Fankhauser - Confessions of a locksmith: an insiders guide to securing your home and business

To the eradication of unwanted guests.

Much appreciation goes to my long-time business partner, Brad Haber, both for the professional expertise and the patience he exhibited while I was putting this book together.

Thank you to the great staff of TopLock that makes my job so enjoyable. I would not be where I am today without the many clients that Brad, my staff and I have helped over the years.

My friends and my family give me life. To my wife Jo and my children, thank you for giving me a reason to get out of bed every day to do what I do so that this world can be a safer and a better place.

I grew up in a small country town fifty kilometres north of Melbourne with my parents and older sister. I had a great life. My father was a police officer and my mum worked as a personal assistant at a printing firm. We had a small farm and I loved my life there.

The farm had all kinds of cool stuff on it and I had lots of toys to play with: machines and tools to take apart and put together. The farm was also a perfect place for me because I loved to get dirty and work with my hands. My mum could never decide whether to scold me or laugh at the silly things I did, but we all got along and I was a little adventuresome and a lot silly. Those were awesome times.

I left school at the age of fifteen and completed an apprenticeship in pastry cooking. When I turned twenty-one, after successfully completing my training, l travelled overseas, saw the world and worked at several different jobs. I then settled in England and lived there for three years where I met Jo, who I have now been happily married to for over sixteen years.

Jo and I left London and moved into a rented house in Northcote, Melbourne, Australia, in 1997. After we had been there for three months, we were robbed. I came home from work one day to find that someone had jimmied the sliding door at the back of the house. They had opened all the drawers in the house, pulled things out and flung them all over the place.

Our jewellery, cash, and CD player were all gone. I had thought we were secure because there were strong-looking locks on the front door. The maintenance guy who worked with the real estate agent that had found the house for us had installed them. Well, live and learn. Anyway, our insurance company pretty much took care of us, we got the door repaired and tried to put the ugly incident behind us. At least we hadnt been home and injured when the burglar had come calling.

But, really, I never got over it. Why hadnt our locks kept the burglars away? Why had our home been chosen? Why had they robbed my house and not someone elses?

After living in Northcote for about a year, we moved to Ivanhoe. One night in Ivanhoe I locked myself out, which I had never done before. I rang my father who suggested I ask a locksmith for help, so thats exactly what I did.

About a half hour later, a locksmith arrived, pick gun in hand. He magically opened my front door in no time. I thought, Wow, Id love to do be able to do that, and got to talking with the locksmith. He told me that if I wanted to learn to do what he did all I really needed to do was to go to night school. Imagine that.

Well, I did what he said, and that locksmith and I are friends to this day. I found out what he knew, but I wanted more. Thinking back to the time I had gotten robbed, I wanted to learn everything there was to know about how to be secure and I wanted to be able to help people feel secure in their homes and businesses. With the knowledge I had from my night schooling, I was ready to take the next step.

I enrolled in a class to obtain a Diploma of Security Technologies from Northern Melbourne Institute of Technology in Heidelberg, Victoria. It would take me two years to complete, as I had to work during the day. I spent two nights a week during those two years before I completed my apprenticeship, but this course was life changing.

I loved every minute of what I was doing. I was learning everything there was to know about locksmithing, protecting property, and the list goes on. I worked for several companies around Melbourne in the security industry. Now my eyes were really opened. You name it if it was security, I did it. I got jobs in as many different types of locksmithing companies as I could, working in all different facets of the trade, honing my skills until I knew I could make a difference all by myself.

After three years learning, training and saving up, I was ready to step out on my own. I had five thousand dollars in my pocket, lots of knowledge and a name in my head. In 2002 I opened the doors of TopLock Locksmiths and Ive never looked back. My mission statement was simple. It was to take my passion and enthusiasm for security and build a company that would not only implement my knowledge, but also impart it.

But, I needed a partner in crime, or perhaps I should say a partner to prevent crime, and thats where Brad Haber came in.

Brads introduction to locksmithing began auspiciously in 1999 when he was fourteen-years-old. He attended school during the week and worked weekends as a tree lopper. While on the job, he came across a locksmith business owner and was fascinated. After one particular hard day of work and another two hours of picking the brains and learning from that locksmith, he was unbelievably offered a trial job.

The rest, as they say, is history. Heres the short version. Four years later, the owner of that very locksmith shop sold it and Brad chose to move onto another company where he would get some managerial experience. In 2007 he ventured out on his own and ended up working in the same town where I was conducting business. We had our separate companies, but got together often, swapped shoptalk and, from time to time, a brew or two.

In 2008 Brad did some contract work for me. During that time, we found out, much to our mutual delight, that we came from the same country town. We enjoyed each others company and had the same passion to keep people secure and to educate them about what we did. We both really wanted to make a difference in other peoples lives. We decided to merge our companies and now have a staff of eight full-time employees.

We have the pleasure of working with hundreds of people a month, and are always on the lookout for more ways to serve our communities.

Brad and I have written this book because we believe that safety is important. We know that you have questions you are afraid to ask. We know that choosing someone to help with your personal safety is an important decision and it is our wish that you always feel secure, no matter where you are.