A locksmith answering service picks up when you cannot: live people, a virtual receptionist or software that answers and texts back. Locksmith callers are often locked out and wary of scams. Honest pricing and a fast answer win the job. This guide covers the options, published prices, what a locksmith caller needs and how to choose.
- Nobody with a lockout at night or a car locked with a child inside waits for a call back. Whoever answers, or texts back, first gets the job.
- Locksmith calls bunch up around evenings, weekends and holidays. Price any answering service against that stretch, not your average month.
- Voicemail, live people or AI: whichever you choose, it should book into your real schedule and only reach you for the calls you say matter.
- Midweek mornings is for follow-ups and commercial work. The same system that answers calls can help fill those weeks.
Why locksmith calls are hard to cover
- Lockouts are urgent. Nobody waits for a call back while standing outside.
- Calls come at all hours. Evenings, weekends and holidays.
- You are working on a lock. Picking or drilling needs both hands.
- Callers ask the price first. They have heard about bait pricing.
Voicemail is where many locksmith jobs quietly go to a competitor. Count your own missed calls for a week, then run them through the free missed call calculator to see the jobs and profit at stake.
When the phone rings for locksmiths
Most callers are people locked out who need someone now and are wary of scams, and new homeowners who want locks rekeyed. You will also hear from property managers, small business owners and apartment complexes, plus realtors, property managers and auto dealers sending work your way.
| Month | Pace | What callers want |
|---|---|---|
| May | Busy | Moving season rekeys |
| June | Busy | Summer car lockouts |
| July | Busy | Summer moves and lockouts |
| November | Busy | Holiday lockouts |
| December | Busy | Holiday lockouts and break-ins |
It goes quiet in midweek mornings. That is when an answering setup sized for the rush costs the most for the least.
Your three options
For locksmiths, the deciding question is who answers when the call is a lockout at night or a car locked with a child inside. There are three ways to cover it.
Voicemail is free and often ignored by callers. Live answering costs the most and handles the unexpected best. AI answering replies instantly, books from your real schedule and should know when to pass a call to you.
What answering services cost
Here are published plans from live and AI services, side by side, with the same columns for every row:
| Service and plan | Price a month | What is included | Past the allowance | Per-person fee | Card payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai Starter (live) | $300 | 30 calls | $11.50 a call | Not listed | $1.00 a call to take a payment |
| Rosie Professional (AI) | $49 | 250 minutes | Not listed on its pricing page | Not listed | Not listed |
| Dialzara Business Pro (AI) | $99 | 220 minutes | $0.45 a minute | Not listed | Not listed |
| Koira Grow (AI receptionist and text-back) | $249 | Receptionist, text-back, booking by text, site, estimates, invoices, campaigns | Usage at cost: texts, call minutes and emails | None: same price with one person or fifteen | Stripe 2.9% + 30¢, plus Koira keeps 1% |
Smith.ai's overage is $11.50 a call on Starter, $10.50 on Basic and $8.50 on Pro. See answering service cost for every plan we found and a worked example.
What a locksmith caller needs
- Home lockout. Address, door type and whether anyone is at risk inside. Give your starting price and book the soonest time.
- Child or pet locked in a car. Tell them to call 911 first if anyone is in danger.
- Rekey. How many locks and whether they have the keys. Book a time.
- Lock change or smart lock. The door and the lock they want. Book an install.
- Business or property manager. Number of doors and what they need. Flag it for a personal call.
- Break-in. Police first, then book the repair as soon as your rules allow.
Write these down once, with what counts as an emergency for your shop. That is the script for a live service and the playbook for software. Our post on after-hours calls covers sorting calls into tonight and tomorrow.
What to ask before you sign up
- Can it book into my real schedule instead of just taking a message?
- What happens around evenings, weekends and holidays? Ask about hold times when every line rings, and about overage pricing.
- Will callers hear my business name, and can it handle Spanish?
- What will it never do? It should never quote a price you did not set.
- Can I leave any month, and does adding help cost more?
How Koira's AI receptionist handles locksmith calls
Koira's receptionist picks up on your number when it can and texts back within about a minute when you cannot, with three open times; the customer replies once and the job is on your day. A caller who wants rekeying a front door can be offered times from your list; a question about a master key system for a small business comes to you to price. It answers in English or Spanish, never invents a price, and only a price, a complaint or an emergency reaches you; at night it texts you only for what you marked as an emergency.
Koira Grow is $249 a month plus usage at cost: texts, call minutes and emails with nothing added. Adding a helper never adds a seat fee; the price is the same with one person or fifteen. Booking by text picks times that suit the route you already have.
Use the quiet weeks
Slow midweek mornings are good for commercial rekeys. Write to property managers and businesses about master key work. Koira's commercial outreach helps on Front Office. More on Koira for locksmiths and what each plan includes.
Getting more calls to answer
Next steps for more locksmith calls: getting found on Google, 20 marketing ideas and which lead sources fit your trade.
Questions contractors ask
Do locksmiths need 24/7 answering?
Many lockouts happen after hours. Set rules for what you take at night and let the rest book into open times.
What should an answering service tell someone with a child locked in a car?
Call 911 first if anyone is in danger. Write that into any script.
What does a locksmith answering service cost?
See the table above for published plans from live and AI services and Koira.
Does Koira charge per locksmith?
No. Koira has no per-person fee. The price is the same with one person or fifteen.
Sources
- Smith.ai: pricing, checked October 9, 2026
- Rosie: pricing, checked October 9, 2026
- Dialzara: AI receptionist pricing, checked October 9, 2026
- Koira: pricing, checked October 9, 2026
