GREAT SOUTHERN LOCKHome security
Deadlocks, window locks and door hardware — fitted in Melbourne
Proper deadbolts on the doors that need them, locks on the windows that matter, and patio bolts on sliding doors. Fitted at your place, keyed alike if you want one key for the lot.
- Open 24 hours
- We come to you
- Public liability insured
- ABN registered
- 24/7Answered every hour
of every day - Fully mobileThe workshop comes
to your door - 29 suburbsMelbourne inner
south-east coverage - Insured & ABNPublic liability cover
ABN registered
What gets fitted
Hardware, and where it goes
- Deadbolts on external doors — single or double cylinder, chosen for the door and how it is used.
- Deadlatches — for doors that need to stay self-locking behind you.
- Mortice locks — on timber doors deep enough to take them.
- Patio bolts for sliding doors — so the panel cannot be lifted out of the track.
- Key-operated window locks — ground floor, and anything reachable from a fence or roof.
- Security and screen door locks — the layer most people use daily and nobody maintains.
- Gate and shed hardware — rated padlocks with shrouded shackles rather than whatever was on the shelf.
The doors people actually get in through
There is a consistent pattern across almost every Melbourne house. The front door has a solid deadlock, good hardware and someone’s attention. Then there is a laundry door with a latch and no bolt, a garage personnel door running whatever was fitted in 1985, and a side gate held shut by a padlock you could open with a spanner.
Fixing the weakest of those improves the security of the house far more than anything else you could do to the front door. It is also usually a single visit.
Single or double cylinder — and the safety question
A single-cylinder deadbolt takes a key outside and a thumbturn inside. A double-cylinder one needs a key on both sides, which stops someone breaking a glass panel and simply reaching in to turn the knob.
Double cylinder is more secure and it carries a genuine trade-off: in a fire or an emergency, nobody gets out of that door without the key. If you fit one, the key must live somewhere immediate, consistent and known to everyone in the house — not in a bag or a pocket. We will talk through which is right for your door and your household rather than defaulting to one.
Insurance, in plain terms
Plenty of home and contents policies set out minimum security requirements, and deadlocks on external doors plus key-operated window locks are the common ones. If they are not fitted, an insurer may reduce or decline a break-in claim. Read that section of your policy — it takes five minutes — and if you are unsure what it is asking for, read it to us on the phone and we will tell you what it means in hardware.
Doing it once, properly
Two things separate a lock that works for fifteen years from one that annoys you within twelve months. The first is that the bolt has to land squarely in a properly cut strike plate, into sound timber or frame — a bolt that only half engages is decoration. The second is that the door has to be hung correctly; a door that has dropped will fight any lock you put on it.
Both get checked as part of the job, because the alternative is a call-back and a snapped key six months later.
Worth asking for
- Every external door, not just the front
- Key everything alike
- Patio bolts on sliders
- Window locks downstairs
- Check the deadbolts actually throw
Say how many doors when you ring and the price and the time will be accurate.
Call 0468 770 558Getting the house properly locked up?
One visit, every external door, all on one key if you want it that way.
Read next
Guides on this
Longer answers to the questions that come up before people ring.
Questions
Deadlock and window lock questions
What is the difference between a deadlock and a normal lock?
A latch holds the door shut. A deadlock throws a solid bolt into the frame that cannot be pushed back without the key. A door with only a latch can often be opened with a card or a shim in seconds — a properly fitted deadbolt cannot.
Does my insurer require deadlocks?
Many home and contents policies specify minimum security — commonly deadlocks on external doors and key-operated locks on accessible windows — and a claim can be affected if they are not fitted. It is worth reading that section of your policy before you need it rather than after.
Which doors actually need one?
Every external door, including the ones nobody thinks about: the laundry door, the garage personnel door and any door from a garage into the house. The front door is almost always the best-secured entry on a property and almost never the one used to get in.
Can you fit a deadlock to a heritage or timber door without damaging it?
In most cases, yes — and it is worth saying up front that you care about the door. Period doors need careful marking and drilling and hardware that suits them. If a particular door is genuinely too thin or too fragile for a particular lock, you will be told that instead of sold it.
What about sliding doors and windows?
Both are commonly the weak point. A lot of sliding doors lock against sliding but not against being lifted out of the track, which a patio bolt fixes. Window locks are inexpensive and matter most on the ground floor and anything reachable from a fence, carport or flat roof.
Can all the new locks use the same key?
Usually, yes. Keying alike across the front, back, laundry and garage is one of the most-requested jobs and it costs very little more than fitting them separately.
Other things we do
Car key replacement
Lost every key to the car? We cut and program a new one at the roadside for most makes and models — no tow, no dealership wait.
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24/7 emergency lockout
Locked out of the house, car or shop. Non-destructive entry wherever it’s possible, any hour of the night.
Read moreLock rekeying & changes
New place, old tenant, or a key that walked off. Rekeying kills the old keys without paying for all-new hardware.
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Commercial locksmith
Shopfronts, offices and rentals. Master key systems, restricted keys and scheduled maintenance for property managers.
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Mul-T-Lock restricted keys
High-security cylinders that can’t be copied at a kiosk. Real control over who holds a key to your building.
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Deadlocks & window locks
Proper deadbolts on every external door, patio bolts on sliders and key locks on the windows that matter. Keyed alike if you want one key.
Read more