Residential lockouts pay the bills for many locksmith shops, but commercial door hardware is where the larger tickets are. A storefront that needs a new exit device, an office with three failing closers or a property manager re-hardwaring a building can be worth more than a week of lockout calls. It is also a different kind of job: it starts with a survey, often involves parts you do not stock, and ends with a business customer who wants a purchase order number, a statement and net terms.
As of October 2026, the locksmiths who grow their commercial work tend to have three things sorted: a consistent way to quote openings, a reliable way to track special-order parts, and a billing setup that suits business customers. This guide covers all three, along with the stock worth carrying and the mistakes that cost the most. It is written for locksmith shops with one to ten technicians adding or growing commercial work.
Survey before you quote
Commercial hardware quotes go wrong when they are given over the phone. The building manager says "the front door bar is broken," and on site it turns out the door is a different width, the frame needs reinforcement and the finish has to match the rest of the building.
A short survey of each opening captures:
- The door and frame: material, width, height, rating if marked, and condition.
- The existing hardware: type, function, finish and why it failed.
- What the customer needs: the same function, or something different such as adding a cylinder to an exit device.
- Access and timing: when the door can be out of service, and whether work has to happen after hours.
Take photos of each opening and its hardware. They make the quote clearer, help when ordering parts, and document the starting condition if something is disputed later.
A note on codes
Exit devices and closers on commercial doors are often covered by fire and building code requirements, and the right hardware depends on the door's rating and use. Confirm what applies with the building owner, the authority having jurisdiction or the manufacturer's documentation before quoting. Never swap a rated device for an unrated one to save a customer money.
Quote line by line
Commercial buyers compare quotes line by line, often against another locksmith or a hardware distributor. A single lump price looks expensive and is hard to approve. A clear breakdown makes the decision easy.
| Quote line | What it covers | Stock or special order | Notes for the customer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exit device | Device, function and finish | Common configurations stocked, others ordered | State lead time on ordered items |
| Door closer | Closer and arm for the door's size and use | Usually stocked | Mention adjustment included |
| Storefront lock or cylinder | Lock, cylinder and keying | Usually stocked | Note keying to an existing system |
| Trim and cylinders for devices | Outside trim, cylinder | Stocked in common finishes | Match the existing finish |
| Door prep | Drilling, reinforcement, filler plates | Labor | Quoted after survey |
| Installation labor | Per opening | Labor | Flat price per opening where possible |
| After-hours premium | Work outside business hours | Labor | Agreed before scheduling |
| Removal and disposal | Old hardware | Labor | Usually included |
Price installation per opening rather than by the hour where you can. Commercial customers like a fixed number, and a fixed price per opening rewards the technician who knows the work. Keep hourly billing for repairs where the cause is unknown until the door is apart. The work order and job ticket guide covers how to keep the details of multi-door jobs straight.
Watch the margin on hardware
Commercial hardware has meaningful cost, and supplier prices change. Use a consistent markup by product type rather than pricing each part by feel, and review your costs on the devices you sell most every few months. The parts markup and margin guide covers the method.
Stock what you install most
Commercial hardware is expensive to keep on the shelf, and much of it depends on door width, function and finish. The goal is to carry enough to finish common jobs on the first visit without tying up cash in configurations you sell twice a year.
Commonly worth stocking: the closers you install most often, one or two exit device configurations that cover your typical jobs, cylinders and trims in your most common finishes, storefront locks and the small parts that fail most often. Order everything else per job.
Keep shop and van stock separately so you know where each device is, and move items to a van with a recorded transfer. A monthly count catches the device that left the shop and never made it onto a sale. The inventory feature covers stock per shop and van, exact transfers with before and after quantities, counts by barcode scan and in-app reorder alerts. The locksmith inventory guide goes deeper on what to track.
Track special orders from order to install
Special-order hardware is where commercial jobs stall. The device was ordered, nobody wrote down the order number, the customer calls to ask when it is coming, and the office calls the supplier to find out.
Record every special order against the customer and the job at the moment you place it:
- Supplier, their order number and the expected date.
- Carrier and tracking number once it ships.
- Arrival, and when the install is booked.
In IntelliDrive OS, a part order moves through needed, ordered, shipped and delivered, with carrier tracking through Shippo and a text to the customer when the part arrives. That one text removes most of the "is it here yet?" calls. A deposit at order time covers the cost if the customer cancels; on a payment-link deposit the customer signs part-order terms before paying.
Billing business customers
Commercial customers expect to be billed like a business. That usually means a purchase order number, an invoice by email and a statement at the end of the month.
On-account billing for customers who have earned it. Approved commercial customers can buy on account and receive a monthly statement. Set credit only after a customer has paid reliably; a new customer can pay a deposit and the balance by payment link until they qualify. The on-account billing guide covers credit limits and statements.
PO numbers on every invoice. Many businesses cannot pay an invoice without one. Record the PO on the sale so it appears on the receipt and the statement.
Property managers and multiple sites. One manager may control several buildings. Keep the account under the manager's company with each site noted on the sales, so statements make sense to the person paying them. The dealer and fleet accounts guide covers a similar setup for automotive accounts, and the dealer billing feature describes PO-based billing.
Keep keying records with the hardware
Commercial hardware jobs often touch a building's keying system: a new exit device trim with a cylinder keyed to the existing master key, or a closer replacement on a door with restricted keys. Keep the keying details with the account so the next technician does not have to guess. The master key system records guide covers how to store and bill keying work.
Mistakes that cost the most
- Quoting without a survey. The door is never the size you assumed.
- Ordering without a deposit. A special-order exit device returned after a cancellation, if it can be returned at all, often comes with a restocking fee.
- No PO on the invoice. The invoice sits unpaid in an accounts payable queue for weeks.
- Losing track of orders. The customer calls you to ask where their part is, and you do not know.
- Extending credit too early. A new commercial customer who has not yet paid once should not have a running balance.
Choosing software for commercial work
If commercial work is growing, check that your software handles quotes that turn into sales, part orders with tracking, on-account billing with statements and PO numbers, and inventory across the shop and vans. The best locksmith software comparison covers how the main options handle these, and the locksmith industry page shows how IntelliDrive OS fits a locksmith shop.
Service and repair calls on existing hardware
Not every commercial call is a new installation. Much of the steady work is repairing what is already on the door: a closer that slams, an exit device that sticks, a storefront lock that will not latch. These calls are smaller but frequent, and a customer who trusts you with repairs is the one who calls you for the next renovation.
A few habits make repair calls profitable:
- Diagnose before you price. Adjusting a closer is a short job; replacing it is a different quote. Tell the customer which one it is before you start.
- Carry the common repair parts. Closer arms, cylinder parts, strike plates and the small components that fail most often. A repair finished on the first visit is worth far more than a second trip.
- Record what was on the door. Note the make and type of the hardware on each opening you service. Over time you build a picture of each customer's building, which makes the next call faster and helps you suggest replacements before a failure.
- Suggest a replacement plan when it makes sense. A building where several closers are failing at once is a candidate for a planned replacement, quoted as a project rather than a string of emergency calls.
Repair work is also where on-account customers appreciate a monthly statement most. A property manager with ten small repair calls a month does not want ten separate invoices.
The bottom line
Commercial door hardware rewards locksmiths who survey before they quote, show the price line by line, stock only the hardware they install most, track every special order from supplier to install, and bill business customers the way businesses expect to be billed. Get those habits in place and commercial jobs become a steady source of larger tickets rather than a source of chasing. Current plan details are on the pricing page.
Related reading: Software to run a locksmith business, Customer deposits for service businesses, and Unpaid invoices and collections. For a complete machine-readable feature and pricing reference, see our LLM reference page.