Straight answers, before you book. Prices, process, and the fine print.

Prices are published on the site before you book, and confirmed in writing before any work starts.

Home security: single jobs from $195 fitted. Lock-up bundles of three, five or seven items at $395, $595 and $745. Security screen doors from $895 made to measure; window screens from $365. Vehicle theft deterrent pack $395. Steel tool sheds from $1,295 installed.

Rental compliance: Rental Essentials Check $195. Rental Readiness Report $295. Portfolio rates for ten or more properties.

A minimum visit charge of $195 applies to booked property works. The free doorstep check is separate and has no minimum. Every price shown is the total price payable.

Yes. No call-out fee, no minimum, no obligation — and no fee if we can’t get in.

It’s fifteen minutes at your door, anywhere in metro Melbourne, and it’s usually the fifteen minutes that ends the “I really should sort that” conversation you’ve been having for a year. We look at what you already have — locks, latches, the side gate, the meter box — and you keep an itemised quote in writing. If your place is already solid we’ll say so, shake your hand, and you’ll sleep a bit better for having heard it from someone who’d have happily sold you something.

You don’t have to be home for most of it, but it helps if you are so we can measure the gate and the garage.

Not unless you ask for something extra, or the site is materially different from what was described.

Your quote covers exactly the items listed. If we find something on the day — rotten timber behind a gate post, an asbestos-era meter board, a frame that won’t take the hardware — we stop, tell you, and quote the extra before doing anything. Nothing is added to your invoice that you didn’t agree to first.

Security: we come out for the free check, you get an itemised quote in writing, and if you say yes most hardware goes on the same visit or the next one. Made-to-measure items — screen doors, sheds, fencing — are ordered against a 50% deposit and fitted on a booked return date.

Rental compliance: we inspect the property, the report arrives by email as a PDF — generally within three business days — and then you get a phone debrief to walk through it. Your card is only charged when the report is delivered.

Security work is paid on completion, on the day, before we leave — card on site, bank transfer, or cash.

Compliance reports are charged to the card held at booking when the report is delivered. Made-to-order items need a 50% deposit, balance on completion. Agencies, property managers and owners corporations on an invoiced account have seven days.

Any card surcharge is disclosed before payment and never exceeds our cost of accepting it.

Free with 48 hours’ notice, on any booking.

For rental compliance assessments, cancelling with less than 48 hours’ notice, or no access when we arrive — a locked property, a renter who refuses entry, no valid notice of entry — is a $99 access-failure fee. It covers the reserved appointment and the travel, it isn’t a penalty, and it’s only charged where we’ve attended or held the slot.

Home security visits, including the free doorstep check, carry no cancellation or access fee. Life happens; just let us know and we’ll find another time. If we ever have to cancel, you get the next available appointment or a full refund.

Metro Melbourne and surrounding suburbs, based in Scoresby. Most of our work is across the east and south-east, all the way down to Frankston.

Eastern suburbs: Scoresby, Knoxfield, Rowville, Lysterfield, Wantirna, Wantirna South, Bayswater, Bayswater North, Boronia, Ferntree Gully, Upper Ferntree Gully, The Basin, Upwey, Belgrave, Tecoma, Glen Waverley, Mount Waverley, Wheelers Hill, Mulgrave, Clayton, Notting Hill, Oakleigh, Oakleigh East, Oakleigh South, Huntingdale, Chadstone, Ashwood, Ashburton, Burwood, Burwood East, Vermont, Vermont South, Forest Hill, Blackburn, Blackburn North, Blackburn South, Nunawading, Mitcham, Box Hill, Box Hill North, Box Hill South, Mont Albert, Surrey Hills, Canterbury, Camberwell, Hawthorn, Hawthorn East, Kew, Kew East, Balwyn, Balwyn North, Deepdene, Doncaster, Doncaster East, Templestowe, Templestowe Lower, Bulleen, Donvale, Park Orchards, Warrandyte, Wonga Park, Ringwood, Ringwood East, Ringwood North, Heathmont, Croydon, Croydon Hills, Croydon North, Croydon South, Kilsyth, Montrose, Mooroolbark, Lilydale, Chirnside Park, Mount Evelyn.

South-eastern suburbs: Malvern, Malvern East, Glen Iris, Caulfield, Caulfield North, Caulfield South, Carnegie, Murrumbeena, Hughesdale, Bentleigh, Bentleigh East, Ormond, McKinnon, Glen Huntly, Elsternwick, Brighton, Brighton East, Hampton, Hampton East, Sandringham, Black Rock, Beaumaris, Cheltenham, Highett, Moorabbin, Mentone, Parkdale, Mordialloc, Aspendale, Aspendale Gardens, Edithvale, Chelsea, Chelsea Heights, Bonbeach, Carrum, Patterson Lakes, Clarinda, Clayton South, Dingley Village, Heatherton, Springvale, Springvale South, Noble Park, Noble Park North, Keysborough, Dandenong, Dandenong North, Dandenong South, Doveton, Eumemmerring, Hallam, Hampton Park, Lynbrook, Lyndhurst, Endeavour Hills, Narre Warren, Narre Warren North, Narre Warren South, Berwick, Beaconsfield, Officer, Pakenham, Cranbourne, Cranbourne North, Cranbourne East, Cranbourne West, Clyde, Clyde North, Botanic Ridge, Carrum Downs, Sandhurst, Skye, Seaford, Frankston, Frankston North, Frankston South, Langwarrin, Karingal.

Don’t see your suburb? Send it when you enquire and we’ll confirm — we go further for the right job.

Yes — and half the doorstep checks we do are booked by someone who isn’t going to be there.

Adult children book for parents who’d never ask for help but whose side gate has been broken since Easter. Landlords book for rentals they can’t get to. People book the week before they fly out, because a locked house is one less thing to think about on the plane. Give us the address and who to coordinate with on the day, and make sure the person living there knows we’re coming.

For parents’ homes we can also fit a key safe, so family or carers can always get in — and so you stop being the one who has to drive over with the spare.

The boring stuff. A back door that’s actually locked, a side gate that can’t be shouldered, a meter box nobody can switch off from the street, and car keys that aren’t sitting where they can be seen.

Most Melbourne break-ins aren’t dramatic. Nobody smashes glass at 3am — it’s loud. Someone tries the back door, finds it open, and is in your kitchen while you’re asleep upstairs, and more and more often what they’re after is the car keys on the bench. That’s the picture that keeps people awake, and the fix for it isn’t a system with an app. It’s a deadlock you actually turn every night, a patio bolt so the slider can’t be lifted, keyed window locks so you can leave one open for air, a drop bolt on the gate, and a sensor light that makes the side path a bad idea.

Once those are done, the back door stops being a thought at 11pm. That’s the whole point. Cameras and alarms have a place — after the gaps are closed, not instead of closing them.

A visible camera next to a light moves a chancer on to the next house. It doesn’t stop someone who’s already decided to come in.

A camera watches. It doesn’t hold a door shut. So the honest question is what you actually want: footage for the police afterwards, or a house they never got into. If it’s the second, the money goes into the hardware first, and cameras come after — because a monitored system doesn’t help much if the side gate still opens with a shove.

Safehaus supplies camera products and fits a wireless video doorbell on the day. Full camera systems and monitored alarms are installed by a licensed security installer who quotes and invoices you directly. And before you spend anything on either, we’ll tell you plainly whether they’d add anything at your place.

Yes, with a Victorian Power Industry (VPI) keyed lock your electricity distributor can still open. It’s the one most people never think about — until the lights and the cameras go dark from outside the house.

On most homes the meter box sits unlocked on an outside wall, reachable from the street. One flick of the main switch and your alarm, your cameras and your sensor lights are gone. A VPI-keyed lock opens with your key and the distributor’s master key, so meter readers and crews are never locked out; an ordinary padlock isn’t suitable because the utility can’t open it.

On homes built before 1990 we don’t drill the meter board backing panel, because older panels can contain asbestos — we’ll tell you on the day if yours is one and fit the lock in a way that avoids it where we can. $345 fitted, or $295 where the existing clasp is reusable.

Legal in Victoria when installed responsibly, and safe when they’re somewhere a person would never reasonably touch and can see from a distance. They have a pointed profile — the point is that nobody wants to try.

Safehaus fits closely spaced steel deterrents that make a fence top or a wall uncomfortable to climb and, critically, are plainly visible in daylight from the approach side — a deterrent you can’t see doesn’t deter, it injures. We don’t install below 1.8 metres on any surface reachable from a footpath, road or neighbouring property, on anything a person has to touch or lean on, or where children play. Where any part is under two metres or borders a public place, warning signage is a condition of the job. We don’t supply razor wire, barbed wire, spear-tops or anything concealed.

Once installed, the deterrent is part of your property and you owe the usual duties to people who enter under the Wrongs Act 1958. Keep the signage up and tell us if the ground level or use of the area changes. Every installation is photographed on completion from the approach side, and the photos are yours.

Not new deadbolts, restricted keys or keyed-alike systems — that’s licensed locksmith work and we refer it.

Safehaus fits surface-mounted hardware: patio bolts, window locks and winders, gate latches and drop bolts, padbolts, rim locks that don’t need a mortise. Anything involving a new keyed cylinder goes to a licensed locksmith who quotes and invoices you directly, and if you want us to coordinate them we’ll quote a fixed fee for our time up front.

One thing we’ll always raise: a lock on a primary exit door that needs a key to open from the inside can prevent escape in a fire. We’ll advise against it, and record that we did.

Measured on the free visit, made to order by a manufacturer holding AS 5039 test certification, fitted by us to AS 5040 on a booked return date — typically two to four weeks. Then you open the front door on a hot night and you’re still locked.

That’s what people are actually buying: the breeze through the house in February without the house being open. We don’t manufacture; the maker is named on your invoice and their test certification is available on request. We’re responsible for the accuracy of our measurements. A 50% deposit confirms the order, and once the specification is approved custom goods can’t be cancelled for change of mind — your consumer guarantees for faulty goods are unaffected.

Tell us before installation if any door or window is a required escape route or a bedroom window. We won’t fit a screen that can’t be opened from inside without a key to any opening you identify as an exit.

Yes. Your car is the most valuable thing you own that lives outside, and right now it’s the thing they’re coming for.

Vehicle theft in Victoria is at a multi-decade high, most of it starts in driveways, and a lot of it starts with someone walking into an unlocked house for the keys. The vehicle theft deterrent pack is $395 fitted in the same visit: an OBD-port lock that blocks the cloning devices, a steering lock, anti-theft number plate screws, and two signal-blocking pouches so a relay attack can’t reach your keys through the front door. Nothing needs an electrician, and it puts your car firmly in the too-hard basket.

Twelve months on our own workmanship, on top of your rights under the Australian Consumer Law. If something we fitted isn’t right, we come back and put it right.

Contact us within the warranty period, describe the problem, and we’ll assess it and repair or re-perform the work at our cost, including coming back out. The warranty covers our installation, and installation by any contractor we engage and invoice you for. It doesn’t cover wear and tear, storm or impact damage, products you supplied, or a substrate we advised against and you asked us to use anyway. Manufacturer warranties on supplied products are passed to you with the paperwork.

Anything that needs a licence we don’t hold, and anything we think isn’t worth your money.

Electrical, gas and plumbing work, hardwired lighting, monitored alarms and new keyed cylinders all go to licensed trades. We won’t drill into a pre-1990 meter board or anything we suspect contains asbestos. We won’t install a deterrent somewhere unsafe or fit a lock that traps someone inside. And if a job is simple enough to do yourself in ten minutes, we’ll tell you how rather than charge you for it.

Fourteen categories under the Residential Tenancies Regulations 2021 that every Victorian rental must meet before a new renter moves in.

• Locks on all external doors, openable from inside without a key
• Vermin-proof rubbish and recycling bins
• A working, connected toilet
• Bathroom with washbasin, shower or bath, hot and cold water, 3-star showerhead
• Kitchen with a dedicated cooking and food-preparation area, sink, stovetop and (where present) working oven
• Laundry with hot and cold water connection
• Structural soundness and weatherproofing
• Free from mould and damp caused by the building structure
• Electrical safety: modern switchboard with circuit breakers and safety switches
• Window coverings in every bedroom and living area that provide privacy
• Windows that open and close, with locks or latches on those that can be secured
• Adequate lighting in every room
• Ventilation in every habitable room, bathroom, toilet and laundry
• A fixed heater in the main living area, energy-efficient for leases from 2023

Letting a new renter move in without meeting them is an offence, with maximum penalties over $11,000 for an individual and over $59,000 for a company. Safehaus checks every one of the fourteen, plus blind-cord safety, on the same visit.

Rental providers must keep records showing the property meets the minimum standards, and gas and electrical safety checks become a firm two-yearly obligation with records retained.

The shift is from a property that does comply to a property you can prove complies. “It was fine when they moved in” stops being an answer when a renter, a tribunal or Consumer Affairs asks for the file. The records that matter are gas and electrical safety certificates from licensed trades, a smoke alarm check record, and dated evidence of each standards item.

A Safehaus report can form part of that record: dated, photographed evidence of each standards item as observed on the day. It doesn’t establish compliance on its own, and it doesn’t replace the gas, electrical or smoke alarm certificates — those must come from the licensed providers who do the checks — and we’ll tell you if any are missing.

Energy efficiency standards, triggered at the start of a new lease.

From 1 March 2027: energy-efficient fixed heating, cooling in the main living area, ceiling insulation where reasonably practicable, and 3-star showerheads. From 1 July 2027: draught-proofing of external doors, windows and wall vents. From 1 July 2030: cooling in the main living area for all rentals, not just new leases.

Every Rental Readiness Report includes a dated plan for these with indicative costs, so owners aren’t blindsided a second time. If you’re renovating now, do the ceiling insulation while the ceiling is open rather than paying twice.

No. It’s an independent, photo-documented assessment of what we could see on the day. Nobody issues a “minimum standards certificate” in Victoria.

Our assessments are visual and non-invasive: we don’t move furniture, enter roof spaces or dismantle fittings, and we don’t do electrical, gas or plumbing testing. Ceiling insulation is checked from the hatch and recorded as present or absent in the area visible; we don’t assess R-value or coverage. The report isn’t a building or pest inspection, a smoke alarm safety check, or legal advice, and it isn’t a guarantee the property would pass an inspection by Consumer Affairs Victoria or VCAT.

Compliance with rental law stays the rental provider’s legal responsibility. What the report gives you is the evidence and the plan.

Because you’re under no obligation to use us for anything it finds, and nothing we find depends on you buying anything.

Safehaus both assesses properties and carries out rectification, and we say so before you book. Where a report identifies work in our scope, we tell you and give our published fixed price, on the same terms as any client. The report is yours: take it to another provider, get competing quotes, or do nothing. It’s written so anyone can work from it.

We take no commissions, referral fees or rebates from any trade or supplier, and if a property meets a standard we record that it does. If you ever want us to coordinate a licensed trade for you, that’s a fixed fee for our time, quoted in writing and paid by you — not a share of the trade’s price.

Essentials covers today’s standards. Readiness covers today’s standards and plans for 2027 and 2030.

The Rental Essentials Check ($195) is an on-site check against the current 14 minimum standards, delivered as a written PDF report. The Rental Readiness Report ($295) does the same and adds a dated readiness plan for the energy efficiency standards, with indicative costs, so you can budget the next three years in one document. Both include blind-cord safety restraints fitted, smoke alarms tested with accessible batteries replaced, and a phone debrief.

If you’re re-letting in the next six months, take the Readiness Report; the 2027 items trigger at the new lease.

No. Those must be done by a licensed gasfitter and a Registered Electrical Contractor, and the certificates come from them.

We’ll tell you if the property needs them, and if you ask we’ll refer you to a licensed provider who quotes and invoices you directly. If you’d rather not chase them yourself, we can book them, be on site to give access and collect the certificate for your file, for a fixed coordination fee quoted up front. That fee is for our time only; we don’t supervise, sign off or take any share of the trade’s price.

Yes on both. Agencies book on behalf of owners, are invoiced on seven-day terms, and portfolio rates apply from ten properties.

For a rent roll, the useful way to work is as a scheduled cycle rather than a one-off blitz: properties are assessed as they come up at re-let, lease renewal or the two-yearly gas and electrical mark, so every owner ends up with a completed, dated file without the agency having to chase it. Every assessment is captured on a standard checklist in Mitti with the photographs stored per property, so the agency’s records are complete and consistent across the roll. Reports are issued to the party named at booking.

Keep them. They do the licensed checks; they don’t produce a dated record of the 14 minimum standards, and that is what’s required from 13 October.

Gas, electrical and smoke alarm providers certify their own trade. A gas certificate says nothing about window coverings, external door locks, ventilation, mould, lighting or the heater in the living room. Safehaus sits above those checks: we confirm the licensed certificates are on file, assess every one of the fourteen standards with dated photographs, and hand the agency a single documented assessment per property to sit alongside those certificates in the file. There’s no bundle to switch and nothing to cancel.

A written PDF report with dated photographs of every item, generally within three business days, then a phone debrief.

The photographs are genuine, unaltered images of your property taken on the day — cropped or brightened at most, never generated, added to or retouched, and the report says so on its face. Any cost figures are indicative ranges, not quotes. If you find a factual error we’ll assess it and reissue at no charge.

You can share it. They can’t rely on it.

The report is prepared for the client named at booking, and on payment you’re licensed to use it for your own compliance, legal, insurance, sale and management purposes, including sharing it with your agent, adviser, insurer or a purchaser. No third party may rely on it, and that’s stated on every page. If a buyer wants a report they can rely on, they book their own pre-purchase assessment.

Keith, the owner, holding a current National Police Check. No rotating crew, no commissioned salesman.

Keith is a former auditor who looks after more than 50 residential properties across Melbourne — his own, his family’s and other landlords’ — and attends every doorstep check, compliance visit and installation personally. Where a job needs a licensed trade or a second pair of hands, you’re told who’s coming and why, and Keith stays your point of contact from first call to final invoice.

Yes. Public liability and products liability insurance, plus professional indemnity cover for compliance advisory work. Certificates of currency on request.

Professional indemnity applies to the compliance assessment services, not to installation work, which sits under public liability and the workmanship warranty. Any contractor we engage holds their own licence and public liability insurance, and we obtain evidence of both before engaging them for the first time.

Safehaus does, for what it reported, subject to the Australian Consumer Law which always prevails. Factual errors are corrected and the report reissued at no charge.

Our liability for an assessment is limited to the fee paid for it, we aren’t liable for conditions that were concealed or not visible on the day or for changes after inspection, and claims should be notified within 12 months of delivery — none of which limits any right you have under the ACL. Compliance with rental law remains the rental provider’s legal responsibility; the report is evidence and a plan, not a transfer of that responsibility. Professional indemnity cover sits behind the compliance work.

No. Not from any trade, supplier or contractor, ever.

Our fees are paid by you and by no one else. Where we supply goods as part of a quoted job we buy at trade prices and supply at the price in your quote — ordinary trade margin, already reflected in what you pay, and not a referral fee. Where we mention product types in a report, it’s general guidance; we don’t endorse suppliers and receive nothing from your purchasing decisions.

Safehaus isn’t a licensed electrical, gas or plumbing contractor, and doesn’t pretend to be. That work goes to trades who are.

Physical security hardware installation — bolt-on locks, gate hardware, screens, deterrents, mailboxes, meter box locks, sheds — doesn’t require a trade licence in Victoria, and that’s the work we do ourselves. Anything that does require a licence is identified in your quote and carried out by an appropriately licensed provider who is responsible for their own work and certification. Safehaus is a trading name of MK Creative Enterprises Pty Ltd, ABN 47 162 760 572.