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source: sundayworld.com: http://www.sundayworld.com/news/anti-bandit-windows-available-for-a-steal-as-burglars-are-shut-out

Burglars may seem to be running rife across the country, but they’re coming up against an increasingly prevalent obstacle – bulletproof-style glass and doors.

Anti-bandit windows and doors have soared in demand as householders seek to secure their homes against predatory criminals.

Specialist firm Fairco is so certain burglars will not get through their custom-made doors and windows that it’s prepared to offer €1,000 towards insurance costs in the unlikely event of robbers getting in to your house.

Fairco managing director Jim Toal also reveals that his products are not only popular with security-conscious householders, but even some criminals who are in fear of being attacked.

“The glass is twice as thick on our bandit-proof windows, but it’s also laminated, so it means it’s like a plastic sandwich,” he says.

“It’s like the windscreen of a car. Most suppliers would put in a window like a bus shelter, whereas we put in laminated glass – it will break, but you can’t get through it.

“A regular house with an average of eight windows and two doors might cause €8,000 to kit out. The burglar-proof range is probably €9,000. There’s no point in having this unless people can afford it, so it’s great peace of mind.”

He notes that security has been paramount since his company was formed in 1999.

“It has taken us about a year of testing to bring this to the market. It’s basically the ultimate window, so if you were to design a window from scratch and sit down to engineer a product, this is the result of that engineering,” he stresses.

“We have always specialised in security windows. All our standard windows are enhanced-resistance. It would take five or six minutes of constant abuse to get through the window, whereas this window you can’t get through it. It’s basically bulletproof.

“A human being can’t generate the force required to separate the opening from the frame, it takes six kilotons of energy.

“In essence, you have an outer frame, an opening cache and the glass and, of course, the locks. The glass we put in is high-impact security glass, double- or single-pane. It’s like the windscreen of a car, it will shatter, but it won’t break, so you can’t put your hand in from the outside and open the lock. And we are the only people in Ireland supplying this window,” he insists.

Even the Gardai have problems getting through his doors on busts and have to use specialised tools to take the door off from its four corners.

“We will pay you €1,000 towards the replacement of a window and we will also pay you up to €1,000 towards your insurance, if the burglar succeeds in getting through. We’ll put our money where our mouth is to guarantee no one will get through.”

Source: independent.ie: http://www.independent.ie/business/quality-at-a-fair-price-ensured-not-just-survival-but-success-even-during-the-recession-31436716.html

For the majority of businesses in Ireland, the recession resulted in a struggle for survival, with many forced to cut staff numbers as a result. However, for Jim Toal, founder of Fairco Window s & Doors, in Dublin, the opposite was true – his company expanded and thrived during the economic collapse.

“Even in the middle of the recession, we were able to turnover €4m a year,” he reveals. “As other companies went out of business, we ended up with more and more market share – and we were expanding and hiring staff when everyone else had to laying off people.”
Toal set up the company in 1999, following an 11-year career in sales, much of which was spent in the domestic windows market.
Having secured a lease on a property in Clontarf, he opened his first showroom on a small budget with the help of his wife, Suzanne. With just a van and a handful of students hired to ring on the doors of homeowners in the surrounding areas, Toal spent months driving around Dublin making house calls to potential customers.

“From an early age, I just wanted to be an entrepreneur,” he says. “My parents went ballistic when I was working in sales at 18. They felt I should be in college, and that I should get a paying job instead of working on commission – but it was something that I wanted to do. I enjoy meeting people and I like the challenge of selling something.”

By designing windows that were both attractive and safe – a combination that was unheard of during the Nineties – the business soon grew to be the leading brand that it is today.

“Typically the PVC windows that had come into Ireland in 1984 were from Germany. They were good but were aesthetically unappealing. They had very heavy chunky frames and people wanted a slimmer look.

“I was lucky to work with a company that were big in the UK, and with my help they designed a window that was designed and moulded to look like a timber window. We specced it up with the best locks and it did really well.

“Through word of mouth and recommendations, we soon went from doing about £240,000 in our first year of trading, to breaking a million pounds in our second year – which was phenomenal,” he says.

These days, innovative design is still key to the company’s success. It recently launched Ireland’s first burglar-proof window and door system – which is backed by a large insurance company.

Toal is passionate about offering customers a high-quality product at a fair price.

“From the day I started, I have always believed that if you are going to sell something, it has to be the very best or you are wasting your time. If I had come along in 1999 with a regular windows system, I wouldn’t be in business now.

“It took us about a year to get the burglar-proof window to the market, as we had to pass all the tests to make that claim. In the first month of it being launched last November, it made up about 1pc of our sales. Now it makes up 30pc.

Source: independent.ie: http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/crime-nation-spider-burglars-battering-rams-chain-gangs-31582256.html

Forget cat burglars – a new generation of spider burglars is now using spikes to walk up the side of buildings.

External wall insulation has become increasingly popular, but burglars can use spikes or even a screwdriver to stick into the surface, climbing the walls to an upstairs window.

This is among the latest in an ever-expanding armoury of tricks and tactics that sophisticated criminals are using in an attempt to outfox homeowners and gardaí.

As well as so-called ‘spider burglaries’, there are less subtle methods.

In the search for high-end cars, burglars are targeting houses very near motorway exits when a family is asleep and literally bursting open the front door with a battering ram. They quickly locate the car keys, drive off in the vehicle and are on the motorway within minutes.

The ‘chain gang’ method is also being used. While a house burglary takes place, the thieves park a spotter at a junction within sight of the house.
He is in walkie-talkie contact with an accomplice monitoring the garda station and other movements.

This means that the gang can take their time, knowing that they have a time advantage over the gardaí.
Burglary expert Jim Toal of Fairco.ie said: “There are other, more violent, methods. The bottom line is that we have a new breed who are not frightened by gardaí, alarms or CCTV.”

He also stressed that seasoned burglars “do their homework” and have been known to track the movements of home owners before a break-in.
Fairco provides high-security doors and windows and Mr Toal said that he had been called to scenes of burglaries where doors had literally been “taken off the hinges”.

More than 28,000 houses were burgled in Ireland last year. Garda figures indicate that 75pc of break-ins are committed by 25pc of burglars.
Reoffending rates are almost 80pc for those who are imprisoned for burglary and related offences