HARDWAR E & S ECU R I T Y
A front door matters. It says something
about the house and the people.
Years ago, homeowners cleaned
their front steps, kept the path
swept and polished the hardware on the
door until it gleamed. Today, hashtags like
#FrontDoorsOfInstagram attract tens of
thousands of posts by homeowners who take
pride in their door. It’s their face to the world.
Every element is important, but it’s the door
furniture that makes the difference. It’s what
homeowners get excited about because it’s the
details that personalise the look or style they’re
after. It’s surprising then that more installers
don’t make more of the hardware. They go heavy
on the construction of the slab (the bit they
can’t see), and the colour, thermal efficiency,
and glass design, and ease off the hardware,
which homeowners look closest at. Maybe
that’s because they have mixed feelings about
hardware. Many are (rightly) nervous about
security and quality, and they’re reluctant to hang
their local reputation on a hardware industry that
has repeatedly let them down.
When buying a new door, the two biggest
issues for homeowners are security and looks.
Both have a big influence on installers’ sales. Yet
security and looks have been an embarrassment
to installers who live by their reputation and live
close to the customers they sell to.
Door hardware has a long history of pitting,
peeling and corrosion and generally not being
up to the job. Sometimes it fails so fast it doesn’t
even make it out of the warehouse before
succumbing to the atmosphere. Despite selling
industry-standard ‘security’ locks, it took a
break-in pandemic before anyone took security
seriously. Locks that can be picked, bumped,
or snapped within a minute (often within nine
seconds) are not secure in anyone’s language.
HARDWARE THAT DOES SELL DOORS
Brisant believes passionately that the extreme
security and fit-for-purpose finishes we build into
our locks, handles, knockers, letterplates and
numerals help installers sell doors. We know
how effective they are because fabricators and
installers keep telling us.
There’s no point in building in just enough
protection to scrape the test. What’s the point
if burglars can walk in, in under a minute, or the
door looks terrible when the hardware pits, peels
or corrodes in a few months or less? Historically,
hardware makers may have agreed to very low
standards because they cost very little to pass
and the industry was not prepared to pay for
better. But standards and tests should be a floor
not a ceiling that hardware brands aspire to, and
we believe we should aim to sell extreme security
and lasting looks to homeowners (and installers)
who actually want nothing less.
With this philosophy in mind, we design our
products to higher standards and outperform
everything on the market. For example:
Cycle testing of the Sweet handle. The
required standard is ’““,“““ cycles, and there’s
an enhanced standard of ”““,“““. Sweet
achieved •6“,“““.
Corrosion testing of Lock Lock and Sweet
handles. In salt spray tests (designed to
simulate accelerated weathering in a corrosive
atmosphere), the standard is ”—“ hours with
—8“ hours an enhanced (and usually stretching
standard!). In the real world of course, ”—“
hours is nothing – if you live in a coastal area,
apparently your front door handle is designed to
look good for just ’“ days. During our extended
testing, Lock Lock and Sweet looked like new
even after a whole year of salt spray testing.
Only at the point of Sweet being in the salt spray
chamber for over a year did we feel comfortable
giving it a ”“-year guarantee.
Ultion insists on Sold Secure accreditation. In
Sold Secure Diamond tests the lock attack is far
more brutal. It’s not time limited and the tester
is free to use any tools. The expert locksmith
testing Ultion gave up after an hour.
Brisant products are designed to do as much
as possible, not as little as possible.
CWG Choices managing director, Chris
Powell, said: “Ultion is synonymous with
security.” Martin Harris, joint director, Qualitere
Windows, added: “Homeowners particularly like
the shape of the Sweet handles, so these are very
popular – and the Ultion guarantee is a useful
selling tool.”
With extreme security and lasting looks,
installers can sell doors with confidence -
knowing happy homeowners will recommend
them to friends and family and continue to
recommend them for years to come.
How do you sell your doors?
Door hardware sells doors, or it should do, says
Brisant Secure CEO Nick Dutton.
“Brisant believes passionately
that the extreme security and
fit-for-purpose finishes we build
into our locks, handles, knockers,
letterplates and numerals help
installers sell doors”
November www.ggpmag.com
/www.ggpmag.com
