The first thing people see at your property.

We’re full-time working parents, and like most families we shop online to save time and money. The convenience came with a catch: a steady run of “We Missed You” cards asking us to collect parcels during the exact hours we were at work.

Then our child’s passport was due to arrive. Neither of us could be home. We ended up asking the courier to leave it under the mat and racing back to make sure it was still there. At our previous rental, the neighbour’s dog had already taken a liking to anything left on our doorstep.

So we went looking for a fix. The market had very little — the high-end parcel boxes were expensive and still couldn’t swallow a basic online clothing order. That’s when we decided to build our own.

We studied what worked in the US, Canada, Dubai and Australia, then designed a letterbox for real deliveries: letters and parcels in one, a secure locking mechanism, and a form that belongs on a modern home. We brought in an architect to refine it — because this is the first thing anyone sees.

The letterbox is the first thing people notice about your home. It should make a statement.