What we check before anyone is listed
A directory that lists whoever writes in is worse than no directory: it lends our name to strangers at the exact moment a reader is panicking. Here is the whole procedure, so that both readers and applicants know what the entry means.
- A registered business, verifiable in a public register
Company or sole-trader registration number, checked against the national register. No number, no entry.
- Safe work as an actual specialism
Opening, servicing, moving and installing safes — not a door locksmith who will subcontract the job to someone we have never checked. We ask which lock brands they carry parts for.
- Proof of ownership required from the customer
We ask what they demand before opening a safe. If the answer is “nothing”, the application ends there. This single question sorts the trade faster than any certificate.
- Liability insurance
Safes are heavy, floors are fragile, contents are valuable. We ask for the insurer and the policy limit.
- Association membership, where it exists
SAVTA, ALOA, MLA or a national equivalent. Not mandatory — many good technicians belong to nothing — but it is recorded in the entry so readers can weigh it.
- Pricing that is stated, not improvised
We publish whether the technician quotes fixed prices or hourly rates with a cap. We do not publish the prices themselves: they change, and stale prices mislead.
- Two references from safe work, not from lock work
Contacted quietly, before the entry appears.