In an effort to save money, you may have looked at handling lock replacement for your company yourself. At first, that doesn't seem so hard; you've likely replaced deadbolts at your own home at least once, and even if you haven't, the process isn't that difficult. So an office wouldn't be that hard to manage either, right?
That's not quite the case. Locks used for offices are different from residential locks. If you try to handle lock changing and rekeying yourself, you could end up spending more money in the end.
You Need the Right Types of Locks
Commercial locks are not the same as residential locks, but if you don't know why, you could end up buying new locks based on price rather than grade, which has consequences for your office's safety.
Commercial locks are stronger than residential locks. That's not the case because residential security is somehow less important than commercial security, but because commercial locks get so much more use. You have many people going in and out of offices each day, placing a lot of stress on doorknobs and locking mechanisms that are in constant use. A residential lock is used maybe twice a day, maybe a little more, but not nearly as much as an office might.
However, commercial locks are also much more expensive than residential locks, for the most part. There are a couple of brands of deadbolts that have produced more affordable commercial-grade bolts for the home. But these aren't always available in stores, leaving you and your company with mainly residential-grade hardware if you try to buy the hardware yourself.
A locksmith who works on commercial properties can get a better deal on bulk orders of commercial-grade hardware, which means your overall price (which will include installation) is a better deal in the end.
Mass Key Copying Is Not as Easy as It Looks
Another issue that you may have overlooked is that copying the keys to several locks is not as easy as it looks. You may be used to going to a hardware store and having a couple of copies made of your house keys for other family members, but that is nothing like making copies of keys for an office full of workers plus backups for what could be three or four locks each, if not more.
A commercial locksmith has the resources to easily mass-produce key copies for several people. You'd end up saving money on time spent alone by having a commercial locksmith take care of the replacement and rekeying work at your office. Instead of handling locks yourself, which could lead to you having to spend more money on more replacements, call a commercial locksmith whose team of technicians can upgrade and maintain the locks on your building easily.
For more information, speak with a professional who provides commercial locksmith services.
