A home safe stays with you for many years, so choosing one deserves a few minutes of thought before you visit the showroom. From our experience selling safes in Qatar since 1906, these are the six questions we ask every customer before recommending a safe.
1. What will you keep in the safe?
This question decides the type of safe before its size. Cash and gold need a steel safe with a strong lock. Passports, contracts and title deeds need a fire-resistant safe above all, because paper is damaged by heat long before the flames reach it. For jewellery and watches, choose a safe that can be fitted inside with lined drawers.
2. How much space do you need today, and in five years?
The most common mistake is buying a safe that fits exactly what you have now, then filling it within a year. Lay what you want to store on a table, measure the space it takes, and choose a safe a little larger than that.
3. Who will open the safe?
If one person opens it, a fingerprint lock is the quickest and easiest. If several family members need it, a digital keypad suits better, and you can have both, as with SAKURA safes that combine fingerprint and keypad. Always make sure there is a backup key kept well away from the safe.
4. Where will it go?
Decide on the spot before you buy: inside a wardrobe, in the bedroom or in a home office. Measure the space, the doors and the corridors the safe will pass through on delivery, because steel safes are heavy by nature.
5. Do you need to anchor it?
A small safe can be carried away whole, so we recommend anchoring it to the floor or wall wherever possible, or placing it out of sight inside a dressing-room wardrobe.
6. What is the right budget?
The price depends on the size, fire resistance, type of lock and finish. Do not let price alone decide: a cheap safe that fails against fire or tampering can cost you far more than you saved.
The next step
Send us your answers to these questions on WhatsApp, and we will recommend two or three safes that suit what you keep and your budget.
