Questions and Comments on UK Lockie Business

[CaptB]

I totally agree with Pinky,
I`m in my first year of trading, my outlay so far is around 3k but i`m still adding tools and increasing lock quantities (some of the jobs i get off a pub chain can require 5 - 10 locks in one hit on a repossession).
Advertising i`m finding hit and miss. Most of all i`m finding it expensive, but the customers are keeping me as theyre locksmith starting to get recommendations. Plus checking your areas advertising helps. I missed yellow pages for this year.
I work on a fixed charge of £45.00 for an opening and includes upto the first hour (which for a replacement mortice or cylinder is enough time to fit within the same cost).
for the cost of the training you`ll get an idea of what you are doing or need to do. But the important thing is to practice. Most cylinders I come across are opened in a maximum of a minute and mortice locks average around 5mins. But you do come across some locks now and again which are rock solid, parts broken in lock, superglue, levered locks with screwdrivers. But all problems have a solution. Main thing is to take your time and get it right. I`ve had one customer that was a complete nightmare but at least 70 that have been the best customers you could come across. Even got a tip at 1am last Saturday.
If your serious about setting up find out what competition you`ve got in your area. Dial 118247, look through the yellow pages etc.
One thing i`ve found out to my advantage and i`m picking a lot of customers up from this, is that nearly all locksmiths in my area won`t go out for lockouts after 5pm.
Most importantly you`ll find plenty of people want you to fail but very few want to see you succeed. You`ll get knock backs just get back up and carry on.

[bonez]

nice post captb

i to have spent a massive outlay in the past 12 months'picks,decoders,
van,etc.
And yes you do get knock backs and poeple wanting you to fail!

i'm a year into this trade and not ready to set up fully and advertise
but do it part time as well as my fulltime job,and the rewards are
fantastic!

To pick at the door is second to none,to see the reaction of a customer
is enough to make my day!

i get work word of mouth,as pinky said you need a few years in to do
domestic and commercial.

so i take my time,practice,buy my kit.

here's to the future and the good times.

all the best

j.

[CaptB]

what were you doing prior to locksmithing bonez?

[bonez]

20 years glass & glazing mate.

[pinky]

and in building slowly and perfecting the skills , you are building your business, and making it healthy, or as healthy as it can be in current climate.

yet 2000 plus people a year still go for training and believe they will master a trade in 2 days, see nothing wrong in trashing doors and charging customers for their own lack of skill, whilst learning.
i digresss, after all, the last time we tried to spell out the truth about set up, we was accused of trying to put people off as afraid of the competition, i wonder if their still trading now.

well done guys, and keep building up the reputation.

[New-York-Locksmith]

some weeks you wont get any calls, as people dont lock themself out to order

<.< >.> You could always wriite an article for a local or national newspaper. Claim to be a happily married young successful female who one night locked herself out and had to call a locksmith, begining a magical relationship. Ending the article with, if your looking for that hardworking blah blah blah man, try locking yourself out and calling your local locksmith

you're killing me.... .....laughter aside - locksmithin' is a great way to meet people.

[CaptB]

Anyone who can believe they know a business within 2 days would be better off selling avon.

I`ve been a carpenter since 1990 and don`t class myself as a master carpenter, i still do a lot of carpentry aswell as my other work and will never
call myself a master of any trade. Every trade is always developing.

But getting back to locksmithing what you learn in 2 days is a sniff at a business. You have learnt the minimum.

I worked for a large company cant say names. But my contract manager
was transfered on contract to another contract. The branch manager died, and they were replaced by :- An assistant contracts manager (an air con engineer with no management or building experience). And a supervisor who also had no building experience. Instead of absorbing the skill base from underneath theyre ivory tower and listening to guys who have been doing the jobs for most of their life they treaded through it like a mine field. Which earlier this year left me with a 1/4 ton lift landing on my ankle. Can`t go into to much detail due to an ongoing liability case but I could have quite easily been killed and the guy I was working along side had his head in the same place as my ankle a couple of minutes before.

Point being not only does lack of training and experience do damage to property it could also potentially kill.

The company I was working for assumed that by withdrawing the equipment requested and the number of people needed for the job would save them money. But if they were experienced they would have realised why everything was requested. Your probably thinking why did I carry on with the job? quite simply your penalised if you don`t do as your told. But
knowing what i know now I should have called it a day then and just left the company. I now have an ankle which needed to be rested for 4 months otherwise it potentially could never heal. (odd thing with that was even after the injury i still worked 2 weeks to finish projects no-one else could complete for the company). I still have a lot of pain and will take upto 2yrs to heal. Lost over £6,000 in wages but im still smiling.
My life is on track i`m still here and it could have quite easily gone the other way. Moral of the story look before you leap.. If your going to invest
£500+ on a course think about what its worth to you and what you can learn from it. But it most definitly is the beginning not the middle or the end of the book.

[sg]

I have been reading all these posts with intrest and as a newbie felt i must reply.
Im a plumber Gas fitter by trade and been working for the local authority as a subie for years. I have always been fasinated with locks the point being working on a price doing gas tests etc the oppertunity arose that i could change the locks, cylinder and motice when i checked a void property for a few extra quid. great so after doing this for 18 months or so i got to now differant locks etc and then did a few false entrys (driller killer) I enjoyed the work so wanting to be proffesional i paid out £900.00 on a five day training course after reading there blurb making me think that this was going to make me the ultimate locksmith. How wrong i was.
Yes they explained how a cylinder works and how a mortice lock works and gave you a few demos but my feelings now is that all these training centers are making a killing praying on people who think that they can be a locksmith over night as they couldn't answer questions that i kept asking. The moral is i feel is if your serious about locksmithing research is the key and patiance i have learnt so much from reading threads from this forum and practising at home, i have also spent at least 2.5k on training and tools yet im not even trading as a lockie, i don't feel im confident going upto to a door and learning as im trying to open it in front of the customer is very profesional. but i will get there.
sg

[CJM]

Yes!!!!!!!! A man with sense, good luck sg

[New-York-Locksmith]

sg -
each one has a different rhythm - I know many people who had the nerve to go to people's doors without knowing anything...and I think it's really OK - just as long as you introduce yourself as a new lockie - and promise the job getting delivered - even if it'll take you all day long. This business is composed of a million and one different tasks - and there is no chance in the world of training yourself for every single situation you may need to handle - that's just life - gotta dive in sometimes - even with no swimming skills....

[SEVEN]

Joinery skills ,6 months studing locks, 900 hundred on a course ,2.5 grand on tools and training, a few driller killer openings but lacking confidence .Stick to the gas your obviously on a canny screw to blow money like that with no return.I think I'll join corgi.

[acl]

A corgi reg guy is a lot harder to find than a locksmith nowdays

[Blobbo]

Hi all, total newbie here.

I have been interested in the Locksmith trade for years but personal circs meant I went a different route. I have picked a couple of Yales and padlocks for neighbours in the past when they have done the "got p**sed and left keys in pub" thing (usually cos landlord has taken car keys and dozy muppet didnt get house keys back).

Is it worth approaching a small local lockie shop and offering services as general dogsbody and shop assistant? I know that some of the "one man band" lockies have to close up shop if doing an installation or lockout. Just an idea. I wouldnt touch some of the courses offered as I know from experience that you can never master any trade in 3 days, or 3 weeks.

Cheers
Blob

[Shrub]

Working in a lockie shop if only cutting keys to begin with is the best thing you can do, you wil learn all the basics thats needed and you can build from that,

Non of these courses as far as i know teach you how to be a lockie, they tell you how a lock can be opened with or without practical demos, fitting a lock, cutting keys to code, solving lock problems etc etc simply arent covered,

Ok the MLA is a long and draw out process but they have you douijng some time on the basics before even telling how a lock is picked,

A stint in a key shop or even better a dogs body for a lockie even with low or no wage is a great start imho but as you say you will be lucky to get such an opening,

[New-York-Locksmith]

That's exactly what I think, Shrub.
I have a feeling that in order to learn the locksmith business right, we need to bring back the "Master and Apprentice" system. All these courses give you a nice introduction to the biz - but nothing teaches you better than actually working in the field. It may take a little healthy HUTZPA, to go and seek a professional locksmith and ask him to teach you the biz (in exchange for not getting payed...) - but I'm sure there are a few locksmiths out there who would like the extra hand...