The cost of locksmiths rapidly changes depending on the service they are perfoming. Most reasons a locksmith quote may sound expensive is due to a call out service fee. Cost of replacement parts, time, and labour by a qualified and experienced person also effect the cost of hiring a locksmith.
A qualified professional locksmith has trained for 4 years to gain the knowledge and experience to assist with all security situations. This goes beyond just cutting keys.
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AFTER HOURS SERVICE CALL
Some people when they clock off from their day job might go home to have dinner with a glass of wine. Perhaps catching up with friends on a Friday night after work for a few drinks at the pub is your ideal evening. For a locksmith working on call after hours means that there is no glass of wine with dinner. Their plans when they are on call are generally pretty low key and close to home and their work van. How much would you want someone to pay you each hour you worked to make yourself available during these hours that most enjoy socialising or sleeping?
This is where the after hours service call fee comes in. The rate charged is a premium to have an emergency service called out. Generally the same service when scheduled during business hours will cost less than when performed out of hours.
SUPPLIED PARTS
Occassionally a new part might be required for a job. If these parts are supplied on the job the cost of the part, and the cost of labour will be included in your fee. Please be aware of locksmith scammers who will push that you need to replace hardware as the only way they can access is to destroy the existing fixings. Drilling through locks is only used by qualified locksmiths on very rare occassions.
Let’s compare….
The cost of locksmiths is dependant on the job. The below scenarios are rough prices for tasks which are similar but in different cases are charged differently.
SCENARIO 1
Someone has brought in a key to be copied, or even the lock they need a key cut for. This will be cut while you wait and will be charged the cost of the key and the labour to cut the key. Depending on the type of key (standard single or double house key) it will likely be $15 – $25.
SCENARIO 2
Someone has locked themselves out of the house and has lost the key. They need someone to drive out during business hours, and cut them a key. The locksmith also needs to work out from the existing locks what code the key requires before they can cut a key. This will cost somewhere around $150+.
Proactive security offers a decrease in your security costs. We also advise that there are locksmith scammers out there, read more about these scams here.
