Beginning Locksmith Advise

[mdc5150]

Don't give discounts and don't drop your prices. If you have cheap prices then people that want the lowest bidder will recommend you to their friends as the cheapest locksmith. On the other hand if you charge a healthy tate but give good service people will recommend you because you are good not cheap. Which client base do you want?

[g_kinz]

here in my area I charge 45 for auto lockout 75 for house lockout if need a key its 10 more. and for auto keys 95 for just metal key and 185 for transponder keys.

[nozza36]

I charge £50 for a home callout , if i need to replace a euro , i charge 10-15 depending on the quality , 10 for a rim cylinder (40 with complete backset)
and 25 for a leverlock .
I'm a bit soft and will hang around and adjust hinges for free even if i overrun my time a bit , and also i work for a couple of landlords and give them a better deal due
to the repeat business i get , ie my callout for these guys is £40
Sometimes you gotta just play it by ear , my 'hood is not a wealthy one , so i charge what i think is fair , and what i think the client can afford , this has left me holding
the shitty end of the stick a couple of times , but can you really leave a young mom with no way to lock her door ?
Let your conscience guide you when you really know someone is broke !
Good luck

[magician59]

Whenever I swap out someone's crappy Kwikset knob for a decent piece of hardware, I leave it in my van. That way if I have to break someone's SmartKey lock, I have something to replace it with and the price of labor plus used part adds up to what I'd charge for nondestructive entry.

The other day I was reminded of the problem with stating a flat fee for a lockout. The customer found her spare key while I was working on picking the lock and then she didn't want to pay me my small service call fee because I hadn't stated it over the phone. (This customer with a multimillion dollar home and a late-model BMW in the garage.)

I'm guessing you have learned your lesson in regard to quoting your prices before going on the call. The thing about keeping your customers' old locks will also bite you. Best practice is to leave everything at the job that was there when you arrive. This will preclude accusation of reselling their locks, and save you from being called back to return the locks (Even if they are damaged or junk).

[Oldfast]

I'm not a locksmith, but this applies to many professions... maybe more so for a locksmith.
People are trusting YOU with their lives, their family, and their most precious belongings.

Never lose pride in each and every job you do. Or lose sight of why you do it.
Don't cut corners for the sake of time or money. No excuse for that. Do it right.

And try not to become an ASSHOLE just because you have to deal with some.
Instead, try to focus on the positive customers & the positive things you've done
for them. Again, I'm not a locksmith, but I love to help out when I can. It's really
a damn good feeling as you leave someone more safe than when you arrived.

[jones]

Also remember to check those deadbolt strike holes, no deadbolt is truly locked, until it's bolt has been extended a full inch. I find
many deadbolt strike holes are under-drilled, allowing someone outside the door to pull the deadbolt back with an icepick, or other
type of tool. Once I find these I show the client how easy it is to push the bolt back, if it has not extended far enough to lock into place,
then I charge the client $10 to drill the strike hole a full inch deep. Most customers are shocked to know they have been living in unsecured
housing for many years. They will also see You in a new light, as nobody has ever before taken the time to notice this needed to be done.
Also it is easy money and some homes have a bunch that need to be drilled, especially french doors.

[chieflittlehorse]

Our shop charges $93.50 and if after hours it's $125.

We charge $1.95 plus tax on regular keys and $3.50 for double sided keys. $5.00 for tubular keys and forklift keys.

$15 to do a change combination on a lock.

On marshal calls it's also like $1.00 per minute when we wait for the marshalls!

[Papa Gleb]

I cant understand how I missed all of these posts but thank you. Some very important and informative stuff here.

I am not a locksmith, not yet at least but people are always going to be...... people so whining about pricing is always going to happen and yes its almost a guarantee if the client is a millionaire lol. I remember my first job working at valet parker and a brand new Benz S55 AMG pulled up and gave me 2 quarters. No joke he gave me 50 cents to park has 125K or more car lol.

Aside from dealing with whiners and a holes there are many many great customers/people who will always give good tips and its an amazing feeling to see people's reaction when you expose how un-secure their home really is, at this point I feel they will agree to any price as long as you get them that piece of mind back

I also think its very important to be caring, I see people coming to work on my apartment and if I dont kick them out then I push them to the side, grab their tools and do the job myself simply because they do work with not a care in the world. Rather kick them out right as you realize how shity they are then letting them finish and having to go back and redo everything. Had a great gent install my new door and he did such a caring job that I gave him a huge tip and recommend him all the time. This also reminds me of another time parking cars, this gent in a BMW had a popped tired and had no idea what to deal, who to call, or that he even had another tire in the back lol. I offered to help and he agreed to give me $20. He was sooo shocked that his car came with tools and a spare tire and that fact that I did everything in about 20m that he gave me $100.

[jailersmith]

Having been a locksmith over 40 years, here's what I have learned. Be up front about your fee, Add 20% to your estimate. Then listen to what the customer wants. Do the job correctly if the customer agrees to your estimate. My actual fee is always less than my estimate. The customer feels that they were treated fairly. If you are told at a restaurant that your table will be ready in 35 minutes but is ready in 20 minutes, how do you feel? Same concept.

[Papa Gleb]

I hear your concept Jailersmith. But you are saying to add 20% but yet you yourself charge less than your original estimate?

1. If the client knows the fees and total costs, lets you work, you do a great job but then the client says he wants to pay you less, that is fine because you estimated 20% so you can always say listen just for you Ill love it and have a happy client at the end thinking he paid less money but you get yours anyways and refer you to others.
2. Client knows fees and agrees to final total which you upped 20% then after the job is done right you yourself say you know I decided to give you a break and take 20% off so its cheaper. Happy client at the end who will refer you to others.

[VancouverSpecial]

Having been a locksmith over 40 years, here's what I have learned. Be up front about your fee, Add 20% to your estimate. Then listen to what the customer wants. Do the job correctly if the customer agrees to your estimate. My actual fee is always less than my estimate. The customer feels that they were treated fairly. If you are told at a restaurant that your table will be ready in 35 minutes but is ready in 20 minutes, how do you feel? Same concept.

Hi jailermith,

Great advice! It seems to come down to acting in a professional manner and managing the expectations of your clients judiciously.

On a similar vein, one of my favourite photographers, who has been very successful, has a similar business policy, which is to under promise and over deliver to clients.
In his case it means he promises 30 high quality, edited headshots from a shoot but will deliver more like 40-50. The client always comes away happy because in the end they get more than they expected.
Of course avoid the dreadful situation of promising the moon and then not being able to deliver, which seems to be a hallmark trait of fly-by-night contractors.

Cheers,
Sean

[jones]

Having been a locksmith over 40 years, here's what I have learned. Be up front about your fee, Add 20% to your estimate. Then listen to what the customer wants. Do the job correctly if the customer agrees to your estimate. My actual fee is always less than my estimate. The customer feels that they were treated fairly. If you are told at a restaurant that your table will be ready in 35 minutes but is ready in 20 minutes, how do you feel? Same concept.

I actually used to do this, until one day when the people stopped calling back, wanna know why? They got a lower estimate elsewhere!
Now I quote what my actual charges are. If I'm not 100% sure I can easily say so and I am getting more calls than I used to!

About that restaurant example, when they say 35 minutes they really mean 45-50min, which is why we go to a different restaurant when they say anything longer than 20 minutes

[Papa Gleb]

Jones, I think it also has to do with timing. If you estimate high over the phone and they dont agree, do not expect them to call back because they are shopping but if you are already on the site and make an estimate chances are they wont tell you to leave then once the work is done and you actually charge them less there is no reason they should not call you back.

[GringoLocksmith]

One thing you get in surplus when you're starting a business is free advice, and lots of it comes from people who have no business offering it. As you can see from our discussion here, many of us have different styles of working. If we're successful, we may attribute that success to the way we work, but it isn't necessarily so. Some of us could be succeeding by simple dumb luck -- being in an area without much competition, for example. What works for one guy might not work for you. It's probably important to have some kind of standards in order to keep the customers happy.

Having said that, here are some things I've gathered from my short time in the trade. Commercial locksmithing is different from residential locksmithing, and the advice you get from commercial locksmiths is going to be different because the customers' expectations are different. Commercial clients are less inclined to haggle over prices and are most concerned about getting the job done quickly and without much hassle. They want to get back to business. Residential clients are more concerned about cost and also want to know that the person working on their home is trustworthy. There are all kinds of ways to convey your trustworthiness.

I rely heavily on referrals, and I try to not run up the bill at every opportunity. I like that suggestion about coming in under quote. I do that occasionally, but more often I look for some small extra service I can provide that costs me little and helps the client. That shows that I'm as interested in their security as I am in earning my living.

[deralian]

I fully agree with the Commercial/Residential differences. Residential customers are also more inclined to ask you a ton of questions about who you are and your work. Some of them even try to come out to your vehicle and watch/talk to you while you rekey their locks. This is where being a good sales man/professionalism really comes in handy. You need to sell yourself to them as much as your product. If they like you and had a good experience they are less inclined to complain about the cost.