Non-destructive entry first, always - and we re-key Schlage, Kwikset, and Baldwin locks on the spot while you watch
You get a price before we start. It does not change when we arrive. No surprises.
Fast, Reliable Residential Locksmith Across San Francisco
Most residential locksmith calls in San Francisco come down to one of three situations: a lockout, a lock that no longer works the way it used to, or a security upgrade after a move or a scare. We handle all three across the city every day, from the Outer Sunset to Bayview, usually within 30 to 45 minutes for emergency calls. Our Residential Locksmith team works out of the Threshold Group’s Bay Area office and dispatches technicians who live and work in San Francisco itself, so the person on the phone understands the difference between a Noe Valley flat and a Richmond District row house. If you’re locked out, your lock is failing, or you want a deadbolt that actually holds, call (910) 714-4287 and a live person answers, day or night.
Why Dunmore Locksmith Is San Francisco’s Preferred Residential Locksmith Company
San Francisco homeowners have a particular set of problems that a generic locksmith company rarely handles well. The average home here was built before 1940, which means original mortise lock bodies, worn skeleton-key cylinders, and doors that have shifted over decades of fog and settling. Dunmore Locksmith is the Threshold Group member business that has served this market since 2007, and every technician we send into San Francisco is background-checked, identity-verified, and sent to you by name and photo before the visit. That’s the Threshold Standard, and it matters in a city where people open their doors to strangers with real hesitation.
We carry the parts San Francisco homes actually need: mortise cylinders for old Schlage and Yale lock bodies, reinforced strike plates for soft Victorian jambs, and marine-grade hardware for west-facing doors that eat ordinary steel. The 365-Day Done Right Promise covers every repair we make. If a deadbolt we installed binds or a rekeyed lock fails within a year, we come back and fix it at no charge. That guarantee is written on the invoice, not implied in a marketing line.
Deadbolt Installation in San Francisco
Deadbolt installation in San Francisco is rarely a simple drop-in job, and any locksmith who treats it as one is going to leave you with a door that doesn’t lock properly. The original doors on most Victorians and Edwardians were cut for mortise locks, not for the modern cylindrical deadbolts that come in a standard box from the hardware store. Forcing a cylindrical deadbolt into a mortise cutout means boring out the original wood, which often splinters the door edge and leaves a bolt that never throws fully. We install single-cylinder and double-cylinder deadbolts the right way: by either retrofitting the existing mortise pocket with a proper conversion plate or installing into a fresh, correctly sized bore using a jig, never freehand.
In San Francisco, a standard deadbolt installation on a modern pre-bored door typically runs $145 to $260 including hardware and labor. On an older door that needs a mortise-to-cylindrical conversion or strike plate reinforcement, expect $220 to $380. West-facing doors in the Outer Sunset and Ocean Beach need stainless or marine-grade cylinders; standard brass will pit and seize within a few years from the salt fog. We’ll tell you up front if your door needs the heavier hardware, and the price goes in writing before any work starts.
Reinforced Strike Plates
A deadbolt is only as strong as the jamb it throws into. On older San Francisco homes, the original jamb wood is often soft, cracked, or separated from the framing. We install a reinforced steel strike plate with 3-inch screws that bite into the structural framing, which takes a standard door from easy to kick in to genuinely resistant. This runs $50 to $90 as part of a deadbolt installation, and we recommend it on any exterior door in the city.
When Your Original Mortise Lock Can’t Be Saved
Some mortise locks are worth rebuilding; others are too worn. If the lock body is cracked, the internal springs are gone, or the door frame has shifted so badly that the bolt can’t align, a replacement makes more sense. We carry new mortise lock bodies from Schlage and Yale, plus conversion hardware that lets you keep the original brass faceplate while getting modern pin-tumbler security. A full mortise lock replacement on a Victorian front door in San Francisco runs $260 to $450 depending on the condition of the door.
Locksmith Key Replacement in San Francisco
Locksmith key replacement in San Francisco means more than cutting a copy at the corner store. The keys that operate old mortise locks and lever-tumbler cylinders in this city are not standard blanks you’ll find at a big-box retailer. A 1920s-era skeleton key, a Schlage mortise cylinder key, or a restricted Medeco key each needs a different blank, different cutting equipment, and often a code lookup to duplicate accurately. We cut keys for the full range of hardware found in San Francisco homes: Schlage, Kwikset, Medeco, Yale, and the obsolete formats that only a locksmith with old stock can reproduce.
A standard key copy in San Francisco runs $8 to $15 for common blanks. A restricted or high-security key, like a Medeco or Mul-T-Lock, runs $25 to $65 because the blanks are controlled and we may need to verify ownership with the original key card. If all keys are lost, we can decode the lock on site and cut a new key from the code, which runs $35 to $75 plus the service call. Every key we cut is checked in the lock before we leave; a key that works in the van but not in your door is not a finished job.
Code-Cut Keys from a Locked-Out Situation
When you’ve lost every key to a mortise lock, decoding is often cheaper than replacing the lock. We read the wafers or pins inside the cylinder and cut a fresh key to factory spec. On San Francisco’s older hardware this takes a practiced hand, because 80 years of wear changes the effective depths. Our technicians do this daily on homes in the Mission, the Castro, and the Haight, where original hardware is the rule, not the exception.
Rekeying Locks When You Move In
You just closed on a house in Glen Park or signed a lease in the Richmond. The prior owner, the prior tenant, the neighbor who “just had a spare for emergencies” – any of them could hold a key to your new front door. Rekeying, which means changing the internal pins so the old keys stop working, runs $95 to $160 for the first lock and $15 to $25 for each additional lock in San Francisco. On a rent-controlled unit, we’ll ask about access for other tenants before we touch that shared entry, because the city takes that seriously, and so do we.
Trusted Brands We Service in San Francisco
We service and install Schlage, Kwikset, Medeco, and Yale hardware daily across San Francisco, and we keep local stock for the formats this city’s older buildings actually use. That means no waiting three days for a Schlage mortise cylinder or a Yale lever-tumbler blank shipped from a warehouse. Whether you have a Kwikset SmartKey deadbolt on a Sunset District home or a Medeco high-security cylinder on a Pacific Heights flat, we carry the pins, springs, and blanks to service it correctly. Factory training on Schlage and Medeco means we honor the warranty terms and service the hardware instead of telling you to replace it.
Common Residential Locksmith Problems We See in San Francisco Homes
- Salt-fog corrosion on west-facing locks. Ocean Beach and Outer Sunset doors take a beating from marine air, and cylinders that would last 15 years inland can seize in 5 to 7. We replace with marine-grade or high-nickel stainless hardware and lubricate seasonally.
- Swollen door jambs from fog-season moisture. The same marine air that corrodes metal also swells original wood jambs, shifting the door and causing deadbolts to bind or fail to throw. The fix is usually not a new lock; it’s re-aligning the strike and possibly trimming the jamb so the bolt seats fully.
- Worn mortise lock mechanisms in pre-1940 buildings. Lever-tumbler and skeleton-key mechanisms wear out after 80 years of daily use. Many can be rebuilt with a new pin and tumbler cylinder; some need a full lock body replacement. We’ll tell you which is which, honestly.
- Illegal-lockout exposure in multi-unit rent-controlled buildings. Rekeying a shared entry without preserving every tenant’s access can trigger a complaint with the San Francisco Rent Board. Technicians who work the Mission, Castro, and Haight every day ask the documentation questions that keep you out of that situation.
Pricing for Residential Locksmith in San Francisco, CA
Here are the numbers San Francisco homeowners actually ask about, without the vague “pricing varies” hedge. A standard lockout service runs $95 to $180 depending on time of day and lock type. Rekeying a single knob lock runs $95 to $160, with additional locks at $15 to $25 each on the same visit. Deadbolt installation runs $145 to $260 on a standard pre-bored door, and $220 to $380 when the door needs conversion or reinforcement. Key replacement runs $8 to $15 for standard copies and $25 to $65 for restricted or high-security blanks. The price we quote on the phone is the price on the invoice, written down before we dispatch anyone. There is no call-out fee added when the technician arrives. Call (910) 714-4287 for a free estimate in San Francisco; we’ll tell you the range for your exact lock over the phone.
| Service | Typical San Francisco Price Range |
|---|---|
| Emergency lockout | $95 – $180 |
| Rekey first lock | $95 – $160 |
| Each additional lock rekeyed | $15 – $25 |
| Deadbolt installation (standard door) | $145 – $260 |
| Deadbolt installation (mortise conversion or reinforced) | $220 – $380 |
| Standard key copy | $8 – $15 |
| High-security or restricted key | $25 – $65 |
| Mortise lock replacement | $260 – $450 |
We Also Serve Cities Near San Francisco
Our Residential Locksmith in San Francisco service area covers the entire city, including the Outer Sunset, Richmond, Mission, Castro, Noe Valley, Glen Park, Bayview, and Pacific Heights neighborhoods. We also serve Daly City, Brisbane, Sausalito, and South San Francisco for the same written pricing and 365-day guarantee. If you’re on the border in Daly City or just across the Bay in Sausalito, call (910) 714-4287 and we’ll confirm coverage and response time on the spot.
Serving San Francisco, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Francisco area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Residential Locksmith in San Francisco
Yes, in most cases. A Victorian or Edwardian mortise lock with a worn cylinder can be rekeyed by replacing the pin and tumbler cylinder inside the existing lock body. The lock body itself often still works fine; it’s the cylinder’s pins and springs that need attention. We rekey original Schlage and Yale mortise locks throughout San Francisco for $95 to $160, which is far less than the $260 to $450 a full mortise lock replacement would cost. If the lock body is cracked or the internal springs are shot, we’ll tell you honestly that rekeying won’t hold and a replacement is the better money. Call (910) 714-4287 for a straight answer about your specific door.
Salt-laden fog corrodes the cylinder and bolt, while the damp air causes the original wooden jamb to swell and shift. The result is a deadbolt that binds or throws only partway, leaving your door unlocked when you think it’s secure. We see this constantly on west-facing doors in the Outer Sunset and Ocean Beach, where standard brass hardware fails in 5 to 7 years instead of the 15 you’d get inland. The fix is usually marine-grade stainless hardware plus strike plate realignment to account for the seasonal wood movement. We recommend high-nickel stainless cylinders and bolts for any west-facing exterior door in San Francisco, and we stock them locally.
Yes. San Francisco’s Rent Ordinance gives tenants strong protection against lockouts, including a ban on changing locks to force a tenant out. If you’re a landlord or property manager in a rent-controlled building and you rekey a shared entry without preserving every remaining tenant’s access, you can face a formal illegal-lockout complaint with the Rent Board. A technician who has never worked the Mission or Castro might not know to ask about the other tenants; our crews ask before touching the lock, document every key handoff, and make sure the work can’t be read as an attempted lockout. It’s a legal exposure that simply doesn’t exist at the same scale in Oakland or Daly City.
Often, no. Most smart locks are built as cylindrical deadbolts, and a 1900s San Francisco front door with an original mortise cutout will not accept one without significant modification, usually a splintered door edge and a bolt that binds against the old jamb. If you want keypad or smart access on an older door, the better move is a retrofit smart cylinder that fits into the existing mortise lock body, which preserves the door and gives you the convenience. For exterior doors facing the Pacific or the Bay, choose a smart lock or cylinder rated for salt air, because the electronics and the mechanical bolt both suffer in fog. We can advise on what fits your specific door; call (910) 714-4287 for a free assessment.
We carry and service the full range, including Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, and Abloy, not just common brands. San Francisco has a large installed base of high-security locks, particularly in Pacific Heights, the Castro, and commercial buildings. Medeco and Mul-T-Lock keys use restricted blanks and require ownership verification before duplication; we handle that documentation and cut the keys on site. Abloy’s disc-detainer cylinders need specialized tools that most general locksmiths don’t carry. We do. The price for high-security key duplication runs $25 to $65, and the written price comes before any work starts.
If you’re standing at your front door in San Francisco right now, locked out or staring at a deadbolt that won’t throw, call (910) 714-4287. A live person answers, the price goes in writing before anyone is dispatched, and the technician arrives with a name, a photo, and a badge. Written by Perry Osgood, Owner at Dunmore Locksmith, serving San Francisco since 2007.