Pricing and quoting for locksmiths: how to publish prices in a trade ruined by the $19 service call
How to present locksmith prices on the phone and the site, good-better-best for rekeys and commercial, deposits, and why your price sheet is also your best ad.
Every locksmith has heard the story from a customer, because every customer has heard it from someone: the listing said $19 service call, the tech showed up in an unmarked car, drilled a lock that could have been picked, and demanded $450 cash. The lead-gen fronts built that story over 15 years and it is now the first thing a caller is thinking about when they dial you. Your pricing has to answer that fear before it answers anything else.
That makes pricing in this trade a marketing decision as much as a margin decision. Here is how to set it and say it.
Publish ranges, and say the range holds
On the site, on the Google profile services list, and on the phone, give a range with the things that move it:
- Home lockout: $75 to $150. Higher end for high-security cylinders or after 9 p.m.
- Car lockout: $65 to $120. Higher end for some luxury makes.
- Rekey: $95 for the first three cylinders, $20 each after. Lock replacement quoted separately.
- Transponder key, cut and programmed: $120 to $350 depending on make and year.
- Commercial lever replacement: $140 to $280 installed, hardware included.
- Safe opening: from $150, quoted after you describe the safe.
Then the sentence that closes the call: "The price I give you on the phone is the price you pay. There is nothing added at the door." Say it on every call. Put it on every page. Shops that lose callers to cheaper-sounding listings almost never lose them on price; they lose them on uncertainty.
Service call fee or not
Both work, and the wrong one for your market costs calls. In metros where the $19 fronts are thick, a shop that says "no service call fee, the price is the price" stands out. In suburban and rural markets with little abuse, a $45 to $65 trip charge that is credited toward the job is normal and accepted. Whatever you choose, say it in the first 20 seconds of the call and in the first line of the lockout page.
Good, better, best for the planned jobs
Lockouts are one price. Rekeys, lock changes, smart locks and commercial work are where a three-option quote earns money.
Rekey for a new homeowner:
- Good: rekey existing locks, $95 for three, $20 each after.
- Better: rekey plus a new Grade 2 deadbolt on the front door, $195.
- Best: rekey plus keypad deadbolt on front and garage entry, $389 installed.
Commercial storefront:
- Good: replace the failed lever, $180.
- Better: lever plus closer adjustment and a strike plate, $290.
- Best: lever, closer, strike, and a master key system for the back office, $650.
Most customers pick the middle. The point of the top option is to make the middle look reasonable and to catch the one in six who wants it done properly once.
Automotive: quote by make and year, in writing
Car key pricing is where callers feel most lost and most ripped off, because the same key is $40 at one shop and $400 at a dealer. Keep a price list by make and year group on the automotive page: "Toyota and Honda 2012 to 2020, transponder key cut and programmed, $150 to $220. Fob with remote, $220 to $320." List the makes you do not do. A clear automotive price page is one of the most searched and least published things in the trade, and an AI assistant will quote it, as the AI search guide explains.
Deposits and payment
For lockouts, payment on completion, card accepted, and say "card is fine" on the phone, because "cash only" is another scam signal. For commercial and master key jobs over about $500, a 30 to 50% deposit on the signed quote covers hardware. For property managers on a turnover plan, invoice monthly with net 15 terms; the convenience of one monthly bill is part of why they stay.
Pricing and marketing are the same decision
The price you publish is the ad. A Facebook ad for "rekey, $149, same week" only works if $149 is the real price and the tech does not upsell at the door. A Google Ads landing page that says "$75 to $150, quoted on the phone" converts because it names a number. A review that says "charged exactly what he quoted" is worth more than one that says "great guy", and you earn it by quoting honestly. The reviews guide shows how to ask for that review.
Raise prices once a year, in January, by 5 to 8%, and update every place the price appears the same day. A site that says $85 while the tech charges $95 is the start of a one-star review.
Frequently asked
Do I have to put prices on the site? No, and most locksmiths do not, which is why the ones who do win the comparison. If you are nervous about being undercut, publish ranges and the "price on the phone is the price" line. You are not competing with the cheap listing; you are competing with the fear of it.
How do I handle "the other guy said $35"? "That is the number they say on the phone. Ask them if it is the total, in writing. Our total is $85, and it is the total." Then stop talking. Half the time the caller has already been through the $35 experience once.
What should night and weekend rates be? A 25 to 50% premium after 9 p.m. and on Sundays is standard and accepted if it is stated up front. Put it in the range on the site. Only 27.7% of locksmith listings show Sunday hours, so a shop that works Sundays and says what it costs has very little competition for that call.
If you want the price pages written and the quote templates built, website and review work are both in the free 14-day trial. No card, text or call.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, locksmith businesses among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor