Business Spotlight: Keyed In

Tomorrow’s key might look different than today’s, and Harper Lock & Key Service is hustling to keep up with industry changes.

While the biggest percentage of business is still traditional locksmith services and regular service calls, owner Buddie Voris says automotive technologies have altered the way he works. More often, rekeying a car involves programming remotes and transponders for modern autos.

“We try to stay as current as we can, but we’re probably about a year behind. Some of these 2015 models we can’t do because the software isn’t out yet,” Voris says, noting Harper Lock & Key has added special equipment to program car keys as automakers began to adopt transponder keys and keyless entry remotes in the late 1990s.

Though the company turns down emergency calls to open locked car doors, Voris says making keys for cars accounts for roughly 30 percent of Harper’s business.

“When I first started [in] this business, I could go out and make money with a set of vise grips and a file,” says Voris, who specializes in access control sales and installation. “I couldn’t even imagine trying to start a locksmith company up from scratch right now with all the equipment you have to have.”

Voris says the company works on just about anything that’s keyed, metal or electronic. In addition to making keys and repairing mechanical locks, the company also sells and installs safes, delayed egress hardware for emergency exits and digital access control systems.

The majority of car keys made by Harper are programmed with one of three company-owned computers built by Advanced Diagnostics. The units are smaller than the average laptop and cost about $10,000 apiece. Software is specific to each vehicle’s make and model, and updates are downloaded directly to the computer.

“I think a lot of the actual mechanical parts will be going by the wayside, because everything is becoming computerized,” says Micah Blake, service adviser at Rick’s Automotive Inc., a Harper client for customer and in-house locksmith services. “I think they’ll evolve and reinvent themselves in that area.”

Harper, which was founded by Gene Harper in 1963, still codes mechanical tumblers for keys and lock cylinders at its at 2255 S. Campbell Ave. building.

Voris, owner the last 22 years, says despite a significant dip in business during the Great Recession, the company has managed to recoup lost income in the past several years. He says Harper is within $100,000 of matching its revenue peak of $775,000 in 2002.

TLC Properties Service Manager Dave Hornsby says the multifamily development company uses Harper on a daily basis for purchasing hardware and lock and key services.

“We’re close to 3,500 units at 16 apartment complexes, and we’re exclusive to Harper for every one of those,” Hornsby says. “Any time we have lock issues on any of our properties we go to them.”

Kellie Smith, owner of Advance Fitness LLC in north Springfield, says Harper installed the company’s keyless entry system for roughly $1,200 in fall 2013. She said the technology keeps the 24-hour gym secure while allowing its 350 members convenient access with the touch of a three-inch key fob.

“Once we had it set up, other than paying for the key fobs, we’ve had no costs,” Smith said, adding fobs for new members are purchased from Harper for about $5 each and programmed at the gym. “It’s been a great system for us.”

Staying current also means updating the company’s building, a former single-family residence Voris estimates is one of the oldest on South Campbell. The company moved from South Jefferson Avenue in the mid 1990s, when Voris says a good day for Harper meant eight customers coming through the door.

Today, as many as six customers at a time wait for order fulfillment in the shop, and each of Harper’s six employees – including Voris and the company’s dispatcher – craft keys or repair locks.

He’s now planning a 600-square-foot showroom expansion to the company’s 2,000-square-foot building to be constructed by fall. Throw in a new garage for storage and vehicle workspace, and he’s budgeting about $70,000 for the improvements.

“I’ll probably have to have at least one more truck out on the road, one more counter helper and maybe another person to answer the phones,” Voris says of the increased shop traffic. “I tell my people, we’re going to grow with Springfield, and Springfield’s not getting any smaller.”[[In-content Ad]]