There was a break-in overnight: securing the property and the record

Before anything else, make sure nobody is still inside, and do not go in alone to find out. Once the building is confirmed empty, leave everything exactly where it is and report it.

The instinct on arrival is to start tidying. Resisting that for twenty minutes is worth more than anything else you will do this morning.

The record comes before the clean-up

Get the police report and the reference number, because the insurance claim is built on it and it is difficult to add retrospectively.

Photograph the entry point in detail: the door or the glass, the frame, the hardware, the ground around it and anything left behind. Then photograph the interior room by room before anything is moved, including what was searched rather than only what was taken.

Note the times. When the building was last secured, when the alarm activated if it did, when the site was found. If there is camera footage, secure and export it today rather than relying on it still being there in two weeks when the system has overwritten it.

Walk the whole perimeter, not only the way in

This is the step that gets skipped and it costs the most. Intruders rarely succeed on the first door, so there is usually damage at two or three other openings where an attempt failed.

A door that was forced and held is still a damaged door. The frame has moved, the strike has been distorted, the hinges have taken a load they were not designed for, and it will start to fail in the months afterward for no apparent reason. Our article on a commercial door that will not lock covers what that damage looks like once it has settled.

Photograph all of it now and put it in the claim, because finding it in three months means paying for it yourself.

Securing the building today

Broken glass gets boarded, forced doors get secured, and openings get closed for the night. Board-ups, glass securing, door and hardware repair are performed directly by our own technicians, and the board-up article covers what a proper one involves.

Assume a second attempt. A property that has been entered once is a more attractive target than one that has not, and the people who did it now know what is inside and how long it took. Securing it properly tonight matters more than it would on a first-time board-up after a storm.

The keys are the part that gets underestimated

If keys were taken, if a key cabinet was opened, or if a master key is unaccounted for, the locking system is compromised and it stays compromised until the affected locks are rekeyed. Gathering up the keys that are still on site achieves nothing at all.

On a master keyed system this is more involved than changing one cylinder, because a missing master key affects everything it opened. Our articles on rekeying against replacing and on key control cover how that is scoped and what the record should look like afterward.

Access credentials are easier and are dealt with first. Revoke anything unaccounted for at the controller rather than assuming a lost card will not be tried.

Who does what

Locks, rekeying, master key work, access control, doors, hardware, glass repair and board-ups are all performed directly by our own technicians. TrionX carries general liability and workers' compensation on that work, and one company is accountable for the whole response rather than for a piece of it.

Where a break-in has caused damage in a licensed trade, electrical, plumbing or structural, that is coordinated through licensed contractors and documented alongside the rest.

Look at how they got in and treat it as a specification note rather than bad luck. A single glazed pane, a door with no secondary lock, a shutter that had been out of use for months, a rear entrance with no line of sight from anywhere. Each of those is a decision that can be revisited now, while there is both a budget and an appetite for it, and neither of those lasts long once the repair is finished.

What the claim needs from you

A police report reference. Photographs of the entry point, the perimeter and the interior taken before the clean-up. A list of what was taken and what was damaged, including the doors that held. Invoices for the securing work, dated. And a note of what was done to prevent a repeat.

Assembled on the day, that takes an hour. Assembled six weeks later from memory and a phone gallery, it tends to be thinner, and insurers reduce claims on thin records.