Guides
Plain answers for Berkeley, before you need them.
Prices, hardware, lockouts and lease turnovers, written for this city and read in a few minutes.
Aug 2026 · 7 min read
Rekeying a Shared House Near Campus When the Lease Turns Over
August and January move-ins below campus: how many cylinders a six-bedroom house really has, what to put in writing to the landlord, why the exterior doors should share one key, and the 2026 figures.
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Jul 2026 · 6 min read
Keys Left in the Car in a Downtown Berkeley BART Garage: the Next Half Hour
You are back from the city, the key is on the seat and the level looks like every other level. What to say on the call, what a technician actually does to the door, what it costs after 8pm, and what to do differently next time.
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Jun 2026 · 7 min read
What a Telegraph or Fourth Street Shop Door Needs From Its Closer and Its Hookbolt
Why a shop door that has to be lifted to lock is a closer problem, what a hookbolt does that a deadlatch cannot, the symptoms staff report first, and what each repair costs in 2026.
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Apr 2026 · 6 min read
Buzzer Panels and Mailbox Locks in a Small Berkeley Co-Op: Who Fixes What
The street door that will not latch, the intercom that rings a number from 2014, the mailbox bank nobody has rekeyed in a decade: what a locksmith can do, what belongs to the phone company or the post office, and what it costs.
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Mar 2026 · 7 min read
Getting a Van Up to a Hillside Address Above Grizzly Peak, and What That Changes
Twenty-six minutes, one-lane roads, a gate at the sidewalk and two flights of stairs before any lock is touched. What to say when you call from a hill address, and why none of it changes the figure.
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Jan 2026 · 8 min read
Brown-Shingle Hardware: the Mortise Set on the Front Door and the Skeleton-Key Doors Inside
What the long brass faceplate in the door edge actually contains, why the interior bit-key locks are not security hardware, when to service a mortise case and when to replace it, and what a seized one costs to open.
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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.