Starting Your Locksmith Business

[billdeserthills]

I have been hearing from some of you guys lately about getting started in Your Own lock & key business. I mostly hear the same thing from many of you, when I read between the lines, which is, It's Scary to do Something New! Hey I know that, and it's true. But don't let that stop you, that is that little voice, I have it too. It tells me all the same negative things, all the time. Mostly about how I can't pick this here lock, or I'm gonna screw up that $20,000 door with my drill, or that the key I'm trying to impression is just wasting an hour of my time & will never get done, but mainly that If I try I will fail. That voice is a Liar. The fact is If You Don't Try then You will Fail. People who try are Winners and if you won't try You are cheating Yourself and the folks who care about you. Now I'm not suggesting you guys quit your jobs and give it a go. Start out like my Dad did in 1970 and do it part-time. Maybe you can do a lock call each week and I bet you can put the $400+ extra you make each month to good use buying tools or supplies. Not every person who gets locked-out needs back in right this second, so give them a good "wait for me" price and help them when you get off work. I don't start service work before 11am, but I don't mind doing the rekey for tomorrow at 9am Tonight at 7pm. Most customers are flexible and they get more flexible when money is involved. That early riser who I will never meet at 9am just saved $25 by letting me help him a day earlier, that's two good things for him!
Work around your schedule, and if you only get 1 out of 4 calls it's still Extra Money for You, that you weren't gonna get before, telling yourself you can't do it.

I bet most of you guys are readier than you know, you'll need a key machine or some pre-cut keys,
gotta have a basic pin kit, and be able to pick or drill open a lock(if you destroy something you should be able to replace it) You can always say "Oh Darn, I gotta go back to the shop, I didn't know I would need that, and make a trip to the hardware store. Poo happens, everyone understands that, just try to keep stupid at a minimum and if (when is really) it happens that you screw up, well come clean. People respect you when you are an honest, stand up guy, so be one.

The easiest money out there that will find you has to be for lockouts. You need a long-reach tool at minimum with a jack or airbag to get an opening in the door. Pay attention when squeezing the bulb on the airbag, if the bag is puffing up & the door crack isn't getting wider--Move the bag somewhere else & try there.

Go ahead and make up a business name, go to vista print and see if you can get some free business cards, get some labels printed up with your business name and buy a receipt book from an office supply store and start up a part-time business. Go onto bing, google & yelp and claim Your Free business listing, Desperate people who just locked their keys inside something, or just kicked out the boyfriend are looking for you Right Now.

I'm not saying that having The Auto Master car opening kit isn't great, I'm just telling you that You can open the same car without All those tools. PM me and I'll tell you my favorite auto book, it costs about $65 and will pay for itself by your second opening. You can always do what I did at first & buy a roll of 5/32 spring steel wire & make your own auto opening tools. I think You guys will have the advantage over me cause I spent 1990-94 working for my Dad making $5 an hour as an apprentice. My girlfriend made more than I did, I couldn't even afford to live on my own at that rate of pay, let alone buy any kind of locksmith tools, so I found ways to make my own.

Anyhow Don't let that little killer ruin your future. Fear of the unknown is pointless folks, we are going to the unknown either way, so don't let some invisible voice ruin it for you. Just get started, I promise you nothing makes me happier than knowing that I am self-employed, it makes me feel like I am in charge of my future and when I make extra money I never hafta see half of it going to my employer. Start small and take your time, you don't need a bunch of special tools, most locksmith work is the same thing it was in 1970. One day a special job may come in, You can decide then if you want to tool up for it or not, but for now The Beginning is Key

[silvfox1200]

I have the resources and the training, just not the age. But it sounds good for all the younger people to get started.

I started my business 30 years ago, not as a Locksmith, but I wished I would have. Anyway working for myself allowed me to do a lot of things I would never have been able to do working for someone.

All I do now is enjoy my retirement and doing some locksmith work for friends,and family and mostly for free.

I think it is wonderful for someone to start their own business, even part time. They should be very serious about it and never look back. Just learn how to manage your finances and you will be fine.

[MSL]

Anyone else in the process of getting started I want to recommend a book.

Working for Yourself: Law & Taxes for Independent Contractors, Freelancers & Consultants by a publisher called Nolo.

While its really not designed specifically for us, more for computer programmers and graphic designers and stuff like that, its really good. Its explained a lot of stuff I didn't know about self employment taxes, incorporating and all that kind of stuff. And the book has all kinds of URLs listed for simple contracts, waivers, etc that supposedly you can download (I haven't yet).

[YouLuckyFox]

I can vouche for NOLO as a publisher, they are very good for anyone who is interested in knowing their rights pertaining to things. Very thorough and simple (not necessarily easy ) to understand.

[billdeserthills]

I wanted to tell you guys a couple of months ago, which is actually "in season" in my area my business had dropped soo bad that I was now doing 1-2 jobs A Week. Now I know in my area there is lots more work than that to be done, but obviously someone was stealing all my work and money.
I don't know about you, but my phone was ringing 10-12 times a day, even though mostly all the calls were from someone else, trying to get me to spend money on their product, which I hate. Well one day another web-based, internet optimization company called. I don't mean Google, cause I already hate their guts for constantly calling me 4+ times a week. Anyway these guys offered to help me--For $200 a month! I really wanted to tell them off, just like I had been for the last couple of years, but I was getting desperate only doing a couple jobs a week was wearing me down, see. So I explained just how it was, sure they could have my credit card# but I was gonna give them just one month, and then when nothing happened I was gonna do a chargeback on the $200 they stole from me (you can prolly see my positively negative attitude shining through). Well they were soo sure of themselves and I tell you, My phone started ringing! Maybe only 12-15 times a day, but hey, that was up by about 3 calls! A Day! I couldn't believe it, ay first, but my business had returned to my former
1-4 jobs a day, which is all I ever wanted. I paid these guys $200 a month for several months and Man, the work has kept on pouring in. So Think about it, I have heard offers from others, like yelp, they wanted $300 a month, which I feel is just too much. Also yelp has several scammers on their site, folks who are actively lying about their location, in order to steal work from me--No way am I gonna pay a reward for that kinda backstabbing.

Anyhow if anyone is interested I'd be glad to give you the contact info for the folks who helped me, Idk if it would do You any good or not, but for me, , it was like turning on the faucet, with work just flowing out!

I want to post another thing you can do, maybe you only have 1 or 2 jobs. You can still make the most of them. Today for example I had one job, it turned out to have several kwikset handles with broken deadlatches. The deadlocking pin was snapped off, which leaves an empty hole in the latch faceplate. Now one day, when the door slams just right, that broken piece will fall back through the hole& then that handle will freeze up! Don't miss out on your chance to make money on these. On doors with a deadbolt I like to replace the broken deadlatch with a passage latch.
The passage latch will never again break the way the deadlatch did and I never see the passage latches for sale at the hardware stores. I charge $28.50 to install a passage latch, you'll need to buy the latch and a faceplate kit which costs about $8. I'm cheap so I also take apart the old latch and get the backing plate, cause when you buy the faceplate kit, you get 2 faceplates, but only one backing plate. My way you get to sell both faceplates & that is more sweet money in your pocket.
Now after you replace the passage latch, many times the deadbolt won't latch, unless you push or pull on the door. This extra stress on the deadbolt latch is not normal and can cause the deadbolt latch to break, before the client has gotten their full money's worth outta the deadbolt. For this I bought a die grinder, and a carbide bit. I like to make the doors so when the door handle has latched, the deadbolt is easy to turn, I just think they should work that way. Take your die grinder, or if you want, you can buy a bit for your drill, it just takes a little longer to grind. You can even take the two screws out of the strike plate & file it out where it is rubbing. For this I charge $8.50 or more, if I hafta grind a large area, or if I need to change to an aluminum grinder bit.
My last tip for now concerns the deadbolt strike. Everyone should know that a 1" deep deadbolt Must have at least a 1" deep hole to go into--Otherwise anyone with an icepick or butter knife will be able to push the bolt back into the lock, from outside the door. I find these holes are under-drilled in 3 out of 4 homes I go into. I use a 5/8" holesaw in my drill to get around having to take the strike plate off & I charge $8.50 to drill these strike holes in to a 1" depth. I like to show the customer by throwing the deadbolt latch all the way out, you can see it is now "dead" and cannot be pushed back in...Throw the latch 1/2 way on a door with a 1/2" deep strike hole(while the door is open) and see how the bolt can now simply be pressed right back in? That means anyone could have opened Your door from the outside! Most clients are horrified when they learn that the door on the front/rear/bedroom/garage could have been opened Without a sign of Forcible entry at anytime in the last X amount of years!

This stuff is easy money and people can see that You know Your Work, when you find & repair these type problems. Many folks have told me "You are the first person Ever to tell me this about my locks, I have had many other locksmiths before you, But from now on You are #1 in my book!

Impress a client, you'll see increased business when they tell their neighbors

[cledry]

We do a similar thing but we don't replace deadlatches with passage latches. We replace with a deadlatch and move the strike to the correct place. We then usually have to open up the deadbolt strike with a doe grinder like you do, but for deepening holes we leave the plate in and use a laminate trimmer with a bit set to 1 1/16", takes about 10 seconds. We charge by the hour with a minimum of 1/2 hour.

[hjlocks]

Another important thing to consider is what you need right away.
If you're jumping in part time, you NEED a way to make keys. You DO NOT NEED a code machine. You'll probably want space and depth keys anyway, and you can originate keys on a duplicator with them. It's annoying, but it works, and it saves you a couple thousand dollars right off the bat.
You also NEED a vehicle. You DO NOT NEED a fancy workshop on wheels. A $600 minivan with a $100 generator in the back (preferably on some form of rack that flips/slides it out of the van) can get you started.
You NEED lockpicks. You DO NOT NEED the ultimate military grade picking compendium of 1001 picks. If you have a grinder you can even make your own for about 16 cents a piece out of hacksaw blades.

If you're crazy like I am and quit your job to start your own business cold turkey (which having done, I do not recommend), then you'll want a code cutter and a *proper cargo van. You still only really need 3 or 4 different picks and some basic auto opening tools though.


*Proper is a flexible term. My van is a 97 with 175,000 miles on it.

[billdeserthills]

We do a similar thing but we don't replace deadlatches with passage latches. We replace with a deadlatch and move the strike to the correct place. We then usually have to open up the deadbolt strike with a doe grinder like you do, but for deepening holes we leave the plate in and use a laminate trimmer with a bit set to 1 1/16", takes about 10 seconds. We charge by the hour with a minimum of 1/2 hour.

Here in arizona, the periods during the monsoon season, when all the doors swell up from the extra humidity in the air and the Hot summer, when all the humidity seems to leave make our doors swell & dry out more than the width of the deadlatch, which makes it almost impossible to keep that little tab from falling into the latch hole at some period during the year. I started using passage latches to avoid warranty return calls for broken deadlatches. But I would tend to agree with you, otherwise.