the lock work from the electrical work and to name who will do each part.

A smart lock moves part of your front door into an app, so the account controlling it deserves the care you would give a banking login: a long unique passphrase used nowhere else, multi-factor authentication switched on where the app offers it, and separate logins for each household member instead of one password everybody knows. Turn on updates, and treat a model that has stopped receiving them as hardware approaching the end of its useful life rather than a bargain.

Then test the failure modes before you need them. Ask the installer what happens when the internet drops, when the manufacturer's servers are unavailable and when the bridge is unplugged: a lock that still opens on its keypad and its key in all three cases is a lock you can live with. Decide deliberately about convenience features that unlock the door on their own as a phone approaches, because they trade away the control you paid for.

Buying a house with a smart lock already fitted is the case people forget. Until it has been factory reset and removed from the previous owner's account, their codes and their remote access may still work. Have it reset and re-enrolled in your name before you move in, exactly as you would have the locks rekeyed, and ask the agent in writing that it has been done.

The ACCC says products and services normally bought for personal or household use are covered by consumer guarantees. The lock is a product, so it must be of acceptable quality, match its description and be fit for any purpose you made known; the fitting is a service, so it must be carried out with an acceptable level of care and skill, be fit for the stated purpose, and be supplied within a reasonable time where none was agreed. The ACCC is explicit that the basic rights covered by consumer guarantees cannot be taken away by anything a business says or does.

This matters more with connected hardware than with a plain deadbolt, because so much of what you were sold lives in an app. If remote access, notifications or the ability to issue temporary codes were part of the reason you bought it, say so in writing before the job, since a purpose the seller was told about is a purpose the product has to meet. The ACCC also says that where a business or manufacturer makes extra promises about the quality, condition, performance or characteristics of a product, they must meet those promises, and that manufacturers or importers must provide spare parts and repair facilities for a reasonable time after purchase.

Warranties sit on top, never instead. The ACCC describes warranties as voluntary and additional to consumer guarantees, says they cannot replace, change or take away your basic rights, and notes those rights can last longer than a business's warranty. Extended warranties and care packages are optional extras, and a business must not mislead you into paying for rights you already have. If something goes wrong, the ACCC's test is whether the problem is major, which for a service includes creating an unsafe situation or a serious problem that would have stopped you buying it; for a minor problem the business must fix it free of charge.

Whatever the lock does electronically, it has to open from the inside by hand, immediately, without a code, a phone or a key. In a fire, everyone in the house has to be able to turn one thing and leave, including children, guests and anyone with limited hand strength or vision, and a keyed lock on the inside of an exit door is a hazard, not a security upgrade. If keyed window locks or a double-cylinder deadlock are part of your setup, agree with the household where those keys live and check that everyone knows.

Plan for a flat battery in advance, because it always happens on the worst evening. Keep the mechanical key with you or with a trusted neighbour rather than hidden anywhere outside, and use it occasionally so the cylinder does not seize in salt air or dust. Note whether your model offers an external emergency power contact and what it needs, and keep spare batteries of the specified type in the house. If you do end up locked out, call a licensed locksmith and expect to prove you belong at the address before anyone opens anything.