Price every locksmith call so the trip pays. Free, no signup.
The job starts when you leave the house. Drive time is real work.
After 8pm and weekends routinely run 25 to 50 percent higher. If you are not charging it, you are donating it.
Assumes every call today looks like this one. Busy lockout days and slow install days are different days.
Locksmith calls die on the trip fee. A $65 service call looks fine until the drive across town, the waived after-hours premium, and unmarked-up hardware quietly eat it, so this calculator prices every call that way. Start with your bar: the minimum dollars per hour you will work for (75), plus a daily take-home goal. Pick a preset: Lockout ($65 trip, $85 labor, 45 on-site minutes), Rekey (adds 3 cylinders at $20 each), or Install (adds $60 of hardware at a 50% markup), all editable starting points. The leaks card holds cylinders rekeyed, hardware cost with your markup percent, and the after-hours premium percent, which the tool notes should run 25 to 50 percent. Drive round-trip minutes count as work, because the job starts when you leave the house. Results show a line-item breakdown, the quoted total, committed time with drive included, true cost (time at your bar plus parts), and profit per call. The big number is your effective hourly rate against the bar, with PRICED RIGHT, CLOSE BUT LEAKING, WORKING TOO CHEAP, or LOSING MONEY verdicts. The gut check grades the quote you would have given. No signup; runs on your phone.
Example only, not typical pricing. Lockout preset at a $75 bar: $65 trip plus $85 labor = $150 quote. Committed time is 45 on-site plus 30 drive = 75 minutes = 1.25 hours. True cost = 1.25 x 75 = $93.75, so profit = 150 - 93.75 = $56.25. Effective rate = 150 / 1.25 = $120.00 per hour, which clears the $75 bar, so the verdict is PRICED RIGHT. A $90 gut quote pays 90 / 1.25 = $72.00 per hour, and 93.75 - 90 = $3.75 is left on the table. A $500 daily goal needs 500 / 56.25 = 8.89, rounded up to 9 calls, which is 11.3 committed hours.
**Q** Why does the tool count drive time as work?
Because the call starts when you leave the house. A 45-minute lockout with a 30-minute round trip is 75 minutes of your day, and pricing the on-site part alone undervalues every call you run.
**Q** How much should I charge for a lockout?
It depends on your market and your bar. Enter your minimum hourly rate and the tool compares your quote to true cost, which is committed hours at your rate plus any parts. The verdict tells you whether the number holds.
**Q** Should I really charge an after-hours premium?
After 8pm and weekend calls routinely run 25 to 50 percent higher in the trade. The tool applies the premium to the subtotal so you can see exactly what a waived premium costs you per call.
**Q** How do I price rekeys with multiple cylinders?
Enter the cylinder count and your price per cylinder. The Rekey preset fills 3 cylinders at $20 each, and the math adds them to the trip and labor lines automatically.
**Q** What does the day math assume?
That every call today looks like this one. Nine lockout calls to hit a $500 goal is a different day than nine installs. Run each call type separately for honest numbers.