How much is hourly locksmith rate? (Bergenfield: house, to buy, cost)

[Shet]

I am in northern NJ and called couple of locksmiths using findalocksmith website. Finally decided on one of them from Bergenfield (reputed one). Their rate was $150 per hour. Is that fair? Probably if he would have told me $75 for service call/travel and $75 for first and every subsequent hour, I would have been more comfortable i.e. a minimum of $150 incl first hour and after that $75 for second hour onwards


Two deadbolts to be provided by me and I can install those myself too. Its drilling the new holes using hole saw and the chiseling the mortise for the strike plates that I do not want to do. Am afraid I will chip or crack the wooden door. And one of them is the main door. I will probably have him drill the holes and chisel the mortise and then send him on his way

[vision33r]

I got locked out once, it cost me $200 to get unlock service, took the guy maybe 20mins to figure out how to get my door open without breaking anything which was good.

Had my lock been a tougher challenge he would have to saw or cut things and it will cost me $500 for a new door as well.

[Jackal1]

Normally 200 is about right for lock out service. I paid 300 once but that was not my house so they charged extra.

[brook2ga]

You don't necessarily need a locksmith. A handyman/carpenter can do it.

[jaymoney]

Use $50 to buy a Dremel with router attachment for the mortise, $25 for a hole saw and $10 on scrap lumber to practice on.

You'll both be saved trouble.

[Jackal1]

Originally Posted by jaymoney

Use $50 to buy a Dremel with router attachment for the mortise, $25 for a hole saw and $10 on scrap lumber to practice on.

You'll both be saved trouble.

I thought about that but figured it would be too noisy.

[nybbler]

Yeah, just get a handyman for this. I did this once, as I recall the hardest is the hole from the side of the door.

It looks like you can actually buy a "kit" for about $25 that clamps on the door to do this. (stupid city data won't let you call a j-g a j-g)

[bkfood]

Did you contact the locksmith directly or through findmylock? If you didn't contact the locksmith directly, you might get a better rate cutting out the middle man. I used to contact the first website that popped up on google but learned my lesson after a few larger bills.

[Shet]

Originally Posted by bkfood

Did you contact the locksmith directly or through findmylock? If you didn't contact the locksmith directly, you might get a better rate cutting out the middle man. I used to contact the first website that popped up on google but learned my lesson after a few larger bills.

I used findalocksmith to find and then called them directly

[Shet]

Originally Posted by jaymoney

Use $50 to buy a Dremel with router attachment for the mortise, $25 for a hole saw and $10 on scrap lumber to practice on.

You'll both be saved trouble.

Yeah, I could do that and using the kits sold by HD or Lowes but don't want to take risk of splintering the door. One of which is the main door.