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 Lock Installation & Rekey Across Penn Hills
Lock installation and rekeying in Penn Hills usually runs $95-$285 per lock, depending on the hardware grade and whether the existing bore needs modification. That’s a firm price quoted over the phone before anyone is dispatched, and it’s the price on the invoice. For a 1950s brick ranch near Verona Road or a split-level off Saltsburg Road, we’ll get a technician out the same day, sometimes within the hour. Call (331) 310-8471 and a live person answers, 24/7, no voicemail queue.
We’ve worked on a lot of Penn Hills doors. The housing stock here is older than most of Allegheny County, and the locks on those doors tell a story: original deadbolts from the Eisenhower era, storm-door hardware keyed to profiles nobody kept records of, and door frames that shift every freeze-thaw cycle. That’s the work we do well, and we do it without damaging a door the freeholder owns.
Why Novak Lock & Security Is Penn Hills’s Preferred Lock Installation & Rekey Company
Daniel Novak founded this company in 2002 on a single rule that hasn’t moved: the price on the phone is the price on the invoice. That’s Haven Standard Clause 1, written down, enforceable, and baked into every dispatch. We don’t run a call-out operation where the tech arrives and suddenly the price triples because the job “got complicated.” In Penn Hills, where a lot of the work is rekeying rentals between tenants, landlords want to know the number before they say yes. We give them the number.
Every technician who rolls into Penn Hills is background-checked, uniformed, and carries a written scope. When the job’s done, you get a documented photo record: the old hardware, the new hardware, the work performed. Not as an upsell. It’s the standard. That matters for tenants who need proof for a deposit, and for landlords who need a record for a property file.
We’ve installed and serviced more than 60,000 locks, keys, and systems since 2002. Each one started with a written price. Each one ended with a documented record. That’s not a slogan; it’s a procedure that exists because Daniel Novak watched too many bait-and-switch locksmith ads and decided the trade needed a firm rule instead.
We also answer the phone. A live person, 24/7. If you’re locked out of a Penn Hills apartment at 2 a.m. on Lincoln Road, you don’t want a callback window. You want a human who can dispatch a tech.
Our Lock Installation & Rekey Services in Penn Hills
Lock Installation & Rekey covers a lot of ground, but in Penn Hills we see a few services repeat more than any others. Here’s what residents call us for most.
Smart Lock Installation in Penn Hills
A smart lock on a 1960s Penn Hills door isn’t always a clean swap. The old bore may be an odd size, the door slab may have settled, the strike may sit a quarter-inch low. We’ve installed smart locks on hundreds of mid-century doors across Penn Hills, and we know how to make the deadbolt throw true without routing out more wood than the door can afford. A typical smart lock installation in Penn Hills runs $185-$340, including the labor and setup. If you want a lock with Wi-Fi, we’ll configure it and hand you the app credentials before we leave.
Keyless Entry & Keypad Lock Installation in Penn Hills
Keypad locks solve a specific Penn Hills problem: rental turnover. Instead of rekeying every time a tenant leaves, a landlord can delete the old code and create a new one in 30 seconds. We install keyless entry systems on front doors, side-entry doors, and garage pedestrian doors across the municipality. Pricing for keypad lock installation in Penn Hills typically runs $150-$280 per lock, including the hardware and install. If you’re managing a duplex off Frankstown Road, this is often the most economical long-term option.
Electronic Lock Installation in Penn Hills
Electronic locks, including commercial-grade keypads and access-control hardware, are growing in Penn Hills’s rental and small-business corridors. We install Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, and Yale electronic hardware, factory-authorized, with the programming done on-site. The job includes a written scope of work and a flat per-lock price, not an hourly meter. For commercial or multi-tenant buildings, this is surveyed and scheduled; we don’t dispatch a tech blind on these jobs. You’ll get a written scope and a flat price before we schedule.
Biometric Lock Installation in Penn Hills
Biometric locks get spec’d on Penn Hills homes where a code or key just doesn’t make sense: a front door used by five roommates, a home office with equipment, a garage where tools come and go. We install fingerprint and Bluetooth biometric hardware from major brands, and we’re honest about the limitations: a biometric lock on an exposed Penn Hills entry door needs a backup mechanical keyway, because ice and dirt foul sensors faster than any marketing page admits. A typical biometric lock install runs $220-$380, hardened against Pittsburgh weather where we can make it so.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Penn Hills
We’re factory-authorized on Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, and Baldwin, and we stock common cylinders, deadbolts, and keypad modules in our local van inventory for Penn Hills service calls. That means when we rekey an original Schlage or Kwikset knobset on a 1965 split-level, we’re not making two trips: the pins, springs, and blanks are on the truck. If the job calls for a high-security Baldwin deadbolt or a Medeco cylinder that can’t be picked or bumped with standard tools, we quote that in writing before we touch the door. We don’t push high-security hardware where a standard grade-2 deadbolt does the job. We name the part, name the price, and let you decide.
Common Lock Installation & Rekey Problems We See in Penn Hills Homes
- Hillside settling throws deadbolts out of alignment. Penn Hills homes built on slope-cut lots, especially the eastern and northern ridgeline cul-de-sacs, shift with every freeze-thaw cycle. The bolt binds against the strike plate, the key won’t turn, and the call comes in as an emergency. Most of the time, the lock isn’t broken. The frame moved.
- Original storm-door and side-entry locks keyed to unknown profiles. A 1958 ranch on a steep lot near the ridgeline often still has its original storm-door lock and garage side-entry knobset. The keys are long gone, the profiles were discontinued decades ago, and modern high-security cylinders won’t drop in without a bore modification.
- Ice seizes exterior cylinders on unprotected entry doors. Pittsburgh basin ice storms freeze the pin chambers in exposed cylinders. A routine rekey turns into a lockout when the key won’t insert. We carry de-icing equipment and do non-destructive entry to get you in without drilling the door.
- Tenant turnover rekeys on aging Kwikset and Schlage knobsets. Penn Hills converted a lot of owner-occupied homes to rentals after the steel collapse. Every turnover means a rekey, and the hardware is often original to the 1960s or 70s. We can rekey it if the cylinders are sound; if they’re not, we’ll show you the wear before we quote a replacement.
Pricing for Lock Installation & Rekey in Penn Hills, PA
Here are the numbers, in writing, the same way we quote them over the phone:
| Service | Typical Penn Hills Price Range |
|---|---|
| Rekey a single cylinder (original Kwikset or Schlage) | $25-$40 per cylinder |
| Rekey a full home (2-4 locks, 2 keys each) | $95-$185 |
| New single-cylinder deadbolt install | $120-$210 |
| Smart lock or keypad lock install | $150-$340 |
| Biometric lock install | $220-$380 |
What changes the number: the condition of the existing bore, whether the door frame needs strike-plate re-alignment, and the hardware grade. A high-security Medeco cylinder costs more than a grade-2 Kwikset, and we’ll quote both options so you can choose. The price we quote on the phone is the price on the invoice. No dispatch fee added when the tech arrives, no “complication” surcharge. That’s Haven Standard Clause 1, and it’s been in force since 2002.
Call (331) 310-8471 for an exact quote. Estimates are free, and if you have a written estimate from another company, we’ll review it at no charge.
We Also Serve Cities Near Penn Hills
Penn Hills is our focus on this page, but our Penn Hills service area extends to nearby communities when the schedule allows. We cover lock installation and rekey calls in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Reading with the same written-price rule and the same documented photo record. If you’re just over the municipal line, call (331) 310-8471 and ask; the dispatcher will give you a straight answer.
Serving Penn Hills, PA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Penn Hills 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 - Lock Installation & Rekey in Penn Hills
Every two to four years is typical for homes on Penn Hills’s steeper eastern and northern ridgeline cul-de-sacs, though some addresses we can name from memory need it every late fall and early spring. The cause is hillside settling on slope-cut lots: the foundation shifts a few millimeters with each freeze-thaw cycle, and the deadbolt throw drifts out of alignment with the strike plate. We re-align the strike, and if the plates are stripped, we install longer screws into the door framing. If your deadbolt is binding at the same address again, call (331) 310-8471 and we’ll check the frame before we touch the lock; a realignment is a fraction of the cost of replacing a deadbolt that isn’t actually broken.
Usually we can rekey them, and that’s true for most original Kwikset and Schlage pin-and-tumbler hardware from the 1950s through the 1970s. The exception is when the cylinders are worn past tolerance or the plug has seized from decades of Pittsburgh weather. We inspect the cylinder on-site, show you the wear, and quote the rekey only if the hardware will actually hold up. A rekey runs $25-$40 per cylinder in Penn Hills; if we find the lock is dead, we’ll tell you before we sell you a replacement. Call (331) 310-8471 and we’ll talk it through.
For standard rekeys in Penn Hills, we can usually get a technician there the same day, often within a few hours. If you’re a landlord with multiple units, we’ll schedule a block of time and rekey every lock on the property in one visit. The price is per cylinder, quoted in writing before we start, and the full price is on the invoice. We’ll leave you with a documented photo record for your file and two keys per lock. Call (331) 310-8471 to get a firm number for your property today.
Yes. We carry de-icing equipment and bypass tools for exactly this situation, and we’ve opened hundreds of frozen or seized exterior cylinders in Penn Hills without drilling the door. The technique depends on the lock: sometimes it’s a thermal treatment of the cylinder, sometimes a pick-and-lube procedure. If the cylinder is genuinely damaged beyond repair, we’ll tell you before we drill, and we’ll quote the replacement cost in writing first. A frozen deadbolt doesn’t mean a ruined door. Call (331) 310-8471 and we’ll get a tech to you, 24/7.
Yes, and we’ve done it many times on Penn Hills brick ranches and split-levels from the 1948-1975 era. The trick is respecting the existing bore: some mid-century doors have a smaller crossbore than modern smart locks require, and some have deep-set strikes with years of paint and patches. We can enlarge a bore precisely where needed, or in some cases adapt the smart lock to the existing hole without cutting. The brick surround usually doesn’t need to be touched at all; the work happens on the door slab and the jamb. A smart lock install in Penn Hills runs $185-$340, quoted in writing before we start. Call (331) 310-8471 for your address.
Written by Daniel Novak, Owner at Novak Lock & Security, serving Penn Hills, PA since 2002.