Frequently Asked Questions

Find Your Answers Here About Locksmith Training with Taylors Locksmith Training Academy in Gateshead Tyne and Wear, Northeast England UK.

Q, Why do you only allow 4 people on a course each year?

Q, We only allow 4 people per semester as we are a full time working locksmith business. However John Taylor started our locksmith training school in 1981 and back then it was apprentice based and an apprentice back in the day had to undertake a 14 week training program before he was let loose on the public and we still stand by that today, with over 200 topics to practice and master in the lock lab and at your own home before we can let you out on to real jobs. This all takes time and to also build a full business, working with a web designer, graphic designer to learning all aspects of the business from accounting to the legal side. This is why we can only fit in 4 students per locksmith instructor per term on a one to one training program and its also about quality, we put our name to you, you can't fail as then we look bad. When you start one of our courses we will ask you to sign our Terms & Conditions

Q, Can You Become A Locksmith in 3 or 5 Days?

A, Yes and No, yes you can learn some gimmick tips but real training comes from real jobs and real issues and real experience. Our courses takes 5 - 14 weeks spread over 2 - 3 days per week. Most complete this in 7 weeks with 2 or 3 days per week with further home training and online training for around another month. The subject is a large subject and you need time to take in each section and practice each section with home assignments. So no you cant become a locksmith in that time, but if that was spread out allowing you time to practice each subject so you can retain this information then yes you can but not one day after each other in a row and that kind of training is a dead end course that you will just through your money away on, we term them "con courses".

Q, What Is The Price?

Our prices vary course to course, see our Beginner Locksmith Training Course from £599 including your tools and training aids or our Master Locksmith Course here, which is aimed at a locksmith that wants to start a shop or our Mobile Locksmith Course here which is one of our best selling courses and what most locksmiths start as or if you have a budget then check out our Budget Locksmith Course here which is an award winning course and each course will give you all the information you need to make a choice. If you sill cant find a price that works for you then we may not offer what you need. If your looking to pay less than our budget course for what you get then you probably not ready to become a locksmith as you saying I only want to half ass it and do it fast, but setting up a business to be successful you need to commit fully, it takes time and skills you may not already have. Your best saving up and doing it correctly the first time and giving yourself the best chance at creating and running a real locksmith business. However if you are looking for just training and no business side, if you already have a business and want to add locksmithing to it or if your a landlord then give us a call on 07525639943 and speak to our head instructor Steven J Taylor who can figure out what you need, such as a day session a few days and give more information on pricing.

Q, How Long Does It Take To Build The Website and Go Live?

It depends as its a two way build, we create the site and all the pages and background content, images and graphics along with the coding and do all the hard parts but we will give you assignments which you will need to complete to help the website rank on Google. We do this to make sure you can maintain your website in in the future, been self sufficient is the key to success. But there is no reason a website cant be fully built and live and ranking on Google within one week of the training starting to the courses ending. It takes our guys around 236 hours to build the website, and launch it then the mobile site and business platforms such as your online invoice systems and marketing programs etc. along with the SEO packages .But your siye will be live for the course ending.

Q, How Long Till I Earn Money and How Much Can I Earn?

A, It depends on the area you are in and what your direct competition is within the area, we wont take you on to our course if you cant earn money as a business, we won't put our name to a failed business start up! We say from 1 month of the business launch to a maximum of 6 months to start seeing regular business and how motivated you are to follow our advise and training. Your overall target will be 1 - 3 jobs per day by the end of year 1 with a annual income of around £30.000 to £130k and by year 2 - 6 seeing you make around £250.000 per year depending on your area, population etc. Basically, work it out that a basic job is around £130 and we do 3 jobs a day which = £390, that is around 4 hours of work each day, now if we do that for 7 days = £2,730 a week, based on 4 weeks that is = £10,920 if you worked every day as we tend to then the profit on a basic job is = £131,040 per year and that is on our basic rates.

Q, I Don't Live Close, can I Still do The Course as it Takes Weeks?

A, Yes you can, we actually enrol you on our first stage of the course which is the online home training section. This is a foundation section done from your home in your own time. We send you all the training aids, tools, locks and even a web cam and tripod which is plug and play. All you need is a laptop. We can then train one on one at a distance known as distance e-learning. Once you have completed your foundation level award we will then book you in for your face to face training. You can choose from Gateshead Northeast England for 2, 3 or 5 days depending on the level of course you have bought but you are responsible for your own accommodation and travel or you can attend our Newquay based locksmith school through Cornwall and Devon Locksmith Training where we can put you for for then length of your face to face course in a luxury park holiday home for 2, 3 or 5 nights for up to 4 people. Its like a locksmith holiday with Newquay being one of the UK's best holiday destinations!

Once you have completed your face to face training, its then back to the online training from your home. This means you get the best of both worlds, hands on and online in depth further education which will make you into the best locksmith you can be and will give you the confidence to take on any job as you will know everything there is know and you will have retained the infomation due to the online training sections.

Q, Why Do I Need Home Insurance and Legal Training?

A, well you are going to be working on peoples homes and we need to make sure you know your business legal terms and conditions to make sure you don't put the customer in harm's way which could lead to you been arrested or fined, such as not fitting a British Standard to a final exit door, the customer then buys or has home insurance and you have just voided it. If they try and make a claim and the assessor notices the lock then your liable. It could be as a bad as a house fire with deaths and now the customer has committed insurance fraud due to not giving the correct insurance information on purchasing home or business insurance which could void all policies and the family would lose everything and you would be liable as you changed the locks and voided the policy. We need to make sure you only fit the correct locks to meet home insurance regulations along with fire regulations and understand your kitemarks and BSI ratings. Also what do you do when people fail to pay? What's your rights and how can you get your money? We train you in all aspects of the legal side, this can protect your business and brand too, we look at copyright and trademark for your new business and so much more all related to the business we work in and its vital if you don't want to go to jail.

Q, Can I do Just The Locksmith Training with Tools?

A, Yes you can, we often do this for existing companies that are already established and need further training for new staff, the prices vary on how many attendees you need but for one person with a tools package it would be a 2 or 5 day course held in one week and the price for this would be from £599 for our Beginner Locksmith Training Course or £1500 or £1200 without the tools package, or a basic tools pack and training would cost £1350. If you book more than one just for training then your are looking at 3-4 days for £1000 per person our maximum we would take for this would be 3 students at a time at a cost of £800 each based on them all been trained at the same time. Call Taylors Locksmith Training Academy Gateshead for more information on 07525639943

Q, What are Taylors locksmith Training, Gateshead Locksmith Training Cornwall and Devon Locksmith Training not offering a City and Guilds or NCFE qualifications in locksmith based skills to its students?

A, Simple answer, we do not train enough people in a year. The minimum is 100. We are a small business that only takes on 4 people per year for our business based course. As you can only partly imagine, setting up a business correctly is a massive undertaking. Setting up 4 full businesses and training 4 locksmiths to such a high level of skill takes time and it comes with a high degree of stress as the success of the locksmits future business rests on our skills and reputation for success. For this reason the amount of locksmiths we can produce per year is way under the 100 minimum number that's required but such awarding bodies. We would have to put out over 100 locksmiths a year to be able to access the ability to give out such awards and any locksmith training provider turning out that kind of volume will either have to have,

- large group classes which diminish the learning experience,
- they do not deliver enough training to fulfil the needs of the learning locksmith making them have to take multiple classes at a greater cost to the learning locksmith.
- If a company is turning over that number of locksmiths and each one is successful then where are all the locksmith businesses? There are many training schools and if each one was training over 100 locksmiths a year that's easily a 1000 Locksmiths a year but we are not seeing 1000 successful locksmiths and that's because of the 3 points I have raised here. They are putting out locksmiths who struggle and have no business training, so they quit. It's simply a numbers game for profit.

So our answer is the same as the other locksmith training providers who also see this glaring issue and that's to work with or create awards based on time served locksmiths who can teach locksmithing. Currently in the UK there are no recognised qualifications in the locksmith trade that's recognised by a governing body or insurance underwriter. So even if we paid all the money to offer such qualifications they are not recognised as the industry is not recognised.

We are part of the Guild of Master Locksmiths who oversee our awards and how we deliver our training. The Guild lobby for change in the UK government with regards to the UK locksmith industry. However the GMLUK makes sure each Locksmith school and instructor must meet this criteria.

We must fit the criteria:

Each instructor must have a minimum of 10 years Locksmith service as a self employed locksmith.
That locksmith must have made a net income from their business of over £50k to £70k per year.
They must have undergone the Guild of Master Locksmiths LTTA award which is a training award that a locksmith can earn by undergoing the LTTA training program. The LTTA is the Locksmith Teacher Training Association. It's an award in further education meeting all requirements set out for a teaching qualification but it's based on locksmith training and delivering Locksmith based education, courses and classes. We also have to pass a series of examinations based on adult learning and course delivery. We are of course tested to the highest level possible in all areas of the locksmith trade.
They must carry a separate qualification in training such as a PTLLS in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector or the new AET level 3 Award in Education and Training This nationally recognized qualification carries 12 QCF credits which is the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) and demonstrates our competence and readiness to work as a teacher, trainer, or tutor in various educational settings.

We have many other awards that we have gained from our past but such as Business Management degrees. Our instructors have also come from alternative education based backgrounds. The PTLLS qualification was previously the Level 3 Award in Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector. However, it has now been updated and replaced by the Level 3 Award in Education & Training (AET). We carry a number of City and Guilds, NCFE and many more in many different aspects of training such as tilt and turn window, uPVC fitting etc.

Where Does The Training Take Place?

We have 2 locations that we host training from. We have our Gateshead location based in Gateshead Tyne and Wear and we have our Cornwall and Devon Locksmith Training location in Newquay Cornwall that also offers full accommodation with its courses.

The Gateshead locksmith training takes place from a lock lab which is a base location and has every lock, tool and jig you can imagine. These lock labs are just bases training places, places to have a cup of tea in between real world jobs. But while we are in the local lab we can also deal with anything your stuck on. A lock lab is a small room, not a huge training facility. It is a base as we prefer to train on real doors, on real jobs with real people rather than a sterile classroom. You can choose from 2 locations, either Gateshead or Newquay depending on where you are in the UK.

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Gateshead Location

Our Gateshead locksmith training takes place in Gateshead Northeast England in one of our Lock Lab which holds all the best tools and every lock found in the current UK market, this acts as a base for us to work from. The next stage is when we move on to a real home where you will then take your new skills and fine tune them on a real house, lock picking, bypassing, servicing uPVC, working on windows and mechanisms along with multi point lock fitment, letterbox replacement and much more. You will also be attending jobs with our locksmiths in taking it in stages you will see every kind of common job we get, you will see the business run and how it works from the inside then eventually you will start to doe the jobs, work with the customers until you are doing full jobs with just our guidance from answering the phone to doing the job and taking payment. You also train at home and online, we will make sure we are there for all your questions and mistakes to make sure you can be the best locksmith you can be.

Newquay Cornwall Location

Our Newquay locksmith training is through Cornwall and Devon Locksmith Training. This is the only locksmith training program in the UK that offers accommodation in a luxury holiday park home for the duration of your course. The locksmiths see this as a locksmith holiday as they can bring up to 3 members of the family with them for the stay and they enjoy the fun and sun of Newquay after the days training. We train in our lock lab and then move onto residential and business premisses for real world training as we have whole holiday park to work on. From games rooms with arcade machines to offices and a cottage with wood to upvc, sliding patio doors to out building, bin bays and so much more. All the typical kinds of jobs we see as locksmiths.