February 11, 2016
Written by Jeff Seymour
I’m asked so many times what is it like being a Locksmith. I thought it would be interesting to write a blog telling you what my typical day consists off. I write all my jobs down in a diary and this is from 1st Feb 2016.
7am start.
The first thing I do whilst eating my breakfast, consisting of mainly toast with lots of marmalade on top plus the coffee, is to check the diary and see which jobs I have on today. I have two jobs pre-booked one at 11:30am and one at 3pm. Both are lock upgrades. The job I had on my mind was stock taking though, as it was the start of the month….Joy!
8am:
The phone rings with a desperate customer who has locked himself out and the keys are on the inside of the lock. He was in a bit of a panic as he needed to be at work on time for a meeting. The job was in Worthing and I arrived at the job within 20 minutes and soon had the customer back into his house using non destructive methods. This resulted in a very happy customer and he was happy to take some of my business cards to hand around his work place.
I returned back to base to make a start on the stock take.
10am:
I receive a call from a lady in Lancing inquiring about having her locks upgraded on her front door. I make an appointment to call in and quote for the job. The pre booked job I have at 11:30am is in Worthing so I can call on this lady on the way.
10:45am:
I arrive at customers house in Lancing. She was unsure if the the locks she had fitted to the front door would meet the requirements of her home insurance company. The door is wooden, with only a standard night latch fitted. I explain that this would not meet the requirements of her insurance company and quote for fitting a 5 lever mortice dead lock. She says that she will let me know if she would like to go ahead with the job later in the week.
11:30am:
I arrive at the pre-booked job for the lock upgrade. Which is for a Multipoint Locking System on the front door. The system is a little tired and in need of a service. I remove the system clean it down, put some oil in the correct places and make a couple of adjustments. Fitting the system back into the door goes well and with a new Anti-Snap cylinder fitted, all that was left to do was to adjust a couple of the keeps. The customer is very happy and I quote his words “The door has not closed and locked that good for ageshttp://resources/what-is-cylinder-snapping“.
A massive part of my service is uPVC lock repair and replacement. These jobs accrue due to good word of mouth and advertising. It makes me very happy when customers recommend me to friends and family.
1pm:
I arrive back to base for some much needed lunch and take,Tara our lovely Flat Coat Retriever, out for a walk along Shoreham By Sea beach. I like walking on the beach, It gives me time to think and clear my head.
The Lovely Tara
2pm:
Time to crack on with the stock take, it really doesn’t take that long as I keep a running stock sheet in the van. Its mainly just checking that all is correct. It’s important to me to have a good selection of locks in stock, so I can meet the requirements of any situation i’m called out too.
I order some new stock from my supplier and as always buy some shinny new tools too. Locksmiths you all know what I mean when I say “it’s like being a child in a candy store” when it comes to looking at new lock picks and so on.
3pm:
I arrive at the pre-booked appointment for another lock upgrade. This time it’s a night latch change. The customer wants a night latch that is more secure than the standard one already on their wooden door. I fit an automatic deadlocking night latch. These have a much higher advantage when it comes to security as they deadlock when closing the door, so they cannot be opened using the common method of slipping a card down on the latch. Plus it can also be double deadlocked from the inside so the handle cannot be levered using tools through the letter box. This combined with the five lever British standard deadlock that is already fitted to their door gives the customer very good security on their front door. Another happy customer and we have a chat about using local business and it turns out that the customer is a big advocate of this which is really good to hear.
4:30pm:
I arrive back to base, time to catch up on some paperwork and have a tidy up in the van. Keeping on top of the paperwork is important to me for my business to run smoothly.
5:15pm:
I receive a phone call from a customer looking for a Locksmith in Worthing. On the way back home from work he has had his bag stolen with his house keys inside. I advise him that it would be best to change all the locks as he also informed me that in the bag is information with his address on.
I arrive at the property at 6pm. The locks that need changing are on the front door, back door and garage door. All goes very smoothly and I’m able to finish the job in less than an hour.
7:15pm:
I arrive home at the end of a pretty long day. Receive a call back from the lady in Lancing informing me that she would like to go ahead with the lock upgrade I quoted for earlier in the day. Another good ending to the day or is this the end of the day? that’s the thing being a 24 hour locksmith, you never know when the phone is going to ring.
11:30pm:
I receive phone call from a lady in Shoreham by Sea who is most happy that I’m a 24 hour locksmith, she explains that she is unable to lock the front door. I arrive at the customer’s house within 15 minutes. The problem was not so much the locks, but the door had drooped and therefore didn’t allow the deadbolt to enter the keep. As its a uPVC door I adjust the hinges and the keeps to make the door close and lock correctly. She is most happy that she can now go to bed knowing the front door is locked and secure.
I picked this day to share with you as it was a pretty busy day. I’m rather pleased that not all days are this busy, but it should give you the reader a good insight on what its like being a Locksmith on call 24 hours, 7 days a week