Cost of a Safe Room or Panic Room

When it comes to the safety of your family, price should ideally be no object. However, in the real world, we have to deal with mortgages, utility bills, credit cards, and more. All of this can take its toll on a monthly budget and often leaves no room for anything extra. If you're looking to install a safe room in your home, you're going to want to take a look at the cost. Even going cheap, it's not an inexpensive project. In fact, it can be very costly once you really get into the details.

The cheapest and actually the best way of building a safe room, is to include it in the blueprints before a home is actually built. This way, there's no need to try to convert an existing room or rearrange the floor plan to make a safe room. The proper materials can be used for the walls and door right from the beginning. Often, this would be done after the home is built—some safe room designers actually list it as a miscellaneous room (mechanical room, storage room, etc.) on the blueprints for the contractors. Once the home is built, they come in and finish building the safe room. To have a safe room installed during construction, you could pay thousands for a basic room to a lot more for a more advanced one.

However, few people actually get to design and build their own home. In that case, creating a safe room is a bit more expensive. It is somewhat easier if you already have a room or large closet/wardrobe that has no windows or skylights. If you don't, you'll have to build a new wall or two and create a safe room out of part of another room. Often, a closet, bathroom, or even a wine cellar can easily be converted to a safe room. Some companies do actually mass produce safe rooms that can be installed in the corner of an existing room. Since the main purpose of a safe room is to provide a hiding place until the police arrive, you don't need a huge space, but you do need enough space for your entire family.

You can create a basic safe room by taking a large closet and replacing its wooden doorjamb with a steel doorjamb. Then put a keyless deadbolt on it (the highest grade deadbolt you can find). Finally, be sure to put emergency items (water, food, self-defence equipment) inside the closet. You'll also need some form of communication, so leave a pre-paid mobile phone inside the closet as well.

If you'd rather have a professional safe room installed, it's going to be costly. To reinforce an existing room, you may pay around £3,000. That's the cheapest cost. Installing a professional security door will be upwards of £15,000 or more. This is for a bullet-resistant, Kevlar door that is going to withstand anything thrown at it. A heavy-duty, steel door will not cost as much, but you'll still be looking at £500 or more. If you're having your safe room designed and installed by a professional, expect to pay another £5,000 to £10,000. The overall costs for a safe room with a bullet-proof, electronic door, power generator, and dedicated phone line will run about £35,000 in total.