Residential Locksmith Services in Brooklyn & the Brooklyn area
Getting locked out of your house never happens at a convenient time. Whether your front door swung shut while you carried groceries up the stoop in Park Slope, a key snapped off in a tired mortise lock in a Bed-Stuy brownstone, or a smart lock stopped responding in a Williamsburg walk-up, Broadway Locksmith and Automotive Corp is the Brooklyn home locksmith team that comes to you. We operate 24/7 across the borough with trained, insured, mobile technicians who specialize in damage-free entry, lock rekeying, lock changes, and modern smart lock installation.
Open 24 hours, 7 days a week · Licensed, bonded & insured
“Our service area covers the full sweep of Brooklyn — from Bay Ridge and Sunset Park to Crown Heights, Bushwick, Flatbush, Greenpoint, and Downtown Brooklyn near Borough Hall. Because we work from mobile vans rather than a single storefront, we reach most neighborhoods quickly, confirm an exact up-front price before any work begins, and arrive ready to handle anything from a jammed door knob lock to a full high-security upgrade. If you need a home locksmith who knows the difference between a prewar mortise setup and a new builder-grade cylinder, you are in the right place.
What we do
Mortise Lock Specialists
We service the mortise locks common in older Brooklyn brownstones and pre-war apartment doors, including full cylinder and lock body replacement.
No-Damage House Lockouts
Locked out of your house or apartment? We get you back inside fast without drilling or breaking the door when avoidable.
Door Knob & Deadbolt Repair
We fix sticking door knob locks, worn deadbolts, and misaligned strike plates so your door latches smoothly again.
Smart Lock Installation
When a smart lock stops responding or you want a keypad entry, we install and troubleshoot WiFi and keypad deadbolts.
Emergency Home Entry When You're Locked Out of the House
Being locked out of your house with no key is stressful, but it is one of the most routine calls we handle. The first thing our dispatcher will do when you call (347) 429-8668 is confirm your location, the type of door and lock you have, and whether anyone or anything unsafe is inside — a running stove or a child or pet behind the door bumps you to the front of the line. We then send the nearest mobile technician and give you an honest arrival window rather than a vague promise.
Before we ever touch the lock, our technician verifies you are the resident or authorized occupant. This protects you and your neighbors, and it is standard practice for any legitimate locksmith. We ask for identification showing the address or another reasonable proof of residency, which is a quick step that keeps everyone honest. If you are waiting on us and wondering what to do if you are locked out of the house, stay calm, check for an unlocked back or side entrance, look for a spare you may have left with a neighbor or super, and avoid prying windows or forcing the door — DIY attempts often cause far more damage than the original lockout.
Once on site, we focus on non-destructive entry wherever the hardware allows. Most residential cylinders, deadbolts, and many mortise locks can be opened with specialized tools that leave the lock fully functional afterward, so you are not paying to replace a lock you did not need to replace. If a cylinder is damaged, badly worn, or a broken key is lodged inside, we will explain your options clearly — key extraction, repair, rekeying, or replacement — and quote the exact price before we proceed.
New-Home Security Audit: What to Change After You Move In
When you move into a new apartment or house in Brooklyn, you have no idea how many copies of your keys are floating around — previous tenants, contractors, cleaners, a landlord's spare, or a dog walker from three owners ago. The single smartest move after getting the keys is a security reset, and the most efficient way to do that is lock rekeying rather than buying all new hardware. Rekeying changes the internal pins so every old key stops working, while keeping your existing locks in place.
Our home security audit walks every entry point: the front door, any rear or basement access, the door between a garage and the living space, and often a roof-access or fire-escape window in older Brooklyn buildings. We check the grade and condition of each lock, test the deadbolt throw and strike plate, look at door frame integrity, and flag anything that would fail under a shove. In many brownstones and prewar co-ops we find original mortise lock bodies that are beautiful but worn — we can service, rekey, or upgrade these while preserving the historic door.
A proper audit is also the right moment to standardize your keys. We can rekey multiple locks to a single key so you are not juggling a crowded keyring, or set up a master-key arrangement if you rent out a unit. If you have searched for rekey locks near me after a move, this is exactly the service you want — one visit, every old key retired, and an exact price confirmed before we start. Call (347) 429-8668 to schedule a move-in security reset anywhere in Brooklyn.
Lock Grades Explained and Which Doors Need Which
Residential locks are rated by a grading system that most homeowners never hear about until something fails. Grade 3 is builder-basic — common on interior doors and inexpensive knob sets, fine for a bedroom or closet but too weak for an exterior entry. Grade 2 is a solid middle tier suitable for most apartment and house front doors. Grade 1 is the toughest, built to resist repeated force and picking, and it is what we recommend for ground-floor entrances, street-level doors, and any home that has already experienced a break-in attempt.
The door knob lock on your front door should never be your only line of defense. A keyed knob can be defeated far more easily than a quality deadbolt, which is why we almost always pair a graded deadbolt with the knob set on exterior doors. In older Brooklyn housing stock, you will often find a mortise lock — a sturdy rectangular lock body mortised into the edge of the door that combines a latch and deadbolt in one unit. These are excellent when maintained, and we stock replacement cylinders and parts to keep them working rather than ripping them out unnecessarily.
Choosing the right grade is about matching the lock to the risk. A quiet interior door does not need Grade 1 hardware, but your main entrance, a basement door, or a storefront-adjacent apartment entrance absolutely does. During any visit we will tell you honestly where your current locks sit on the grade scale and where an upgrade meaningfully improves security — never a blanket push to replace everything.
Smart Lock Installation and Ecosystem Compatibility
Smart locks have gone from novelty to mainstream, and smart lock installation is now one of our most requested home services. The hardest part for most homeowners is not the install — it is picking a lock that actually fits their door and plays nicely with the apps and devices they already own. Before buying anything, confirm your door's backset, bore size, and thickness, and decide whether you want keypad-only, app control, or full integration with a voice assistant or home system.
Compatibility matters more than brand hype. A smart deadbolt from a maker like Schlage, Kwikset, or August will differ in how it connects — some use Wi-Fi, some Bluetooth, some a hub bridge — and that choice affects whether you can unlock remotely for a guest arriving at your Fort Greene apartment while you are at work. For prewar doors, a mortise smart lock is often the right answer because it retrofits into the existing mortise pocket and preserves the door's original look while adding keypad and app access. We handle the measuring, installation, battery and connectivity setup, and we walk you through adding and revoking user codes.
A smart lock is only as good as its backup plan. We always keep a physical key or mechanical override working alongside the electronics, and we show you what to do if the smart lock is not responding — dead batteries, a dropped Wi-Fi connection, or a factory-reset gone wrong are the usual culprits. If your smart lock already stopped working, we can diagnose it on site and get you back inside without destroying the hardware.
Rekey a Lock or Replace It: How to Rekey a Lock and When a Full Change Makes Sense
One of the most common questions we get is how to rekey a lock versus when to swap the whole thing. Rekeying is an internal procedure: a technician removes the lock cylinder, replaces the small pins inside to match a new key, and reassembles it. The lock body, finish, and hardware stay exactly as they are, which makes rekeying the economical choice when the lock itself is in good shape and you simply want old keys to stop working — after a move, a roommate leaving, a lost key, or a breakup.
A full lock change is the better call in several clear situations: the lock is physically damaged or corroded, it is a low Grade 3 unit you want to upgrade, the mechanism sticks or the deadbolt no longer throws cleanly, or you want to switch to a smart lock entirely. There is no point rekeying a worn cylinder that is on its way to failing; replacement gives you fresh, reliable hardware and a security grade matched to the door. We will lay out both paths honestly and quote each so you can decide.
Whether you need a quick lock rekeying or a complete lock change, the factors that shape your price are the same: the type and number of locks, whether parts are needed, the time of day, and how far we travel to reach you. We confirm that exact figure up front — no surprises added after the work. If you have been searching rekey a lock or rekey locks near me, call (347) 429-8668 and we will handle it at your door across Brooklyn.
Practical Ways to Harden Your Entry Points Without a Big Spend
Strong locks matter, but the frame and strike plate matter just as much. Many break-ins succeed not because the lock failed but because the door frame or strike plate gave way under a kick. Upgrading to a reinforced strike plate with longer screws that reach the stud behind the frame is a small change that dramatically improves resistance — and it is something we often add during a rekey or lock change visit without needing new locks at all.
Simple habits close the gaps that burglars count on. Keep a spare with a trusted neighbor rather than under the mat, where it is the first place anyone checks. Add a secondary deadbolt on street-level doors common in Brooklyn's row houses. For sliding patio or balcony doors, a track bar and a pin lock stop the door from being lifted off its rails. These are low-cost, high-impact adjustments that we are glad to recommend and install during any service call.
Lighting and visibility finish the job. A motion light over a rear entrance, trimmed shrubs near ground-floor windows, and a peephole or video doorbell all reduce the opportunities an intruder looks for. None of this requires a renovation — it is a handful of targeted upgrades. When we do a home security audit, we point out exactly which of these will give you the most protection for the least investment, so your money goes where it actually matters.
Brands We Service
We install, repair and rekey all major lock brands — from everyday deadbolts to high-security cylinders.
Don’t see your brand? We service virtually every make — just call.
Before you call — what to expect
What Customers Usually Ask Before Booking — Mortise Lock, Door Knob Lock, and Emergency Locksmith Questions Answered
Can you really help me right now, even late at night or on a weekend? Yes — Broadway Locksmith and Automotive Corp operates around the clock, every day of the year. Whether you are locked out on Atlantic Avenue at 2 a.m. or need a mortise lock replaced on a Sunday afternoon in Flatbush, a real person answers when you call (347) 429-8668.
What actually determines how much a locksmith job costs? Several factors shape the final quote: the type of lock involved (a mortise lock, a door knob lock, a high-security deadbolt, or an automotive lock cylinder each carries different parts and labor requirements), the time of day the work is performed, the travel distance to your location in Brooklyn, and any specific hardware or replacement parts the job requires. We confirm an exact up-front price with you before a single tool comes out of the van — there are no surprise additions on the invoice.
How do I know the technician arriving is actually from your company? Every Broadway Locksmith and Automotive Corp technician arrives in a marked service van and carries company identification. We also encourage you to call us at (347) 429-8668 to confirm dispatch details before anyone begins work. Verifying the identity of any service professional you let into your home or vehicle is a smart, standard practice we fully support.
Do you handle commercial jobs, or only residential lockouts? Our team handles both. Commercial locksmith work — including mortise lock installation and repair, master-key systems, and access hardware for storefronts, offices, and multi-unit buildings throughout Brooklyn — is a core part of what we do, not an afterthought. If you manage a property on Flatbush Avenue or operate a business near the Brooklyn Navy Yard, we are equipped for the scope of work commercial spaces require.
How Our Quote Process Works — From Your First Call to a Confirmed Up-Front Price
Step 1 — Tell us what you need. When you call (347) 429-8668, you will speak with a team member who asks straightforward questions: What type of lock or vehicle is involved? Is it a mortise lock, a door knob lock, a car ignition, or something else? Where in Brooklyn are you located? What is the situation — lockout, rekey, replacement, or repair? The more detail you share, the more precisely we can prepare.
Step 2 — We factor in everything that affects the price. Based on your lock or vehicle type, the parts most likely needed, the time of day, and the travel to your location, we work out an honest quote. We never quote a flat teaser figure and then revise it at the door. The goal at this stage is to give you a number that reflects the real scope of the job.
Step 3 — You receive a clear, confirmed price before work begins. Once the technician arrives and assesses the situation in person, they will confirm the exact price with you. If anything differs from the initial description — for example, if the lock turns out to be a more complex mortise lock mechanism than described — that will be explained clearly, and you decide whether to proceed. No work starts until you say yes.
Step 4 — The job gets done with your full knowledge of the cost. From the moment you approve the quote to the moment the technician wraps up and cleans the work area, the price you confirmed is the price you pay. Questions at any point? Call us at (347) 429-8668 — we answer 24/7.
What to Expect from Your Broadway Locksmith and Automotive Corp Technician — Emergency Locksmith and Mortise Lock Service Done Right
A realistic arrival window communicated to you. After dispatch, your technician will give you an honest estimate of how long travel will take based on their current location and Brooklyn traffic conditions. We do not quote an arrival window we cannot stand behind. If anything changes during transit — unexpected gridlock on the BQE, for example — we stay in contact so you are never left wondering.
A marked van and verifiable company identification. Your technician arrives in a clearly identified Broadway Locksmith and Automotive Corp service vehicle and will show you company ID before doing anything else. This step is non-negotiable for us because your security — and your confidence in who is handling your locks — is exactly what this business exists to protect. If you want to verify the dispatch before opening your door, call (347) 429-8668 and we will confirm immediately.
A plain-language walkthrough of the work before and during the job. Whether the task is a straightforward door knob lock rekey, a full mortise lock replacement on a brownstone entry door in Park Slope, a commercial locksmith call for a malfunctioning storefront lock, or an automotive lockout, the technician will explain what they are doing and why. You will not be handed a finished job with no idea what was changed or why certain hardware was used. If a mortise lock body needs to be sourced in a specific configuration for your door thickness, that gets explained in plain language.
A tidy finish with everything tested before departure. The work area is left clean — no metal shavings on the floor, no door frame left dusty from drilling, no loose hardware left behind. Before the technician leaves, every lock, cylinder, or mechanism worked on is tested with you present so you can confirm it functions exactly as expected. Your keys are handed to you, the job is reviewed, and only then is the visit considered complete.
Service area
Areas we cover around Brooklyn
Based in Brooklyn, we reach the Brooklyn area fast — 24/7. Don’t see your street? Call us, we very likely cover it.
(347) 429-8668Frequently asked questions
How much is a locksmith if I'm locked out of my house?+
There is no single flat figure because the price depends on the lock and door type, the time of day, how far we travel to reach you, and whether any parts are needed. A straightforward non-destructive entry on a standard deadbolt costs less than a job that requires extracting a broken key or replacing a damaged cylinder. We always confirm an exact up-front price before any work begins, so you know the total before we start.
How much do locksmiths charge for a home lockout?+
Home lockout pricing is driven by factors rather than a fixed rate: the kind of lock, whether it opens without damage, the hour of the call, and the distance to your location in Brooklyn. Our technician assesses the situation on site and quotes the full amount before touching the lock. You will never see charges added after the fact.
Who should I call if I'm locked out of my house?+
Call a trained, insured mobile locksmith who can verify ownership and open your door without damaging it. Our team answers 24/7 at (347) 429-8668 and dispatches the nearest technician across Brooklyn, from Bay Ridge to Greenpoint. We handle apartment and house lockouts, broken keys, and smart locks that stopped responding.
What do I do if I've locked myself out of my house?+
Stay calm and check for an unlocked back or side door, a window on the ground floor, or a spare key you may have left with a neighbor or building super. Avoid forcing the door or prying a window, since that usually causes more expensive damage than the lockout itself. If you have no key and no safe way in, call us and wait for a professional who can open it cleanly.
How much does an emergency locksmith cost near me?+
An emergency locksmith's cost reflects the urgency, the time of day, travel distance, and the complexity of the lock. Rather than quoting a vague range, we evaluate your specific situation and give you the exact up-front price before starting. For overnight or holiday calls the rate may differ from a daytime visit, and we will always tell you that plainly.
How do I rekey a lock, and can you do it at my home?+
To rekey a lock, a technician removes the cylinder, swaps the internal pins to match a brand-new key, and reassembles the lock so every old key stops working. It keeps your existing hardware in place and is ideal after a move or a lost key. Yes, we perform lock rekeying on site anywhere in Brooklyn, and we can rekey multiple locks to a single key in one visit.
Can you install a smart lock on an old Brooklyn door?+
In most cases, yes. Many prewar doors use a mortise pocket, and a mortise smart lock retrofits into that existing space while preserving the door's original appearance. We measure the backset, bore, and door thickness, confirm compatibility with your Wi-Fi or app setup, and set up user codes and a mechanical backup so you are never locked out if the batteries die.
Are your technicians insured, and how do I know you're legitimate?+
Our technicians are trained, experienced, and insured, and they verify that you are the resident or authorized occupant before opening any door. You can confirm our identity when we arrive, and we provide a clear up-front price in writing before work begins. If anything is unclear, ask questions on the phone when you call (347) 429-8668 — we are happy to explain the process.