The Locksmith's Lever and Panic Bar Retrofit Book
by David Calvin
Copyright, 2017

At Amazon Books

There are some things I won't do for any amount of money. I won't jump out of airplanes, do scratch-and-sniffs, eat sushi (fish bait), or -- well, you get the picture. But buying a thousand dollar lock for a customer, marking it up to retail (about $1900), and putting it on his door in less than two hours is another story altogether! Even if I have to install three and wear myself out doing it!

If you want to pursue commercial lock work and put levers onto doors where there used to be panic bars, or vice versa, this is the book for you. Sometimes contractors put the wrong doors in, doors prepped for mortise panic bars, when all the customer needed was a door prepped for a lever. I can show you how to do this. Or, sometimes you get called to work on a panic bar that is beat up and obsolete and you need to replace it with a new one. What do you do? How do you do it? I can show you. I do it all the time. I taught myself. And let me tell you - it's more art than science. Part tape measure, part template, part eyeball.

Offer this service in your area, and you just might be the only guy or gal doing it. And what does that mean economically? It means you can get the money you want for the job - but within reason, of course. Should you charge by the hour? That's up to you. I charge by the job. You can buy your locks for half off retail, mark them up to retail, and be in and out of many jobs in an an hour, maybe two. 

Don't like the price of the book? Believe it or not, I don't either, But there are nearly fifty pictures in this book and I get charged data when you buy it. 

How do you use this book? Well, first of all, it is not a field a manual. You don't need a field manual.You just need to see how the jobs get done. Hear it explained. Learn the tips. That's it. Read the book through three times, get the theory and philosophy down, and that's it. I will tell you the tools you will need, the small miscellaneous parts, and I will talk about a number of brands and types of devices you can pick up at any lock wholesaler. 

You can do this. And since this is the single most profitable job in locksmithing, you would not be wise to overlook it. If you can measure, drill holes, use templates, and turn a screwdriver, you can do this!

And call me.