AI for trades
AI for Australian locksmiths.
Someone is locked out of their house at 9pm, panicked, and you are mid-job across town. The call goes to voicemail and they ring the next locksmith on Google. We build the AI that triages the lockout by urgency and location, captures the address, and dispatches you fast while the caller is still on the line, then quotes the rekeys and installs between jobs. The licensed security work and the access calls stay yours.
Plugs into the stack you already run
- ServiceM8, Tradify or simPRO (job dispatch + scheduling)
- Xero or MYOB (invoicing + accounts)
- your mobile, a business number and SMS the customer reads
- Google Business Profile + Google Maps (where emergency callers find you)
- your service-area map and live availability
What can AI actually do for a locksmith business?
It triages the emergency lockout call by urgency and location, captures the address and access details, and dispatches you fast while the customer is still on the line, instead of letting a panicked caller hit voicemail and ring the next locksmith. Between emergencies it qualifies and quotes the rekeys, restorations and lock installs. It never advises on bypassing a lock or defeating a security system, and never decides who is entitled to access a property; that judgement and the licensed security work stay with you. The AI runs dispatch and quoting, not the locksmithing.
The one that eats the week
What actually swamps a locksmith.
Emergency lockout triage, where speed and prioritisation decide the job. A lockout call is the most urgent, most winnable lead a locksmith gets: someone is shut out of their home, car or business right now, they are stressed, and they will hire the first locksmith who answers and can come quickly. If that call rings out while you are mid-job, the caller does not leave a message; they tap straight to the next result. The skill is triage: how urgent is this, where is the customer, can you get there before a competitor, and is it a job worth breaking from your current one for. Sitting underneath the emergencies is the steadier work, rekeys, restorations, lock and safe installs, master-key systems, that needs a clear quote before it is booked. Both leak the moment there is no one to answer and prioritise the phone.
What you're doing now · What we'd ship instead
The before and after, in plain terms.
You, today
Lockout calls ring out while you are mid-job
The most urgent, most winnable lead you get is a panicked person locked out right now, and if you cannot answer they ring the next locksmith. Voicemail never converts a lockout.
No way to prioritise the urgent over the routine
An emergency lockout and a quote enquiry hit the same phone. Without triage, you either break off a paying job for a tyre-kicker or miss the genuine emergency.
After-hours emergencies land when you cannot pick up
Lockouts happen at night and on weekends, exactly when you are off the tools or asleep, and every unanswered one is a job and a stressed customer gone to a competitor.
Rekey and install quotes never get followed up
A customer asks for a price on a rekey, a deadlock install or a master-key system, and you never chase it, so warm work that would have closed quietly disappears.
You cannot answer and drive at the same time
On the way to one job, the phone goes again. You cannot safely take the call, capture the address and dispatch yourself, so the next lead slips.
You look smaller than the franchise that always answers
A bigger outfit has someone on the phone around the clock. A solo locksmith who misses calls reads as unreliable, even when the work and the price are better.
You, with us
Every lockout triaged and dispatched fast
The AI answers the emergency, gauges urgency and location, captures the address and access details, and dispatches you while the caller is still on the line, so the most winnable job stays yours.
Urgent and routine sorted automatically
It prioritises a genuine lockout over a routine quote enquiry and routes each appropriately, so you break from a job only when it is worth it.
After-hours emergencies captured and routed
Night and weekend lockouts get an instant on-brand answer and a dispatch or callback, so the stressed customer is looked after instead of dialling the next result.
Rekey and install quotes chased on a schedule
Restorations, deadlock installs and master-key quotes get a polite nudge on a cadence, so warm security work closes instead of going quiet.
Leads captured while you are driving
When you cannot safely take a call, the AI answers, captures the job and the address, and pushes it to you, so the next lead is held instead of lost on the road.
You present as the always-available locksmith
Every call answered, emergencies triaged, nothing dropped. The customer experiences a business that is there when they need it, which is exactly what wins the lockout.
A locksmith business turns on one thing more than any other: being the one who answers when someone is locked out. Everything else, the rekeys, the installs, the master-key systems, is steady work that can wait an hour. The lockout cannot. And the person best placed to answer it, you, is the one currently mid-job across town with both hands busy. So the most winnable lead you ever get rings out, and the caller hires whoever picked up. That is not a skills problem. It is a there-is-only-one-of-me problem, and it is exactly what AI is built to carry.
The lockout is the most winnable lead you get, and the easiest to lose
Think about what an emergency lockout actually is. Someone is shut out of their home, car or business right now. They are stressed, they have decided to spend money this minute, and they are ringing whoever comes up first. That is the highest-intent call in the trade. When it hits your voicemail because you are under a different lock across town, they do not leave a message. They tap back to the search results and ring the next locksmith, who answers, and wins a job that was yours on speed alone.
The AI answers it. It picks up in your business name, works out how urgent it is and where the customer is, captures the address and access type, and dispatches you while the caller is still on the line. The panicked lead that used to ring out is now a job in your hands with the details already in your pocket.
Triage is the skill, and it is the part that breaks first
A locksmith’s phone does not only ring with emergencies. A genuine lockout and a routine rekey enquiry land on the same number, and the skill is sorting them: how urgent is this, can you get there before a competitor, and is it worth breaking from the paying job you are on. Done by hand while you are working, that triage is the first thing to collapse, so you either abandon a job for a tyre-kicker or miss the real emergency. The AI prioritises a genuine lockout over a routine quote and routes each appropriately, so you break off only when it is worth it.
The steady work that funds the quiet weeks
Underneath the emergencies sits the rekey, restoration and install work, the master-key systems and security upgrades, that needs a clear quote before it books. It is less urgent, so it is the work that never gets chased. The same agent qualifies and quotes those jobs and follows them up on a cadence, so the warm security work closes instead of going quiet, and the steady revenue that smooths out the slow weeks actually lands.
Where the line sits, and it does not move
This part is firm, and for a locksmith it matters more than most. Locksmithing is regulated as a security activity in several states, so the locksmith and the business must hold the relevant security licence, a Class 2C licence under the Security Industry Act 1997 in NSW through the Police SLED, with equivalents elsewhere, and many belong to the Master Locksmiths Association of Australasia. The AI never advises a caller on how to bypass, pick or defeat a lock or security system, and any such question is escalated to a human immediately. It never decides who is entitled to enter a property or vehicle. Verifying that someone is authorised to access a property, and doing the licensed security work, are yours and stay yours, confirmed on site. The agent triages, captures, dispatches and quotes underneath your licensed work; it never steps over the line into it.
When it earns its keep
Lockouts run all year, but the volume spikes with the calendar. The Christmas and summer-holiday period brings a wave of home and car lockouts as people travel and lose keys, cold snaps jam and fail locks, the new-year moving season and quarterly rental turnover lift rekey and lock-change work, and a local break-in spell pulls a cluster of security-upgrade enquiries. The after-hours and weekend emergency volume in those windows is exactly when a solo locksmith cannot also answer and triage the phone. An always-on front desk catches the surge you would otherwise lose, without a 24/7 answering service you only need for a few intense stretches a year.
If you want the broader picture across the trades, the AI for Australian tradies guide covers quoting, dispatch and follow-up in depth, and the trades overview maps the whole stack. When you are ready, book a free 30-minute audit and Jenn will name the two or three agents worth building first for your locksmith business, quoted fixed in AUD.
Concrete, not hand-wavy
What the AI actually does for a locksmith.
- Answers emergency lockout calls, gauges urgency and captures the address, access type and customer details.
- Dispatches you to a genuine emergency while the caller is still on the line and pushes you a clean brief.
- Triages urgent lockouts ahead of routine quote enquiries and routes each to the right next step.
- Qualifies and quotes rekeys, restorations, lock and safe installs and master-key systems for booking.
- Follows up rekey and install quotes on a polite cadence so warm security work closes.
- Books non-urgent jobs into ServiceM8, Tradify or simPRO against your live availability.
- Answers website and Google Business Profile enquiries within seconds, day or night.
- Escalates anything that asks how to bypass a lock or security system straight to a human and never advises on it.
Where the line sits
Locksmithing is regulated as a security activity in several states, so a locksmith and the business must hold the relevant security licence, for example a Class 2C licence under the Security Industry Act 1997 administered by the NSW Police Force Security Licensing and Enforcement Directorate (SLED), with equivalents in other states, and many locksmiths also belong to the Master Locksmiths Association of Australasia. The AI must never advise a caller on how to bypass, pick, defeat or disable any lock or security system, and it must never decide who is entitled to enter a property or vehicle; verifying that a person is authorised to access a property, and performing the licensed security work, are the locksmith's responsibility and stay with the human. The AI triages, captures details, dispatches and quotes. It never gives security-defeating advice and never makes the access-authority call, which the licensed locksmith confirms on site.
The cost question, answered straight
What this runs for a locksmith.
Emergency lockouts are high-value, high-intent jobs, so a single after-hours lockout caught and dispatched that would otherwise have rung out covers a chunk of the system on its own. For a solo or small locksmith business, the lift in answered emergencies and the rekey and install quotes followed up typically pays the build back inside the first month, before you count the leads no longer lost while you are driving or asleep.
Where most locksmiths start
The packages we'd actually quote you on.
AI Front Desk
An always-on receptionist for service businesses, answers enquiries after 5pm, books appointments, sends reminders, escalates the tricky ones.
The flagship for locksmiths. Answers and triages the emergency lockout and dispatches you fast so the most winnable job never rings out.
$1,500 AUD setup + $199 AUD/month
Read the brief →
AI Lead Engine
Every enquiry triaged, qualified and replied to in your voice, in under 5 minutes, even at 11pm on a Sunday.
Chases every rekey, restoration and install quote on a schedule so warm security work does not go cold.
$2,000 AUD setup + $499 AUD/month
Read the brief →
AI Content Engine
A content production line in your brand voice, Instagram, LinkedIn, blog, newsletter, drafted, scheduled, and refined from what actually performs.
Turns a finished install or security upgrade into on-brand social posts and review requests, with no security-sensitive detail.
$1,500 AUD setup + $499 AUD/month
Read the brief →
The short version
- The killer workflow for a locksmith is emergency lockout triage: the most urgent, most winnable lead, lost the instant the phone rings out and the caller dials the next result.
- AI runs dispatch and quoting, triaging the lockout, capturing the address and sending you fast, while the licensed security work and the access-authority call stay with you.
- Locksmithing is licensed as a security activity in several states (for example a Class 2C licence under the Security Industry Act 1997 in NSW); the AI never advises on bypassing a lock and never decides who may access a property.
- For a solo locksmith, a single after-hours lockout caught and dispatched can cover a chunk of the cost, with the full build usually paid back inside the first month.
Real questions locksmiths ask
Before-you-book questions.
Will the AI tell someone how to get into a lock or property?
Never, and that boundary is firm. The AI never advises a caller on how to bypass, pick, defeat or disable any lock or security system, and any question like that is escalated straight to a human. It also never decides who is entitled to enter a property or vehicle. It triages the job, captures the details and dispatches you, but verifying that a person is authorised to access a property and performing the licensed security work stay entirely with you on site.
How does the emergency triage actually work?
When a lockout call comes in, the AI answers in your business name, works out how urgent it is and where the customer is, captures the address and access type, and dispatches you while the caller is still on the line, or routes a routine enquiry to a quote instead. It is tuned so a genuine emergency gets priority and you only break from a current job when it is worth it. You stay in control of what you take.
Does it work with ServiceM8 (or Tradify, simPRO)?
Yes. We build around the dispatch and scheduling software you already run. The AI books non-urgent jobs into ServiceM8, Tradify or simPRO against your live availability and pushes you a clean brief on the emergencies, plus Xero or MYOB for invoicing. We do not migrate you off your software; we add the dispatch, triage and follow-up layer on top.
I'm a solo locksmith. Is this overkill?
It is the opposite. A solo locksmith is the one who most cannot answer a lockout, because you are mid-job or driving when the next emergency rings. The AI is what lets a one-person business stop losing the urgent, winnable jobs to a franchise that always has someone on the phone, without hiring a 24/7 answering service. It is the cheapest way to be available around the clock.
We build this Australia-wide
Every agent we ship is remote-first, so we work with locksmiths across the country. AI consultants in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Gold Coast, Newcastle , or anywhere in Australia.
If you run a locksmith business, book the 30-minute audit.
Jenn maps your business live on the call, names the two or three highest-ROI agents we'd build for a locksmith, and quotes them fixed in AUD on the spot. No deck. No pitch theatre. No obligation.
Or email Jenn directly: jenn@onautopilot.com.au, reply within 1 business day, AEST.