--- title: "Locksmith phone script builder in English and Spanish · LockCommand" description: "Free locksmith phone script builder: the questions to ask on lockouts, car keys, rekeys and price shoppers, your prices and hours, in English and Spanish." url: https://lockcommand.com/tools/phone-script-builder --- [Free tool · no account needed](https://lockcommand.com/tools) # Locksmith phone script builder Pick the calls you take, add your hours and prices, and get a script that asks the right questions in the right order. In English and Spanish, ready to print for whoever answers the phone. ## Your shop Example values below. Replace them with your own. Leave blank to use the one shown. Towns or areas you cover. Leave blank to skip. ## Calls you take ## How you give prices $ Leave a job blank and the script says the tech prices it on site. $ Blank or 0 to skip $ Blank or 0 to skip ## Phone script: Example Lock & Key Read it out loud a few times. Say it in your own words once it feels natural. 1. **1. Greeting** - Say Thank you for calling Example Lock & Key. How can I help you? 2. **2. Safety first** - Ask Is anyone in danger, or is a child or a pet locked inside? - Important If yes: “Please hang up and call 911 right now.” Don't book it as a normal job. 3. **3. Get the basics** - Ask Can I get your name? - Ask If we get cut off, what's the best number to call you back? - Ask What's the address? Is there an apartment or unit number, and what's the nearest cross street? - Note We cover Austin, Round Rock, Pflugerville. If the address is outside your area, say so now, before you book. 4. **4. House lockout** - Ask Is it a house, an apartment or a condo? Which door: front, back or garage? - Ask Do you know the brand of the lock, or is it a keypad or smart lock? - Note If it's a rental, the caller may need the landlord's OK. Many apartment complexes have a manager or maintenance line. - Say Please have a photo ID ready, and something with your name and this address, like a lease or a utility bill. The technician has to see it before opening the door. 5. **5. Car lockout** - Ask What's the year, make and model of the car? - Ask What color is it, and where exactly is it parked? - Ask Are the keys inside the car? Is the engine running? - Note Rental or company car: the rental company or the business may have to authorize the job. - Say Please have your photo ID and the car's registration or title ready. The technician has to see them before handing over the car or a key. 6. **6. Car key replacement** - Ask What's the year, make and model of the car? - Ask Does it start with a push button or a regular key? - Ask Do you have a working key, or are all the keys lost? - Ask Where is the car right now? - Note If they have the VIN (on the dashboard by the windshield, or on the registration), take it. It helps you get the right key. - Say Please have your photo ID and the car's registration or title ready. The technician has to see them before handing over the car or a key. 7. **7. After-hours emergency** - Ask Is this an emergency, or can it wait until we open? - Note Tell the caller about the after-hours charge before you book, not when the technician arrives. 8. **8. Give the price** - Say For a house lockout, the price is usually $85 to $150. - Say For a car lockout, the price is usually $75 to $135. - Say For a replacement car key, the price is usually $150 to $400. - Say There's a trip fee of $45 to come out. - Say After hours there's an extra charge of $50. - Say The technician confirms the final price with you before starting. - Ask Does that work for you? 9. **9. Book the job** - Say Let me read that back to you: the address, your name and your callback number. - Ask Shall I send a technician? - Say The technician will text you the arrival time. - Note If they ask about hours: “We're open every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. For emergencies we also take calls after hours.” 10. **10. Close the call** - Say You're all set. Please keep your phone close in case the technician calls. Thank you for calling Example Lock & Key. ### Never say - “It's only $19.” (any price lower than the job will cost) Instead: Your real range, and that the technician confirms the price on site before starting. - “We'll be there in 10 minutes.”: Instead: “The technician will text you the arrival time.” Or give a window you know you can keep. - “No ID needed.”: Instead: “Please have a photo ID and proof you live there or own the car ready.” - How to open the lock or get around it: Instead: “The technician will take care of it when they get there.” - “We'll have to drill it.” (before anyone has seen the lock) Instead: “The technician tries to open it without damage first.” - A guess when you don't know the answer: Instead: “Let me check with the technician and call you right back.” - “We're licensed.” (when you aren't, or without the number) Instead: Your license number, in states that license locksmiths. ## Why each “never say” matters - “It's only $19.” (any price lower than the job will cost). A low phone price that turns into a much bigger bill on site is the locksmith scam the Better Business Bureau warns consumers about. Callers who have been burned hang up on it. - “We'll be there in 10 minutes.”. A missed arrival promise is the fastest way to a cancelled job and a bad review. - “No ID needed.”. Opening a door for the wrong person can make you part of a break-in or a car theft. - How to open the lock or get around it. You don't know who's on the other end of the phone. - “We'll have to drill it.” (before anyone has seen the lock). Drilling is a last resort, and promising it scares off callers and invites a dispute. - A guess when you don't know the answer. A wrong answer on a key or a price becomes the promise you're held to. - “We're licensed.” (when you aren't, or without the number). Claiming a license you don't have is false advertising. Check what your state requires with the license tool. LockCommand's AI receptionist asks these questions on every call, in English or Spanish, and quotes only from your price book. [Set up the AI receptionist](https://app.lockcommand.com/sign-up?from=tool-phone-script-builder) ## How to use it A good phone script does two jobs. It gets the details the technician needs before they drive, and it keeps the price talk honest so the caller isn't surprised at the door. The builder above writes one for your shop. It opens with an example shop so you can see a full script right away; change the details and it updates as you type. ### How to use it 1. Type your shop name. Leave the greetings blank to use the default, or write your own in each language. 2. Set your hours, or tick Open 24/7, and the towns you cover. 3. Tick the kinds of calls you take. Each one adds its own set of questions. 4. Choose how you give prices. With ranges, enter a low and high price for each job, the same numbers as your price book. Leave a job blank and the script says the technician prices it on site. 5. Switch between English and Español, then copy the script or print it. ### The order matters The script always runs greeting, safety, basics, the job questions, price, booking and close. Safety comes first on lockouts: if a child, a vulnerable person or a pet is locked in, the caller should hang up and call 911, not wait for a van. The name and callback number come next because a dropped call with no number is a lost job. The price comes after the job questions, because a range for a 2021 push-to-start Camry key is different from one for a 2008 Corolla with a turn key. ### A worked example The example shop takes house lockouts, car lockouts, car keys and after-hours calls, open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. with emergencies after that. A caller says they're locked out of their car at night. The dispatcher asks about anyone locked inside, takes the name, callback number and address, asks the year, make, model and color, and reminds them to have their ID and registration ready. Then the price: “For a car lockout, the price is usually $75 to $135. There's a trip fee of $45 to come out. After hours there's an extra charge of $50. The technician confirms the final price with you before starting.” The caller knows the most it should cost before they say yes. ### The questions to ask, by call type | Call | Must ask before you quote | Proof to have ready | | --- | --- | --- | | House lockout | House or apartment, which door, lock brand or keypad | Photo ID and a bill or lease with the address | | Car lockout | Year, make, model, color, where it's parked, keys inside, engine running | Photo ID and registration or title | | Car key | Year, make, model, push to start or turn key, any working key, VIN | Photo ID and registration or title | | Rekey or lock change | How many locks, brand, a working key, one key for all | Photo ID and proof of address | | Commercial | Business name, contact, what work, how many doors, is it secure now | An owner or manager with ID | | Safe | Type, brand, dial, keypad or key, which floor | Photo ID and proof the safe is theirs | ### What to say when you answer Say the shop name first, slowly, the same way every time: “Thank you for calling Example Lock & Key. How can I help you?” A caller who searched “locksmith near me” and tapped a number wants to know they reached a real local shop, not a call center that answers “Locksmith, how can I help?”. The FTC's consumer advice on finding a locksmith told people to be wary of exactly that generic greeting and to ask for the business's legal name. ### What never to say The list under the script is the part to train on. A phone price far below what the job costs is the pattern behind most locksmith complaints: the Better Business Bureau describes quotes as low as $15 that grow on site once the locksmith finds reasons to raise the price. The BBB also tells consumers to ask about service call and mileage charges up front and to be wary of anyone who insists on drilling, which is why the script says the trip fee out loud and never promises a drill. Arrival promises you can't keep cost you the job and the review. Skipping the ID check can make you the one who opened the door for a burglar. If your state licenses locksmiths, say your license number, not just “we're licensed”; the [license tool](https://lockcommand.com/tools/locksmith-license) shows which states do. ### When a call doesn't add up Most callers are who they say they are. A few aren't, and the script's ID line is your polite way out. Slow down when the caller: - Wants a car or a door opened for “a friend” who won't be there. - Can't give the address, or wants to meet somewhere else. - Pushes back hard on showing ID, or asks for a key cut from a photo or a code with no proof. You don't need to argue. Say the technician needs to see ID and proof on site, and let them decide. Then write down what happened. ### Training whoever answers 1. Print the script in the language they'll use most, and the other one for the back. 2. Role-play five calls: a house lockout, a car key, a price shopper, an after-hours call and one that doesn't add up. 3. Check they say the trip fee and the price range out loud, and ask for the callback number early. 4. After a week, let them put it in their own words. The questions stay; the wording can change. If some callers speak Spanish, the [Spanish for locksmiths](https://lockcommand.com/tools/spanish-for-locksmiths) phrasebook has the same questions with a pronunciation guide and audio. ### Sources - Better Business Bureau, [BBB Scam Alert: Locked out? Don't fall for a locksmith scam](https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/22797-bbb-scam-alert-locked-out-dont-fall-for-a-locksmith-cons) . Last checked October 2026. - Federal Trade Commission, [Finding a Locksmith](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130220151207/http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0089-finding-locksmith) (archived copy; the FTC has since moved its consumer pages). ## Questions ### What should a locksmith say when answering the phone? Your shop's name, then an offer to help: “Thank you for calling Example Lock & Key. How can I help you?” Then ask if anyone is in danger, and get the name and a callback number before the address and the price. ### Should I give prices over the phone? Give the range you really charge for that job, then say the technician confirms the final price on site before starting. Callers hang up on “it depends” with nothing else, and they get burned by a low number that triples at the door. A real range sits between the two. ### Why does the script ask for a callback number so early? Calls drop, especially from a parking lot or a cell with low battery. If you have the number before the address and the price, you can call back and still book the job. ### What proof of ownership should the caller have ready? For a home: a photo ID and something with their name and that address, like a lease or a utility bill. For a car: a photo ID plus the registration or title. Telling them on the phone saves a wasted trip when they can't show it. ### Is the Spanish script a word-for-word translation? No. It's written the way a Spanish-speaking dispatcher would say it, using usted with customers, in neutral Latin American Spanish that callers from Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America all understand. ### Does anything I type get saved or sent? No. The script is built in your browser, and nothing is stored or sent. Copy it or print it before you close the page. ## More for your shop - [Spanish for locksmiths The Spanish phrases a locksmith needs on calls and jobs, with spoken examples.](https://lockcommand.com/tools/spanish-for-locksmiths) - [Price book builder Build a locksmith price list with low and high prices, trip fee and after-hours surcharge, and print it.](https://lockcommand.com/tools/price-book-builder) - [Car key quote builder Quote a car key job by key type and situation, with the questions to ask the caller first.](https://lockcommand.com/tools/car-key-quote) - [Locksmith license by state Which states license locksmiths, who issues the license, and local rules, with sources.](https://lockcommand.com/tools/locksmith-license) - [AI receptionist An AI that answers your calls in English or Spanish, quotes from your price book, books the job and transfers to your cell.](https://lockcommand.com/features/ai-receptionist) - [Locksmith answering service Voicemail, a human answering service or an AI receptionist: what each one costs a locksmith and what it misses.](https://lockcommand.com/locksmith-answering-service) ## Let LockCommand do this on every job The AI receptionist quotes from your price book, books the job and texts the customer. Create your account and set up your shop in a few minutes. [Create your account](https://app.lockcommand.com/sign-up?from=tool-phone-script-builder) [See pricing](https://lockcommand.com/pricing) Already have an account? [Log in](https://app.lockcommand.com/sign-in). Questions first? Email [support@lockcommand.com](mailto:support@lockcommand.com) .