[00:00:00] Jeff Kutas: It's around the house, but this product is a solution. It's a battery operated. You don't have to run power. You don't have to run solar. You open it up. It has a led light on the inside. So it's just a very simple, very secure way to secure your packages. What's super awesome is we have this thing available in raw aluminum.

[00:00:23] Jeff Kutas: It's going to have a price point of 795 shipped right now. So in our closest product that would even that they had as a choice of our 2, 500. So we recognize that there's a, there's another customer there that really needs this product and sorry guys, that we came off with the luxury line first, but that's where the business started for us.

[00:00:43] Jeff Kutas: It's where we decided to grow the business and develop on it. Now we're coming back from no market. When

[00:00:50] Eric Goranson: Welcome to the round the house show, the next generation of [00:01:00] home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. If you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house, online. com to find out everything about us, whether it's the radio show, the podcast, the TV show, there's information there.

[00:01:12] Eric Goranson: And we have got a great guest today. If you live in an area where you end up having packages missing, or you're worried about packages being missed, guess what? I have your solution. Jeff from MB Sentinel, my friend and friend of the show. Welcome to Around the House. It's a great day to be here, Eric.

[00:01:33] Eric Goranson: Thanks for having us. Thanks brother. I appreciate you taking the time. I know how busy you are. You guys have really just taken over the market. On protecting people's online packages, deliveries, when it shows up on the front doorstep and that driver walks away.

[00:01:51] Jeff Kutas: I tell you, it looks like that now, Eric, but we've been doing this since 2017.

[00:01:55] Jeff Kutas: It's been quite a time just understanding what all the solutions are that everyone [00:02:00] requires for package delivery. It's not the same. We all have the same problem, but we don't require the same solution. MB Sentinel. Notice which solution is right for you. And it's only because we've had an opportunity to speak with everyone that requires a package delivery device, which who isn't that right.

[00:02:13] Jeff Kutas: So our, from architects to builders to countless hours at home improvement shows, we feel really feel like we got this dialed in and supported to help them folks create solutions that will last a lifetime for them.

[00:02:24] Eric Goranson: Man, we've all driven down the street, seen our neighbor's houses, and they've got to the UPS, FedEx, Amazon, whatever's stacked up out front.

[00:02:32] Eric Goranson: And you're just like, I don't care if you've even got the best security system out there. It's just tempting that person tolling down the street of the sidewalk to come take home your, your last

[00:02:41] Jeff Kutas: order. You're exactly right. And that's a lot of homes in America, right? Super excited that we're in a position to make communities safer again, just one home at a time.

[00:02:51] Jeff Kutas: But yeah, visibility, we have even products that we call security by obscurity, even if you can't afford a parcel box or some of the things that we offer. Whatever [00:03:00] we can do to help conceal those packages, whether it's behind a planter or something of that nature. It's uh, it's just one of those things. If they're not seen, it's not a problem typically, but when people come to your house that first time, it certainly invites trouble a second time, according to All the data that's out there.

[00:03:17] Jeff Kutas: Absolutely.

[00:03:18] Eric Goranson: One of my favorite products are yours. And I just love the names you use on these, like the box gobbler, man. That is just, it seems like that is just your freeway to keeping people's packages safe. That's just the easy road right there.

[00:03:30] Jeff Kutas: Oh yeah. And that wall insert is amazing. It comes in two different sizes for both residential and commercial.

[00:03:37] Jeff Kutas: But the box of 1428, which is specific to the commercial, it does more than just secure your packages. And that's mostly why people find us, right? It's because they're looking for some secure form of package delivery, but I'd love to point out for people that are aging in place or considering aging in place, or maybe you have a parent that's aging in place, you know, super excited to have you listening today.

[00:03:56] Jeff Kutas: And we're going to talk about some of that. I expect. But imagine your mom [00:04:00] never having to return a package or you never to return it for her. You do it right from the convenience of her home or your home. And then to think that she's never going to have to go on the front porch again to risk a slip and fall outside.

[00:04:10] Jeff Kutas: So as we age and things change a bit, it's, it's a great product. It's actually a universal product. So you'll get it while you're young and you can use it forever. It depends on how long you want your home, but it's going to last a lifetime.

[00:04:21] Eric Goranson: Absolutely. And yeah, we're going to talk about that in a little bit, but I think it's really good.

[00:04:24] Eric Goranson: And I want to explain what the products are first before we get into the aging in place so people can really visualize what we're talking about here. But that box cobbler basically just fits in between the studs and a wall in most cases. And it allows those packages to be delivered into the side of a garage or into a mud room or whatever.

[00:04:42] Eric Goranson: However, your house is laid out with the front porch or access and it just secures those packages.

[00:04:48] Jeff Kutas: Yeah. It's a great product for both a new installation. Or, uh, existing home. So it's, it doesn't quite fit between the two studs on 16 inch centers because it needs, we actually started developing product like that because we thought [00:05:00] this is what it's going to make it easier for the DIY or for the general contractor.

[00:05:04] Jeff Kutas: But as it turns out, we went and did the research and it actually need to be wider than that. So. If you can cut a window in and have to put a header in and below this, it's going to require that because it doesn't offer the capacity that it would need to, to make that work or to just fit between those studs, but it's really a simple product to install.

[00:05:21] Jeff Kutas: It's just like installing a window. Exactly. But if you've got this 24 inch on center studs,

[00:05:26] Eric Goranson: you're good to go. You are good to go. Really easy. So, and I love it because it's insulated. It's well built. You guys have just really thought out all the details on this and it looks good too. So it's not going to cramp your style.

[00:05:39] Jeff Kutas: Oh yeah, we're all about doing things right the first time, Eric. I can say, we're like on You just to the door itself. When people look at our door, they don't know that we've designed that door probably more than 20 times. Now it's incredible. You wouldn't think that much goes into forming a door like this, but it's, we're super excited that it offers the aesthetic that it does.

[00:05:57] Jeff Kutas: And it's just, everything's just very well done. And that's all we like to do. [00:06:00] And that's perfect, brother. That's absolutely

[00:06:03] Eric Goranson: perfect. And that's not all you guys build stuff. If somebody has got a long driveway or a gate out there, you guys create more pedestal mount ones for going out by that. And as well as stuff

[00:06:14] Jeff Kutas: for your porch.

[00:06:15] Jeff Kutas: Absolutely. So whether it's a curbside placement or if somebody lives on a gated property, we have those solutions and we certainly look forward to helping them, whether it's for a cabinet or. Then we're coming up with great stuff all the time. We've got some new products that we're excited about launching here soon and look forward to hitting some better value price points for folks that are looking for a solution.

[00:06:36] Eric Goranson: On some of those too. It's great because not everybody has that spot that they can drop in. Maybe they don't have a garage. Maybe they don't have a, that's a more older house. It's in the middle of the city and you're really limited on what you can fit, or even some of the townhomes out there where it makes it a little harder to do.

[00:06:51] Eric Goranson: Oops. You guys have

[00:06:51] Jeff Kutas: some great solutions for that coming up. Absolutely. People just, if they could help us understand how they receive packages now, it's pretty much that simple. [00:07:00] We can help them determine which solution is right for them. So, whether you're going to integrate something into a fence, where you need it to be a two door cabinet, or whether you want to put it in the garage so that we can keep the packets off your porch and get those products right into your house.

[00:07:12] Jeff Kutas: We've got a solution for just about every scenario for how people live. And that

[00:07:17] Eric Goranson: is

[00:07:17] Jeff Kutas: great. It's just

[00:07:18] Eric Goranson: so cool to be able to have a solution for that. Cause you know, I don't know. It's funny at my house and more than once my wife's come home, take out a pictures of her front porch. And the FedEx UPS driver basically eliminated access to the front door because the 12 boxes were stacked up on the porch and there's no way you're getting in there without moving a bunch of stuff out of the way.

[00:07:41] Eric Goranson: And she wasn't too thrilled just because she had the groceries in her hand.

[00:07:44] Jeff Kutas: The box got, it was certainly do that. You can convey packages into your garage at a large capacity, turns your garage into like its own receiving center. So it's just, it would definitely help you in that regard for sure.

[00:07:55] Eric Goranson: Absolutely. We'll talk a little bit more about some of the other stuff you're doing out there as well. You [00:08:00] and I had this great discussion here over the last few weeks about aging in place. And for instance, my mom, who's in her eighties, I've always run into struggles with her with deliveries because it could end up sitting on her pouch on her porch for a day or two, because she's moving around a little limited ability.

[00:08:16] Eric Goranson: So she's wheelchair walker, depending on the day of the week. But she is so scared to go across that door threshold and get outside because she could end up in a situation where it's harder for her to get in, or she might not able to get back in that, especially if that package is six, eight, 10 feet away, or in many cases with people, it's down a step or two, and that's a whole new fear factor for them.

[00:08:40] Jeff Kutas: Absolutely. So. Yeah, the most important thing is to get these packages off the porch and for a box gobbler, specifically for someone that's aging in place, if they're receiving their packages on the porch anyway, you'll find that this product is going to do a great job of managing, helping you manage your time.

[00:08:55] Jeff Kutas: So you don't have to run over to mom's house to get the package off the porch or call a neighbor to do it. It really [00:09:00] just affords you that piece of time and just to be at peace to know that you've got that last step covered, whether you're bringing them into your home. Or put it in a secure place at your front gated entrance.

[00:09:08] Jeff Kutas: For anyone that's aging in place, just imagine never having to go to the post office to return a package again. Or never having the inconvenience of your son or your daughter to have to take it for you. So it's almost like guilt free package delivery. Once you get down to looking at it that way beyond, but it has many attributes beyond just keeping your packages safe.

[00:09:24] Jeff Kutas: So certainly look forward to helping people understand that experience. I think it's really

[00:09:28] Eric Goranson: cool. Cause you know, there's so many things that are being delivered now, whether it's food delivery or anything else like that, you can really get it. So it's not getting snagged by anything else or even just getting a hot or cold outside, depending on what the weather is.

[00:09:41] Eric Goranson: If you've got a conditioned space that's dropping into, for instance, with a box gobbler or one of those, it's going into your residence. It's a lot of sense.

[00:09:49] Jeff Kutas: Oh, absolutely. And you can actually elevate these things a bit so they could land on a table for mom. Get it two feet off the floor. It's a whole lot easier to pick something off the floor ergonomically if it's a couple feet off the floor.

[00:09:59] Jeff Kutas: [00:10:00] Right? So instead of putting a bench on your front porch to have a nice place for mom to have her stuff be seen by everybody just so she can pick it up, it's, we moved that front, that bench into the garage. It offers the same solution without having it exposed to the elements or to the evildoers that are passing by.

[00:10:18] Jeff Kutas: So,

[00:10:19] Eric Goranson: yeah, it's crazy out there. We've had some, it's made the news here a couple of times that we had delivery trucks driving around and we had the, I'll call them undesirables following it around a couple of blocks behind them. And just hitting them as they drop off and people go up, steal it off the porch.

[00:10:34] Eric Goranson: And they were just literally robbing everything off that delivery truck as they went around the neighborhood. And who knows where they started falling that truck, but of course they got nailed in the end, but crazy stuff like this happening out there. And I think there's. As the economy is rough out there and people are really having to work hard to earn their living out there.

[00:10:52] Eric Goranson: I think some of these other people are trying to get, take the easy way out and sell stuff online, if you know what I mean.

[00:10:57] Jeff Kutas: Oh yeah. There's a whole new source of revenue for these [00:11:00] folks that are, it's their job, right? So formerly they'd go to a retailer brick and mortar retail store when we used to shop those guys more often.

[00:11:06] Jeff Kutas: So many of them have closed those poor shoplifters. They just don't have anywhere to steal anything anymore. So they're coming to your front door. So it's yeah, there's a lot of things for every action. There's a reaction. But we love package delivery at our home and heck, why wouldn't we? Now we just got to get that last step solution figured out.

[00:11:20] Jeff Kutas: And that's what we've done a good job of. So look forward to helping folks with that.

[00:11:24] Eric Goranson: Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that. Cause I remember it's gotten to the point. Now, if I walk into, it doesn't matter if it's home Depot Lowe's target, let's just throw a major retailer out there. I don't want to stand there and wait for 10 minutes for somebody to come unlock that cage for me.

[00:11:39] Eric Goranson: I just end up ordering it online and having to ship to myself because it's just that much easier. But then of course, you've got something that the retailer said, Hey, someone's going to steal it. So we're going to lock it up. And now it's sitting on your front porch without a lock on it. So it makes a lot of sense.

[00:11:52] Jeff Kutas: Oh yeah. It's, it's definitely, we've had a great reception for our products since we started doing this and really, like I said, have gone through all the motions to understand what all the [00:12:00] different scenarios are and yeah, we look forward to helping people get that time and that peace of mind back in their life too.

[00:12:06] Jeff Kutas: Just like you said, having to go to the Home Depot and wait for them to unlock the cage or having to return a product to the post office that wasn't quite right, or just give it away because you don't return things. This is like the last piece in home delivery that really hasn't been figured out, and I know we're doing a great job of that.

[00:12:21] Jeff Kutas: There's really not a completely perfect solution, but this is so spot on for every type of scenario. We're super excited to have the privilege to be here at this point in time when it's so needed. And you guys are doing a

[00:12:33] Eric Goranson: great job. And I want to talk a little bit here before we get into some of the other stuff, I wanted to talk about what you guys are doing to give back to St.

[00:12:40] Eric Goranson: Jude's. Cause I just love Jeff. You guys is just give back attitude with MB Sentinel.

[00:12:46] Jeff Kutas: You know what? We honestly, we feel like we're taking more than we're giving with St. Jude. This is such a privilege for us. We get to work with dream home builders throughout the nation, and that's a great way for them to experience our products and actually just showcase them to others that are interested in these [00:13:00] dream homes for anyone that doesn't know what the dream home St.

[00:13:02] Jeff Kutas: Jude dream home program is. It's where these builders, they go out there and they build these homes. They work with all the building material. So Suppliers and everybody's working hard in the community to get this house up at a zero fixed cost is their goal. So they can donate these funds back for such a great cause.

[00:13:18] Jeff Kutas: You have to help develop further the research for the kids dream home. I think last year was like, over 2M dollars. They donated. This is about 50M dollars annually. And we're super excited to be a part of that. In beyond sponsoring products, when I was at the summit a couple of years ago, Eric, all I heard is, gosh, we got to figure out how to keep these building costs down.

[00:13:34] Jeff Kutas: There's a lot of strain on these building materials companies to have to supply these, these great, uh, opportunities each year. But so with our company, we recognize that. And for those builders, once they have the experience with a product, they start proliferating into their communities. And we take a percentage of those sales and put it back into the dream home program to help support that the best that we can.

[00:13:53] Jeff Kutas: So, yeah, any, we're always looking for ways to. To work with St. Jude and do a good job for them and just [00:14:00] super excited to have the privilege to do so.

[00:14:03] Eric Goranson: And you guys are just killing with that and I just love it because every time you and I talk Not in the media not anything else. We're talking like you're always talking about what you guys are doing with that And I just love the passion behind it This this isn't and I can say this guys just as just friend here that this is not just some marketing ploy These guys are really doing all they can to help these guys out So hats off to you brother for what you guys You're you and your team are doing here to help those guys out because it's such a great program that raises A ton of money for st.

[00:14:31] Eric Goranson: Jude's and they need it

[00:14:33] Jeff Kutas: Oh, yeah, St. Jude, it's a great foundation. It's our favorite and we're so privileged to have the opportunity to work with all these builders across the nation. And introduce our products to them and further develop the opportunities to make communities safer. So it's, it's going to be interesting to see how this develops, but I think at some point in time that these law enforcement areas are going to notice what we don't get a lot of culture package stuff over there when Fresno.

[00:14:55] Jeff Kutas: Well, I have a. Box gobbler in every house over there in that community. It's just going to be [00:15:00] interesting to see how we affect the data there. So yes, we're super excited to move the needle with that and with st. Jude at the same time.

[00:15:07] Eric Goranson: Nice. I want to ask some questions of you just what your recommendations are for people because you know, we've got a lot of people listen to the show out there and they're like, okay, how does this work in my application?

[00:15:17] Eric Goranson: So let's say somebody has that mailbox out by the curb and they don't really have a place at their house. Do you have a solution maybe to deal with something like that could be a really good fit for them on a curbside application?

[00:15:29] Jeff Kutas: What you're talking about, Eric, is you're talking about solving my problem.

[00:15:32] Jeff Kutas: That's where this all started. A combination of mailbox and package delivery safe. I had this postal carrier show up in my driveway. Like three days within a week when I move my, I closed my brick and mortar retail stores. I'm there and I see this person come up three days in a row. I'm like, wow, somebody needs to reinvent the mailbox.

[00:15:47] Jeff Kutas: So we're just wearing these postal carriers out. It's a phase of us. We hadn't quite got the prime trucks rolling yet. And that whole service. And we had all these contract carriers rolling around after you, but USPS, they're the ones that started making all these package deliveries. [00:16:00] It was, that's where I developed this idea.

[00:16:02] Jeff Kutas: But for the package delivery, Curbside there's a couple things to think about. So if your mailbox is on the same side of the street as your house, and you probably couldn't imagine any different if it isn't, but just know that everyone has different type of solution. It's all these little nuances that we understand.

[00:16:19] Jeff Kutas: So if you need a curbside combination mail and package delivery safe. We've got it. If you need a package delivery safe that's drive adjacent because you have a gated entrance on your place and you just, you want to pull up in your gated entrance and receive your packages through a front door and it's only a front loader.

[00:16:34] Jeff Kutas: We've got that. If you want to put it in a fence because now you have a fence, but you don't want to have to go around your gate to get your products and you want to come through the fence. We've got that solution. So it's just connect with us online and guess we'd love to walk you through what we offer and certainly look forward to helping you develop a solution that's perfect for your location.

[00:16:53] Jeff Kutas: Thanks brother. Now I want to

[00:16:54] Eric Goranson: talk about your new products here, by the way, because you got some new stuff coming out. Are you able [00:17:00] to talk about that yet?

[00:17:01] Jeff Kutas: Oh yeah, we can talk about whatever we want, man. It's a package delivery. It's a, there are no secrets for us. We're out there, right? We're working hard to lead this thing.

[00:17:08] Jeff Kutas: So it's a package of the re safe for gated properties called the booty safe. So just like poor patch package pirates, they're out there to steal the booty. And this, the booty safe, it's a catchy name and it's specific for gated properties, mainly. It's a very durable product. And it's made of the same quality materials that we make all our other cabinets with, but what really helps offer a better value price point is it has a lid on the top.

[00:17:31] Jeff Kutas: It's built more or less like a 2 by 2 ice chest. We can get one that's 2 by 3 and the lid comes up from the top. So it doesn't offer all the other ergonomic features that we do with our finger bottom designs and cabinets. That we work with in a lot of the luxury home placements, but this product is a solution it's a battery operated.

[00:17:49] Jeff Kutas: You don't have to run power. You don't have to run solar, open it up. It has a led light on the inside. So it's just a very simple, very secure way to secure your packages. What's [00:18:00] super awesome is we have this thing available in raw aluminum. It's going to have a price point of 795 shipped right now. So in our closest product that would even that they had as a choice was about 2, 500.

[00:18:12] Jeff Kutas: So we recognize that there's a, there's another customer there that really needs this product and sorry guys that we came off with the luxury line first, but that's where the business started for us. It's where we decided to grow the business and develop one. And now we're coming back to the middle market and having a great time helping everyone.

[00:18:27] Jeff Kutas: So yeah, if you haven't seen the booty safe yet, it's not on our, it's not on our site, but give us a call. It's going to be exciting to see how that one takes off for us.

[00:18:34] Eric Goranson: Nice. And then you have a planter one coming out too, don't you? Or am I getting the cat out of the bag too early?

[00:18:40] Jeff Kutas: No, no. We actually launched that planter safe last Mother's Day.

[00:18:45] Jeff Kutas: Super cool. And we actually have, you know, quite a bit more merchandise to do on our website, but we have a full service mail and package to be safe that has the full electronics and security of all our other products that also has a planner top available for it now, too. So we understand [00:19:00] everyone's home is their castle and.

[00:19:02] Jeff Kutas: A lot of people love to do nice decorative things and heck who wants just a toolbox sitting out in front of their 55 gallon drum in front of their gated entrance, right? So we've taken that to the next level. And yeah, the new products too, though, like the planner safe, it's so much fun to see flowers in the top of something that, uh, is going to also help manage a package delivery.

[00:19:21] Jeff Kutas: So there it is security through obscurity, check out the planner safe. And that comes in a bunch of different colors too, doesn't it? It does. It does. Yeah. There there's a, gosh, I'd have to look at the names of the 10, but yes, there's a variety of colors and it's outside of boys. One that was super cool on your website with that one or something, or maybe you sent it to me.

[00:19:40] Jeff Kutas: Oh yeah. And tell you what, my wife got in a lot with that piece. And it's, there you go. Yeah. Lisa. She's incredible with that. Everybody looked at some of those colors for us. Wow. I'm not so sure, but boy, it's yeah. People love it.

[00:19:51] Eric Goranson: It's great, man. It's a lot of style with that and I love what you're doing with it.

[00:19:55] Eric Goranson: Thank you. So what else have we not talked about today, Jeff, you guys are doing so much. And of course I do want to send [00:20:00] people to the website so they can really take a look and see what application is going to be

[00:20:03] Jeff Kutas: right for them. Yeah, there's a look for him to go check us out at, uh, and several. com. It's what haven't we talked about?

[00:20:11] Jeff Kutas: Honestly, Eric, this is a pretty simple business, right? It's, but it's really tough to sometimes accomplish those simple things. It's in there, they can be annoying. So. When you think about package delivery, you know, think about the time and freedom that you're gonna get back in your life or, or this, you know, just to be able to.

[00:20:25] Jeff Kutas: You know, call your wife up and maybe meet her for dinner somewhere and not have to worry about what's on the porch or you're not going to have to rush home anymore. So what we love to do is educate people about beyond package security and keeping those things safe. The experience that you're going to have with our products, it's the thing about how often you use your dishwasher at home or your washing machine, this is, it's really a household appliance.

[00:20:44] Jeff Kutas: It's a, that's a, we feel like it's, it's going to just be a whole new category for this last step solution for last mile deliveries that people are really searching for. Okay. Man, that's great. So where do people go to find you guys on the web? Yeah. So go to [00:21:00] mbsettle. com or search box gobbler, easy name to remember.

[00:21:03] Jeff Kutas: And that'll bring you right to us. Yeah. And if you want to follow me on LinkedIn, I hang out there a lot too. Just look up. Oh yeah. You do have our conversations over there. I love

[00:21:11] Eric Goranson: it over there.

[00:21:11] Jeff Kutas: Oh yeah, no, it's great. We've got an awesome following with the architects and interior designers. They've done a great job of helping us help guide us through the solutions that people need.

[00:21:20] Eric Goranson: All right, brother. Hey, thanks for coming on the show today, man. I appreciate it. And can't see what, you can't wait to see what you guys come up with next because I tell you what, you're just on the cutting edge of, uh, that last mile delivery and securing what people have paid for when it shows up at the house.

[00:21:35] Jeff Kutas: Eric, it's always be with you, man. You're doing an awesome job. Thank you so much for having us,

[00:21:39] Eric Goranson: man. I tell you what, Jeff is one of my favorite people in the home improvement industry. This guy is out there with his team. Working all the hours during the week, trying to make sure the world is a better place and really trying to give back.

[00:21:54] Eric Goranson: And what he's been doing with St. Jude's is absolutely amazing. That guy is such an entrepreneur [00:22:00] that likes to give. He is just one of my favorite people out there. So he's one of those guys. Once you get to know, you can tell that he's heading in the right direction and it's a great way to keep security front of mind.

[00:22:12] Eric Goranson: And those packages, not from getting taken in. Off your front porch. Now let's talk a little bit about security here. Cause we're coming into summer and. As we all know, security around your house is a 24 7, 365 day a year kind of thing. It doesn't matter if it's night time or day time, 24 7, your house is at risk for somebody coming by and saying, Hey, I wonder what's in there and what can I get?

[00:22:40] Eric Goranson: And it doesn't matter what neighborhood you're in, it could be good, it could be good, it could be better, it could be bad, it could be amazing, everybody is at risk. And so here are my tips and tricks. And I want to talk about this for the rest of the hour here to really make sure that you've got those things dialed in to make sure your house is [00:23:00] safe.

[00:23:00] Eric Goranson: And the first one here is going to be landscaping around your house. I really like it when you pull up in front. Whether you're driving in the garage or you're pulling up and going in the front door, do you have a clean view of everything around there? Now, if you've got tall shrubs out next to the door that somebody could hide behind, never a good situation because that gives somebody a place to duck in and out of as cars come by as you're trying to break into your place.

[00:23:29] Eric Goranson: So that's the first one. How easy is it? And then second of all, really, I start to get into lighting because a well lit place It's going to expose anybody trying to get into there. Now, of course, there's always brazen attacks and things like that, but the more you look like you have paid attention to security of your home, the better chance you have of them going down the street.

[00:23:54] Eric Goranson: So my tip here is to make sure that there are no dark corners, no dark places around the [00:24:00] door. Landscape lighting could be such a great theft deterrent, and especially when it comes to the front yard here, it is a big one. Now, one of the other things I want to make sure is if you have a gate, do you have locked gates?

[00:24:13] Eric Goranson: Can people get into your backyard easily? Can they walk up, cut across your lawn and walk right into your backyard and maybe take out a back sliding glass door or maybe pry open a window back there? The better you have security from there. The harder it is for people to get back there and make a scene while they're trying to do it.

[00:24:33] Eric Goranson: That's one thing for somebody to be driving down the street and they see somebody walking in the backyard through the gate, it's a whole other thing. If you see somebody climbing over a six foot gate, that attracts a lot of attention. And so there's a lot of different things you can do out there. If you've got a metal gate, it's really easy because you can actually put a regular door lock on those.

[00:24:54] Eric Goranson: And there's a lot of great products out there for a wood gate. If you've got a cedar fence [00:25:00] or a wood fence going around there, there are some great products out there. And we actually just talked about one and I showed the install in my around the house, Northwest television show, just a few weeks ago.

[00:25:11] Eric Goranson: This is one of those things that makes it easy. So you don't have to have power, but you can actually mount a lock up there that gives you access from both sides. And you're never looking for a padlock and it's got a simple combination. My favorite one that I've seen out there. That's not complicated is made by yard lock that simple yard.

[00:25:31] Eric Goranson: Look, it is a keyless gate lock. That really makes it easy to get in and out. And so instead of having that cable that goes through there, they have a combination lock on the front that you put in the four digit combination. And when that does is a pops open a door and it pulls on a cable on the lats on the other side that has a cover over it.

[00:25:50] Eric Goranson: So you can't just reach over the top and unlock it. Which is one of the problems that you see with these other brands out there. It makes it pretty hard. So you reach over the top [00:26:00] and that way it opens right up. And that is a great security piece. If you have a wood fence around your house, I think they're about 80 bucks on Amazon on average.

[00:26:09] Eric Goranson: Take a look at it, but it is a very solid, safe, and secure way to lock that fence. And something that simple can really change the security around your house and still have to be able to go in and out of it very easily. You still have full access. Cause there's nothing worse than a fence where you've got a lock on one side, you go up to go in the other side.

[00:26:29] Eric Goranson: Oh man, I can't get in and out of this thing, which that could be really tough. And that really discourages you from traveling around your house. So you want to make sure. That you do that. So if you've got a wood fence and you've got a wood gate, this might be the best answer for you. All right. When around the house comes back, I'm going to give you my tips here for more security around your home and some easy ways to keep it safe and secure for your summertime vacations.

[00:26:54] Eric Goranson: And anytime you're just out having fun around the house. We'll be right back. Don't go anywhere. [00:27:00] Welcome back to the around the house show. The next generation in home improvement. If you're just joining us, you missed an amazing interview with Jeff from MB Sentinel, where we talked about keeping your packages safe.

[00:27:30] Eric Goranson: Doesn't matter if you're ordering off Amazon, if you've got FedEx, UPS, whoever, you can give them that code and they can drop those boxes off and they can either end up in a lockbox or inside your garage or at another container that you've designed. So there's a lot of great options for keeping those package secure.

[00:27:48] Eric Goranson: Another security thing that I really want you to take a look at. Which is part of a smart home system, but it's easy. And this is making sure that you've got lights that are turning on and off [00:28:00] around the house during the day and night when you're gone. Now, here's the cool thing back in the eighties, nineties.

[00:28:07] Eric Goranson: And even before that, we used to have those cool little plugin timers and the lights would turn off and on. You put them on when you're on vacation and you'd head out. I know I'm a Gen X, you're talking about it here, but that's just how it used to be done. Nowadays, you can go in and set up. With what I did, you can, there's a lot of different systems out there.

[00:28:24] Eric Goranson: I use Samsung smart things cause it works well with all the different pieces out there. It's pretty universal, but I think it's really cool with that is that you can do this and when you're gone, you can turn lights on and off. Or you can program it to do it automatically. So like when I go to bed at night, I don't want to go around and turn this off, turn this on, turn this off and do that.

[00:28:48] Eric Goranson: I set it up so I have a system so I can just sit there and hit the good night button and it turns off all the lights and leaves the ones that I want on that automatically locks my door [00:29:00] locks. It does all the things I want it to do and shuts the things down that I don't need. At the same time, when I wake up in the morning, I can hit the good morning button and it turns on the things that I want on in the morning.

[00:29:11] Eric Goranson: And that could be depending on the light outside. It could be dark. Or you want blinds to open up depending on what you've got going. It's a great way to make your house look like there's somebody there, even when there's nobody there weeks on end. And that's what's really cool with that. And I can also set up alerts on my garage door opener, which is just a simple Chamberlain or LiftMaster garage door.

[00:29:36] Eric Goranson: That opener can sit there and say, Hey, if my door is open late at night. I better shut it because it shouldn't be open. And so if you've ever gone to bed with the garage door open in the middle of the night and you wake up going, Oh man, how did I not get my stuff stolen? You got lucky there. And so that is one of the cool things that you can do with these smart home systems.

[00:29:59] Eric Goranson: [00:30:00] And when you want it to have your door locks opened up, it's great. Now, some of these things lift master also has this garage door key pad. So if somebody comes up, it's their video key pad. It's pretty inexpensive. It's battery powered. If someone comes up and starts playing with it, it'll shoot you video in the app.

[00:30:19] Eric Goranson: Or if somebody walks up to your garage door and starts to play with it, it'll send you pictures in the app. Now the other accessory that comes with some of their openers and it's available with others. Is they also have a deadbolt for that garage door. So think of a deadbolt style lock. That's electronic.

[00:30:40] Eric Goranson: And what it does is it shoves that bolt in front of one of the wheels. So when you close your door, it goes clunk and locks it. So you don't have to worry about somebody coming up with a tool fishing, pushing on the door a little bit and releasing that upper lock release to get the door open. It doesn't happen.

[00:30:59] Eric Goranson: No [00:31:00] one's coming through that door. Without taking the whole door down. And we know what kind of scene that's going to cause. So that's an important one there. These are all great things that you can do around your house as you're doing upgrades. Maybe it's, ah, it's time for a new garage door opener. Add that on while you're doing it.

[00:31:18] Eric Goranson: And that's a great little key right there to make it sure your house is safe. Now here's another one that I've been following and it's getting to be a bigger deal out there, especially with people that have newer cars. You do not. Want to keep your car keys on a hook by your front door because nowadays people can come up there and Hack into the your car take the code that's off of those without even going in your house And they can go through figure out what that code is And then turn around, unlock your car.

[00:31:53] Eric Goranson: They can make their own electronic key for it. And they drive off. This just happened here a [00:32:00] week ago, a friend of mine's, and they literally got into his house, didn't get inside his house, came up out front, outside his friend door, hacked the code off of that, came over, hacked into his car and drove off with it.

[00:32:14] Eric Goranson: Didn't set off any alarms, didn't set off anything. So it's a good practice. If your car keys keep them 10, 15 feet away from that front door, make sure they're not right by the front door. Cause technically somebody can get that signal from those keys and get access into your car, especially if you've got a newer one and hack into it.

[00:32:35] Eric Goranson: It's a lot easier than what you might think. And there are people all day long out there. If somebody can come up and bust the window in your car. Even without those keys and go in there and reset that up, reprogram a key. If they know what they're doing, boom, they're in there reprogram in under a minute, they're driving down the street.

[00:32:53] Eric Goranson: Like they own the car. And so just think about some of those things that'll really help you with car theft. Now, if you're in a [00:33:00] bad neighborhood, it's not a bad idea to keep that inside the garage. Cause then that's where that deadbolt keeps it. And somebody really has to bust in to try to get into that.

[00:33:10] Eric Goranson: Now there's, if you're in a high crime area here, there are some other things that I recommend. Now I am not a big person for front fences around your front yard, but as the crime rate gets higher, I'm a bigger fan because you want to have that security and you want to have it. So people really have to be obvious before they come up close to the house.

[00:33:33] Eric Goranson: Now there's a lot of different fence materials out there in these days. I have really dove into liking metal. Maybe it's aluminum, maybe it's steel. But in my area with wildfires, it makes a lot of sense. And if you have any road noise, steel can actually drop down 10 or 15 decibels and reduce that noise and reflect it off into other parts of the neighborhood.

[00:33:57] Eric Goranson: So you don't get to hear that road noise as [00:34:00] much. If you're hearing cars going by and you're on a busy street, maybe steel might be the option because it will reflect some sound. It's like when you drive down the freeway and you see those concrete barriers on the side. Those big 8 foot, 10 foot, 12 foot barriers are sound barriers made out of concrete.

[00:34:17] Eric Goranson: Steel will do that, but just a little bit less effective. Concrete might not be the look you want to do. You don't want to have Fort Knox here as your house. But steel fencing is a great thing. And if you've got fire prone neighbor, let's say you're in a wildfire area where a lot of the country can be right now, or if you've got homes that are really close by, that can be an additional fire break.

[00:34:40] Eric Goranson: If your neighbor's house catches on fire and you've got a steel fence going down between them, that will help reflect some of that heat. And maybe help with some protection. Now, if you've got seven, eight feet between homes and you've got a fence down there and it's wood, if that catches on fire and it goes right up to your house, that's just a freeway right up to your house.

[00:34:58] Eric Goranson: So that's another [00:35:00] great way to do that. So take a look at steel. I just did a segment here for this weekend's episode where I added onto Dura Bond. And I put in a gate and some steel fence there. It is a great product and it's something that is super durable. If you have a tree branch fall on it, I had a big one drop on mine.

[00:35:19] Eric Goranson: It put a little tiny dimple, one that was a lot smaller, took my cedar fence right down to the ground, just destroyed it. So it gives you that durability and there's some security there as well. Cause that smooth fence is pretty hard to climb over. If you were going to hop over it, cause it's a six foot fence and trying to get over a smooth six foot fence is pretty hard for most people you'd have to be pretty athletically inclined to be able to pop over that very easily.

[00:35:45] Eric Goranson: So it's a great thing to have. Now, the last thing is to have some good quality door locks. Now I want to see you have. Locks that are installed correctly with longer screws into the jam. And I don't mean the super cheapy ones that are on [00:36:00] the home center brand. Get something good. Even a quick set. My favorites, Baldwin.

[00:36:06] Eric Goranson: Of course I worked with them for years, even slag, but get something It is going to be durable Baldwin's my favorite because I love the brass hardware and the solid pieces and they've got the best design style as well. So if you want to make a statement, that's a great way to go. And when people see it, they go out.

[00:36:26] Eric Goranson: That's quality. That is solid brass. Made to last and it'll hold up, but really lock hardware is a big deal. A cheap lock. Somebody can get through pretty quickly and that becomes a problem. Now, if you want to go with security with a security system out there, we were just talking about MB Sentinel, similar name, different company, deep Sentinel, they are an AI smart home system.

[00:36:54] Eric Goranson: The amount of couple of cameras or three or four cameras around your house, And when you're away, or even when you're [00:37:00] home, they use this AI. If they see somebody walking up to the door, it will watch it. If it's a delivery, it'll notify you. And the cool thing is if it's somebody that's knocking on the door and they're not getting response or they're lingering around, or they try to break in.

[00:37:13] Eric Goranson: That thing has 140 decibels siren on it. And here's the cool thing. They have a live guard right there ready to scare off that intruder. So if you've got problems with people around the house that are hanging around that you don't want out there, or you've got somebody casing out the place. That is the perfect security system for it.

[00:37:33] Eric Goranson: All right, everybody. That's the end of the hour. Thanks for tuning into around the house. We got a great hour to coming up. If you do, if you're not catching that on the radio, check for the podcast. Just look for around the house show. I'm Eric G and you been listening to Around the House