Questions people ask us

Typically 15 to 30 minutes across Long Island City, because we dispatch from a storefront in Long Island City rather than from a call centre. Hunters Point and Court Square are usually at the fast end; Astoria and Greenpoint run longer. We will not quote you anything under 15 minutes — that number is not achievable door-to-door in Queens, and a locksmith who promises it is simply planning to break it.

Dispatch runs 24 hours a day, every day, including holidays. The storefront counter — for walk-in key cutting and anything you would rather do in person — keeps daytime hours: Monday to Friday 8am–7pm and Saturday 9am–5pm.

Where you are, what kind of door it is, and what kind of lock if you know. For a car, the year, make, model and whether it is a turn key or push-to-start. That is enough for us to give you a real price range instead of a vague one.

The request form on the contact page. Describe the lock and the door in as much detail as you can and we can usually tell you what the job is and what it costs before anyone drives anywhere — which also means the tech arrives with the right cylinder already on the van. Say in the message how urgent it is.

Because the loudest complaint about this industry is the quote that changes at the door — the $19 phone price that becomes $350 once the tech is standing there. Publishing real ranges is the simplest way to demonstrate we do not work that way. Our full price list is on the pricing page.

Because two jobs on the same street can genuinely differ. A standard cylinder on a wooden apartment door is one job; a high-security cylinder on a reinforced door with a secondary drop bar is another. What does not vary is the sequence: a range before we dispatch, the exact number confirmed at the door, and no work started until you have agreed to it.

Then we tell you the new number and you decide. If what we find is genuinely different from what you described, you hear that before any tool comes out of the bag. If the confirmed price is more than you want to spend, you can send us away and you owe us nothing.

Card, tap-to-pay or cash, at the door or at the counter. You get an itemised receipt on every job — parts and labour listed separately, not a single lump figure.

New York City requires every locksmith to hold a licence from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP, formerly DCA) and to display that number on their advertising. Ask for the number before anyone touches your door and check it against the City's free public lookup — confirm the licensed name matches the business you called and that the status is active rather than expired or revoked. Apply that to us as readily as to anyone else.

Three things, and they take a minute. Ask for the DCWP licence number and check it against the city's public lookup. Ask for the price before they start, and be wary of anyone who will not give one. And notice whether the business has a real, checkable address — a company that is only a phone number and a van is a company with nothing to lose by treating you badly.

Yes, and we can provide a certificate of insurance on request. Most commercial buildings in Court Square and Queens Plaza require a COI on file before after-hours vendor work, and we handle that with the management office directly.

Because a locksmith who opens doors without verifying authorisation is a burglary service. New York requires us to confirm you have the right to enter, and the check protects you far more than it protects us — it is the same rule that stops someone else having your door opened.

Almost never. We attempt non-destructive entry — picking, bypassing or shimming — on every job, and most standard residential and office cylinders open that way. Drilling is a last resort, and you hear about it before it happens along with what the replacement cylinder costs.

Rekey unless the hardware is worn out or the wrong grade for the door. Rekeying changes the pins inside the lock you already own so the old key stops working — identical security outcome to replacing, at a fraction of the cost. Anyone insisting a sound, decent-grade lock must be replaced is selling hardware rather than solving your problem.

Usually the door is the problem, not the lock. Doors sag and frames settle, so the bolt stops meeting the strike cleanly and every turn fights that misalignment. A new cylinder will bind exactly the same way. The real fix is adjusting the hinges and repositioning the strike, and it costs less than a replacement.

Yes — car lockouts, transponder keys cut and programmed, fob and proximity key programming, and broken keys extracted from ignitions. It happens at the kerb where the car is parked, so there is no tow to a dealership. We verify ownership with registration and photo ID before making any car key.

Yes. Parts carry their manufacturer warranty and our labour is guaranteed — if something we fitted fails or a lock we serviced misbehaves, we come back and put it right. Tell us what happened and we will book it in.

Long Island City first — Hunters Point, Court Square and Dutch Kills — then Sunnyside, Astoria and Greenpoint across the Pulaski Bridge. Those are the areas we can genuinely reach quickly from our Long Island City counter.

Not for emergency work. We would be quoting response times we cannot honestly hit, and a locksmith who turns up forty minutes after the window they promised is worse than one who told you to call somebody closer. For scheduled commercial work further out, ask us — that is a different conversation.

Yes, in Long Island City, near Gantry Plaza State Park. Walk in for key cutting, to look at hardware before you buy, or simply to see that we are a real business rather than a van and a phone number. Counter hours are on the contact page.