What are you paying for with your local locksmith?

I have recently had a couple of customers who have questioned the prices I charge for my work. With that in mind, I felt it might be important to explain why some things can seem expensive.

I’m sure none of my customers begrudge me making a profit, but I also understand that it might feel like you are being overcharged if the product I supply you is more expensive than you can buy elsewhere. Therefore, I want to break down the cost as a policy of openness and fairness for my customers. It’s worth pointing out here, that to my knowledge I am still the only locksmith in the area willing to put prices on my website.

If we take a British Standard 5 lever mortice sash lock, I know that on the day of writing this, I can go to the two main DIY superstores and pick up the same product with a ten pounds price difference. Same brand, same product code, but one charges ten pounds more. I can then go to a local DIY store and get a similar product, with a lesser known brand name, but for twenty pounds more than the highest of the two big chain stores. As a specialist, I supply a product that I know is better than those you can get in any of these shops, even though the chain stores use a well-known brand name. And yes, my price is slightly higher than the local DIY shop.  The big shops have huge buying power. They can get incredible discounts through bulk orders, brand exclusivity and offsetting profits and loss against other products in store. If they couldn’t do that, their prices would have to be closer to the local store. To maximise his profit, the local store owner has to purchase generally cheaper products and still charge a lot more than the chain stores. I run my business from a van. I cannot keep huge quantities of stock and have to go through a dedicated supplier to get my parts, who also wants to make a profit. I could charge less and supply poor quality products, but I want my customers to recommend me to their friends and therefore I have to supply market leading products.

There is another way to get your locks, though. You can get branded products online much cheaper even than the chain stores. Internet businesses are springing up all over the place. These people can really undercut the rest. They get your orders shipped straight from the supplier, so they have no storage costs. They don’t have vehicle costs or virtually any overheads at all so they can really drive the price down. But you really need to know what you are looking for. Is your mortice sash lock a 2.5 inch or a 3 inch model? If you are changing brand, is the new one going to fit in place of the old one, or are you going to have to do some chisel work to fit it? What you save in cash with these people, you might well find you are suddenly spending in new tools, time and effort to fit your new lock. And all the time you may be sweating and your partner looking over your shoulder, telling you that you should have simply called a locksmith! And that’s after you have waited a day or two for the part to even arrive. Did they include VAT in the head line price? Is shipping twice the price of the actual lock once you have clicked through too many pages to be bothered to cancel the order?

All this means that the price I charge you covers my own purchase of the part (at a higher rate than the chain stores), the storage of many less regularly needed items just in case something needs to be replaced on a bank holiday (for example) and there is going to be no way to get a replacement, the peace of mind that the product I supply is of top quality and won’t break in a month, the peace of mind that if something does go wrong with my supplied product within the guarantee period, that I will be able to replace it for you without any fuss or demands of extra money and in most instances, gives me the ability to have the part you want when you want it, or at least a temporary fix until I can get the required part.

The other payment I ask you for is my labour, It’s fixed at £50.00 and has been for the previous two years. That means morning, noon or night, you pay me £50.00 whether  I take five minutes or five hours. I don’t charge more for weekends or bank holidays, I don’t charge more if I don’t have what you need on board and have to come out a second time and I don’t charge for security checks.   It’s simple and easy;  Considering that when you factor in that my average travel time to a job is around 30 mins (1 hour round trip), and that my labour fee also covers replacement of worn out tools, fuel and car maintenance, there is very little actual profit from this fee.

All this means that yes, I do turn a profit. But I believe my profit is fair. I am happy to break down the costs of every job with my customers if they desire.

Should you have any questions regarding the above or any of my other blogs, please feel free to get in touch via any of the methods on my contacts page.

Thanks for reading.