The phone rings at 2 a.m. The alarm tripped or the back door is open. The next 6 hours will determine whether the loss stays contained or doubles by the end of the day. Insurance documentation, police presence, hardware decisions, and key control all need to happen in a specific order. This guide is that order.
WOW Locks takes commercial calls 24/7 across Austin and the surrounding metro. Any after-hours or distance add-on is quoted on the call before dispatch, alongside the rekey rate, so the full number is known before any truck moves.
Hour 1: Do NOT Enter Alone
Police first. Do not walk through the building before APD arrives. The risk is twofold: someone may still be inside, and you may unintentionally damage evidence the police will need.
Stay outside or in your vehicle, document what you can see from the perimeter, and wait for officers. If the alarm company has dispatched as well, they will coordinate with police on arrival.
Hour 1 to 2: Document Everything for Insurance
Once police clear the building, photograph everything before you touch it. Every entry point, every broken lock, missing inventory, damaged hardware, the strike plate, the door frame. Timestamped photos help in insurance disputes.
Capture the police report number. Most commercial insurance carriers require it for any claim related to forced entry. Many carriers also require photos taken before remediation. Get the claim filed same-day.
Hour 2 to 4: Emergency Rekey of Every External Entry
This is the operational priority. Whether the burglar took keys or not, you have to assume every external lock is compromised. Even if no key was taken, you do not know if a key was duplicated, photographed, or recently obtained from a former employee or contractor.
WOW Locks Commercial Rekey is $45 per lock with a 2-lock minimum, plus parts and tax.
Rekey every external entry: front, back, side, dock door personnel entries, roof access if applicable, and any storage rooms with external access. Get this done before you leave the building.
The full commercial rekey breakdown lives on the commercial locksmith page and the published rates are on the pricing page. If you are moving into a new space rather than recovering from a break-in, the storefront lease lock checks cover the same first steps.
Hour 4 to 8: Replace the Hardware That Failed
If the burglar got through a deadbolt, that deadbolt may have been rated wrong for the door. A common cause is residential-grade hardware that was inherited or installed on a commercial door, which gives way to prying much sooner than commercial-grade hardware.
Upgrade to commercial-grade deadbolts with a strong BHMA security certification. Replace standard 2-3/4 inch strike plates with reinforced 4-inch strike plates anchored with 3-inch screws into the door frame stud. If the door frame itself is damaged or weak, reinforce with a wraparound metal plate or replace the frame.
Hardware grade matters. Commercial-grade deadbolts are certified to a tougher standard for strength and durability than residential ones, and some insurance carriers ask for them. Ask your carrier which standard your policy expects before you buy.
Day 2: Audit Your Access Control
If your building runs an access-control system (card readers, fob readers, mobile credentials), pull the audit log for the past 30 days. Look for credentials that have not been used in 90 days and disable them. Look for unusual access patterns: late-night swipes by daytime employees, repeated failed attempts, swipes during the actual break-in window.
Disable every credential issued to former employees, terminated contractors, or anyone who left the company in the past year. This is hygiene that should happen automatically, but often does not.
If you do not have access control yet, the post-break-in moment is when most owners install it. The audit log alone is worth the cost on day two of the next incident. Custom quote based on door count, credential type, and integration needs. The full breakdown lives on the access control systems page. Still choosing between keys, keypads and card readers? Read door access options for a small business.
Day 3 to 7: Master Key System Review
If your building runs a master key system (one master opens many doors, individual keys open one), and any key is unaccounted for, the master is potentially compromised. The math: if a low-level employee key was lost or stolen, an experienced key cutter can sometimes reverse-engineer the master from the change key.
Rebuild the system. New pins throughout. New master, new sub-masters, new individual keys. Update the key control documentation: who has which key, signed receipts, an audit log. Many commercial buildings have not refreshed their master key documentation in years; the post-break-in moment is when that gets done.
The full commercial master key breakdown lives on the master key systems page.
The Longer-Term Decision: Cameras and Monitoring
WOW Locks does the lock side: deadbolts, strike plates, rekeys, master keys, access control. We do not install cameras and we do not run alarm monitoring. The lock-side hardening you just did needs to be paired with a real monitoring side. Camera coverage of every entry point with cloud-stored footage. Alarm monitoring with a real human dispatcher.
Coordinate with an Austin alarm and camera vendor on this. Most reputable shops will quote the camera and alarm system as a follow-on to the lock work. Mention the locksmith report when you call them; the photos and the upgraded hardware list inform the camera placement.
Insurance and Liability Notes
Many commercial insurance policies have specific hardware-grade requirements. A residential-grade deadbolt on a commercial exterior door may put you out of compliance with your own policy without you knowing it. Pull the policy after the break-in and read the security requirements section.
Document the upgrade work for the next renewal. Photos of the new commercial-grade deadbolts, the reinforced strike plates, the rekeyed locks, the access-control audit, and the rebuilt master key system. Some insurance carriers take documented hardening into account at renewal.
Call WOW Locks
24/7 commercial locksmith dispatch across Austin and the surrounding metro. Emergency rekey, hardware upgrade, master key rebuild, access control. Texas DPS (TOPS) license B10595301. Every add-on is quoted on the call before dispatch.
Visit our commercial locksmith page, our master key systems page, our access control systems page, our emergency locksmith page, or the pricing page for the full rate card.
Call (844) 969-5625.