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 Tustin
Lock installation and rekey in Tustin typically runs $75-$160 for a standard rekey (per cylinder) and $220-$450 for a new deadbolt or entry lockset installed, quoted in writing before we dispatch. We work across Tustin daily, from Old Town storefronts on El Camino Real to Tustin Ranch HOAs and the brand-new townhomes in Tustin Legacy. Most rekeys are done in under an hour on site; most installations in under two. Call (331) 310-8471 and a live person answers, day or night.
What makes Tustin different from Santa Ana, Orange, or Irvine is the sheer range of lock hardware in service at the same time. On one street you’ll find a 1930s mortise lockset that no longer has a manufacturer making replacement parts. Two miles away, someone is programming a Wi-Fi smart lock on a door that didn’t exist two years ago. That split is exactly what our Lock Installation & Rekey crew is built for. We don’t push replacement where rekeying is honest work, and we don’t rekey a cylinder that’s too worn to hold a new pin stack.
Why Novak Lock & Security Is Tustin’s Preferred Lock Installation & Rekey Company
Since 2002, Novak Lock & Security has written the price down before any work starts. That rule, Haven Standard Clause 1, says the price quoted on the phone is the price on the invoice. No dispatcher in our office is allowed to give a vague range and send a technician who “finds” additional work at the door. Daniel Novak set that policy in year one, and it has held for over 60,000 locks, keys, and systems installed or serviced since.
Every Tustin visit is performed by a background-checked, uniformed technician. When the job is done, you receive a documented photo record showing the hardware before and after, the written scope, and the warranty terms. Customers in Tustin Ranch, Tustin Meadows, and the Legacy communities have told us the photo record is the detail they did not expect but now will not work without. We answer calls with a live person 24/7, not a voicemail queue. If you’re locked out of a gate on the Tustin Ranch trail system at 2 a.m., you’ll hear a human voice on the first ring.
Our work across Lock Installation & Rekey in Tustin is backed by the 365-Day Done Right Promise. If the lock or rekey isn’t right, we come back and make it right. That’s the entire promise, in one sentence, and it’s been tested in this city’s older homes where a door frame can shift within a season.
Our Lock Installation & Rekey Services in Tustin
Smart Lock Installation
Smart lock installation in Tustin runs $240-$520 per door, including the labor, configuration, and a written record of every access code assigned. We install and program Yale, Schlage Encode, Kwikset Halo, and Level Bolt hardware daily in Tustin Legacy townhomes where builders left the prep but not the device. We also retrofit smart locks onto Old Town doors; that’s the trickier job and costs more when the original mortise requires a custom plate. The price is still written before we start.
Keyless Entry
Keyless entry for a standard single-family door in Tustin runs $200-$420 installed. This covers the keypad assembly, the programming, and the deletion of all prior user codes. In Tustin Ranch, we regularly coordinate with HOA management when the keyless system ties into a community gate; removing one code without syncing the master system can lock out the pedestrian gate and the pool enclosure in a single reset. We check that before touching the keypad.
Keypad Lock
A keypad lock install in Tustin runs $180-$380, with the higher end reflecting commercial-grade keypads on multi-unit entries. We see two use cases in Tustin constantly: the Tustin Legacy rental townhome where the owner needs a new code per lease cycle, and the Old Town shopkeeper who wants staff codes that can be audited. Both are services we perform with a documented code log left with you at completion.
Biometric Lock
Biometric lock installation in Tustin runs $380-$700 per door. These are fingerprint or Bluetooth-scanned deadbolts, and we mostly install them in Tustin Ranch homes where the owner wants no key to lose and no code to share. The hardware is the same across Orange County; the installation isn’t. Older Tustin doors with settled frames need the strike aligned before the bolt can extend cleanly, or the biometric deadbolt will jam under load. We align the strike as part of the install, not as a surprise add-on.
What happens when you call
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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 Tustin
We service and install the hardware Tustin actually has in its doors, not just what’s on a showroom wall. That means Medeco high-security cylinders for the commercial and medical building work near The District, Mul-T-Lock for the property managers who want a patent-protected keyway, and Baldwin hardware for the higher-end Tustin Ranch residences where finish matters as much as function. We also carry Schlage and Kwikset parts on the van for same-day rekeys and cylinder swaps. If we need a specialty part for a 1960s Kwikset or a Baldwin mortise, we source it locally and tell you the lead time before any commitment is made.
Common Lock Installation & Rekey Problems We See in Tustin Homes
- Santa Ana wind damage throwing strikes out of alignment. Tustin’s inland position means Old Town and Tustin Meadows door frames swell in the dry, hot winds and shrink again after. A deadbolt that latched cleanly in October will be dragging by February. The fix is a strike plate adjustment or frame re-hanging, done alongside the rekey, not a new lock.
- Worn original Kwikset cylinders in 1960s and 1970s tract homes. We rekey a lot of homes around Tustin Meadows and the neighborhoods east of the 55. The original Kwikset cylinders often have so much internal wear that a fresh-cut key turns with slop. In that condition, rekeying alone is dishonest. We replace the cylinder and rekey the new one, then tell you exactly what we found and what we replaced.
- Legacy HOA gate systems still running 1990s telephone-entry hardware. Tustin Ranch gates are durable but aged. When a homeowner resets a single keypad without touching the community master key system, the pedestrian gate, pool gate, and sometimes the garage access can all go down at once. We treat any Tustin Ranch keypad call as a system job, not a single-lock job.
- New-construction doors in Tustin Legacy that were never rekeyed from builder master keys. A surprising number of Tustin Legacy townhomes and condos are sold with the builder’s construction key still active. The new owner has no idea who else holds a key. We rekey every cylinder on the property, verify the master has been voided, and provide a written key count.
Pricing for Lock Installation & Rekey in Tustin, CA
Here are the numbers we quote most often in Tustin, written the same way we write them on the phone:
- Rekey a standard cylinder: $75-$120 per cylinder, including new keys
- Replace a worn Kwikset or Schlage cylinder and rekey it: $110-$160 per cylinder
- New deadbolt installed on a standard pre-drilled door: $220-$360
- New entry lockset (knob or lever + deadbolt) installed: $300-$450
- Mortise lockset repair or rekey (Old Town storefronts, 1930s-1940s hardware): $140-$260, depending on whether the original can be salvaged
- Smart lock installation and programming: $240-$520
- Biometric lock installation: $380-$700
- Key duplication, standard: $3-$8 per key; high-security Medeco or Mul-T-Lock keys run $15-$45 and require the owner’s card
These are firm ranges, not teaser rates. There is no call-out surcharge, no door-knock upcharge, and no “parts shock” once the technician sees the hardware. The price quoted on the phone is the price on the invoice, per Haven Standard Clause 1. Bring us a competitor’s written estimate and we’ll review it at no charge. Call (331) 310-8471 and you’ll have a firm number in under five minutes.
We Also Serve Cities Near Tustin
Our Lock Installation & Rekey team serves Tustin and the surrounding Orange County cities, including Lock Installation & Rekey work in Santa Ana, Orange, Irvine, and Costa Mesa. Dispatch is coordinated from our Los Angeles office, and crews run Tustin routes daily. If you live on the edge of Tustin near the 5 or the 55, you’re still in our normal service pull.
Serving Tustin, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Tustin 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 Tustin
Yes, in most cases we can rekey an original mortise lockset, provided the lock body itself isn’t cracked or so worn that the levers won’t hold a new pin stack. Old Town Tustin storefronts built in the 1930s and 1940s often have mortise locksets that aren’t manufactured anymore, so replacement with a modern cylindrical lock means drilling the door. Rekeying the existing cylinder is the right call when the body is sound. We’ll tell you which one you have before we touch anything. Call (331) 310-8471 and describe the lock; the dispatcher can often tell you over the phone which path is likely.
We can, but only by coordinating with the HOA’s master key system first. Tustin Ranch’s gates run early-1990s telephone-entry hardware in many communities, and those systems treat the pedestrian gate, pool gate, and sometimes the garage access as a linked network. If you reset one keypad in isolation, the whole system can go down. Our technicians request the HOA’s system documentation before programming anything, and we provide a written record of which codes were changed. Call (331) 310-8471 and tell us the community name; we’ll walk you through what the HOA needs to provide.
Santa Ana wind events cause rapid humidity drops that dry out the wood in Tustin’s older door frames, especially the pre-war bungalows and 1960s tract homes. The frame swells or shrinks by fractions of an inch, which is enough to throw the deadbolt strike out of line. The lock itself is usually fine; the strike plate needs adjustment or the door needs re-hanging. We can do that work on the same visit as a rekey, and we’ll tell you the price before we start. Call (331) 310-8471 for a firm quote.
It depends on the cylinder wear, which we can assess in about five minutes on site. If the original Kwikset cylinders still turn cleanly with a new key, rekeying runs $75-$120 per cylinder and is enough for resale. If the cylinders are worn, which we see constantly in Tustin Meadows and the neighborhoods off Walnut and Red Hill, replacing them and rekeying the new hardware runs $110-$160 per cylinder. We’ll tell you which applies and put the price in writing before anyone turns a screwdriver. Call (331) 310-8471.
Yes, and we recommend doing both on the same visit. The physical backup key on most Tustin Legacy smart locks uses a standard cylinder that rekeys for $75-$120. Resetting the app codes requires deleting every existing user profile and re-assigning access from scratch; we do that as part of smart lock configuration, which runs $240-$520 depending on the lock model. We’ll give you a written record of every active code and key after the job. Call (331) 310-8471 and tell us the lock brand and model.
Written by Daniel Novak, Owner at Novak Lock & Security, serving Tustin since the company’s founding in 2002.