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Cardinal Lock & Key Real prices · Durham, NC

six services · every price printed

Services, with the numbers attached

Each range below is an all-in daytime total inside our service area — the $35 trip fee and labor are already in it. Evenings and overnights add one flat, printed adder per visit. The technician confirms a firm number in writing before any work starts.

Emergency lockouts

Home, business, or car — picked open, not drilled open, at the price we quoted on the phone.

  • House or apartment lockout $95–$140
  • Business lockout $110–$160
  • Car lockout $85–$135
  • Broken key extraction $85–$125
  • Trip fee and non-destructive entry included in the range
  • Photo-ID and proof-of-residence check on every lockout — that rule protects you
  • After-hours adder stated on the phone, from the printed table

told straight

About 19 in 20 lockouts open without drilling. If yours is the twentieth, you'll hear the full replacement price and can say no — before we touch a drill.

Woman sitting on the front steps of her building with her bag, waiting after locking herself out

Lock rekeying

Keep the hardware, kill the old keys. The right call after a move, a breakup, or a lost keyring.

  • Rekey visit — includes first two cylinders $125
  • Each additional cylinder $24 per cylinder
  • Extra cut keys (four included) $6 per key
  • Rekey into a master-key system Surveyed and quoted on paper first — see commercial survey first
  • All cylinders keyed alike unless you ask otherwise
  • Four fresh keys cut and tested in every door
  • Old pinning bagged and handed to you

told straight

If your locks are worn past rekeying, we'll say so and quote a replacement — but most aren't, and rekeying is the cheaper job. We don't upsell hardware that isn't needed.

Locksmith's hands repinning a lock cylinder at a workbench — the same hardware, a brand-new key

Lock installation & repair

Deadbolts, handlesets, and repairs — graded hardware with the grade printed on the quote.

  • Grade 2 deadbolt, supplied + installed $165–$225
  • Grade 1 heavy-duty deadbolt, supplied + installed $265–$340
  • Install hardware you bought $85–$110 per lock
  • Fresh bore (new door prep) added once per new-bore door $75
  • Lock repair / door realignment $95–$150
  • ANSI grade of the hardware printed on your quote and invoice
  • Strike plate reinforced with 3-inch screws on every install
  • Old hardware removed and recycled

told straight

If a $40 strike-plate fix solves it, that's what we'll quote — not a new lock. Repairs outnumber replacements on our invoices two to one.

Locksmith in work overalls fitting a new deadbolt into a dark wooden front door with a cordless drill

Smart locks

Keypads and Wi-Fi deadbolts installed, programmed, and explained — codes in your hands, not ours.

  • Install + program a lock you bought $145–$185
  • Keypad deadbolt, supplied + installed $265–$320
  • Wi-Fi smart lock, supplied + installed $340–$495
  • App setup + spare-code walkthrough included with every install included
  • Door alignment checked first — and fixed or flagged before install
  • Every code handed over and factory codes wiped
  • Battery and backup-key drill before we leave

told straight

A smart lock on a misaligned door is a $300 doorbell. If your door needs adjustment first, that's a line on the quote — not a surprise on the invoice.

Brass keypad smart lock installed above the handle on a taupe front door beside a stone wall

Car keys & fobs

Cut and programmed at your car, usually 30–50% under the dealer — with the range printed here.

  • Basic metal key, cut $65–$95
  • Transponder (chip) key, cut + programmed $140–$240
  • Remote-head / flip key $180–$320
  • Proximity smart fob (push-button start) $240–$420
  • All keys lost added once, on top of the key price $60–$120
  • Car lockout $85–$135
  • Programming and testing at your location
  • ID + registration check — proof of ownership protects you
  • Exact price by VIN before we roll, never on your driveway

told straight

A few European makes (BMW, Mercedes, some Audis) need dealer-only keys. If yours is one, we'll tell you on the phone and you keep your money.

Automotive locksmith programming two replacement key fobs with a diagnostic tablet in the driver's seat

Commercial & master keys

Storefronts, offices, and master-key systems — designed on paper, priced before parts are ordered.

  • Commercial lockout $110–$160
  • Grade 1 lever lockset, supplied + installed $265–$340
  • Panic / exit-device hardware $380–$650
  • Keypad access control, single door from — scoped on site from $425
  • Desk, cabinet & mailbox locks $65–$95
  • Master-key system design + install from — survey first, priced on paper before any work from $450 · survey first
  • Key-control chart delivered with every master-key system
  • Code-compliant exit hardware only — we won't install a lock that traps people
  • Net-30 invoicing for account customers

told straight

Anyone quoting a master-key system over the phone is guessing. We survey the doors, design the chart, and price it in writing — then you decide.

Hand holding a key card up to a wall-mounted access-control reader glowing green at an office door

Want the whole thing on one page?

The complete price book — trip fee, labor, parts ranges, after-hours adders, and the short list of jobs we refuse to price sight-unseen.

Open the price book

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 — with the after-hours adder, if there is one, said out loud before we roll.

Mon–Sat 8 am – 6 pm · lockout line answered 24/7

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