How Much to Charge for a Locksmith Job in 2026

What a locksmith quote needs to include

"New lock fitted — £120" tells a customer almost nothing, and in a trade with no licence to check, the quote itself is doing more trust-building work than in almost any other trade. Cover these ten things and there's a clear answer for every question that comes up:

1. 1Business details and your MLA Approved Company status, or other vetting and qualification, stated plainly — the trade has no government licence, so this is where trust gets built.
2. 2Customer name, site address, and whether it's a booked job or an emergency call-out.
3. 3The exact call-out fee and which time band applies — daytime, evening or night rates differ significantly.
4. 4The lock standard specified by name — BS3621 Kitemarked mortice lock, TS007 3-star cylinder, or an equivalent 1-star cylinder plus 2-star handle — not just "new lock".
5. 5Whether non-destructive entry (picking, bumping, decoding) will be attempted first, and that drilling only happens with the customer's agreement and its own separate charge.
6. 6Materials and parts itemised separately from labour — the cylinder or mortice lock, cut keys, fitting time.
7. 7What's excluded — door or frame repair if forced entry was genuinely unavoidable, replacement handles or letterplates.
8. 8ID or proof of address/tenancy checked before opening a locked property — standard good practice that protects you both.
9. 9Guarantee period on the new lock and the fitting.
10. 10A fixed total agreed and accepted before any work starts, not estimated on arrival and revised on completion.

Not every locksmith job is priced the same way

An evening lockout and a full lock change after a break-in share some of the same kit, but they're priced on different logic — and locksmithing carries a trust problem most other trades don't, precisely because nobody has to hold a licence to do it.

Call-outs and time-banded rates

A locksmith's day rate sits around £65/hour between 8am and 6pm, rising through evening and night bands — roughly £75/hour from 6–8am and 6–8pm, £85/hour from 8pm to midnight, and £120/hour overnight from midnight to 6am — on top of a separate emergency call-out fee of £50–£150. Prices vary by region more than almost any other trade: 2026 averages run from around £100 in Edinburgh and Exeter to £142–£163 in Glasgow, Leeds and London, with London and the South East consistently the most expensive.

The standard that decides whether a new lock actually satisfies the customer's insurance

Most home insurance policies specify a lock standard, not just "a good lock" — and fitting the wrong one can leave a customer unknowingly uninsured after a break-in. BS3621 covers traditional mortice locks on wooden doors: key-operated from both sides, at least 5 levers, hardened steel bolts resistant to sawing, and a minimum of 1,000 key combinations, identifiable by the Kitemark logo and "BS3621" stamped on the faceplate. BS8621 is the fire-safety variant — the same forced-entry resistance, but with keyless thumb-turn or push-pad exit from inside, mandatory in flats, HMOs and holiday lets where occupants need to get out fast. uPVC and composite doors don't use mortice locks at all — they take a euro cylinder, rated instead under TS007's star system: 1-star cylinders resist picking and bumping but aren't enough alone for insurance purposes; 3-star cylinders add anti-snap and anti-drill protection and satisfy most policies on their own; a 1-star cylinder paired with a 2-star handle achieves the same equivalent protection for less. As a rule of thumb: wooden doors need BS3621, uPVC and composite doors need either a BS3621-rated multipoint mechanism or a TS007 3-star cylinder — and naming which one you're fitting, not just "new lock — £120", is what tells a customer, and their insurer, the job was actually done right.

Why the quote itself is the best defence against the industry's worst headlines

Unlike Gas Safe engineers or Part P electricians, UK locksmiths answer to no statutory regulator — anyone can put "locksmith" on a van. The industry's own answer is the MLA's Approved Company scheme, built on three checks the MLA describes as vetted, inspected and qualified: criminal record checks, regular inspections, and a recognised qualification. It's voluntary, which is exactly the gap rogue operators exploit — the February 2026 South West London case is a clear example: a firm impersonating established local businesses through paid search ads quoted £350 on the phone and billed £2,300 on completion, and it's far from unique — MLA-recorded overcharging complaints rose from 280 in 2023 to 402 in 2025. None of that has a straightforward fix at the regulatory level, but it has a simple one at the quote level: a price agreed and accepted in writing before the first pick or drill bit touches the lock is the one thing a rogue operator's business model can't survive, because their margin depends entirely on the customer having no fixed number to hold them to.

How to price the work

UK locksmith costs vary by time of day, region and lock type, but these are a fair starting point for 2026:

• Call-out fee: £50–£150, on top of the hourly rate that applies.
• Daytime hourly rate (8am–6pm): around £65/hour.
• Evening rate (6–8am / 6–8pm): around £75/hour. Late evening (8pm–midnight): around £85/hour. Overnight (midnight–6am): around £120/hour.
• Regional average job cost: roughly £100 in Edinburgh and Exeter, £142 in Glasgow, £149 in Leeds, £163 in London.
• Yale-type nightlatch supply & fit: £90–£120.
• Standard uPVC euro cylinder: £100–£150. Anti-snap TS007 3-star uPVC cylinder: £125–£175.
• BS3621 mortice lock supply & fit: £115–£165.
• Full property lock change — two doors plus windows, typical after a break-in or new tenancy: £400–£600.
• State plainly whether non-destructive entry will be attempted first — it's usually cheaper and faster than assuming a lock needs replacing at all.

A worked example

An evening lockout that turns into a lock upgrade, priced as separate lines rather than one guessed figure:

£240 for an evening lockout resolved by picking rather than drilling, plus a precautionary upgrade to a Kitemarked BS3621 mortice lock and two extra cut keys. MLA Approved Company status and ID checked on arrival, both stated on the quote. Fixed total agreed and accepted before the door was touched. 12-month guarantee on parts and labour.

Five details that get locksmith quotes accepted faster

• Name the lock standard, not just "new lock". "BS3621 Kitemarked mortice lock" tells a customer — and their insurer — exactly what's being fitted. "New lock — £120" invites the same price-shopping every vague trade quote does.
• Put the fixed total on the quote before you start, not after. After February 2026's bait-and-switch headlines, a customer who's read about it will notice — and appreciate — a firm price agreed before any tool touches their door.
• Say whether you tried non-destructive entry first. "Picked open, no drilling needed" reads as skill, not luck, and reassures a customer who's heard the drilling-then-huge-bill horror stories.
• State your MLA Approved Company status, or equivalent vetting, plainly. It quietly answers the trust question a customer locked out of their own home is already asking, in a trade with no licence to check instead.
• State the guarantee period on the lock and fitting. "12 months on parts and labour" removes any awkwardness about a comeback call if something isn't right.

The fastest way to do all of this

A straightforward lockout is quick enough to quote on the doorstep. A break-in call-out that turns into a full lock change across two doors — plus the customer asking, understandably, exactly what standard the new locks meet — is exactly where a rushed verbal figure either buries the detail or drops it entirely, and in a trade this unregulated, that detail is what a customer is quietly checking for.

This is what QuoteRocket is for. Describe the job in plain English — "emergency evening lockout, non-destructive entry, BS3621 mortice lock replacement, two cut keys" — and it turns that into a branded, itemised PDF quote in under a minute, with the call-out, lock standard and labour kept as their own clearly labelled lines. Your customer accepts it with one tap on their phone, and an accepted quote becomes an invoice in one click — the fixed total they agreed to before you started, not a number that grew on the doorstep.

Whichever way you produce the quote, the principle holds: name the lock standard instead of a vague "new lock" line, agree the total before you start work, and say plainly whether non-destructive entry was tried first. In a trade built on trust rather than licensing, that's what turns a customer's relief at getting back into their own home into a five-star review instead of a complaint to the MLA.

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