Phones and calls
AI answering service for locksmiths
Gets the lockout to you before they call the next locksmith.
- From $49 a month
- Keep your number
- Spam calls never billed
- You set the spend limit
418 Alder St
Locked out with the keys inside. Waiting on the front step.Urgent
What is a locksmith answering service?
A locksmith answering service picks up a locksmith’s calls when nobody can: at night, at weekends and while the tech is on a job. A good one gets a lockout to whoever is on call, asks whether a child or a pet is locked in a car, writes down the lock and where it is, and never quotes a price.
One call, start to finish, in under a minute
A leaking water heater at night, taken the way it’s taken on a Wakeman line: what’s wrong, a safety check for water near electrics, the address read back, and — with booking on — a time in the on-call window. The example is a plumbing shop. On your line it answers as your business and asks about locksmith work — it is set up for your trade and your own list of services.
Rather try it yourself? Call (503) 765-9727 and play the customer with an everyday job.
Example call · synthesized voices, not a recorded caller
How Wakeman sorts locksmith calls
Not all of them should wake you. A generic answering service takes four messages and sends four texts. Wakeman works out which call is which — and it goes by what is actually wrong, not by how upset the caller sounds.
“My little girl is locked in the car and it's hot out”
It tells them to call 9-1-1 right now, because 9-1-1 can get her out fastest, and tries your on-call phone during the call.
“I locked myself out of the house”
A lockout is marked urgent and goes to your on-call phone as an urgent text, with the address. Nobody is in danger, so it doesn’t ring anyone during the call.
“Someone broke in last night and the back door won't lock”
A home that can’t be locked is marked urgent and texted to your on-call phone at once, with the address.
“I'd like all the locks rekeyed, we just moved in”
Taken down as a job with the address. With booking on, it offers a time from the list you set.
- Rings your on-call phone: gas, carbon monoxide, a downed power line, fire or smoke, a medical emergency, a child or pet locked in a car, water near electrics, a structural collapse, major flooding and sewage inside.
- How it knows: it listens for those words. A caller who describes it differently may be marked urgent instead.
- Urgent calls (no heat, or a leak that can’t wait) get a text, not a ring. So does an on-call phone that is the same line you forward to Wakeman.
- No on-call number set? It won’t tell the caller help is on the way.
- It’s a safety net. It doesn’t replace 911.
An AI receptionist for locksmiths
Call it an answering service or a virtual receptionist — the job is the same. Wakeman is set up for locksmith work and your own list of services. It asks what a good dispatcher would: what’s wrong, how bad it is, the address and a number to call back. It checks the address, then texts you the job, or books it into Jobber on Pro and Max once you switch booking on. It says it’s an AI at the start of every call. There’s no call center behind it: a caller who needs a person is put through to your own on-call phone.
The locksmith jobs it starts with
- House lockout
- Car lockout
- Rekey
- Lock change
- Car key replacement
- Broken lock
Setup fills these in for locksmiths, and you can change them. It also suggests business lockout, smart lock installation, deadbolt installation, key fob programming, master key system and three more. It treats work close to your list as work you do, and turns down anything on your “Jobs you don’t do” list plainly, taking a message.
AI receptionists for locksmiths, compared
Wakeman wrote this, and Wakeman is on the list. Each row comes from the company’s own pages, checked October 20, 2026.
| Price | How it bills | When a caller needs a person | Books into | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goodcall | $79 / $129 / $299 a month | Unique callers: 100 / 500 / 2,000, then 79¢ / 26¢ / 15¢ each | Transfers to the people you choose | CRM through Zapier |
| Jobber AI Receptionist | Included on Plus; otherwise a $29/mo add-on | Conversations: 30 or 100 included (its help pages differ); one says $0.79 each after | When it hears a trigger word you set, it transfers to your one escalation contact or texts you | Jobber, through Online Booking |
| Rosie | $49/mo (250 min); $149 (1,000); $299 (2,000) | Minutes; moves you up a plan when you go over | Warm and live transfers from the $149 plan; the $299 plan tries several numbers | Your calendar, on Scale and up; Zapier |
| Ruby (people, not AI) | $250/mo (50 min) to $1,725 (500 min) | Minutes; each call rounded up to 60 seconds, hold time counts | A person answers every call | Not named on its pricing page |
| Smith.ai | Free (25 calls); Pro from $150/mo (75 calls) | Per call; $2.10–$3.00 an extra call | Can hand the call to a live receptionist, any hour | Lists Jobber (via Zapier), ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro |
| Wakeman (our entry) | $49/mo (100 min); $149 (500); $399 (1,500), day and night | Minutes included; then $0.29–$0.45/min by plan, with a monthly limit you set. Spam is never billed | Puts the caller through to your own people: your on-call phone, then the owner’s if nobody picks up. It does this on a dangerous call, a complaint or an angry caller, or when someone asks for a person twice. The AI answers every call; there’s no call center | Jobber on Pro and Max, once you switch booking on |
Where these facts come from · checked October 20, 2026
Checked October 20, 2026. Prices and policies change; the links are the authority, not this page.
- Jobber pricing — $29 add-on; Plus includes it
- Jobber help: Receptionist — 30 conversations, $0.79, escalation contact, Jobber number
- Jobber help: add-ons — 100 conversations a month
- Rosie pricing — and its terms, for going over
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist pricing
- Smith.ai and Jobber — through Zapier
- Goodcall pricing
- Ruby plans and pricing
- Ruby billing basics — 60-second rounding, hold time
All 16 AI receptionists for contractors · What every answering service charges
People get locked out late at night, early in the morning and at weekends, and they don’t wait: they ring down the list until a locksmith picks up. The first one who answers usually gets the job.
A lockout at 11 p.m. is a customer standing outside who will call the next locksmith on the list. Wakeman answers the calls you miss, writes down what is locked and where, and texts your on-call phone at once.
Field notes for locksmiths
All field notesFree line check
What does a customer hear when I can’t pick up?
Voicemail greeting generator
What should my business voicemail greeting say?
Missed call calculator
What are missed calls costing my shop?
Questions about an AI answering service for locksmiths
Is a lockout treated as urgent?
Yes. Someone locked out of a home, a car or a business, keys locked inside or a key broken off in the lock is marked urgent, and so is a break-in or an outside door that won’t lock. It goes to your on-call phone as an urgent text, with where they are. A child or a pet locked in a car is different: Wakeman tells the caller to call 9-1-1 right now and tries your on-call phone during the call. It is an AI speaking, so it may not say those words exactly, and we cannot promise the call to your phone gets through. It is a safety net, not an emergency service.
Will it quote a price for a lockout?
Only the fees you set. Turn on “Say my trip fee out loud” and it tells callers your trip fee, and your after-hours fee if you have one. It never prices the job itself: it writes down what is locked and where, and tells the caller your team will go through the price with them.
What if a caller wants into a place that isn’t theirs?
It takes the message as usual and promises nothing, so whether to go is your call. It never tells a caller how to get past a lock themselves.
Can it take car key calls?
Yes. It writes down the year, make and model, and whether the caller still has a key that works, so you know what to bring. Setup starts a locksmith with “House lockout”, “Car lockout”, “Rekey”, “Lock change”, “Car key replacement” and “Broken lock”, and you can change them.
Does Wakeman have locksmith-specific emergency rules?
It uses one set of safety rules in every trade, so nothing dangerous slips through a trade-specific gap: gas, carbon monoxide, a downed power line, fire or smoke, a medical emergency, a child or pet locked in a car, water near electrics, a structural collapse, major flooding and sewage inside. When a caller describes one, Wakeman gives safety steps written in advance and tries your on-call phone during the call. A caller with no heat, cooling or hot water, an empty oil or propane tank, a leak that can’t wait, a blocked drain, no power, a stuck garage door, a break-in or a door that won’t lock, or a lockout is marked urgent and texted to your on-call phone at once. So is a driver who needs a tow now, and any caller who mentions a baby, an older person or someone on oxygen at home. A slow drip, or a leak the caller says can wait, is written down as a routine job unless the water is spreading, doing damage or won’t stop. Everything else locksmiths get asked about is written down as a job, using the list of jobs you give it in setup. It is an AI speaking, so it may not say those words exactly, and we cannot promise the call to your phone gets through. It is a safety net, not an emergency service.
How much does a locksmith answering service cost?
Wakeman is $49, $149 or $399 a month with 100, 500 or 1,500 minutes included, then 45¢, 35¢ or 29¢ a minute by plan. There is no setup fee and no minimum term, spam calls are never billed, and you set a monthly spend limit. Human answering services work out at roughly $2.76–$5.00 per included minute on their published plans.
Is Wakeman an AI receptionist for locksmiths or an answering service?
Both names describe the same job, and so does "AI CSR". Wakeman is an AI receptionist: it answers the calls your team misses in your company’s name, and says it is an AI at the start of every call. Like a locksmith answering service or a virtual receptionist, it writes each job down; unlike a message-taking service, it tells an emergency from a routine call and alerts your on-call phone for the dangerous ones.
Pricing · How it works · After-hours answering service · Emergency answering service · Booking into Jobber · How it compares
Every trade Wakeman answers for
Page updated October 28, 2026.
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