Fast Tracking It

[1mrchristopher]

This last fall I took a facilities locksmith course as part of my day job, to help deal with the fact that the small town we live in has one part time locksmith who was reportedly becoming less reliable.

I loved the course, and was very excited to get started, but other work projects put it on hold until earlier this spring. I made the initial equipment order for the county government that I am employed by, and in the meantime an employee from the health department contacted the local locksmith because they needed more of a certain key, and wanted to let him know at the same time that I would be taking over the responsibility for their locks.

That same afternoon he called me, and asked me if I'd thought about doing locksmith work on my own time as well, and if I would be interested in taking over the business. I was floored, because I was very interested and was hoping for just such a situation. Our area isn't really big enough to make it a full time job, unless I wanted to service a hundred mile radius, and I really don't mind my day job either.

He dropped by my office and we visited, and he was very encouraging. My supervisor too thought it was a great idea, and even told me that until I had all of my own equipment that he didn't mind my using the counties, provided I treat it well.

My now mentor handed me a mini .003 kit and set up a first job for me (installing a couple deadbolts) and keying the existing knobs to match, and it's been building ever since.

Then a month ago perusing craigslist, I found a 95 Astro completely kitted out as a locksmith van, including 2500W inverter, ancillary battery, Blitz, Ilco 45, large lab .003 pinning kit, master lock pinning kit, and assorted blanks and hardware, all for $3500.00. I didn't have that kind of money, so I went and talked with family, who agreed that it seemed like very fortunate timing, and we drove halfway across the state of Montana to pick it up.

I've now got a business name, business cards (and business card magnets), and have had one in the wild call. I have jobs scheduled for this week, and I also have several jobs lined up, and am just waiting on suppliers for the stuff I need. That's one very nice thing about living in a small town - almost everything has to be ordered, regardless of trade or market - so it isn't looked down on if you haven't got exactly what they need on the van.

Now, since I'm very new at this, I have some questions:

1. Has anyone tried the Blue Boar hole saws for cutting their 2 1/8" holes in wood or metal doors?
2. My cordless drill is 6 years old, with 6 year old batteries, and it's a Ryobi, known more for it's price point than it's durability and longevity. Needless to say, it doesn't really make lock installs enjoyable. I do have a good Makita corded drill, and plenty of extension cord, do I make due with that for the time being, or do I really need to get a new 1/2" cordless sooner rather than later?
3. What's one piece of advice you would give a guy just jumping into these waters?

[hjlocks]

Welcome to a fun and life-saving* career!

I'll lump 1 and 3 together. One of the best time saving tools I've found is the Kwikset installation kit. Short of a chisel and a drill it has every piece of equipment you need for either metal or wood door lock installs, and contrary to the quality of their locks, everything is extremely well made. The only thing it's missing is a 1" auger bit for mortise locks.

2. You'll probably want a new cordless, but that'll largely depend on your difficulty in finding somewhere to plug in the extension cord. If you can reliably use the corded drill do that and keep the old cordless as a backup.

I also highly recommend a small powered screwdriver. It may only save you 10-15 seconds per screw, but when you rekey an entire house those 15 seconds can turn into 5 minutes.

*I get no less than 2 people a month who tell me I saved their life by unlocking their house, car, pool ect...

[1mrchristopher]

Thanks for the reply, I'm a very lucky guy in that my mentor gave me a Kwikset install kit that was given to him by his mentor. It's seen at least a thousand doors, but it's still perfectly functional. I'm with you on the new cordless drill, and I was thinking about that screwdriver too. Have to get some more coming in though before I can put out for some of the nicer toys. Just had to order $100.00 worth of blanks, and that more than covers what I earned doing the work today. All in!

[2octops]

Just had to order $100.00 worth of blanks, and that more than covers what I earned doing the work today. All in!

You're not charging enough if you had a paying job that included a trip to the customers location, any labor at all and any parts mark up and didn't clear $100-$150 AT LEAST.

Buy a new cordless drill. The Ryobi's will not hold up to daily use and abuse that we put them through for very long. I've tried them and know others that have as well. About 8-12 months is about their lifespan, but you can make a heck of a lot of money in that time period and upgrade when it wears out.

You don't need a battery powered screwdriver. Buy a GOOD ratcheting screwdriver (Snap-On SSDMR4B on ebay is less than $40 or about $65 on the truck and you'll never wear it out) and you will be just as fast and will not have to worry about keeping another battery charged.

Here's what I would recommend you do, and I've given this advice here many times. You are in a great position since you have a full time job. Take all of your profits and split them evenly 3 ways. One part goes to pay back any loans. One part goes into a slush fund for purchasing new equipment or tools. The third goes into your business account and only gets spent on gas and parts orders. Don't pay yourself a dime for a year and you should be in good shape if you continue to do the work.

[1mrchristopher]

Well, yesterday I rekeyed an old Weiser knob on a back door to the same key as the front door (another old Weiser knob) and cut 4 keys for same. I only charged $15.00 for the rekey, and $3.25 on each key, which may not be enough, but their were mitigating circumstances that left me feeling that charging more wouldn't be appropriate. The other job was to provide keys for a camper, all of which had been lost. For practice, I impressioned the compartment key (and boy were they impressed that a key could be made to fit a lock with a little time and a file), and the Trimark handle-set, I picked, pulled the plug on the deadbolt, and cut keys to fit. They wanted a total of 4 keys for each, and I included one key for each lock in the cost of the job, so $50.00 labor (minimum 1 hour charge) plus 6 keys at 3.25 each and they were thrilled. While I may not have charged quite enough on that one, they just came into the area to develop some properties and told me flat out that they would be in touch, so maybe I got some repeat business out of the deal. They were buying the camper from a local who had lost all the keys, and are using it as their construction office.

I don't want to give my services away - at the same time I want to be careful not to be perceived as gouging people looking for my service. I live in a relatively small town, and reputation is very important. I don't think my mentor, who has been doing the work in this area for 14-15 years has raised his prices much over the years, and I don't know how in touch he is with current prices in other parts of the country. If anyone wants to PM me some pricing guidelines that they are using, I'd be grateful.

Thanks 2octops for your ideas. As my Ryobi is already 6 years old, you can imagine the state it is in. I think it's replacement is moving closer and closer to the top of the priority list.

[2octops]

Did you not charge for a service call for going out on each job?

That money is to cover the cost, overhead and future replacement of the service vehicle and the tools inside. You can't drive anywhere for free. The average service call is between $50-$125 per trip.

Since you are the only game in town, you can afford to be on the higher side of average even on your labor. What would it have cost those customers to call someone in from another town?

You'll have to decide if you want to run this as a self sustaining and profitable business that can provide for you and your family or if you are just doing it as a hobby that pays for itself. If it's only paying for itself, then you are not charging enough.

Rekeying for $15 is ok as long as the lock has a working key already. If you have to pick it to take it apart, then you should charge more for that. Your duplicate key prices are fair. I would say that your price for originating the keys to the 2 camper locks was a little below average.

I can not stress the importance of making a profit enough. You HAVE to build up your bank account with something. If you do not, what will you do when you need a new code machine, set of tires, transmission, engine or your liability and vehicle insurance comes due? What if you land that mythical job where you suddenly need to purchase $10k worth of hardware and install it next week?

[billdeserthills]

Did you not charge for a service call for going out on each job?

That money is to cover the cost, overhead and future replacement of the service vehicle and the tools inside. You can't drive anywhere for free. The average service call is between $50-$125 per trip.

Since you are the only game in town, you can afford to be on the higher side of average even on your labor. What would it have cost those customers to call someone in from another town?

You'll have to decide if you want to run this as a self sustaining and profitable business that can provide for you and your family or if you are just doing it as a hobby that pays for itself. If it's only paying for itself, then you are not charging enough.

Rekeying for $15 is ok as long as the lock has a working key already. If you have to pick it to take it apart, then you should charge more for that. Your duplicate key prices are fair. I would say that your price for originating the keys to the 2 camper locks was a little below average.

I can not stress the importance of making a profit enough. You HAVE to build up your bank account with something. If you do not, what will you do when you need a new code machine, set of tires, transmission, engine or your liability and vehicle insurance comes due? What if you land that mythical job where you suddenly need to purchase $10k worth of hardware and install it next week?

Well, yesterday I rekeyed an old Weiser knob on a back door to the same key as the front door (another old Weiser knob) and cut 4 keys for same. I only charged $15.00 for the rekey, and $3.25 on each key, which may not be enough, but their were mitigating circumstances that left me feeling that charging more wouldn't be appropriate. The other job was to provide keys for a camper, all of which had been lost. For practice, I impressioned the compartment key (and boy were they impressed that a key could be made to fit a lock with a little time and a file), and the Trimark handle-set, I picked, pulled the plug on the deadbolt, and cut keys to fit. They wanted a total of 4 keys for each, and I included one key for each lock in the cost of the job, so $50.00 labor (minimum 1 hour charge) plus 6 keys at 3.25 each and they were thrilled. While I may not have charged quite enough on that one, they just came into the area to develop some properties and told me flat out that they would be in touch, so maybe I got some repeat business out of the deal. They were buying the camper from a local who had lost all the keys, and are using it as their construction office.

I don't want to give my services away - at the same time I want to be careful not to be perceived as gouging people looking for my service. I live in a relatively small town, and reputation is very important. I don't think my mentor, who has been doing the work in this area for 14-15 years has raised his prices much over the years, and I don't know how in touch he is with current prices in other parts of the country. If anyone wants to PM me some pricing guidelines that they are using, I'd be grateful.

Thanks 2octops for your ideas. As my Ryobi is already 6 years old, you can imagine the state it is in. I think it's replacement is moving closer and closer to the top of the priority list.

My price would have been $45 service call
$35 First Key to trailer
$ 8.50 to rekey standard lock with existing key (for dissasembly
$ 3.25 for each new key
I own my own business, so I don't hafta charge what I feel is an unreasonable fee to rekey a lock. Also I'm the only locksmith in my town and
I intentionally try to keep my prices a bit lower than the out-of-towners. Adding to that is I own my own business so I keep much more of the
profit, which means I still make decent money, even at lower prices.
Sometimes when I'm servicing a home I get to a place where I just won't charge anymore money, even though I found more stuff to fix. Thing is
I don't feel I have to be greedy and I love that, as I dislike greedy people, and I really believe that greed is the root of all evil.

I get that you are just starting out but why not impression the Trimark key? Any other way is a waste of time & work plus
many RV & trailer locks don't come apart. Have you noticed those Trimark jerks have almost 20 different blanks now?
Speaking of that I bet the hardware store doesn't stock those either, which is why I started charging $5.25 for them

I drilled,mortised & installed a couple of deadbolts on some real hardwood doors last week and although I started out using my dewalt 18 volt drill I was soo glad when I gave up on it & switched to a dewalt plug-in drill, as the battery drill can't keep up with plug-in power. The job went much faster and easier with a real drill. I had a ryobi plug-in and a ryobi 18vt and I smashed them after they failed me a couple of days apart. I think I would by Milwaukee tools, but now I have 2 vans stocked with dewalt 18vt tools, so I'm not gonna. One nice thing about Dewalt is you can find the tool itself for about $99. The batteries only work really well for 1 year, for me, even though they are supposed to last 2 years which is a constant expense. I got a car charger, but if I didn't have 3-4 batteries it would never get used, cause it won't charge a warm battery.
I do like a battery powered screwdriver and I usually use the Dewalt 7.2 volt. It is soo much faster plus if a dog tries to nip you it makes a great club (until the battery falls out).

[cledry]

I get 4 years out of Ridgid 18 volt lithium ion batteries at a minimum and use them a lot. The same battery fits a sawzall, circular saw, jig saw, hammer drill, impact driver and a flashlight. They are very fast to recharge as well.

I have noticed though that the latest impact driver and drill has been cheapened up a bit.

Every job we do gets a service call, usually a minimum of 1 hour labour but we have a different rate for working on safes and another rate for electronic locks. We do give free estimates though. We are a little lower on our rekeying at $10 per cylinder, $15 with no key. Keys are the same as our in shop prices, generally $1.25 to $3.50 each.

[1mrchristopher]

I can not stress the importance of making a profit enough. You HAVE to build up your bank account with something.

Now there's a statement that can't be argued, and I may have to take a hard look at how I'm charging. I'm still trying to put together a price list for services, and I have to admit, that old Weiser did have to be picked apart. Are flat rate service charges pretty much industry standard these days? I'm not opposed to basing my pricing in that fashion, I'm just kind of shooting from the hip, and blindfolded at that. While my mentor is a great guy, and did make some money doing this work in the area, he was/is charging less than I am, and I know that part of that is that he hasn't raised prices much over the last 15 years.

I get that you are just starting out but why not impression the Trimark key? Any other way is a waste of time & work plus
many RV & trailer locks don't come apart

I didn't impression the Trimark in part because I didn't have the blanks with me, and in part because it was the older style paddle handle 060-0250, which is really easy to pull the plug from the deadbolt on. Once the plug is pulled, the wafers are stamped with the cut. Fortunately my mentor had some blanks to fit, so I was able to complete the job, and I ordered 10 each of the most common of those 20 some Trimark keyways my mentor runs into around here. Had I been equipped with the proper blanks I probably would have impressioned it, as I hadn't yet been shown how simple a matter it is to pull the plug from the deadbolt. Knowing that trick now, I could easily have it apart, keys cut and back on the door in half the time it would take me to impression it. This definitely speaks to my need for practise.

As far as drills go, I've read some reviews, and I'm looking hard at a Dewalt DCD980M2 which is from their contractor line rather than their household line. It comes with two 20V Li-Ion batteries, each being rated at 4 amp hours. It lists for $279.99 and I have found it online as low as $205.00 Thoughts

[1mrchristopher]

That last sentence, more clearly stated: What are people's thoughts on that unit?

[2octops]

I own my company and set the pricing years ago with flat rate pricing for common jobs and hourly rates for manual labor.

The first thing you have to figure out is your hourly labor rate for creating a profit. Most everyone I know is somewhere between the $75-$125 per hour range right now. When I started this company up we were charging $30 but have increased it regularly (about every 2 years) each January 1 by $5-$10. Same goes for the service call. Gas used to be $1 a gallon but now I spend at least $100 a day per vehicle in fuel alone. Heck I remember buying a new van battery for $29.99 and just replaced one a few weeks ago for $120. I put a $1,100 set of tires on one a few months ago. Even a quart of oil used to be $0.79 and now it's almost $4. Lets face it, inflation has driven the cost of operating higher and higher each year and it's not going to drop any time soon.

After you've played the game for a while, you should be able to start becoming consistent on how long it takes to do a particular task or look at something and estimate pretty close how long it SHOULD take to do it. If installing a deadbolt normally takes about 30 minutes, then it's half of your hourly labor rate. If you can rekey 6 regular cylinders on average, then just do the math and figure out what that price should be. This will do a few things for you and your customers.

Lets take installing a deadbolt for example. It's a half hour labor. Now you know how long you will be on the job and you can schedule out other jobs and actually show up on time (or close to it). It also makes your pricing consistent to your customers and you can estimate the job on the phone. If you charge by the hour and have to charge Bill a half hour but run into some issues on Bob's door and it takes you an hour, Bob might know Bill and think you are ripping him off because you charged him more for the same job. It works out at the end of the year because some will take less time and some will take longer. Flat rate makes your charges consistent to your customers.

I'm not sure how many customers would appreciate you just telling them that you are charging them by the hour and can not give them a firm price until you finish and see how long you actually worked on it.

[1mrchristopher]

If you charge by the hour and have to charge Bill a half hour but run into some issues on Bob's door and it takes you an hour, Bob might know Bill and think you are ripping him off because you charged him more for the same job. It works out at the end of the year because some will take less time and some will take longer. Flat rate makes your charges consistent to your customers.

Point taken. Already I've adjusted pricing on the fly when I felt that the extra time a job took had more to do with equipment and operator than it did with task difficulty, but flat rates do make more sense.

[2octops]

Good.

You're customers should be paying a professional price for a professional job. It's not their fault that you are learning on the job, don't have the proper tooling or equipment and they should not be charged extra for something that is ultimately YOUR responsibility as a professional.

Sure, we all learn on the job and sometimes it takes us 2 hours to do what someone with experience should have been able to do in 30 minutes. Just suck it up and write off the extra time spent as a learning experience. It's all part of being a professional.

[billdeserthills]

That last sentence, more clearly stated: What are people's thoughts on that unit?

That drill looks very good, it has carbide inserts in the chuck which will keep your bits from spinning while you drill.