Locksmith Service Reviews - Finding a Local Locksmith:

At some point in your life you will probably need to hire a locksmith since they perform so many essential functions. Many of us have locked ourselves out of our houses or cars and need a locksmith to help us. Others just need help installing or replacing locks around the house or in a business. Apartment managers constantly need to change the locks on doors so that incoming tenants have a fresh start. Lately, with the rush of foreclosures in the housing markets, locksmiths have been busy with eviction lockouts due to foreclosure. Locksmith services are all pretty competitive but you will still want to get a few estimates unless you are in a mad dash to get the work done that day. A 24 hour locksmith will cost you extra as their availability after hours will quickly drive up their hourly rate. If suddenly you realize that you lost your keys and come out of a concert at midnight on Saturday night, expect to pay at least a 20% premium over the regular rate when calling a locksmith to bail you out.

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We did some research online to see what rates were like for locksmiths in Chicago, Las Vegas, NYC, Houston, Seattle and in Portland, OR. I live in Portland so that was an easy one as I have used several locksmiths to redo locks on my front door. You will often see a "service call" charge on your bill and that can run from $30 to $70 depending on time of day and day of the week. Many of the locksmith services we found in all these cities charge a flat rate of about $70 to $90 per hour for standard things like storage unit lock removal, installing filing cabinet locks, automotive unlock, and residential and commercial lockout. When you are looking at something like a residential re-keying in places like San Diego, expect the price to be $49 for the service call and roughly $20 per lock cylinder. Weekends are higher and after hours run even more. Locksmith services know that when it's 2AM you are probably willing to pay a huge premium to get into your car or house. Some services specialize in lost keys for things like Harley Davidson motorcycles or replacing the ignition on a Ford Focus. Where can you find a good locksmith? We suggest starting online and search for a local locksmith in your area. Craigslist is another source with multiple listings. Lastly, the good old Yellow Pages have dozens of locksmith services listed and many are available 24 7. A residential locksmith will handle all homes, cars, etc. You may need a commercial locksmith if you are dealing with businesses and other public buildings. Surprisingly enough, we heard stories of people tricking locksmiths into opening doors and locks that they were the not rightlful owner to. A locksmith should ask or demand some kind of proof that you own the car, rent the house, or have the legal right to get into a particular building or lock.

24 Hour Locksmith - Emergency Locksmiths:

Not all situations allow us time to search for a qualified locksmith and wait for a response. Often an emergency presents itself - like your business filing cabinet is locked and you misplaced the key. You could literally break into the cabinet lock and get the pertinent docs or you could call a locksmith and have them re-key the lock and salvage the cabinet. Even if you say lose your car keys at a sporting event and can't drive your car home from the parking lot, you could always call a friend and have them bring over your 2nd set of keys or pick the car up the next day. Only in rare circumstances would you need to hire a 24 7 locksmith and pay the premium rate for after hour services. Emergency locksmiths do exist, but it's not cheap and often an alternative solution is a better decision.

Locksmith Keys - Making Duplicate Keys:

One of the most common requests that customers ask of a locksmith is to rekey a residential or commercial building. Those that have rental properties often change the locks out every year or so in case there are duplicate keys out there that could allow people in that shouldn't have access. Vacation rentals, apartments, rental houses, etc. all need to have their locks rekeyed periodically to keep the current tenants or renters safe from breakins. Locksmith keys are easy to duplicate so once you have them make you the master key you can get duplicates done on the cheap. Just take the key to your local hardware shop and they will often have a duplicate key making machine that literally costs a $1 or so. One caveat, if you are planning on trying to pick a lock, all locksmiths we talked with say that it's not worth it. You will probably end up breaking the internal mechanisms of the lock and ruin the door lock.

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