Locksmith call distribution is uniquely brutal
Most trades work 7 to 4. Locksmiths work whenever someone gets locked out — which skews heavily Friday nights, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and the day after Christmas. The customer is often outside in the cold, with a kid or a dog, and they will ring the next locksmith on Google in 90 seconds if you don't pick up.
That makes the after-hours premium genuinely valuable — locksmith callouts at 1 AM are 2-3x the daytime rate, and customers expect it. But you only get to charge that premium if you actually answer the call.
The four call types locksmiths see
Residential lockout
The classic. Sanby captures address, whether the customer is at the door or somewhere else, whether it's a deadlock or a regular lock, and whether they have a spare key with anyone nearby (cheaper than a callout, sometimes the right answer).
Vehicle lockout
Different verification, different equipment. Sanby captures vehicle make/model, rego, location (suburb + street + cross street), whether the keys are visible inside the car, and whether the customer is the registered driver.
Post-burglary rekey
Sensitive call. The bot is calm and doesn't make small talk. Captures the address, suggests the customer call police first if they haven't, and books urgent same-day. Flagged as a sensitivity-flagged job in your SMS.
Shop walk-in / scheduled rekey
Routine bookings: key cuts, lock changes for new tenants, commercial master-key system planning. Sanby books an appointment slot, captures the basics, no urgency flag.
What an after-hours lockout sounds like
Two things to notice. First, the pricing was disclosed upfront, so there's no awkwardness when you arrive. Second, the bot didn't promise an exact arrival time — it promised a window and an SMS, which is what you can actually deliver.
You can configure how Sanby quotes
Some locksmiths price each callout based on lock type and want the bot not to mention price at all. Others have flat-fee callouts and prefer the upfront disclosure (what you saw above). Both modes are configurable per-business. The bot never guessesat a price you haven't configured — if there's no rate card, it just books and you call back to confirm pricing before dispatch.
Pricing
$149/month suits solo mobile locksmiths. $299/month is the typical fit for 2-3 person teams or shop+mobile operations. $499/month includes the higher call volume and unlimited team-member access for established operators. All plans include 14 days free with 25 calls. See the home page pricing section for the breakdown.
Compare options
See Sanby vs Sophiie AI for a feature comparison with the best-known competitor in this market. For traditional answering services: locksmiths specifically benefit from skipping them altogether — the average answering service hold time is longer than the time it takes a customer to ring the next locksmith on Google.
Related trades
Sanby works the same way for plumbers, electricians, and HVAC technicians. See the tradies hub for the full list and roadmap.
Frequently asked questions
Can Sanby do the security verification I'd normally do for a lockout?
It can capture the inputs you'd ordinarily ask about — name, photo ID type the customer plans to show, lease holder vs occupant, vehicle rego if it's a car lockout. It can't verify those for you (no AI should), but the data lands in your SMS so you can confirm on arrival. For sensitive cases (post-burglary rekeys, business premises) you can configure an extra step where Sanby books the job pending an SMS confirmation from a registered customer phone number.
How does it handle the overnight emergency premium?
You configure your after-hours rates in the dashboard. When a call comes in outside business hours, Sanby tells the caller 'just so you know, after-hours emergency callouts have a $X premium on top of the standard rate, are you happy to proceed?' before booking. Customers know what they're signing up for; you never have an awkward conversation on the doorstep.
Can it pinpoint the customer location precisely?
Yes — for a lockout especially. Sanby asks for the full address, but also asks for cross-street, building name if applicable, parking notes, and whether the customer is at the door or somewhere else (a coffee shop, the neighbour's). For car lockouts it captures the location, the vehicle, and rego separately. The whole thing lands in your SMS in 30 seconds.
What about residential rekey calls after a break-in?
These are sensitive — the customer is rattled, the situation is genuinely urgent in the trauma sense even if not safety-critical, and they often want a same-day visit. Sanby is calm, doesn't ask redundant questions, and books the job with a clear urgency flag. For these calls specifically, the bot will mention that police should be called first if they haven't been (most customers have, but the prompt avoids you arriving to a scene that isn't yet documented).
Can Sanby route shop walk-in inquiries differently from mobile callouts?
Yes — if the customer says they're at home or at the car, that's a callout. If they say 'I'm coming in tomorrow to get a key cut', Sanby books a shop appointment instead and gives them your shop hours rather than a mobile arrival window. You can configure shop hours separately in the dashboard.
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