Locksmith recommendations?

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Sadly, my roommates and I are looking at the possibility of having to get the locks changed on our front door. We live near Harvard Square. Anyone have recommendations for a Cambridge/Somerville locksmith they really like? And, what's a reasonable price range we should expect them to charge us? Thanks.

Comments

[ron_newman]

I've added the key and lock tag to your post. You may find past entries helpful.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I did look at the tag, but nothing on there seemed super-recent so I thought I'd start over...a business that was great a year ago might have gone downhill, and vice versa.

[ron_newman]

Yes, it's good to repeat this discussion every couple of years (which is why I tagged it). There was one post in April, which is worth looking at.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Commonwealth Lock in Porter?

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Several folks have recommended them, which is good to know. Thanks. :)

[frotz.livejournal.com]

Commonwealth in Porter is pretty good. If you just want your locks rekeyed, figure $25ish for most normal locks if you remove them and take them to a locksmith, and prices probably vary somewhat but not hugely. (Maybe a bit more at full-service well-regarded locksmiths like Commonwealth, more like half that at Home Depot.) If you want somebody on-site, add at least $60, and that will vary lots. Add another $30-50 (and, again, up) if you want completely new hardware instead of just rekeying.

I've heard good things about Flying Locksmiths for on-site service, but have no direct experience other than seeing them around a bunch. (They do seem to be an actual dedicated group of people as opposed to a referral service, which I like but which might also make them not-the-cheapest.)

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

That's very helpful. I will find someone among my immediate circle who has Clue about these things to look at the locks and tell me whether they can easily be removed.

We're probably looking at re-keying rather than new hardware...the hardware works fine, there's just a possibility that someone has our key who we'd prefer didn't have it.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Really? I remember being surprised at how cheap it was when I brought a lock in to a locksmith be rekeyed -- maybe in the $5 range.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Eli from Mr. Locksmith replaced the lock on our front door when a key broke off in it due to the lock itself being old and badly installed. I don't remember how much he charged, but that just tells you that I didn't experience any kind of sticker shock. My fiance was the one here when he did the work, and he was impressed with the good service provided.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I believe in paying more for better service. I'll see whether my roommate, who would be sharing the cost, feels the same way about it. :)

[vibrantabyss.livejournal.com]

Scott of Aardvark traveling locksmith did a great job at my house, setting 5 locks to 2 different key patterns - and it was only $160, which for on-site is *cheap*.

He can be reached by phone: 617-699-5877 or email: keymaster.scott@gmail.com

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Wow. Yes, based on the informal price quote I got from the guy I asked at Home Despot, $160 is way cheap. The Ghostbusters reference is a bonus. :) Thanks very much.

[davelew.livejournal.com]

For the problem of random people getting/having keys, I'm a huge fan of the Schlage electronic keypad locks (BE365 for the deadbolt, FE575 for an auto-locking handle). You can get them at Home Depot or websites like gokeyless.com. Basically, you can program up to 20 codes into the lock at any given time, and easily delete a code and add another if someone gets a hold of a code.

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

Have you experienced any issues with lock not working when battery runs out?

[davelew.livejournal.com]

No issues in the six years I've had them. I have those locks on both my front door and back door, and the front door battery is ~1 year newer than the back door, so I figure that if one battery runs out I can always get in the other door. There's also a red warning light when the battery starts running low. I try to remember to change each battery every 2 years anyway (before the warning light comes on) but I'm not particularly anal about that.

[ext-2103306.livejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

You can also go to Home Depot and get Kwikset hardware. These allow you to quickly switch to a new key anytime you want without calling a locksmith. I recommend a Kwikset deadbolt and a plain, non-locking knob - the deadbolt is really all that matters.