Smart locks fitted in Warrington and Cheshire

Warrington was designated a new town in 1968, and the estates built out of that — Birchwood, with Gorse Covert, Oakwood and Locking Stumps, along with Westbrook and Chapelford — were put up to a handful of standard house types.

Whole streets therefore have the same door, the same frame and the same mechanism. That is genuinely useful: once we have surveyed one, we can quote the next with real confidence rather than hedging.

If you are a landlord with several on one of these estates, say so. Identical doors are quicker to fit and cheaper per door than a mixed portfolio, and we price them that way.

Most original 1970s and 80s doors on those estates went years ago and were replaced with uPVC. Which generation of replacement you have is the thing that decides the job — an early replacement nearing the end of its mechanism is a different quote from a recent composite.

We check that before quoting rather than after, because hanging a new lock on a mechanism about to fail means paying twice.

The other half of the work here is commercial. Birchwood Park, Gemini and the units strung along the M62 and M6 corridors are full of small offices, studios and light industrial units where the access problem is staff turnover rather than break-ins.

Cards for staff, cancelled the day somebody leaves, and fire exits specified properly — see offices and commercial premises. Leased units usually need the landlord's agreement, and we will put the specification in writing for you to send them.