Durham, NC · licensed · lockouts 24/7
The locksmith who publishes real prices.
Every price we charge is printed on this website: lockouts, rekeys, smart locks, car keys, after-hours adders, all of it. The number you approve before we start is the number on your invoice. That's the whole pitch.
- NC licence #2417 (fictional)
- Bonded & insured to $1M
- 4.8★ across 214 reviews
What do you need?
- average across 214 unfiltered reviews
- 4.8★
- typical lockout wait inside Durham
- 20 to 40 min
- lockouts opened without drilling
- 19 in 20
- adder on daytime jobs, Monday to Saturday
- $0
services · prices included
Seven services, with the numbers attached
Emergency lockouts
Home, business or car. Picked open, not drilled open, at the price we quoted on the phone.
Residential & home security
Stronger doors, patio and window locks, and a free walk-through of what your home actually needs.
Lock rekeying
Keep the hardware, retire the old keys. The right call after a move, a breakup or a lost keyring.
Lock installation & repair
Deadbolts, handlesets and repairs. Graded hardware, with the grade printed on your quote.
Smart locks
Keypads and Wi-Fi deadbolts installed, set up and explained. The codes are yours, not ours.
Car keys & fobs
Cut and programmed at your car, usually 30 to 50% under the dealer. The range is printed here.
Commercial & master keys
Storefronts, offices and master-key systems. Designed on paper and priced before parts are ordered.
Describe it and we'll name the job and the price.
June answers the phone and quotes from the same book. If a cheaper fix exists, she'll tell you.
The price promise
A firm number, in writing, before anything is picked, drilled or installed. If the job changes, the number changes first, and you can say no at no charge.
One flat $40 in the evening, one flat $85 overnight, Sundays and holidays. On the visit, not per lock, and never invented at the door.
Cards accepted on every job and an itemized invoice every time: parts, labor and trip fee, broken out. “Cash only, no receipt” is somebody else's business model.
why we publish everything
How the “$19 locksmith” actually works
Bait-and-switch dispatch networks are this trade's plague, and regulators log thousands of complaints a year. Here's the play, step by step, so it never works on you. Not with us, not with anyone.
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step 01
The bait
An ad says “$19 service call.” Read it again: that's the price of someone showing up. It doesn't open, fix or replace anything, and the real menu doesn't exist.
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step 02
The switch
An unmarked car arrives. The tech looks at your ordinary lock and calls it “high-security”: it can't be picked, so it has to be drilled. This is almost never true.
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step 03
The drill
Thirty seconds of drilling destroys a lock a licensed locksmith would have picked open. Now you need their replacement lock, at their price, installed at their “special rate.”
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step 04
The bill
$300 to $800, cash only, no itemized invoice, and the name on the receipt doesn't match the ad. Tomorrow the number is dead. Regulators log thousands of these a year.
How to spot a real locksmith in 30 seconds
- A real price range with a firm ceiling, quoted before anyone is dispatched
- A marked vehicle, a photo ID, and a licence number you can look up
- Cards accepted and an itemized invoice offered without being asked
- A local street address you could walk into tomorrow
- Picks first; drills only with your permission, after the replacement is quoted
our answer
Every price on this site is the price we charge. The number you approve before we start is the number on your invoice. Our licence number is on the van, the quote and the invoice, and the whole price book is one click away.
what happens when you call
Three steps, no surprises
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step 01
The range, on the phone
You describe the job; we quote the range from this website, plus the arrival window and any after-hours adder. The top of the range is a ceiling.
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step 02
The firm price, at the door
The tech confirms the exact number in writing before touching anything. Different job than described? New number first, and you can say no free of charge.
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step 03
The work, then the invoice
Done, tested, cleaned up. Card or check, itemized invoice, 90-day workmanship warranty. The invoice matches the approved number, every time.
the four of us · Broad Street since 2012
Real people you can look up
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Marcus Reyes Owner · master locksmith
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Dana Okafor Residential lead
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Pete Larkin Automotive tech
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June Whitaker Dispatch · front counter
Team members are fictional; photos are stock images.
unfiltered · 4.8★ · 214 reviews
What the invoice-matchers say
Rated 5 out of 5
House lockout, 11 pm“Quoted $95 to $140 plus the $85 overnight fee on the phone. Invoice said $220. Picked the lock in about six minutes, checked my ID against my mail before starting. Exactly what the website says happens.”
Rated 5 out of 5
Rekey after closing on a house“Five cylinders rekeyed to one key. The math on the invoice matched the price book on their site line for line: $125 for the visit and first two, $24 each after. Handed me the old pins in a little bag.”
Rated 4 out of 5
Smart lock install“Great work, honest price, and they wiped the factory codes in front of me. Four stars only because the arrival window was 2 to 4 and they rang at 3:50. They did call at 3 to warn me, which I appreciated.”
where we work
Durham first, honestly quoted farther out
Lockouts inside Durham usually see us in 20 to 40 minutes. Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough get a longer window, and we quote it up front instead of promising fifteen minutes we don't have.
Arrival windows by zone →locked out right now?
Skip the reading. Call.
Photo ID handy, phone charged, exact address ready. We'll quote the range and the real arrival window on the call, and the price won't grow on your doorstep.
no bait · no switch
One call. One honest number.
Tell us what's wrong and we'll quote the range from the price book on this site. If there's an after-hours adder, you'll hear it out loud before we roll.
Mon to Sat, 8 am to 6 pm · lockout line answered 24/7