Commercial locksmith
Commercial Locksmith in Boston
Call with your postcode for a current arrival estimate.
- 24-hour emergency cover
- No call-out charge
- Price agreed before work starts
When a Business Cannot Open, Every Hour Counts
For a home, a failed lock is a security problem; for a business, it is a trading problem. Big Locksmiths Boston works on business premises across Boston, from a shop that cannot open in the morning to a planned lock change after hours.
A shop that cannot open loses its takings, and an office that cannot be secured cannot be left, so these jobs are scheduled around trading and not through it. Calls are taken 24 hours a day, with no call-out charge.
What Businesses Call Us For
Nearly every commercial enquiry we take falls into one of five groups. Each group below links to a page that explains the work in detail, so you know what you are calling about before you dial.
Locked out of your premises
The keyholder is unreachable, nobody can open up, or someone has snapped a key in the lock first thing. In the majority of cases the door is opened without damage and the existing lock keeps working afterwards.
A lease or insurance requires a lock upgrade
A commercial policy or a lease can set a lock standard for the entrance. It is usually straightforward when you know exactly what that paperwork asks for.
A member of staff has left with the keys
Unlike the others here, this is a situation a household never meets. With keys unaccounted for after a departure, changing the cylinders on each door the person had access to is the only route to certainty, since old keys carry on working for anyone who has one. The handles and lock cases usually stay, which makes it quicker than a full replacement.
The entrance door has failed
Handles go loose, mechanisms wear out under daily traffic and the door stops locking. The door is often sound with one component at fault.
The premises were broken into
Shutters forced open, the entrance door damaged, the unit unsecurable until the police are finished. The priority is securing the premises; after that we repair what can be repaired and board what cannot be.
Key Control for When Staff Change
When a key goes missing at home, you usually know where it went. In a business with a dozen staff and a handful of keys, tracking them is much harder. Keys are passed around, copied and not always returned, and when someone leaves on bad terms or holds on to theirs, you have honestly lost track of who can get in.
Only a cylinder change on each affected door restores that certainty, because it retires every existing key at the same moment. Until then, any old key keeps working for anybody holding it. The work tends to be faster and cheaper than businesses expect, since the lock cases and handles generally remain in place. Where a group of doors should share one key, the new cylinders can be keyed alike. To cut down the number of keys in circulation, raise keyed-alike options on the call and we will say what is practical for your doors. Then start a simple record of keyholders; it costs nothing and saves the same question next time.
Why a Domestic Lock Is Not a Commercial Lock
For a business in Boston, the difference between a commercial and a domestic lock is mostly about how hard it is worked. A front door at home sees a dozen openings a day; a shop or office entrance might see several hundred. That volume of traffic soon wears out hardware suited to a house, so specifications for trading entrances call for heavier-duty cylinders, handles and closers.
Commercial entrances also come in several forms that a home rarely has:
- Aluminium shopfronts, whose lock cases and cylinders differ from those in uPVC or timber doors
- Escape doors with push pads or panic bars that open from the inside without a key
- Roller shutters and shutter locks, which secure the frontage outside trading hours
- Suites of doors keyed to a plan, where one key opens several doors and another opens only one
Choosing hardware on price alone tends to cost more in the end, through repeat call-outs and the disruption each one brings. Matched to the traffic, the door just works. Tell us the door material and what is fitted at present.
Work Scheduled Around Your Trading Hours
Most businesses would rather have a lock changed at six in the evening than at eleven in the morning with customers in the shop. Because emergency cover runs 24 hours a day anyway, planned work does not have to land in the middle of trading. Booking a cylinder replacement, a new stockroom door lock or a replacement shutter lock for before the shop opens or after it closes keeps the shop floor free from disruption and ensures customers never see a locksmith at the door. That applies to planned jobs as much as to emergencies, so mention your trading pattern when you call. Work outside Monday to Friday, 7am to 6pm, is charged at a higher rate, but the call-out itself is never charged and you hear the price on the call.
Premises That We Work On
Business premises vary a great deal, and the list of places we work on reflects that.
Retail
shops and retail units, including shopfronts and shutters.
Hospitality
pubs, bars, cafés and restaurants.
Offices
offices and professional premises.
Industrial
units, workshops and storage.
Public-facing services
schools, surgeries, salons and community buildings.
Property
landlords and managing agents letting commercial units.
Each brings its own mix of doors, from aluminium shopfronts to escape routes, so tell us what kind of building it is when you get in touch.
Invoicing and Paperwork
You will get an itemised VAT invoice for every job. It records the work carried out, the premises where it was done and any hardware fitted, so it drops straight into your accounts and stands up as evidence for an insurance claim where one is made. For multi-site businesses there is flexibility: work across your premises can be invoiced in the way your accounts department finds easiest. Tell us the split you want, and it is one less thing to sort out later.
Fire Doors and the Escape Routes
If a door in your Boston premises sits on an escape route, people must be able to open it from inside without a key. The outside can stay locked; the inside needs a keyless exit such as a thumbturn, push pad or panic bar. BS 8621 is the British Standard covering lock assemblies with keyless egress, and panic hardware falls under standards of its own. Before any lock on that route is changed, look at the building's fire risk assessment and consider how the premises are used, because those decide what the door needs. Our lock installation page sets out the lock options in more detail.
Locksmith pricing
Commercial Locksmith Work Across Boston
We work on shops, offices, industrial units and managed premises across Boston.
Jobs span Trinity, Bargate, Staniland, Haven Village, Skirbeck and Wyberton, and every postcode in PE21 and the parts of PE20 around Boston. See all areas we cover.
What affects the cost?
Service required, time of attendance, lock and door type, labour and parts.
Locksmith pricing
What Does a Commercial Locksmith Cost?
No commercial price is published on this page, and that is deliberate: a shopfront, a shutter and a stockroom door are different jobs. The price is worked out on the call and explained before attendance, with no call-out charge. Four factors do most of the work:
You pay for the work carried out, any parts needed, and VAT. Rates outside Monday to Friday, 7am to 6pm, are higher, but the call-out itself is never charged.
Cannot open up? Entrance will not secure? Planning a repair, a replacement or an upgrade? For an emergency, available 24 hours a day, call with your business postcode and a brief description. A discussion of planned work and available appointment options starts with details of the affected door or lock and your operating hours.
Door type
– aluminium shopfronts, shutters and composite doors need parts that a timber door does not.
Quantity
– the more doors and cylinders, the bigger the job; a full key change across a unit is the obvious example.
Standard
– your insurer or lease may require a particular lock standard.
Timing
– urgent jobs and jobs booked outside trading hours.
Emergency and planned locksmith services
Call Big Locksmiths Boston
Ring for urgent attendance when you cannot open, or to book work outside trading hours when it can wait. There is no call-out charge, the price is agreed before work starts, and invoices itemise the VAT.
- Phone: 01205 601044
01205 601044
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you come out before we open?
Emergency assistance is available at any hour, including before customers arrive. We cover every day. State your opening hours while making arrangements. An entrance fault that stops you opening can be urgent whenever it happens.
A member of staff has left and not returned their keys. What now?
Fit new cylinders to each door they were able to access. That is the only way to be certain, because a mechanical key cannot be switched off and the old keys keep working whoever holds them. Because the existing lock cases and handles are normally retained, replacing the cylinders takes less time than replacing the entire lock. Where several doors need to stay on one key, the new cylinders can usually be keyed alike.
Are commercial locks different from the ones on a house?
The amount of use they receive is the main difference between them. Hundreds of openings a day are normal for a shop entrance, against a dozen for a front door, and commercial cylinders, handles and closers are specified with that heavier use in mind. Under-specify and you pay in repeat call-outs. Commercial premises also have shopfronts, shutters and escape doors, each taking hardware that a home never needs.
Do you work on aluminium shopfront doors?
Yes. Aluminium doors are frequent on commercial entrances, and their lock cases and cylinders are not the same as those in uPVC or timber doors. The single most useful thing you can do is tell us the door type when you call. It means the right parts come with us and gives a better idea of the time needed on site.
Our insurance says we need a particular lock standard. Can you help?
Yes, in most cases. It is common for a commercial policy or a lease to set a lock standard on entrance doors, and it is straightforward to meet once the document's exact requirement is known. Please send the relevant wording, since one policy's idea of "insurance approved" can differ from another's, and getting it right first time avoids a second fitting.
Can you do work across more than one of our sites?
Yes. Businesses with more than one property can have work done across their sites, invoiced whichever way their accounts need. When you call, say how many premises there are and how you want it organised, so it can be planned properly rather than attended site by site.
Will we get a proper invoice for our accounts?
You will. The invoice is an itemised VAT invoice that sets out what was done, where, and which hardware went in, so your accounts team can file it without queries. If the work follows a break-in or other insured event, it also serves as the record for the claim.
Our fire exit door needs a new lock. What do we need?
Keyless exit. Any lock on an escape route has to let people leave without a key, and the standard for keyless egress is BS 8621, which works with a thumbturn on the inside. Panic bars and push pads have separate standards. For your Boston premises, the fire risk assessment and the building's use determine what that particular door needs, so look at it before changing anything and tell us what it says.
Still have a question or need urgent assistance? Call 01205 601044, tell us what has happened and receive a current arrival estimate.