Commercial Locksmith Services

COMMERCIAL WORK ACROSS SOUTH KING COUNTY

Commercial locksmithing isn’t one job. It’s six or seven different jobs that happen to share a customer type, and what we get called for shifts noticeably from one city to the next. That is what decides what goes on the van before we roll.

Drive times are typical from our Burien storefront, not guarantees — traffic on I-5 and 405 is what it is. We’ll give you a realistic window when you call, not an optimistic one.

MASTER KEY SYSTEMS: WHAT TO ASK FOR

A master key system is a hierarchy. At the bottom is the change key, which opens one door. Above it sits a master that opens a defined group — a floor, a department, a wing. Above that, a grand master opens everything. Done well, a janitor carries one key instead of fourteen and a department head cannot walk into payroll.

Three things decide whether the system still works in five years.

• Key control. A restricted keyway means blanks are not sold at the hardware store down the street. Without it, anyone holding a key can quietly cut a spare, and your system is only as good as the honesty of everyone who has ever worked there.
• Expansion headroom. A system pinned to exactly today’s door count has nowhere to go. Add a suite two years later and you are either starting over or bolting on something that breaks the hierarchy. We design in room from the start.
• Documentation. The bitting list and pinning chart are the system. Lose them and adding a door later means starting over. We design, pin and install — and we keep the records, so the system you buy is still expandable years from now.

WHAT A COMMERCIAL JOB COSTS

We publish our residential ranges because almost nobody else will: a lockout runs $75–$150, a home rekey $100–$200, transponder programming $80–$250 depending on the vehicle.

Commercial work we quote rather than publish, and the honest reason is that there is no single number to publish. A six-door rekey on existing hardware and a 40-opening master key system with new Grade 1 cylinders are not the same job and should not carry the same price.

What actually moves a commercial quote:

• How many openings, and whether they are keyed alike, keyed different, or mastered
• Hardware grade — Grade 1 commercial cylinders cost more than Grade 2, and last longer under traffic
• New system or matching an existing one — matching is often cheaper, if the keyway cooperates
• Access and timing — an occupied building during business hours is a different job from after-hours, and after-hours charges may apply
• Rekey versus replace — rekeying existing cylinders is usually the cheaper path if the hardware is sound

Send us the scope by phone or email and we will quote it. You get a firm number before anyone touches a door. If we find something on site that changes the price, we stop and tell you before we keep going.

HARDWARE, GRADES, AND WHO SHOWS UP

Commercial hardware is graded by ANSI/BHMA, and the grade is the single most useful thing on a spec sheet. Grade 1 is the commercial standard — built for heavy daily traffic, and what you want on an entry door a hundred people use. Grade 2 suits light commercial and interior openings. Grade 3 is residential; it does not belong on a storefront door, whatever the box says.

What we stock and install:

If you have standardized on something we do not stock, tell us and we will source it rather than talk you into what is on the shelf.

Four technicians cover this work. Two run local service calls. One covers the full map, Olympia to Tulalip. The fourth is a surveyor and estimator who handles large multi-city projects and multi-day work orders — he is the one who walks a building, counts openings and writes the scope before anyone touches a door. On a job bigger than a handful of cylinders, that walkthrough is what keeps the quote honest.