San Mateo neighborhood · 24/7
Baywood and Aragon locksmith work, on 1920s Spanish-revival and Tudor doors that still carry the mortise set the builder fitted
The curving streets between El Camino Real and Alameda de las Pulgas: Spanish-revival and Tudor houses from the 1920s and 30s, arched front doors with a thumb latch and a mortise case in the edge, wood side gates onto the drive, and houses that have stayed in one family for fifty years.
23 min
Avg. arrival
$89
Service call
24/7
Availability
The doors here are the reason the case on the van carries mortise parts. An arched plank door with iron straps, a thumb-latch handle set outside and a mortise lock in the edge was standard in 1928, and a great many are still on their original case. Most were converted to a pin cylinder decades ago and can be rekeyed at $24 to $40 per cylinder. Where the case still takes a bit key, or the latch spring has gone soft, a modern mortise case fits the same pocket and the outside stays as it was; that is a lock replacement at $112 to $305 per door. The technician will say plainly which doors are worth keeping, and on these streets it is most of them.
Lockouts start at the side gate. The gates are wood, latched from inside, and the path past the kitchen door is how the bins go out; the gate closes, the front is bolted and the kitchen door latched. That is $112 to $195, opened without damage first. Long-owned houses now change hands, and the new owner arrives with one key and a list of people who might hold another. The first visit is a count: front, kitchen, basement door, garage, gate, and the wall safe in the hall closet that came with the house, opened at $179 to $499 when the combination left with the estate. A keyed latch on the gate so the person taking the bins out can get back in is a small line in the same visit.
The streets curve, the trees are mature, and some blocks have no sidewalk, so the van stops in the driveway or at the nearest wide spot and the case walks in. Arrival is about twenty-three minutes by Alameda de las Pulgas or W 3rd Ave. Smart locks are asked about and often do not suit an arched slab; where a family wants a code for a caregiver, the door that takes it is usually the kitchen door, at $172 to $445, with the front door left as it has been since 1928. Evening calls add $45 between 8pm and midnight and $75 overnight, inside the figure written down on the call.
Say whether the front door is arched or has its original handle set, and send a photo of the outside and the door edge if you can. Count the doors, including the basement and the gate; on these houses the total is larger than it looks from the street.
Nearby
A few blocks over, the same van
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.