What you need to start a uk locksmith business

[Wallaby]

I think Evored has hit it pretty much on the head ... 3 weeks is a long time for the basics and you must be paying to sit there and practice .... for thre weeks, I would expect full PVC and Auto. Most basic course are a couple of days and then you can take further courses on NDE etc as required ... as with all things, you can be shown how to do something and then spend months practising to do it well ...
picking locks is no exception and I dont think course length is any sign of quality ...

[pinky]

to answer these questions, the A1 course is a good basic course, but does not teach the picking of the BS3621 mortice locks nor the range of BS3621 picks, so you will be paying again to learn this, or you will be a driller killer.

again 3 weeks is not enough to be a competent locksmith, how can anyone expect to learn an industry in just 3 weeks ? if you could really spend £2800 and be an expert earning £1500 + per week, wouldnt everyone be doing it ?

why not go on a 3 day course, learn all opening methods, and spend a month practiceing these methods at home for 25% of the cost, spend the saving on the tools and picks that you must have, makes more sense to me.

no course you go on can teach you to be a locksmith, other than the mla course which will take you at least 3 years to complete and cost nearer £10,000. all a private course can teach you is the opening and fitting methods, from this you must practice these methods to become competent.
to drill a lock for profit or to get your customer in asap as is a common excuse is being a cowboy not a locksmith, and you will never get the high paying contract work, without this you wont last 12 months, i can pick any BS3621 lock probably quicker than you can set your drill up and make the hole, thats also assuming that you have drilled the right spot, 1mm out and you are in the crapper. drilling is not going to earn you a long term liveing.

how can it turn into £15,000 in first year ?
ok as toomush says a quick breakdown ( rough only )

basic lock picks, ie , pick gun, letterbox kit, 2 in 1 picks, jigglers , tubular picks, drill template kits, h/p drill bits etc etc etc Approx £2000

BS 3621 Picks to cover an average area ie chubb 3G114, legge , era invincible, profit , union , securefast, 5g and 7g curtain picks £2200

other tools, generator , drills etc etc £500

advertiseing 1st year, YP , Scoot , 118247 , local ads , mailshots etc £3000

misc , ie , 0800 No's , stationary , uniform etc etc £500

Stock
consider that their is 17 different sizes of euro in two colours so thats 34 cylinders to have just 1 of each size in each colour, some houses have 3 doors so its now 102 cylinders stocked to guarantee doing just 1 job, now consider this across the range of mortice locks, adams rite locks, cases, rims, cabinet locks, padlocks etc etc etc

average stock for mobile locksmith to carry £4000

what about key cutting machines , blanks , etc etc etc

what about van

what about fuel cost, accountant etc

what about insurances

what about setting up credit card terminal

what about training costs

a £15,000 is a low set up cost for many locksmiths.

of course you can by just a drill and a few locks and go sub contract to some nationals for £12 to £20 a job, but you will never be a locksmith and you will never get the high paying work.

this is assuming that even after training and practice you can actualy do the job.

as to if no money in it then why so many training firms, 90% of the training companies offering courses were trained by justlocks on a 2 day course some 5 years ago some less than 5 months ago, as their is little work around for locksmiths who are not fully non destructive and well established they turn to training instead, easy money taking cash from people who think for £600 they will be an expert earning £1000 + per week , quick easy money, easier than investing in the business and taking years to build this business up !

check your area. how many locksmiths working it ? in mine there is 90 , how many people do you think actualy lock themself out, im busy because i offer a free like for like lock if i drill yours , i dont drill and im rarely at the door more than 10 minutes, who will you ring the driller at a rip off price or the locksmith ?

i promise you, if you think this industry is easy money for low outlay, and that you will be an expert in weeks, then good luck, as you will wish you heeded this advice later down the line.
some are lucky and will make it on a budget, most will not, depends 100% on your ability and your area. oh and how deep your pockets are.

of the hundreds of dreamers who go on a course each year , less than 10% actualy set up, less than 5% are still in business 12 months later.
why does this sound doom and gloom ? do you really think you can change your career and set up a successfull business in under 12 months on a few thousand pounds ? it can be a very rewarding and high earning business, but like any other business you must invest alot of time , money and honest graft to make it a profitable successfull business, and offer something your competition dont or cant offer. not likely in under 12 months and on just a few thousand pounds.

believe these posts, or dont, this is your choice, believe the hype put out by some trainers, again its your choice, after all its your money, we are just trying to help.

[acl]

SJ85, i really hope you take notice of whats been said so far,these guys arent trying to put you off theyre telling you how it is,training is going to be expensive,stock is going to be expensive and so are tools,but i think the fact you are on this site sets you aside from the "quick buck merchants" it tells me you are actually interested in locks/lockpicking.You are already ahead of the "grand a week guys"
If after reading this thread you still want to be a locksmith then id advise you to get yourself down to Halls ,Cambs Master Locksmiths or any other reputable company and BEG for an apprenticeship/trainee ,you never know your luck.If you think they wont be able to pay you enough then perhaps you should think on another career. 2ndly id call Pinky or Ken and get yourself on one of their courses because from what i can gather thats where youre going to get the best training.
I think anyone wanting to be a locksmiths nowdays has a disadvantage in that there are hundreds of wannabes about that they have to compete with,but on the plus side you now have guys who are really passionate about the trade like Pinky,Al etc who are willing to share their knowledge with those that are interested.
anyone tell ive had a couple tonight?!
Regards Andy

[t8769]

Many thanks for the excellent information.


A question though..

I understand that there may not be much proffit for the first year or two.

If I am prepared to work nights, and be on call 24hs, would that push up the income by much?

I'm in London.


Thanks

[t8769]

I appreciate your advice about trainers.

I've spoken to some guys with schools who claim that, afer 3 days, I'll be rolling in cash, lighting cigars with £100 notes and flipping through yaght brochures.

[toomush2drink]

Im in london too and advertise 24 hour but then look at how many others do? Most of my work is daytime bread and butter stuff like fitting locks, unfortunately its not like the paddington green programme.

[oldlock]

I remember that the locksmith in paddington green - (this is the 1st series I am talking about, not sure if there have been more?) had film crews following him around off & on for 3 months - and they could not find anything more interesting to show than they did ???

Paul

[sj85]

Wallaby, pinky, acl

Thanks again, all sobering stuff, lots more thinking to be done.

I thought i had the training sorted but can see what you're saying. I still really want to enter into the industry but i'll carry on with my research for the time being.

Cheers

[pinky]

the advice T was based on you covering 24 hours 7 days a week

[latchman]

Hi everyone

i`m looking to buy a decent pick set to get me gaining entry in a more none aggresive way as i usualy do.

for me its usualy drill-it, i work on rented propertys & evictions for the local government council and it sometimes ends in a new door. i want to take a different approach.
although i`m not new to locks as i`ve been fitting them most of my working life. i feel that it`s time to explore other areas. any advice on a mid to top of the range pick set would be most welcomed. mainly working with 5 lever mortice sash locks & yale 5 pin cylinders.

Thanx in advance

[AUTOLOX]

for me its usualy drill-it, i work on rented propertys & evictions for the local government council and it sometimes ends in a new door.

A new door, that's a bloody BIG drill bit

[toomush2drink]

Latchman you need to get yourself over to the european section and look at the threads on curtain picks for the mortice locks but be warned it takes a whole lot of practice. The only other way is to invest in all the bs lock decoders and pin and cam systems so you can open them this way. Basically which ever route you go down if you cannot id the lock first through the key hole then your in trouble.
Checkout the safeventures.com website for prices but this isnt the only supplier of curtain picks but the only one for decoders. Also remember you need training on how to use the kit too.

[t8769]

I understand that starting in the locksmith business can set me back, gasp, 15k.

But is it possible to start small, work out of a car with a large boot, not buy the van and all the stock, but buy a small amount of stoc, then build up...

Or does one have to plonk the whole lot down to start...

Thanks again

T

[pinky]

you can start with no stock, but you cant do 90% of jobs, say you buy 10 euros, chances are you need 3 of a size you dont have.
most call outs are pm jobs, so you cannot just shoot off to buy a lock, to be honest its not worth starting up with less than £1500 in mixed stock, otherwise you cannot complete most jobs.

everyone looks for the cheap start up, but to be honest , it just wont work.

you can cut costs and work from car for a while, but without stock tools etc you cannot take alot of jobs and virtualy no profitable contract work, so you can cut down a bit .

take note of cass on site, spent , tried to set up , but has had to go back to paid employment, everyone thinks its an easy and cheap business to set up in, sadly its not !
if you set up on a small budget, your returns will be very small indeed, set up fully stocked you have more chance of covering all work, but may still fail without full nde skills etc, as trust me the work for newcommers just isnt their without alot of sweat and tears, its now bloody tough just to make a meager living, due to the drill it and scarper merchants and the amount of so called under trained guys tradeing as lockeys.

my honest advice is unless you have deep deep pockets, a passion for locks and happy to graft for very little for up to 2 years before seeing a return , then dont bother as you will regret it.

grim picture , but true depiction of uk industry today, without good contract work you wont eat, without being fully tooled up and stocked as well as respected in industry and established you wont get contract work, all fact im sorry to say.

[toomush2drink]

Recently i have had a few calls from people who have read this thread and would like more info. Whilst im all for helping others let me make it quite clear im not going to start telling you which adverts are most effective for my business or where i get most of my work from.
Im beginning to wonder if a few of these calls are the competition calling to see if they can get an edge.

ANYONE THINKING OF STARTING UP AS A LOCKSMITH BE WARNED, YOU WONT START EARNING A £1000 A WEEK AFTER DOING A SHORT COURSE.

Im sorry if this seems harsh but so many people have obviously read this thread and then rung me up all of them all seem shocked when i tell it how it is. If starting up a business and making £1000 a week was that easy wouldnt everybody be doing it and living in huge houses and driving flash cars ? Come on people wake up and smell the coffee it takes a lot of hard graft and you learn from your mistakes and some can be costly too.

This guide was only intended as a help in the right direction for those prepared to put in the hard work required. Think about 3 year business plans and you can see what i mean by hard graft.Judging by the calls ive had it seems people stick their head in the sand over the boring running costs side of the business like advertising. Well i can only say "more fool you" but at least it will mean a load of cheap tools becoming available for sale for the rest of us.