How much does a locksmith cost? The honest 2026 UK guide.

For most domestic jobs, expect somewhere between £90 and £200 all in for daytime work, and more out of hours. The Master Locksmiths Association quotes a typical UK labour rate from around £85 per hour (more in London and after hours), and notes that most emergency locksmiths do not charge a separate call-out fee. MyJobQuote puts the average cost of a lock change at around £100. As a guide to my own prices, a non-destructive lockout is from £90, a standard uPVC cylinder change is from £90, a multi-point gearbox is from £145, and out-of-hours emergencies are from £170. I quote the all-in figure on the phone and there is no VAT added on top, because Lockerfella is not VAT-registered. The full breakdown is on the pricing page.

For a standard house lockout where the lock is intact and you have simply lost or locked in your keys, a competent locksmith should pick, decode or bump the lock open without damaging it. Typical UK pricing for that non-destructive entry runs from about £90 to £160 in the daytime. My price for a non-destructive lockout is from £90, with no call-out fee and no new lock needed because your existing cylinder stays in the door. Be wary of anyone who arrives and immediately reaches for a drill: drilling is faster and lazier than picking, it destroys a perfectly good cylinder, and it conveniently sells you a replacement on top. Drilling-and-replacing pushes the bill to £180 to £300 or more, and on a standard mid-grade cylinder it is almost never necessary. The locksmith scams page covers the drill-everything default in detail.

It depends on the lock. A standard euro cylinder swap on a uPVC or composite door is the most common lock change and the cheapest: from £90 fitted with me, against a UK average of around £100 to £150. A five-lever BS3621 mortice deadlock for a timber door is more, from £120 fitted, because the lock itself costs more. A full multi-point gearbox (the long mechanism down the edge of a uPVC door, not just the cylinder) is from £145. The single most common overcharge I see is a customer quoted for a whole new mechanism when all they needed was a £90 cylinder swap. If you are not sure which part has failed, the uPVC door lock replacement guide walks through how to tell.

Some do, many do not, and this is where a lot of the confusion (and a fair bit of the overcharging) lives. The Master Locksmiths Association states that most emergency locksmiths do not charge a separate call-out fee, and I do not charge one at all: the price I quote on the phone includes attendance, labour and standard parts. Where it goes wrong is the operator who advertises a tiny "£39 call-out", which turns out to be the attendance only, with the real work priced separately on the doorstep once you are committed. If a locksmith quotes you a call-out fee, ask the direct question: "is that the total, or is the work on top?" Get the all-in figure before they set off. My policy is explained in full on the no call-out fee page.

Out-of-hours work (evenings, nights, weekends and bank holidays) typically costs £50 to £100 more than the same job in the daytime, and some firms apply a higher hourly rate after 8pm or midnight. My out-of-hours emergency rate is from £170, against a daytime attendance from £90. That difference is normal and fair: someone is getting out of bed at 3am to come to you. What is not fair is an out-of-hours surcharge that is hidden on the phone and only appears on the doorstep. Ask whether the quoted price is the out-of-hours price, so there is no surprise when the invoice comes. I tell you the out-of-hours figure up front when you ring.

Because the cheap phone number is often not the real price. The bait-and-switch quote is the most-reported locksmith overcharge in the UK: a low phone figure (the MLA has documented "£39 to £59" quotes) that escalates to hundreds of pounds on the doorstep once the locksmith has arrived and you feel committed. The cheap number is the call-out only, or the price before parts, or before VAT, or before an out-of-hours surcharge. A genuinely cheap honest quote and a bait-and-switch quote look identical on the phone. The way to tell them apart is to ask for the all-in total in writing by text before they leave, and to read it back to them. A real locksmith will send it. A bait-and-switch operator will hedge or refuse. The locksmith scams page has the full pattern, and because the trade is unregulated there is no register to strike off the operators who do it.

It depends entirely on which part of the uPVC door has failed, and getting that diagnosis right is the difference between an £90 job and a £300 one. If only the euro cylinder is worn or you want an anti-snap upgrade, that is from £90 for a standard cylinder, or roughly £150 to £250 for a TS007 3-star anti-snap upgrade depending on the cylinder grade. If the multi-point gearbox (the mechanism that throws the hooks and bolts down the door edge) has failed, that is from £145. If the door has simply dropped on its hinges and is catching, that is often a free doorstep adjustment with no new parts at all. The mistake to avoid is paying for a full mechanism when a cylinder swap, or even a hinge tweak, would have fixed it. The door won't lock guide helps you work out which one you are dealing with before anyone quotes you.