A lockbox is a small job with a big purpose. It has to work in the dark, in the cold, and in the hands of someone who has never used it. Install it in the order below, and you will know it works before you need it.
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Step 1: Pick the spot before you open the box
Choose a place near the main entrance that is out of view from the street and not hidden behind a light fixture, a downspout, or a hedge that has grown over it. Stand there at dusk with a flashlight and check that you can read the dial and reach the box with one hand. Look at the surface too. Solid wood, masonry, or metal holds a mount. Loose trim, vinyl siding, and a storm door that flexes do not.
Step 2: Mount it and test the grip
Use the anchors and fasteners that came with the box, and buy anchors made for brick or stone if the wall is masonry. Drive into solid material, not just into trim. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for screw depth and spacing. When it is mounted, pull on it firmly with both hands from the front and then from the side. If it moves at all, it is not finished.
Step 3: Set the code and load the key
Pick a code you can say aloud over the phone, and avoid anything built from your mother's birthday or the house number, since people who know the family can guess those. Put the key inside, lock it, and close the lid so it resets. Write the code down once and store it in one sealed place in the family papers. Do not write it on the door frame or on the box itself.
Step 4: Log who has access
Write a short access log with each person's name, phone number, the date they received the code, and the reason they need it. Keep it with the other household papers, and update it the day anyone's access changes. A log that nobody updates is worse than none, because it looks trustworthy while it is wrong.
Step 5: Test it from the outside on a normal day
Ask someone who is not you to open it at an ordinary hour. Watch them open it, time it, and check that they can read the dial in the light they will actually have. Repeat the test after any code change and after any season that brings ice, snow, or grit into the mechanism.
Record who paid and who installed it
Write down who bought the box, who mounted it, and who paid for the parts, so the cost lands in the right column of the shared record. Lockboxes are easy to forget once they are on the wall, and the receipt is the only proof of who did the work.