Locksmiths
What belongs on a locksmith invoice
Four things that decide whether a locksmith invoice gets paid or gets a phone call. The generator further down opens with the lines already in it.
Emergency call-outs are priced on the hour of day and the invoice should say the hour. “2:40am, non-destructive entry” justifies a figure that looks absurd next to a Tuesday afternoon lock change.
Non-destructive entry is a skill and should be a line. A customer who paid for a locksmith who did not drill their door should be able to see that is what they paid for.
Where you fitted to a standard — insurance-rated cylinders, a specific British Standard — name it. It is what the customer’s insurer will ask for and it is why your lock cost more than the one online.
Keys cut and issued should be counted on the invoice. It is the record of how many are out there, which matters on a rental and matters more on a change of tenant.
Record the make and model of what you fitted. It is the first thing needed when a key is lost, when an insurer asks, or when the customer wants a matching cylinder for the back door — and it is the thing nobody can find written down anywhere else.
Where you have advised a further lock, a chain or a window restrictor and the customer declined, record it. Half of this trade’s callbacks are after a burglary, and an invoice showing what was recommended protects a locksmith who did their job properly.
The lines below are real work at plausible quantities, and deliberately carry no prices. A price is a local fact about a local market, and a made-up one would be worse than none.