Campanile Lock & Key · Berkeley, CA
The Berkeley locksmith who settles the price before touching the lock.
From the Gourmet Ghetto at one end of town to the Elmwood at the other, a mobile van handles lockouts, rekeys, car keys and storefront hardware. You hear one figure on the call, you agree to it, and the technician starts work only after that. Nothing about the door, the hour or the hill changes it afterwards.
Calls answered 24/7. The $89 service call sits inside the figure you agree to, not on top of it.
4.9 / 51,138 reviewsthe north East Bay
What the figure covers
- The visit
- $89, already inside
- The service call is counted within the figure you agree to. It is never a separate line that appears once the door is open.
- The labour
- All of it
- Picking, decoding, cutting, pinning, fitting and adjusting the door until it closes properly. No hourly clock and no charge for a second attempt.
- The parts fitted
- Named before work starts
- Cylinders, deadbolts, latches, pins, strike plates, cut and programmed keys. You are told which parts and what they cost while you are still on the call.
- Added later
- Nothing
- No mileage up the hill, no fee for long stairs or a side gate. Evening and overnight hours are stated inside the figure at the time you agree to it.
On every job
The Agreed-First Price
Four commitments made before a tool comes out of the van, and kept through the receipt.
- 1One figure, agreed on the callYou are told a single number for the job you describe. It covers the visit, the labour and the parts that go into the door. You agree to it before anyone is sent, and it is what the card is charged.
- 2A name and a thirty-minute window by textThe technician's name and a thirty-minute arrival window reach your phone by text before the van sets off, so you know who is coming and roughly when to expect the knock.
- 3Opened without damage, drilled only with your yesThe lock is picked, decoded or bypassed first, and in most cases it keeps working afterwards. If picking fails, the technician explains why, and drilling happens only after you agree to it, at the same figure.
- 4Card at the door, receipt in writingPay by card or tap when the work is finished. An itemized receipt goes to your email, and if a landlord, a property manager or a co-op board needs a written line describing what was done, you get one.
Price list
Published ranges. One agreed figure on the call.
Every job is priced from the list below. The figure is agreed on the call, before a technician touches the lock, and the receipt repeats it.
Emergency Locksmith
OverviewResidential Locksmith
OverviewCommercial Locksmith
OverviewAutomotive Locksmith
OverviewThe full list adds the evening and overnight hours, the service call and what moves a job inside its span.
See every priceHow a figure is built
applied toward the work
- Daytime (7am–8pm)standard rates
- Evening (8pm–12am)+$35
- Overnight (12am–7am)+$70
The figure you agree to already has the service call and any after-hours hour inside it. That is the whole of it, and it is settled before the lock is touched.
Agree my priceReviews
What Berkeley says once the receipt lands
Jobs across the flats, the hills and the towns along the county line, with the figure people actually paid.
4.9/ 51,138reviews
the north East Bay
“Pulled the door shut behind me on Ashby with the keys on the hall table and my daughter due home from school. The call gave me $145 and a thirty-minute window, and the text with the technician's name arrived a minute later. He came in sixteen minutes, had the deadbolt open in about four with a pick and a tension wrench, and the lock still works exactly as it did. $145 on the card, nothing else.”
“Six of us share a flat below campus and nobody could account for how many keys existed after four years of roommates. Three cylinders rekeyed at $26 each with the $89 visit inside, $167 total, agreed before he arrived. He keyed the front door, the flat door and the mailbox alike so we each carry one key, and the receipt listed each cylinder by door for our landlord.”
“My only key to a Subaru went missing somewhere between the Berkeley Rep and the Shattuck garage. I assumed a tow to the dealer and half a day gone. Instead the technician met me on level two, checked my registration against my ID, cut a key on the spot and programmed it plus a spare for $265. Forty-five minutes and I drove home.”
“The hookbolt on our shop door off Fourth Street stopped throwing properly and by Friday it would not lock at all. Quoted $295 for a new hookbolt, cylinder and a closer adjustment. Done Monday morning before we opened, and he shimmed the strike so the door lines up again instead of just swapping parts. Same figure on the invoice as on the call.”
“Someone got in through the back door of our bungalow near Solano while we were at work and the jamb was in pieces. I called at three, the van was there before four. New deadbolt, a long strike plate with three-inch screws and a steel jamb wrap for $355, every item on the invoice. The door shuts tighter now than it has in years. He mentioned the garage side door was worth doing too but did not lean on it.”
“We rent out the lower unit of our house near the Gourmet Ghetto and were tired of coordinating key handoffs. Keypad lock fitted on the unit door and paired to my phone for $240. He set a code for the tenant, showed my wife how to add and expire codes, and left the original deadbolt in a labeled bag in case we ever want it back. Under an hour.”
What we do
Four kinds of work, one published price list
Openings when you are shut out, hardware for houses and shopfronts, keys cut where the car is standing. Every job is priced from the list below, and the figure is agreed before the van is sent.
from $89Emergency
Lockouts and after-forced-entry repair, priced before the work begins
- House Lockout$109–$189
- Car Lockout$89–$159
- Business Lockout$119–$219
- Post Break-In Lock Repair$149–$399
from $22/cylResidential
Rekeys, new hardware, smart locks and safes for Berkeley homes
- Lock Rekeying$22–$37 per cylinder
- Lock Replacement & Installation$105–$285
- Smart Lock Installation$165–$420
- Safe Opening$169–$485
from $139Commercial
Storefront, office, lab and workshop hardware that keeps working
- Master Key Systemscustom quote
- Panic Bars & Exit Devices$269–$725
- Access Controlcustom quote
- Storefront Door Locks$139–$435
from $69Automotive
Keys, fobs and ignitions handled where the car is standing
- Car Key Replacement$135–$375
- Key Fob Programming$69–$169
- Ignition Repair$165–$420
- Motorcycle Keys$105–$259
Coverage
Every Berkeley neighborhood, and the towns along its edges
Vans stage near University Ave and San Pablo Ave. Average arrival 19 minutes across the city, longer above Grizzly Peak; each area page shows its own.
Why Campanile
The price is settled while the door is still shut.
The figure is settled first
One number covering the visit, the labour and the parts, agreed before the technician touches the lock and unchanged on the receipt.
Mobile across the whole city
No shop counter. The van works between the flats, the campus blocks and the hill streets, so the drive is across Berkeley, not into it.
Stock for the doors this city actually has
Mortise parts for brown-shingle and Craftsman fronts, aluminum deadlatches and hookbolts for shop doors, jamb reinforcement, keypad locks and blanks for most cars.
Something in writing afterwards
An itemized emailed receipt, plus a written description of the work for a landlord, a property manager or a co-op board when one is needed.
How it works
From the first call to a door that locks again
- 1
Say what is locked and where
House, car, shop, lab or safe, the district, and anything that affects access such as a gate or a flight of stairs. One figure is agreed on that call.
- 2
The text arrives before the van
The technician's name and a thirty-minute window reach your phone, so you are not waiting on an unmarked knock.
- 3
Identity checked, then the lock opened
Proof that the address or the vehicle is yours comes first. Then the lock is picked, decoded or bypassed. Drilling is discussed only if that fails, and only with your agreement.
- 4
Card or tap, receipt by email
The total matches the figure you agreed to, line for line. The itemized receipt reaches your inbox while the van is still at the curb.
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 Berkeley 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 establish before anyone is sent to your address
Searching for a locksmith turns up national lead brokers that advertise $19 and invoice several hundred once the cylinder is in pieces. Each of these takes under a minute, and any honest company will answer all five without hesitating.
- 1Get one number, not a starting point. A figure followed by "and up" or "depending what we find" is not a price, it is permission to decide later.
- 2Confirm the $89 service call is inside that number rather than added to it. Ask the question in those words and listen for a direct yes.
- 3Ask for the technician's name and an arrival window in writing before dispatch. A company that will not name who is coming is passing your address to whoever is nearest.
- 4Ask what happens if the lock does not pick. The answer should describe the mechanism and name a price for the replacement, not announce that drilling is inevitable before anyone has seen your door.
- 5Refuse cash-only. An itemized card receipt is what a landlord, an insurer or a co-op board will accept as evidence; a figure written on a pad is not a record of anything.
FAQ
Asked before the call, answered here
How quickly does a van reach my part of Berkeley?+
Nineteen minutes is the average across the city. Downtown is usually 12, Southside and Telegraph 14, North Berkeley 15, Elmwood and West Berkeley 16, Thousand Oaks and Westbrae 18, Claremont 20. The Berkeley Hills run longer, around 26 minutes, because the roads above Grizzly Peak Blvd and Euclid Ave wind and the last stretch is often stairs. Albany is about 17, Kensington 21, El Cerrito 20, Emeryville 18 and Richmond Annex 24. Traffic on University Ave or a backed-up I-80 ramp can stretch any of these, and the window you are given on the call reflects conditions at that moment rather than an average.
What is included in the figure I agree to?+
Four things: the $89 service call, the labour, the parts that go into the door, and any evening or overnight hour. They are combined into one number before you say yes, which is why the service call never turns up separately at the end. The figure changes only if you ask for additional work once the technician is on site, such as rekeying the rest of the house after a lockout. That is quoted as its own line and started only after you agree to it.
Do nights, weekends and holidays cost more?+
Weekends and holidays are charged at ordinary hours. Arrival between 8pm and midnight adds $35, and arrival between midnight and 7am adds $70. Both are folded into the figure at the time you agree to it, so a $119 house lockout is $154 in the evening and $189 overnight, and the technician does not produce a different number at the door.
Will my lock be drilled?+
Only if you agree to it after picking has been tried. Residential deadbolts, apartment cylinders, mortise locks, most aluminum storefront hardware and most car doors open with picks, decoders, bypass tools or air wedges, and the hardware carries on working. Drilling becomes the option when a cylinder is already damaged, high-security, or seized from corrosion or a snapped key. In that case the technician explains what is wrong with the mechanism and what the replacement part costs, and the total stays at the figure agreed on the call.
What do I have to show before a door or a car is opened?+
For a house or apartment: photo ID showing the address, or ID plus a lease, a utility bill or addressed mail on your phone if the ID says somewhere else. For a car: ID plus registration or an insurance card, digital is fine. For a business or a lab: ID plus a lease, a business licence or confirmation from the owner or property manager. If none of that can be produced, the lock stays shut. This is the same check that protects your own door.
We rekey a student rental every August. How does that work?+
Rekeying repins the cylinders you already own so every old key stops turning, at $22 to $37 per cylinder with the $89 visit counted inside the total. For a shared house that usually means the front door, the unit door, the mailbox and any storage or bike-room lock keyed alike, so each incoming tenant carries one key. A building master, if you run one, keeps working. The receipt lists each cylinder by door, which is the form most landlords and property files want. Turnover weeks in August and January book up, so a few days of notice helps.
Can the original hardware in a brown-shingle or Craftsman house be saved?+
More often than people expect. Mortise and rim locks from the 1900s to the 1920s can be opened up, cleaned, re-sprung and rekeyed on site, and worn levers, followers and spindles are frequently replaceable. Interior doors with skeleton-key warded locks can be fitted with a working key rather than replaced. When a case is cracked or the parts genuinely no longer exist, a modern mortise body is sized to the existing pocket so the original plate, knob and door face are untouched. Which route applies is decided at the door, with the figure settled first either way.
Do you work in the BART garages and on hillside properties with gates and stairs?+
Yes to both. Car lockouts, key cutting and fob programming are done in the Downtown Berkeley and North Berkeley BART garages, in shop lots and on residential streets; say which level and roughly where the car sits when you call. For hillside addresses above Grizzly Peak or off Arlington Ave, mention the gate, the stair count and whether the garage is below the house, because it changes the arrival estimate and the tools brought up. It does not change the figure. There is no charge for stairs, gates or distance.
24/7 — nights, weekends & holidays
One call, one figure, agreed before the work starts
Calls answered 24/7 across Berkeley and the north East Bay. The $89 service call, the labour and the parts are inside the number you agree to, and nothing is added to it afterwards.