Estimated Income for Locksmith

[mattman]

I was looking at some data and statistics on the internet, and came up with some figures that I thought I would run by you all to see if I seeing them correctly.

- First, the national average (here in the U.S.) for a locksmith income is around $35,000 per year.

- Second, depending upon what source you look at, it takes a population of 20,000-40,000 to support one locksmith. I'll just say 30,000 as a happy medium.

So when we take the average income of $35,000 and divide it by the average population of 30,000 to support that income, we come up with $1.16 per person.

Now, does it make sense that if we take the population of a service area, divide it by the number of locksmiths in that area, and multiply it by $1.16, we should get the estimated income for a locksmith in that area? For example, my service area is around 4,000 people, and I am the only locksmith in that area. So...

4,000 / 1 x $1.16 = $4640 per year.

Does that sound realistic?

- Matt

[maintenanceguy]

It might work but it misses a few really important variables.

1) How does your area compare to the "average". Is it mostly upscale homes with homeowners who will always contract all repairs to their home or is it a blue collar town where most homeowners will buy and install their own locks?

2) How much marking and sales skill and experience do you have. I've had several businesses, some did well, some did not. Marketing, sales, and a good business plan are much much more important to your success than your trade skills are. There are lots of successful people who don't even know how to do whatever it is their business does. There are lots of people barely making a living who are amazing craftspeople but lousy at sales and marketing.

3) Just because your business will be one of 5 in the area won't mean you should expect 1/5 of the available work. The other four have already established a relationship with the buying public in your town and already have credit accounts in place with all the big commercial customers. Getting your foot in the door takes time and lots of work.

4) To stay in business, you'll need to meet your customer's needs. If you have to turn down work because you don't own a particular tool or don't have an account with a particular manufacturer, word will get out that it's just easier to call the other guy. To meet the customer's needs, you'll need equipment and inventory. If the full time locksmiths have $70,000 in inventory and equipment (probably much higher), you'll have a hard time maintaning this and only making $4,000 per year. Economies of scale come into play here.

And lots and lots of other variables I'm sure I missed.

[mattman]

Hello maintenanceguy!

Yes, I thought about all of those variables, which is why I called it an estimate. I was just thinking of a way to figure out an average estimated income based upon the population of a service area. I realize that there will be some locksmiths who will make more than $35,000 a year, and some that will make less, based upon their marketing, their skills, reputation, etc.

The reason that I was thinking about this was that I've just seen a lot of people asking how much they could make in the locksmithing trade, and was simply wondering if this would be a good way of giving them a general idea of what they could expect based upon the size of their service area.

Thanks for your insights!

- Matt

[maxxed]

You should also look at what other skills you have than can expand the market for you. Perhaps doing small carpentry jobs will help you make a go of it
Alarm systems, video camera's, access control and safe work are other services I provide. Having a variety of things to do in a day makes the job much more interesting

[adrenalynn]

We started out just doing video. Then video and access control. That was a natural fall over into the other premise security forms.

We crush your estimates so horrendously that those numbers crawl under a rock and hide.

As Maint. mentioned, there's no guarantees. If you know business you'll destroy those who don't. If you don't, you'll get destroyed by those who do.

And if you move into an area that hasn't been aggressively marketed, you can further grow the market beyond that just by building it and then selling into it.

[adrenalynn]

[shoot, sorry, that wasn't Maint. but rather Maxxed. Mea Culpa!]

[mattman]

You should also look at what other skills you have than can expand the market for you. Perhaps doing small carpentry jobs will help you make a go of it

Right now I am working at a full-time job, and doing locksmithing part-time (it will probably stay that way considering the population of my service area). I opened my business a little over a month ago as just a lockout service, and I was going to expand into other locksmithing services later on. But my customers have already "forced" me to expand into other services, such as rekeying, lock replacement, etc. As they say, your customers will decide the services that you offer.

- Matt

[mattman]

We crush your estimates so horrendously that those numbers crawl under a rock and hide.

LOL! I guess that answers my question of whether this is a good idea of estimating.

As Maint. mentioned, there's no guarantees. If you know business you'll destroy those who don't. If you don't, you'll get destroyed by those who do.

And if you move into an area that hasn't been aggressively marketed, you can further grow the market beyond that just by building it and then selling into it.

I studied business in college (didn't get a degree, but hopefully learned a lot). I hope that will help in marketing and managing my business.

- Matt

[LocksmithArmy]

It says 30,000 people are needed in the average area to support the average locksmith.

It dosn't say all 30,000 people need to call you.

I saw some stats somewhere that 5-10% of people need a locksmith

Ill use 10 cause its simpler:

10% of 30,000 is 3,000

now take that 35,000 that average locksmith made and rewrite your equasion.

35,000 / 3,000 = $11.67 or so

now that is still low

sounds like if u charged your 3,000 people a reasonable amount you could make quite a living

now those are just lockout statistics just imagine if you added other services

[Tempature]

I make around 2000 a month as an apprentice, but it only goes way up from their.

The main locksmith in our shop (besides the owner) drives one of the vans all day on jobs. he makes purely commissions and gets around 7000 a month.

so it can indeed be a very lucrative occupation.

[globallockytoo]

I am in business in St Louis and making roughly $3-5K per month locksmithing. Been in business almost 2 years here. I started with a 5 year plan and am making significantly more than I expected in such a short time. I have much more competition in the city, but if you stick roughly to your business plan, you can do well. I choose not to originate keys for automobiles and still get 5-10 calls per week for car work. I do openings, rekeys and master key systems primarily. I install biometric access control systems, telephone entry systems, deadbolts, knobs and most any locking product. I also repair doors, like adjusting hinges and replacing sliding door rollers. I also sell unique physical security products online across America.

You need to diversify to maintain some edge, but above all else be fair with your pricings, perform quality work, always be punctual and friendly and always ask for testimonials that you can put on your website.

Build a website and constantly input new content, then with all your maintenance of the website you will begin to see a natural generic rise in the search engines which will add significantly to your credibility.

Good Luck!