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 Pittsburgh
Lock installation and rekey work in Pittsburgh runs $85 to $240 per cylinder for standard residential work, with smart lock setups typically running $180 to $400 installed. We quote the exact price on the phone before a technician rolls, and that price is the price on the invoice. If you own a 1915 brick row house in Lawrenceville with an original mortise lock that won’t turn, or you just closed on a condo in Shadyside and want the previous owner’s keys rendered useless today, call (331) 310-8471. We answer live, and we work the same day.
Pittsburgh is not a young housing market. Most of the homes we service across the South Side, Polish Hill, Bloomfield, Squirrel Hill, and the North Side were framed before 1940, and a lot of them are still locked with the cast-iron mortise sets they were built with. That changes the work. It changes which cylinders fit, which deadbolts hold, and what a rekey actually costs. We know the difference between a Kwikset knob on a 1990s addition in Mt. Washington and a 1912 Sargent mortise body in a German Hill worker cottage, because we’ve opened, rekeyed, and rebuilt both. Our Lock Installation & Rekey team carries parts for both worlds on every truck, and we quote everything in writing before we touch the door.
Why Novak Lock & Security Is Pittsburgh’s Preferred Lock Installation & Rekey Company
Novak Lock & Security has been doing written-price locksmith work since 2002. The rule is simple and it’s contractual: the dispatcher gives you a firm price on the phone, and the technician is not permitted to change it on the doorstep. Haven Standard Clause 1. That rule exists because the national locksmith trade is full of call-out operations that quote $29 and invoice $400. We built the company to be the opposite of that, and we hold it in writing on every job in every Pittsburgh neighborhood.
We’re not a national chain with a call center routing calls to whoever’s closest. Dispatch and scheduling for our Pittsburgh crews is coordinated from our Philadelphia office, but the technicians who show up at your door are background-checked, uniformed, and trained to the same documented standard across every job. Every visit ends with a photo record of the work, left with you on site. Not as an upgrade. As procedure. When you call at 2 a.m. from a South Side walk-up because your deadbolt seized, you’ll talk to a live person who can tell you exactly when the truck arrives and exactly what the total will be.
Since 2002, we’ve installed or serviced over 60,000 locks, keys, and systems. A meaningful share of those were in Pittsburgh, and many involved the specific housing stock that defines this city. We know that a rekey on a four-unit rental in Polish Hill isn’t just about four cylinders; it’s about key control, because one copied key floating through three former roommates is a building-wide liability. We know that a deadbolt that worked fine in September may not throw in January, when freeze-thaw cycles have racked the frame half an inch. That local knowledge doesn’t come from a database. It comes from doing the work, in this city, season after season.
Daniel Novak is the owner. His name is on the van and on the invoice. If you want to know who’s accountable for the work, that’s the answer.
Our Lock Installation & Rekey Services in Pittsburgh
Smart Lock Installation
Smart lock installation in Pittsburgh usually involves a door that was hung before the Model T. On a 1920s Lawrenceville row house, the existing bore is often an oversized mortise pocket, not a standard 2-1/8″ cylindrical hole. We retrofit Schlage Encode and similar smart deadbolts into those pockets with a reinforced mounting plate, and we always check the alignment on the strike because freeze-thaw has likely shifted the frame. A smart lock installed in a binding frame will burn through batteries and lock you out by February. We check that before we mount anything. Expect $180 to $400 for a standard smart deadbolt install, including hardware, with a written quote before we start.
Keyless Entry
Keyless entry systems make sense in Pittsburgh for a specific reason: pedestrian entries. In the South Side Slopes, many homes are accessed by public staircases, and the daily-use door is often a rear entrance that faces the hillside. Keyless entry removes the key from the equation entirely, so you’re not fumbling with frozen hardware on a metal railing in January. We install keyless deadbolts and lever systems rated for exterior freeze-thaw exposure, and we program codes on site. Typical keyless entry install runs $150 to $350 per lock in Pittsburgh.
Keypad Lock
Keypad locks are the workhorse for Pittsburgh landlords and multi-tenant buildings. In Polish Hill or Bloomfield, where a single brick building may hold four units with a shared stairwell, a keypad on the common entry means you rekey by deleting a code instead of cutting four new keys. We install mechanical and electronic keypad locks, and we set them up so each tenant gets a unique code that can be revoked individually. That’s key control without a locksmith visit every time a lease ends. Installed pricing in Pittsburgh typically runs $145 to $320 depending on the lock grade and whether we’re retrofitting into a mortise body or boring fresh.
Biometric Lock
Biometric locks are still a niche in Pittsburgh, and that’s fine. We install them where they make sense: private offices, rental units with high turnover, and doors where a lost key is a recurring problem. A fingerprint deadbolt on a South Side short-term rental means no key handoffs at all. We carry biometric hardware that integrates with existing deadbolt prep, and we’re direct about the limitations: cold hands after a Pittsburgh winter walk can slow a fingerprint sensor, so we always program a backup code and a physical key override. Expect $220 to $450 for a quality biometric lock installed in Pittsburgh.
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 Pittsburgh
We do factory-authorized work on Baldwin, Mul-T-Lock, Sargent, and Abloy hardware, along with the full range of Schlage, Kwikset, and every common mid-range brand you’ll find on Pittsburgh doors. For a Baldwin mortise knob in a Shadyside center-hall Colonial or a Sargent mortise body in a Bloomfield worker cottage, we service the original hardware rather than ripping it out and boring a new hole. We stock high-security cylinder pins, tailpieces, and mounting plates for Mul-T-Lock and Abloy on our Pittsburgh trucks, which means a restricted-key rekey can often happen same-day instead of waiting on parts. If you bring us a competitor’s written estimate, we’ll review it for free and show you exactly what’s comparable and what isn’t.
Common Lock Installation & Rekey Problems We See in Pittsburgh Homes
- Original mortise locksets that haven’t been serviced in decades. The 1890-1940 brick row houses across the South Side and Polish Hill were built with cast-iron mortise lock bodies that are now 80 to 120 years old. The cylinders seize, the springs lose tension, and the set screws strip. We rebuild or retrofit these, and we source obsolete parts rather than telling you to replace the whole door.
- Freeze-thaw damage to exterior cylinders. Pittsburgh averages over 30 freeze-thaw events per winter. Water seeps into exterior lock cylinders, freezes, expands, and seizes the pin stack. We see this spike every year from late November through February, especially on north-facing doors and hillside rear entries. Drilling is rarely necessary; we open and service the cylinder non-destructively whenever the hardware allows it.
- Deadbolts binding in shifted door frames. Masonry row houses shift over decades on Pittsburgh’s hills. A deadbolt that throws clean in September can wedge hard against the strike by January. When we install a new deadbolt, we test it with the door unlatched and under tension, and we adjust the strike or the frame before we call the job done.
- Uncontrolled key copies in multi-tenant buildings. In Pittsburgh’s dense rental stock, a single unit rekey is often useless. If a former roommate still holds a working copy, the entire floor is exposed. We set up restricted key systems using Mul-T-Lock or Abloy cylinders, where key blanks can’t be copied at a hardware store, so every cut key is logged and controlled.
Pricing for Lock Installation & Rekey in Pittsburgh, PA
We publish ranges because Pittsburgh homeowners want to see the number before they call. Standard lock rekey runs $18 to $35 per cylinder for common residential brands, which means a typical three-door Pittsburgh row house rekey lands between $85 and $240 depending on cylinder count and hardware condition. Smart lock installation runs $180 to $400. Door lock installation for a new deadbolt runs $95 to $190, including hardware. Biometric and restricted-key systems run higher, and high-security cylinders like Mul-T-Lock or Abloy rekeys start around $35 per cylinder. Every job gets a written price on the phone before dispatch, and the technician is not permitted to change it at the door. That’s Haven Standard Clause 1, and it’s been the rule since 2002. Call (331) 310-8471 for a free estimate on lock installation or rekeying in Pittsburgh.
We Also Serve Cities Near Pittsburgh
Our Pittsburgh crews also cover Bethel Park, Lancaster, Reading, and Allentown. If you’re outside the city center and need Lock Installation & Rekey in Pittsburgh metro area service, the same written pricing and same-day response applies. We know the commute times to each of these communities, and we schedule accordingly.
Serving Pittsburgh, PA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Pittsburgh 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 Pittsburgh
Yes, you can rekey the original mortise lock on your South Side row house, and in most cases you should. The original cast-iron mortise body is a structural part of the door, and replacing it with a modern cylindrical deadbolt requires boring a second hole through a 100-year-old stile. We rekey the existing cylinder when it’s serviceable, which in our experience covers the large majority of Pittsburgh mortise locks we see in South Side and Polish Hill homes. If the cylinder is beyond repair, we retrofit a modern cylinder into the existing mortise pocket, preserving the original body and trim. Call (331) 310-8471 and we’ll give you a written price either way.
We open frozen deadbolts non-destructively in most cases, using a combination of bypass tools, cylinder warmers, and lock-specific picks rather than a drill. Pittsburgh’s freeze-thaw cycle causes metal cylinders to seize when water inside them freezes, but that rarely destroys the lock. If drilling becomes necessary, we only do it after explaining the replacement cost in writing and getting your go-ahead. We never drill first on a Pittsburgh door, because drilling a 1910 mortise lock destroys a body that can’t be easily replaced.
Yes, we set up master key systems in Polish Hill multi-unit buildings regularly, and we do it with restricted keyways using Mul-T-Lock or Abloy cylinders. The tenant key fits only their unit, the landlord key fits all four, and the key blank can’t be duplicated at a hardware store because it’s patent-protected. Every key is cut on our machine and logged by number. Expect $85 to $240 for a standard cylinder rekey plus the cost of restricted key blanks, quoted in writing before we start.
Not a different type of lock, but you should think about which door the lock goes on. In South Side Slopes, the street-facing door is often cosmetic and frozen with disuse, while the rear door off the public stair is where you actually come in. We install an ANSI Grade 1 deadbolt on the daily-use rear entry and service or rekey the street-facing front door as a secondary. We also check frame alignment on hillside doors because those frames shift more than flat-street homes. The work is the same price; the placement is Pittsburgh-specific.
Yes, and this is a common request in Lawrenceville. We retrofitted a 1920s mortise pocket for a Schlage smart deadbolt with a reinforced mounting plate, leaving the original mortise trim intact and adding an ANSI Grade 1 deadbolt on the rear entry that gets daily use. The door face wasn’t bored, and the historic hardware stayed in place. We do this across Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, and the South Side, and we always confirm frame alignment before mounting the smart lock, because a freeze-thaw-shifted frame will ruin the motor. Call (331) 310-8471 for a written quote.
Contact Novak Lock & Security in Pittsburgh
If you need lock installation, rekeying, a master key system, or emergency entry in Pittsburgh, call (331) 310-8471. A live person answers, the price is quoted on the phone before anyone is dispatched, and that price is the price on the invoice. We serve all of Pittsburgh including Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, the South Side, Polish Hill, Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, and the North Side. Every job ends with a documented photo record and the 365-Day Done Right Promise behind it. If it’s not done right, we make it right.
Written by Daniel Novak, Owner at Novak Lock & Security, serving Pittsburgh since 2002.
Lock Installation & Rekey in Nearby Areas