Impressioning Rates

[u/Fax_me_babe]

“Hypothetical”
Had a service ticket submitted, realtor locked out of house on market counted 10+ cylinders. The owner took the Key when visiting grabbing the last of their items.
Needed a working copy by next morning.
Picked deadbolt & Knob.
Decoded cylinder and got em new code cut keys.
Invoiced $310
Customer isn’t happy because Chat GPT says it shouldn’t cost that much.
Am I out of line? Was that too high?
Or am I just some kind of (ist) against Ai thinkers
I’m sure Reddit is a great place to ask for opinions.

[u/South_Camp_4815]

You charge for your knowledge. Tell the customer they can have A.I walk them through the steps next time.

[u/akikosan]

Maybe a little high but I don't know what kind of area you are in. Regardless you helped them out in a pinch last minutes notice and that's not an unreasonable price.

[u/Explorer335]

$310 is a fair price on that. It's an on-site service, you had to pick into the house, then decode and originate a key. No damage, no replacing hardware, and no scammer kicking in the door for $900.

That service should not be a penny less than $200 USD on the low end, nearby and during business hours.

[u/Creative_Shame3856]

More than I'd charge if I can just Lishi it, about right if it's an actual impressioning job.

If you can't Lishi it it'd probably be quickest to pick the lock open, disassemble and decode with calipers, and cut from that. Depending on the market and how busy you are I'd say that's ballpark okay.

[u/Top-Jaguar6780]

A little high for me and I'm in a major city but it's not an outrageous price. I'd handle it like a lockout ($120) + cutting keys ($3 each) but I'm on the low side in my area. And I'd probably add on an additional $50 for daytime emergency. So total of ~$175 depending on how many keys need to be cut. For actual impressioning, I would charge an extra $50 for wafer locks and $75 for pin tumblers.

[u/hitmonval]

Sounds like a trouble customer. Your price is fair.

[u/Old_SammyG]

That's a little lower than I would charge to pick two locks and rekey 10 locks. I always quote my prices to customers ahead of time and re-enforce that I charge my service call and by the lock or as I tell my customers, every keyhole you stick a key in that you want changed is considered a lock.

Best response: Tell the Realtor that AI says the house isn't worth what they are listing it for and/or their commission should be much less.

[u/technosasquatch → u/Old_SammyG]

>Best response: Tell the Realtor that AI says the house isn't worth what they are listing it for and/or their commission should be much less.

Are you selling tickets and popcorn? I wanna come watch.

[u/BuffalockandKey → u/Old_SammyG]

I’m not sure why they mentioned the number of locks, it seems irrelevant. The work they mentioned doing is picking 2 locks and making a key, not rekeying 10 locks.

[u/Lonelocksmith12389 → u/BuffalockandKey]

I agree. I also don't understand why they said they had to pick the deadbolt and handle. If your just making a key just pick one.

[u/BuffalockandKey → u/Lonelocksmith12389]

Im assuming both were locked and he wanted to take one off to make the key

[u/Spiritual-Hedgehog-5]

Depending upon your area and the time that actually sounds pretty close. There's supposed to be paying for your expertise. Otherwise, let AI walk them through it and they can buy the equipment they can buy the key blank they can learn the skills and see how much it would cost them. After 5 PM I add a surcharge, and I live in Salem Oregon. That sounds pretty close to me.

[u/permanently_new_guy]

My price would have been $420 if it was in my primary zone for a full rekey. Just pick and decode would be 150 to pick and decode or remove and decode the plug. If that worked everything great, if not $30/cylinder until we had all working kwys or they said stop.

[u/FrozenHamburger]

I will be implementing a new surcharge for when the customer so much as utters the word chatgpt

[u/corporategnome]

I'd charge service call + labor minimum + key by code + duplicates. If they were nice and polite I might cut them a break where I can but if they mentioned "AI said it should be cheaper" I'd hold fast, get my money at full price, and probably never do work for them again

Your price would be fair in the Bay Area, which is the only region I know prices for.

[u/-MachChicken-]

Definitely high for single key generation. We would bill this as: Service call $90, 0.5 labour $60, key to code/originate key $15, keys $5ea.

Edit: $CAD Maple syrup money

[u/Formal_Substance_687]

They can fuck right off

[u/Various_Host5297]

I use to tell my customers I’m here faster than a pizza could be delivered from down the street. Your neighbors don’t own any of the tools I do no matter how decked out his garage is. Your paying for a service as well convenience

[u/P15T0L_WH1PP3D]

Chat GPT says it shouldn’t cost that much.

I'm having ulcers over here because this stupid fucking world is making me toxically cynical. This is just so far beyond fucking ridiculous.

[u/SafeMajestic9876]

What was the time of service?

[u/DSYLXEIC_ONE]

My shop charges $24 per cylinder, plus trip charge between $80-$125 depending how far

Edit: reread the post, a lockout with key generation would be about $100-$150, including trip charge

[u/burtod]

If I am decoding and fitting the existing key, I will charge hourly

[u/urfavoritecrayon]

instead of paying $600+ to rekey all those locks, i think its fairly priced skilled labor. especially in a pinch…

[u/Comprehensive_Law_94]

Id have been about 250 in a major metro area unless it was night or weekend.  I wouldnt say 310 is a rip off, just a bit high.  

Don't forget chatgpt will skew numbers based on its sample size.  If its taking info from dumb ass click bait articles, home advisor estimates, and national surveys from a few years back then it will be off

[u/bjdlock]

I think for scheduled service that’s a little high, not much. But if this was urgent or same day service, then that’s a very fair rate.

[u/Altruistic-Pain8747]

Sounds high to me, fair price if it’s IC or something actually hard.

I would charge 150-200 to simply unlock a door and make a key to it. 15-30 minute drive and 15 minutes of work.

But this all depends on your market

[u/alexkreitlow]

Little high for a Schlage. Kwikset smart key. I’d say it’s fair.

[u/Sungr0ve]

Was it on a profile you didn’t have a lishi for ?
I used to pick locks open with anything else before I got good with a lishi and just used it to decode

[u/Russh123456]

Someone told me the other day that they did everything chat gpt told them to do to get back in their house and they still couldn’t get in. Guess we still have a job… not been completely replaced by AI yet…

[u/Russh123456]

Who cares what anyone especially Chat gpt says about the price, if that is the price you charge then that’s your price, not anyone else’s price and chat gpt is alway low on pricing, it does not base it on the correct data.

[u/Guyyoutsidee]

Ask if chat gbt can change the locks for them. If not they need to shut it and let you work

[u/Maleficent_Mix_8739]

🤔 perhaps the client should ask Chat GPT to come out and fix the problem.

I’ve got a Hummer H3, asked Chat GPT how long it takes to remove the fuse box, it stated several hours and it would require removal of the dash…..for those of you who don’t know, the fuse box is under the hood just in front of the battery, requires two wrenches at takes about five minutes to remove it.

The AI movement is total shit and should in no way be allowed to infect our trade, not at the workflow level nor at the financial level.

[u/Borteezy]

Me personally, im charging a service call fee, depending on the mileage. Minimum of $25 to gain access, another $25 to decode the lock. 1.5x if its after hours or an emergency. Then im telling the realtor to give the buyer my card so they can call me to rekey everything.

[u/Explorer335 → u/Borteezy]

Do you live in your van? I can't imagine how you make any money charging so little. I would charge more than that if they brought the lock to me.

[u/Borteezy → u/Explorer335]

Are you a scamsmith that overcharges? im good and im in the tampa bay area. I charge for my time depending on the job ($85 an hour.) I dont even work on vehicles at all, and specialize in access control installs/ commercial jobs. I get a lot of facility maintenance work orders. Thats where the money is at

[u/USERNAMEMEE → u/Borteezy]

That’s one of those most respected and knowledgeable auto guys in here he’s not a scamsmith, but you are underselling yourself for sure.

[u/Borteezy → u/USERNAMEMEE]

For sure? Because I dont see that I am

[u/USERNAMEMEE → u/Borteezy]

Checkout the locksmith ledger price survey. And even then that’s still very off for hcl areas.