Hillsdale Lock & Key · San Mateo, CA
A San Mateo locksmith who writes the price down before the van pulls out.
One mobile van covers San Mateo from the flats by Coyote Point to the streets above Highway 92, for lockouts, rekeys, car keys and storefront hardware. You describe the door. A figure goes onto the work order while you are still on the call, with the $89 visit, the labor and the parts inside it. The receipt at the end repeats that line.
Calls answered 24/7. The $89 service call sits inside the written figure, never beneath it.
4.9 / 51,264 reviewsSan Mateo & the Peninsula
0Neighborhoods served
0Towns beside them
0, every dayHours
0 minAverage arrival
On every job
Written Down First
The figure is entered on the work order before the van leaves. Four parts, each one in writing.
- 1.One figure, written down on the callThe visit, the labor and the parts are combined into a single number while you describe the door. The $89 service call is already inside it. That number is entered on the work order and it is the number the card is charged.
- 2.A name and a thirty-minute window, by text, before the van leavesYou receive the technician's name and a thirty-minute arrival window by text before the van pulls out. If a stalled lane on 101 or the climb above Highway 92 shifts the window, a second text says so rather than leaving you to guess.
- 3.Opened without damage first, drilled only after you agreePicking, decoding and bypass tools come out first, and the lock usually keeps working afterwards. If the cylinder will not give, the technician explains why, names the replacement part, and drills only after you say yes. The figure on the work order does not move.
- 4.Card or tap at the door, an itemized receipt that matches the work orderPay by card or tap once the door closes properly. The itemized receipt reaches your email and matches the work order line for line. A written line describing the work is available for a landlord, an HOA or an insurer if you need one.
Price list
Published ranges. One figure, written on the call.
Every job is priced from the list below. The figure is written down on the call, before the van pulls out, and the receipt matches it line for line.
Emergency Locksmith
overviewResidential Locksmith
overviewCommercial Locksmith
overviewAutomotive Locksmith
overviewThe full sheet adds the evening and overnight hours, the service call and the three things that get written down.
See every priceHow a figure is written
applied toward the work
- Daytime (7am–8pm)standard rates
- Evening (8pm–12am)+$45
- Overnight (12am–7am)+$75
The figure on the work order already has the service call and any after-hours hour inside it. That is the whole of it, and the receipt matches it.
Write my figure downReviews
What San Mateo says once the receipt lands
Jobs from Baywood to Bay Meadows and over the bridge to Foster City, with the figure people actually paid.
4.9/ 51,264reviews
San Mateo & the Peninsula
“Our 1928 Spanish-revival house has the original mortise lock and the front door swung shut with my keys on the hall table. $138 written down on the call. The text with the technician's name came before I had finished walking to the neighbor's porch, and the van was outside in twenty-three minutes. He picked the mortise cylinder without a mark on the brass and the card was charged $138.”
“Moved into a townhome at Bay Meadows and had no idea how many keys the previous owner had handed out. Three cylinders rekeyed at $32 each with the $89 visit inside, $185 total, written on the work order before anyone drove over. Front door, the door from the garage and the patio gate now take one key. The receipt lists each cylinder by door, which the HOA asked for.”
“Lost the only key to my Civic somewhere between the Japanese Tea Garden and the garage on 4th Ave. The dealer offered a tow and a four-day wait. The technician met me on the second level, checked the registration against my license, and cut and programmed a key with a spare for $268. Forty minutes, and I still made my afternoon meeting.”
“The aluminum door on our restaurant on 25th Ave had a deadlatch that stopped catching the week before our busiest weekend. $312 written down for a new deadlatch, a cylinder and a closer adjustment. He came at nine before we opened, moved the strike so the door lands on the latch instead of beside it, and the card was charged $312. He looked at the kitchen door, said it was fine, and left it at that.”
“The deadbolt on our garden gate and the one on the front door had both seized in the same wet winter. $278 for two new deadbolts, written on the work order and repeated in a text with the technician's name. He fitted both to the existing bores, so no fresh holes in a door that has been on the house since the thirties, and keyed them alike. Just under an hour.”
“The back door of the duplex I manage near the Burlingame line was kicked in on a weekday afternoon, jamb split clean through the strike. Called at three, van by twenty past. New deadbolt, a long strike plate screwed into the stud and a steel wrap on the jamb, $342 with every part on the receipt. The owner's insurer wanted a written description of the work and got one the same day.”
What we do
Four kinds of work, one sheet of prices
Openings when you are shut out, hardware for 1920s doors and Bay Meadows towers alike, keys and fobs handled where the car is parked. Every job is priced from the list below, and the figure is written down before the van pulls out.
from $89Emergency
Lockouts and forced-door repair at a figure written down on the call
- House Lockout$112–$195
- Car Lockout$97–$167
- Business Lockout$127–$235
- Post Break-In Lock Repair$155–$415
from $24/cylResidential
Rekeys, replacement hardware, smart locks and safes for San Mateo homes
- Lock Rekeying$24–$40 per cylinder
- Lock Replacement & Installation$112–$305
- Smart Lock Installation$172–$445
- Safe Opening$179–$499
from $147Commercial
Storefront, restaurant, office and medical-suite hardware quoted in writing
- Master Key Systemscustom quote
- Panic Bars & Exit Devices$285–$749
- Access Controlcustom quote
- Storefront Door Locks$147–$455
from $77Automotive
Car keys, fobs and ignitions, done at the space where the car sits
- Car Key Replacement$142–$395
- Key Fob Programming$77–$182
- Ignition Repair$172–$435
- Motorcycle Keys$112–$269
Coverage
Every San Mateo neighborhood, and the towns beside it
Vans stage near Hillsdale and El Camino Real. Average arrival 23 minutes across the city, longer up in Sugarloaf; each area page shows its own.
How it works
From the first call to a receipt that matches the sheet
- 1
Describe the door
House, condo, shop, car or safe, which part of San Mateo, and anything between the curb and the lock such as a gate, a buzzer panel or a garage level.
- 2
It is written down
The visit, the labor and the parts go onto the work order as one figure while you are still on the call. You say yes or no. On yes, a text with the technician's name and a thirty-minute window goes out.
- 3
The van pulls out
Ownership is checked before anything is opened: an ID against the address, or a registration against the plate. Only then is the lock picked, decoded or bypassed, and a drill comes out only with your yes.
- 4
The receipt matches the work order
Card or tap at the door for the figure that was written down. The itemized receipt reaches your inbox while the van is still parked outside, line for line the same as the work order.
Why Hillsdale
The price is written down before the van pulls out.
The figure is on paper before the van leaves
The visit, the labor and the parts in one number, written on the work order during the call. The receipt repeats it line for line. Nobody at the door reopens the arithmetic.
Mobile across a flat, twelve-square-mile city
No shop. The van moves between the Coyote Point flats, the downtown grid and the hills above Highway 92, and twenty-three minutes is the average arrival.
Stock for the doors San Mateo actually has
Mortise parts for 1920s bungalows, keypad locks for Bay Meadows units and rentals, aluminum storefront parts for B St and 25th Ave, exit devices, readers, and programmers for hybrid and EV fobs.
Paper for whoever asks
An itemized emailed receipt that matches the work order, plus a written line describing the work for a landlord, an HOA or an insurer.
Free estimate
Four questions, then the range from the rate card.
Not an emergency? Answer four questions and see the published range for your job in San Mateo before you speak to anyone. If it is urgent, the form steps aside and hands you the number.
- 1What went wrong?A lockout, a key, a lock change, or something else entirely.
- 2Where is the door?A house, an apartment, a car or a business.
- 3How soon?If it is right now, the form gets out of the way and you call.
- 4Where does the range go?A name and a number. Email and cross street only if you like.
Before you call anyone
Five things to check before you give anyone your address
A search for a locksmith in San Mateo returns national call centers advertising $19 and invoicing several hundred once the door is open. Each check below takes under a minute, and a company with nothing to hide gets through all five without hesitating.
- 1Ask for a figure that can be written down. A number followed by "starting from" or "depends what we find" is not a price, it is a blank to be filled in at your door.
- 2Ask whether the $89 service call is inside that figure or added afterward. Use those words and listen for a plain yes or no.
- 3Ask for the technician's name and a written arrival window before anyone is sent. A company that cannot say who is coming is passing your address to a subcontractor it has never met.
- 4Ask what happens if the lock will not pick. A sound answer describes the mechanism and names a replacement part with a price; declaring drilling unavoidable before the door has been seen is not one.
- 5Decline cash-only. An itemized card receipt is what a landlord, an HOA or an insurer will accept as a record; a figure on a notepad is not.
FAQ
What people ask before the figure is written down
How long until the van reaches my part of San Mateo?+
Twenty-three minutes is the average across the city, which is flat between El Camino Real and the bay and only about twelve square miles. The streets around the mall and its Caltrain stop are usually 15, Downtown and Central Park 17, Bay Meadows 17, North Central 19, Baywood and Aragon 23, San Mateo Park 24, Shoreview and Coyote Point 26. Sugarloaf and Laurelwood, up the winding streets above Highway 92, run about 30 and are the longest in the city. Burlingame is about 24, Belmont 26, Foster City 28, Hillsborough 28 and Millbrae 30. The thirty-minute window texted with the technician's name is built on the roads at that minute, not on the average.
Is there a different figure at night, on a weekend or on a holiday?+
Weekends and holidays are charged at daytime figures. Arrival between 8pm and midnight adds $45, and arrival between midnight and 7am adds $75. Both are written inside the figure on the call. A $112 house lockout is therefore $157 in the evening and $187 overnight, and that is the number on the work order, not a daytime number with an addition produced at the door.
What goes into the written figure, and what could change it?+
The $89 service call, the labor, the parts fitted, and any evening or overnight hour, combined into one number on the work order before you decide. Distance, stairs, a gated driveway, a buzzer panel or a parking level do not alter it. The only addition is a second job you ask for once the technician is there, such as rekeying the rest of the house after a lockout. That is written as its own line and started only after you say yes.
Will my lock be drilled?+
Only after non-destructive methods have been tried and you have agreed. Apartment cylinders, residential deadbolts, the mortise sets in the older houses, aluminum storefront hardware, and most car doors open with picks, decoders, bypass tools or an air wedge and keep working afterwards. Drilling comes up when a cylinder is high-security, already damaged, or seized by a snapped key or corrosion. In that case the technician explains the mechanism, names the replacement part and its cost, and the total stays at the figure on the work order.
What proof is asked for before a door or a car is opened?+
For a house, townhome or condo: photo ID with the address, or ID plus a lease, a utility bill or addressed mail on your phone if the ID shows somewhere else. For a car: ID plus registration or an insurance card, digital is fine. For a shop, office or suite: ID plus a lease, a business license, or confirmation from the property manager or the company. Without one of those the lock stays shut, which is the same rule that protects your own door.
I live in a Bay Meadows tower with a fob, a buzzer panel and an HOA. How does that work?+
Say so on the call. The technician needs a way past the lobby and the garage gate, so either meet the van at the entrance or have the panel buzz it through. The apartment door itself is opened, rekeyed or fitted with a new lock the same way as any other. Fobs for the building are issued by the HOA or the management company, not cut on a van, so if that is what you have lost, the call will say so before anyone drives over. For hardware on the unit door, check the HOA's finish and style rules first; most allow a keypad deadbolt in a matching finish, and the receipt describes the work in a line the board can file.
Our Baywood house still has its 1930s mortise lock. Should it be replaced?+
Usually not. The mortise sets in Baywood, Aragon and San Mateo Park were made to be serviced: the case comes out, the springs and levers are cleaned and re-tensioned, the cylinder is rekeyed, and the whole thing goes back into the same pocket. Worn latches and strikes are replaced without touching the door face. When a case is truly worn through, a modern mortise body is sized to the existing pocket so the original brass plate and knob stay. The side gates on these houses are a separate matter and often just need a proper deadbolt. Which route applies is decided at the door, with the figure written down beforehand either way.
Do you come into the Caltrain lots, the downtown garages and the mall structure?+
Yes. Car lockouts, key cutting and fob programming are done in all three Caltrain lots, the downtown garages off 3rd and 4th Ave, the mall parking structure, the garages under the Bay Meadows buildings and the lot at Coyote Point. Say which lot, which level and roughly where the car sits. For a gated garage, have someone able to let the van in or meet it at the gate. On a busy Saturday the mall structure is honestly slower, and the window you receive by text will reflect that. The figure does not change for any of it.
24/7 — nights, weekends & holidays
One call, one figure on the work order, the same figure on the receipt
Calls answered 24/7 across San Mateo and the towns beside it. The $89 service call, the labor and the parts are inside the number written down on the call, and the receipt matches it line for line.