Key and lock service

What the business is

Cutting keys, mending locks and opening jammed doors and almirahs takes almost no capital: a wooden box, a few files and a rasp, some key blanks and a handful of locks. No shop is needed - sit at a busy junction with the box, and go to the house when someone calls. Ahmad Ali has sat in front of the Nagar Bhaban gate at Bandarbazar in Sylhet city for fifteen years. He told Prothom Alo that he charges Tk 25 to Tk 200 to cut a key, set by the type, the size and what is asked for. Being taken to a house pays best: sometimes Tk 500, usually Tk 250 to Tk 300. A good day can bring a thousand taka, but in his words that comes round once in three or six months, and on some days nobody comes at all and he goes home with an empty pocket. About fifteen others in the same trade sit around him - easy to start, and crowded because of it. Those who survive do not only sit: they put their phone number about and go to the house or the office the moment they are called.

Unit economics

What you need to start

• A wooden box, files and rasps in several sizes, pliers, a hammer, screwdrivers and thin lock-opening tools. Ahmad Ali's entire shop is a cloth spread over a wooden box.Equipment
• Key blanks in various sizes, a few types of lock and round door handles. Ahmad Ali keeps several handles, locks and assorted keys laid out on his box.Starting stock
• Trade licence from the city corporation or municipality. Those who sit on the footpath with a box usually do not take one, but it is required once you take a shop or trade under a name: form Tk 10, book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000, issued in 3-5 working days.Licence
• Filing a key to shape, understanding a lock's levers, and opening an almirah without breaking it. Ahmad Ali used to sell spectacles and made this his trade after learning it.Skill
• No fixed shop. A place to sit in front of a government office or a big bazaar gate is enough, and the rest of the work happens at the customer's house.Workspace

How the work runs

1. 1Learn the work. Filing a key to shape, reading the levers inside a lock, and opening an almirah without breaking it are all learned at the bench, not from a book.
2. 2Choose the pitch: in front of a government office, a city hall, a court or a big bazaar gate - where many people pass daily and keys and locks come up.
3. 3Get the kit: a wooden box, files and rasps in several sizes, pliers, a hammer, key blanks, and a few types of lock and door handle.
4. 4Set the price by the job: less for a simple key, more for a complicated or large one. Ahmad Ali works between Tk 25 and Tk 200 by type and size.
5. 5Do not just sit. Going to the house or the office pays best - Ahmad Ali says a house call sometimes brings Tk 500.
6. 6Put your number about. Leave it with landlords, building guards, flat managers and the nearby hardware shops - when a key is lost, those are the people asked first.
7. 7Add selling new locks. Someone who needs a lock opened usually needs a new one too; supplying it at the same time earns twice from one visit.
8. 8Check who you are opening a lock for. Ask whether they own the place, look at an ID and write it down if you can - otherwise a theft can land on your head.
9. 9Sit at the same pitch every day, and on holidays too. Ahmad Ali turns up the day after Eid to earn - the customers come precisely when others are not there.

Sources

• সিটি কর্পোরেশন থেকে ট্রেড লাইসেন্স প্রাপ্তির ধাপ সমূহ

  Collected: 16 Sept 2026

  Supports: Starting capital · বাংলাদেশ

What changed

No corrections have been published yet.

Questions and answers

No questions yet. Be the first to ask.