What you need to start a uk locksmith business

[naffy]

Sounds like good advise londonlocky.

I'm just starting out. This web site thing is a bit confusing and I'm not sure where start.

How do you go about getting a web site? How much does it cost?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[londonlocky]

Hi Naffy,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Been crazy busy for the last few days.

I think there are probably lots of good web site design companies out there. They would do a better job than I could do explaining it.

To be honest, I still don't know much about it. I don't need to. Our web design company took care of everything. They just asked me questions about my business and they took care of the rest. They had already built web sites for other locksmiths, that's how I heard about them.

Anyway, got to go.

Someone once said: Never, ever let your mates brother, who's "good with computers", build your business web site.

Good luck with the business.

[naffy]

An other locksmith recommended a web site design company called Woweb on www.woweb.co.uk

He said they do lots of locksmith sites. I called them up , they seemed ok and they know the industry. At least they could understand me and I could understand them.

Has anyone else heard of them?

[lockpicker69]

hi

I have been wanting to start up on my own for a long time now ,I currently work for the local council where I do all the evictions , people losing keys ,changing locks after break-ins ,repairing door frames ,cutting keys ,keying locks alike ,repairing locks ect.
I did 5 years with a master locksmith day release finishing in 2002, I did not learn anything about the curtain picks for the B/S locks we used to drill them but as some one said earlier being 1mm out can be a nightmare, and it looks better if you can pick them open and put a new lever pack in and you are saving the customer money and will probably get recommended. I need to invest in some curtain picks and maybe even a 1 or 2 day B/S picking and decoding course which will not be cheap but I want everything right and in place before I do go on my own which will be soon.

A locksmith who I used to work with put an advert in the yellow pages a few years back and he was only getting 2 callouts a week not enough to live on yer , and now in our area there are double the amount of so called locksmiths in the yellow pages to what there was 10 years ago,it’s a cut throat game and most people do it for the love of it not the money .

[londonlocky]

Yes. The yellow pages is expensive and you're competing with loads of other locksmiths. Everyone is trying to outspend everyone else with bigger and bigger ads.

If you can get good web site with a good position in the search engines for local searches you won't need the yp.

[MickTJ]

An other locksmith recommended a web site design company called Woweb on www.woweb.co.uk

He said they do lots of locksmith sites. I called them up , they seemed ok and they know the industry. At least they could understand me and I could understand them.

Has anyone else heard of them?

Yep! They did my site too and I highly recommend them too. It's rare to find such a decent company these days. Spoke to loads of web design companies but Woweb stood head and shoulders above the rest.

Now my web site is faster, looks better and gets way more hits which means more business for me.

I give them 10/10.

[lockpicker69]

yes a website is defo the way to go these days ,its a great advertisement on the side of your van ,looks real pro and lets people look without feeling obliged.
i am just in the process of getting one up and running .
do you mind me asking how much you were charged ?
richard

[lockpick1968]

If you have any friends or ones you know well at local radio stations is a very good way to get your advertisement out to public.

[lockpick1968]

I did forget to mention that the on the air advertisement runs you about $75 or close to it a month.
I have magetic signs made up I use on the sides of the vehicle that way I can remove them when cleaning the vehicle and if they get worm out out easy to replace than the ones that use the scotch permanent lettering that causes a horrible mess if ever having to be taken off.

[Spacey]

That really was very detailed thank-you!!Do you know sites that will give a discount for alot of items?

[ekrem]

Thankyou for your help was very usefull, just starting out, yours first that I read,thanks.

[toomush2drink]

Anyone thinking of starting up as a locky now needs to think long and hard,the market is saturated with people "giving it a go"

Its 4 years since my original post and although im established its crazy the amount giving it ago at present. Many are undercutting each other as they don't get many calls but in t he process are killing their own market as they force prices down.

Unless you have contract work it is highly unlikely you will make it as a new start up in this market chasing the domestic work. Every new start up does the same old thing of chasing the same sources of work, im glad im not doing that.

Just placed a 10k order with yp and have a website that is well established on the search engines.These sources of work don't provide enough to survive on without the contract stuff.

Read that again £10000 on yellow pages alone. It gets me a lot of work but not enough to survive on.

I prefer to tell it how it is as so many are throwing money away on training courses that only teach people how to open locks.The majority of my work is NOT opening locks its day to day service work.
How many courses teach how to remove an ali door or adjust an armour plate glass door ?
Luckily i gained experience in these areas from various sources and contacts.

At present i get emails each week from new start ups asking if i can give them some experience. Errrm yeah right...why would i train the competition in my area ?

Want to make money ?
Locksmithing will take you years to earn good money unless your already established and put in a lot of hardwork over the years.

Take up ariel fitting instead as thats where the money is.

[NickBristol]

Just want to echo what Toomush says... I'm a couple of years down the line since starting up and it is seriously hard work, every week of the year, to earn a decent living.

Customers are being much more price conscious due to the slowing economy over here, so they are more likely to go with the fresh start up who will charge a pittance just to get the work. One letting agent I did quite regular work for stopped using me for gaining entry work in favour of a guy who charged a tenner! He rarely actually did the job tho - if it wasn't a nightlatch that could be slipped or euro that could be snapped he'd walk away 'to get a tool' and never come back. Fortunately I'm back doing the work for that agent again because he realised that reliability was worth paying for.

If you can get contract work, or find a niche market to push, then you can still make a living. If not, then you could easily go days between calls - leaving you sat on top of a pile of expensive kit earning nothing with a mortgage to pay.

The practical side of being a locksmith, from opening to fitting to repairing etc, is important - but don't ever underestimate just how many extra skills in business management, advertising, selling, negotiating, accounting and IT you will need if you want to last longer than your savings or credit card limit!

[buzzer32]

hi im currently trayding under the name of absentkeys locksmith ide just like to say that ive been doing this for about6 monthes. i done my training at a1 locksmith training in hereford. fanatastic course i looked at lots of others and decided others just wasnt long enough to learn much at a1 bob teaches u not just the basics but a lot of other things to after 2 weeks with bob u then go on to 1 week field training this can be anywhere in the country but wont be near you. doing this was great because u get to have hands on skills and actually deal with customers. after this course i was verry confident of going it alone. bob can allso arrange a tools and stock package only available through him and its great vallue

well all the best
buzzer

[buzzer32]

hi im currently trayding under the name of absentkeys locksmith ide just like to say that ive been doing this for about6 monthes. i done my training at a1 locksmith training in hereford. fanatastic course i looked at lots of others and decided others just wasnt long enough to learn much at a1 bob teaches u not just the basics but a lot of other things to after 2 weeks with bob u then go on to 1 week field training this can be anywhere in the country but wont be near you. doing this was great because u get to have hands on skills and actually deal with customers. after this course i was verry confident of going it alone. bob can allso arrange a tools and stock package only available through him and its great vallue

well all the best
buzzer

sorry about the spwlling n stuff lol