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.
Franchisee Success Stories
Most of our owners never planned to run a locksmith business. Some came from corporate jobs. Some ran other service companies. One was an electrician for 18 years. What they share is a tolerance for detail and a belief that a written price before work starts is not a marketing slogan. It is the job. If that sounds like you, the stories below are worth reading.
Meet Our Owners
Darnell F. - Indianapolis, IN
Darnell spent 12 years as a regional manager for a national retail chain. He had budgets, quarterly reviews, and a staff of 40. What he did not have was a skill he could hold in his hands. He found Novak Lock & Security through a broker in 2019 and chose it for one reason: the no-hassle upfront pricing rule had been in place since 2002, and it was enforced from the dispatcher’s desk, not left to a technician’s mood on the doorstep. “I knew I could stand behind that,” he says. Today he runs three trucks and trains every technician to the The Haven Standard clause by clause. He keeps the photo record files from every job and can pull up a documented record from any visit since his first week. His oldest customer, a property manager with 14 apartment units, still calls the same number she dialed in 2019.
Roger V. - Denver, CO
Roger was an aviation mechanic before locksmithing. He understood torque specs, shear pins, and the cost of a mistake at altitude. Then he had a home lockout in 2016 and watched a technician change the price on his porch. Roger called three companies the next week and eventually bought a Novak Lock & Security territory because he could not find anyone else willing to put the dispatcher’s quote in writing and hold the technician to it. “In aviation, nothing moves without a signed work order,” Roger says. “This is the only locksmith company I found that works the same way.” Five years in, Roger does most of his own estimates and insists on a written scope before he touches a cylinder. His market includes a lot of 2018-2022 new builds with Schlage and Baldwin hardware that the builders installed badly. He shows homeowners photos of misaligned striker plates and explains what the fix will cost, in writing, before he turns a screw.
Maria H. - Austin, TX
Maria trained as a locksmith in a family shop that did not keep records. Pricing was decided at the door, and documentation was whatever the customer remembered. She wanted out of that model, and when she found Novak Lock & Security, she recognized the thing she had been missing for 15 years: a standard with a name. The Haven Standard, with its five clauses - Have it in writing, Arrive on schedule, Verified crews, Evidence on every job, No surprises - gave her a framework she could actually enforce. Maria launched her territory in 2021. She has since built a commercial client list that includes three dental offices, a boutique hotel, and a courier dispatch center with 32 door locks. Her technicians are background-checked and uniformed on every visit, and every job ends with a documented photo record left with the customer. She keeps a binder of competitor quotes and answers them at no charge, which has quietly become one of her best lead sources.
Tim M. - Columbus, OH
Tim worked in auto insurance claims before he bought his Novak Lock & Security territory. He understood documentation better than most: what gets written down is what holds up. He chose the brand after sitting through a sales presentation where the founder explained that Novak Lock & Security, founded in 2002, was the oldest company Haven acquired, and that its whole model was built on a rule the rest of the trade treats as radical - the price quoted on the phone is the price on the invoice. Tim liked the plainness of that. No gimmick, no bait, no urgent upsell on a wet porch. He launched in 2022 and now runs two vans, with call volume split evenly between residential rekeys and small commercial work. His favorite job last year was a rekey of a 26-unit apartment building in the Hilltop neighborhood - 130 cylinders, a master key system, and one written quote delivered before anyone touched a lock. The property manager approved it in an afternoon. Tim still has the photo record from the final walkthrough.
Your Story Starts Here
We are looking for owners who want to run a real business, not a dispatch app. Call (331) 310-8471 to talk about available territories, or request the info kit. No pressure, no urgency. Just facts, in writing, before you decide. Written by Daniel Novak, Owner at Novak Lock & Security, serving customers since 2002.