Portland Locksmiths Portland, OR

Portland locksmiths give tips on staying safe and secure

As a locksmith, what are some of the services you provide?

Les Harvey: "We rekey locks, install locks on homes, replace doors, open and sell safes, open cars, repair car door locks, cut automotive keys and duplicate keys."

Patrick Werbowski: "All locksmith services, from duplicating a key to camera systems and everything in between. We install handicap operators, replace doors and provide high-security keys that can't be duplicated."

Brent Hansen: "We rekey and repair, and we do installations and lockouts."

How do you charge for the job?

Harvey: "We have a standard service call rate. Anything after that would be either a piece rate or an hourly rate, whichever best applies."

Werbowski: "There's a service call and then it depends on the job, what we're going to do."

Hansen: "We charge by the job. There are some odd jobs where we might charge by the hour."

What's the average fee for customers locked out of their house, their car or their safe?

Harvey: "A car is usually $70. A house is $80. A safe is a minimum of $250."

Werbowski: "A house or car would be between $40 and $60. A safe can range anywhere from $100 up to $1,000."

Hansen: "For a house or car, it's the price of a standard service call. There's no average price for a safe."

Before you start a job, do you require some type of identification?

Harvey: "We always require at least a driver's license for anything lockout-related. If we're making a car key, they must provide proof of ownership and a driver's license matching their registration."

Werbowski: "Yes. We try to make sure the person who's locked out is OK to get in."

Hansen: "We try, but a lot of times we've found that if they're locked out, they usually don't have an ID with them."

What happens if the customer's ID is locked up and they can't get to it?

Harvey: "Assuming it's in the car, we'll open it, but if they don't have the proper ID, we won't let them take anything. We'll lock it back up."

Werbowski: "We make sure there's some mail or have a neighbor verify [that they live there]. If their wallet's in the car, then we'll get identification at that point."

Hansen: "When we let them in, we need to see a photo ID. If their ID doesn't match their address, we need to see mail with that address."

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