A tenant is outside. The property manager booked the visit. The owner is expected to pay. Unless you separate those roles, the emergency locksmith invoice will reach accounts with no clear authority trail.
Open the job under the work address. Record who called, who instructed you, who can permit drilling, who can approve extra spending and who receives the bill. Build the invoice from the finished job record. Not the first description given over the phone.
Check the licence before accepting the job
Check locksmith, security-work and contractor-licence questions before dispatch with the official regulator for the state or territory where the work occurs. Use the Australian Government licence finder (opens in a new tab) to find the responsible body, then ask which licence class covers the work at that location and write down the answer.
Do not wait until invoicing to discover that the job sits outside your permitted scope. Record the licence check in your business compliance file, not on the customer invoice.
Name every party before dispatch
Ask who the contracting customer is before sending a tradie. Then record the caller, occupant, instructing contact, person allowed to approve drilling, person allowed to approve extra cost and bill payer in separate fields.
They may all be the same person on a domestic lockout. On strata, rental and commercial jobs, they often are not.
Use these fields:
- Caller: the person reporting the problem.
- Occupant: the person at the property.
- Instructing contact: the person or organisation booking the work.
- Contracting customer: the customer accepting your terms.
- Drilling approval: the person allowed to permit drilling or alteration.
- Extra-cost approval: the person allowed to approve added labour, hardware or keys.
- Bill payer: the person or organisation expected to pay.
- Invoice contact: the person or accounts address receiving the bill.
Do not put every name in one customer field. Accounts needs to see who ordered the job and where the invoice belongs. Your tradie needs to know who can permit drilling and who can approve replacement hardware spending.
Ask the instructing contact for the contracting customer's confirmed legal or trading name. Do not infer it from an email address, the occupant's name or the name on the building.
Record what each person tells you. Do not decide who is legally liable for payment from a rushed phone call. If the instruction and billing authority cannot be confirmed, stop the booking and ask for written direction.
Complete the authority check
Right to enter, permission to drill or alter the property and authority to spend are three separate decisions. A purchase limit is not permission to drill.
Record the result of the access check, who approved drilling and who approved extra cost in the restricted job file. The invoice should carry only the instruction and approval references. Identity documents, key codes, evidence numbers, approver contact details and detailed access checks stay in the job file.
Use the locksmith right-to-enter process to set the checks your tradies follow. If the right to enter remains unclear, stop. An urgent caller does not remove the need for the check.
Do not ask the person waiting outside to approve work on behalf of somebody else. Get each decision from the person holding that authority.
Put the strata or property work order on every document
Commercial locksmith clients, strata managers and property managers may issue a work-order number, purchase order, site code or property reference. Capture it when the job is booked.
Carry that reference through the whole job:
- Booking record.
- Emergency call-out record.
- Variation approval.
- Completion note.
- Invoice or tax invoice, as applicable.
Do not replace the customer name with the work-order reference. Keep both. The reference helps accounts match the bill to an instruction, while the customer fields show who contracted the work.
Ask whether the reference has a spending limit attached. Then ask who can approve work beyond that limit. A tenant or site contact may provide access without holding that authority.
A duty manager might approve the emergency attendance while head office pays the bill. Record both contacts. For repeat managed-property work, use the account controls in the locksmith strata-work guide before the next instruction arrives.
If no reference was supplied, write not supplied in the job record. Do not invent one. Ask accounts whether they need another property or site identifier before you send the invoice.
Open the emergency call-out record before work starts
Emergency call-out records are the evidence behind the invoice. Open the record at booking. Use a pre-start gate before touching the lock, then complete the record before leaving.
Complete the pre-start gate
Bring the party and authority fields from the booking into the job record. Do not ask the tradie to recreate them at the door.
Add the job facts that can only be confirmed on site:
- Exact work address, including the unit, tenancy or door.
- Reported fault and agreed attendance basis.
- Client work-order or purchase-order reference.
- Arrival time and inspection findings.
- Proposed entry method and stated exclusions.
Write the caller's description as a report. Do not turn it into a diagnosis. A caller may report a jammed deadlock when the actual failure sits in different door hardware.
Record what the accepted attendance price covers. It might cover attendance only, a defined entry attempt, stated labour or another agreed scope. Use the prices accepted for that job. If attendance includes labour, do not bill the same labour again on a separate line.
Photograph the relevant door, hardware and damage when the images support the work record. Keep the frame tight. Avoid personal documents, computer screens, photographs and unrelated parts of the property.
Complete the record after the work
Before leaving, record:
- Entry method used and work completed.
- Approval reference for drilling or altered property work.
- Variation approval reference for added spending.
- Hardware fitted and its door location.
- Keys supplied and who received them.
- Completion time and door condition at handover.
Attach labelled photographs to the same job. Finish the record while the door, hardware and approval details are still in front of you.
Inspect the door before choosing the final work
The booking description tells you why the caller wants help. It does not tell you what work the door needs.
Record arrival. Identify the door. Inspect the existing lock, cylinder, case, strike, multipoint hardware and visible damage that matters to the job. Then choose the proposed entry method.
Explain what that method may do to the existing hardware. If non-destructive entry fails and drilling becomes necessary, stop before drilling. The scope has changed.
The same rule applies when the failed component differs from the phone description. Record the finding. State the revised labour, hardware and likely condition of the door at handover. Send that information to the people allowed to approve it.
Do not fit the part that happens to be in the van merely because the door is open. Match the hardware to the door and the approved scope. If the emergency visit turns into planned rekey work, use the locksmith rekey quote process to count each lock, barrel and key before pricing the next stage.
Get the variation approved before changed work proceeds
A variation records the difference between the accepted instruction and the work now required. Write it before doing the changed work.
State the change in plain words:
- What the inspection found.
- Why the original method or hardware no longer fits.
- What added labour is proposed.
- What hardware or keys will be supplied.
- What the revised work will and will not complete.
- Who approved drilling or alteration.
- Who approved the added cost, when and through which contact route.
If the approver accepts only part of the revised scope, record that boundary. The outcome may be attendance only, entry without replacement or a temporary make-safe. Bill what was authorised and completed.
The house example is electrical, but the document control is the same. On the Oak Street bathroom, quote Q-1847 was 1,105. The lined ceiling meant extra cable and chasing were needed. A 160 variation was approved, so invoice INV-1847 became 1,265.
The original quote stayed intact. The variation explained the added work. The invoice carried both into the final amount. Use that same chain when drilling, replacement hardware or extra keys change a locksmith job.
Check ABN and GST details before building the invoice
Use the confirmed business identity on the invoice. Check the ABN identity or status through the Australian Business Register (opens in a new tab). Check GST, BAS and document treatment with the Australian Taxation Office tax-invoice guidance (opens in a new tab). Apply the current ATO requirements to the document.
Use Invoice or Tax invoice as applicable to your business and the document. Do not label every bill as a tax invoice by default.
Keep these checks separate from licensing. The state or territory regulator answers the licence question. The Australian Business Register confirms ABN identity or status. The Australian Taxation Office covers GST, BAS and tax-invoice treatment.
Build the emergency locksmith invoice from the completed record
Start the emergency locksmith invoice after the handover record is complete. Pull each charge from the work actually done and list it once.
Use separate lines for:
- Emergency attendance or call-out.
- Labour not included in the attendance line.
- Hardware supplied and fitted.
- Keys charged separately.
- Each approved variation.
- GST treatment for your business.
- The agreed payment terms.
An invoice is not the place to invent the job price. Labour should come from the accepted labour structure. Hardware selling prices should come from your actual cost plus the markup used when the work was approved. The invoice applies those accepted prices to the completed job.
For a lockout invoice, describe what the attendance line includes. If it includes a stated amount of labour, start any added labour after that included work. Charging both lines for the same time creates an avoidable dispute.
Keep replacement lock billing tied to the item fitted. Name the door location, component type, billable specification and quantity. Do not bill the hardware described on the phone if a different component went into the door.
Record separately charged keys by quantity on the invoice. Keep the name of the person who received them, key codes and detailed key-control information in the restricted job file unless the customer specifically requires a recipient name for billing.
Use concrete descriptions. Emergency attendance at rear office entry tells accounts more than service. Removed failed cylinder and fitted approved replacement tells them more than materials.
For the general document rules behind these fields, use the invoice-writing guide.
Copy this emergency locksmith invoice template
Fill the template only after checking the completed job record, client reference and GST treatment. Remove fields that do not apply. Every charge needs a matching attendance, labour, hardware or variation record.
INVOICE / TAX INVOICE [use the heading that applies] Supplier business name: [confirmed legal or trading name] ABN: [ABN] Supplier contact details: [address, phone and email] Invoice number: [invoice number] Invoice date: [date] Job reference: [internal job reference] Client work order / purchase order: [reference or not supplied] Instruction reference: [reference] Variation approval reference: [reference or not applicable] Contracting customer: [confirmed legal or trading name] Bill payer: [confirmed name] Bill-to address: [confirmed address] Invoice delivery contact: [name and email or address] Instructing contact: [name and organisation] Work address: [property, unit, tenancy and door] Attendance included: [state exactly what the call-out covered] | Ref | Description | Quantity | Unit | Unit amount | Line amount | GST treatment | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Attendance | [emergency attendance and included work] | [quantity] | [attendance] | [amount] | [amount] | [treatment] | | Labour | [completed labour not included above] | [quantity] | [time or fixed item] | [amount] | [amount] | [treatment] | | Hardware | [door location, fitted component and specification] | [quantity] | [item] | [amount] | [amount] | [treatment] | | Keys | [keys supplied where separately charged] | [quantity] | [item] | [amount] | [amount] | [treatment] | | Variation [reference] | [approved added labour or work] | [quantity] | [unit] | [amount] | [amount] | [treatment] | | Variation [reference] | [approved hardware or keys] | [quantity] | [item] | [amount] | [amount] | [treatment] | Subtotal: [amount] GST: [amount or treatment] Invoice total: [amount] Payment terms: [agreed terms] Instruction reference: [reference] Drilling approval reference: [reference or not applicable] Variation approval reference: [reference or not applicable] Work completed: [short completion description] Completion record: [reference] Payment details: [business payment details]
Do not copy access evidence, key codes or names of key recipients into this template unless the customer specifically requires a recipient name for billing. Show a variation as a traceable added line. Do not quietly increase the original labour quantity or substitute a more expensive hardware line with no approval reference.
Close the job against actual cost
After invoicing, add the actual labour and hardware cost to the job. Keep the original quoted work separate from variation costs so you do not compare incomplete cost figures with the final invoice.
On the Oak Street example, the original quote was 1,105 and job cost was 850. Profit against the original quote was 255 because 1,105 − 850 = 255. Margin was about 23%, and markup was 30%. The cost of the 160 variation is not given, so do not calculate profit from the 1,265 invoice.
Use the job-costing close-out guide to compare your own estimated and actual labour, hardware and other direct costs. Finish that check before judging whether the job made money.
Common questions
What if the client reference arrives after the job?
Add the supplied reference to the job record and invoice before sending it. If the invoice has already gone, ask the client whether they want the reference added through your normal correction process. Do not overwrite the original instruction record.
Should planned rekey work stay on the emergency invoice?
Keep it separate when it is a later scope, a new approval or a different visit. Close the emergency attendance against the work completed that day, then quote the planned rekey work from a fresh hardware and key count.
What if accounts asks for sensitive access evidence?
Ask what fact they need to confirm. Give them the instruction or variation approval reference carried by the emergency locksmith invoice. Keep identity documents, key codes, evidence numbers, names of key recipients and detailed access checks in the restricted job file unless the customer specifically requires a recipient name for billing.