Keypad deadbolts
Codes only, no phone needed. The simplest upgrade for a household that just wants to stop carrying a front door key.
Keypad, app and retrofit locks
Smart Lock Installation and Repair in San Marcos, CA
Most front doors in San Elijo Hills, Rancho Dorado and the University District are fiberglass or steel slabs hung by a builder with matching hardware. A keypad or app deadbolt fits them well, as long as the bolt, the strike and the backup key are handled right. We install, pair and fix smart locks across San Marcos.
- Licensed and insured
- Background-checked technicians
- Open 8am–8:30pm, every day
Locks we install and support
We carry the mainstream brands on the van and install anything you have already bought. We are an independent locksmith, not a brand's dealer, so the recommendation is about your door, not a quota.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth app locks
Schlage Encode, Yale Assure, Kwikset Halo and similar. Lock from the car, share a code with the dog walker, see who came in.
Retrofit locks that keep your exterior
Level Bolt and other interior-only units. The outside of the door looks untouched, which matters on HOA streets with hardware rules.
Hub-ready units
Z-Wave, Zigbee and Matter-capable locks for homes already running a hub, so the door joins the rest of the setup.
Why new-build doors need a careful install
A tract home a few years old has already settled, and the factory-cut deadbolt hole and the strike no longer quite agree. On a manual lock your wrist makes up the difference. A smart lock has a small motor doing that job, and if the bolt rubs the strike, the motor strains, the lock reports a jam, and fresh batteries last weeks instead of a year. So the install starts with the door: we throw the bolt by hand, feel for drag, and move the strike until it slides clean, working with the reinforcement plate on fiberglass and steel doors instead of chewing through it.
Builder handlesets are the second check. Many entries in Santa Fe Hills and Rancho Dorado have a one-piece handleset with the deadbolt built into the top, so we plan for a lever below and the smart deadbolt above in a matching finish. And west-facing doors up in the hills take full afternoon sun in summer. A glossy touchscreen there gets hot and hard to read, so we steer those doors toward physical-button keypads.
Townhomes and condos near CSUSM often have HOA rules about what shows on the outside of the door. Send us the CC&Rs and we will pick a lock that stays inside the lines.
The keyed backup still matters
Nearly every smart deadbolt keeps a key cylinder on the outside for the day the electronics fail. Out of the box it is pinned to a random key, so you would carry two. The usual shortcut is to key it to your existing house key, which is the same key the builder cut, the painters carried for months, and the listing agent left in a lockbox.
We do it the other way around. On the same visit we rekey every exterior lock to a new key, including the cylinder inside the smart lock, so one fresh key opens the whole house and none of the old ones do. With a retrofit lock that keeps your original exterior cylinder, this step is the whole security upgrade.
Prefer a plain deadbolt with no electronics? Standard deadbolts and handlesets are here.
What an install visit looks like
Fit check
Send a photo of the door and the current deadbolt. We confirm the bore, backset and handleset clearance before we drive.
Install and align
Old deadbolt out, new lock on, strike re-mortised so the bolt glides with the door closed and latched.
Pair and program
Lock goes on your account, codes are set per person, auto-lock and notifications tuned to the household.
Rekey the backup
The key cylinder gets fresh pins to match your new house key, so the builder key is dead on this door too.
Setup done before we leave
The lock is half the job. The other half is twenty minutes at the kitchen counter.
- Your account, not ours. The lock is paired to your phone and email. We never keep an admin login.
- A code per person. Kids, partner, grandparents, the cleaner on Tuesdays. Scheduled codes expire on their own so you do not have to remember to delete them.
- Auto-lock that fits the house. Thirty seconds on a front door nobody props open; longer on a garage-entry door that gets groceries carried through it.
- A battery plan. Which batteries, where the warning shows up, and how the 9-volt trick works.
- A walkthrough for everyone home. Each person tries their code and the backup key is labeled.
Repairs and "it stopped working"
Smart locks fail in predictable ways. Most are fixed in one visit without a new lock.
The bolt jams or grinds
Nine times out of ten the strike has drifted or a winter storm swelled the door. We re-mortise the strike, adjust the door if needed, and the motor stops fighting.
Dead battery, nobody home with a key
We open it, replace the batteries, and check why they drained faster than the app promised. Locked out right now? Call the lockout line.
Lost connection, or a previous owner still paired
A new router, an unplugged hub, or a home bought with a smart lock the seller's phone still controls. We factory-reset, re-pair on your account, and rekey the cylinder so their keys die too.
Unit has failed
Motors and keypads wear out. We replace the lock using the same bore, usually with no new holes in the door, and move your codes across.
Garage-entry and side doors
The door from the garage into the house gets used more than the front door in most San Marcos homes, and it is the one the builder fitted with the cheapest lock. A second smart lock there, on the same app, means the kids come in through the garage with a code and the front door stays locked all day.
A side gate is different. Sprinklers, dust and full sun are hard on electronics, and a gate does not need notifications. A good keyed gate lock on the house key is the better answer there, and we fit those too.
For an office door, a warehouse entry or an HOA pool or clubhouse gate, the right tool is a fob or card reader with credentials you can revoke, not a household smart lock. That work lives here.
Most of our smart-lock calls come from San Elijo Hills, which has the newest homes and the most keypad doors in town.
Smart lock questions
Will a smart lock fit my builder door?
Almost always. The fiberglass and steel doors used in San Elijo Hills, Rancho Dorado and the University District are bored to the standard 2-1/8 inch hole with a 2-3/8 or 2-3/4 inch backset, which every mainstream smart deadbolt is built for. We check door thickness and whether the builder handleset trim leaves room for the new interior plate. If the deadbolt is part of a one-piece handleset, we swap in a separate lever below the smart deadbolt.
What happens when the battery dies?
You still get in. Most keypad and app deadbolts keep a physical key cylinder, and many have two contacts under the keypad where a 9-volt battery gives enough power to enter a code once. We show you both at install, leave the backup key labeled, and set the low-battery warning weeks ahead. A lock that eats batteries in a month is usually binding on the strike, which we fix rather than blame the batteries.
Can I keep my existing handleset?
If the handleset and deadbolt are separate pieces, yes, and we match the finish as closely as the maker allows. If they are a matched pair from the builder, the smart deadbolt may not sit cleanly above the trim, so we choose a slimmer lock or replace the lower half with a lever in the same finish. A retrofit lock like Level Bolt keeps everything you see from the street exactly as it is.
Do I need Wi-Fi or a hub for a smart lock?
No. A keypad deadbolt works with no connection at all, and a Bluetooth lock pairs to your phone at the door. Wi-Fi or a hub is only needed to lock the door from across town, get notifications, or hand out codes remotely. If the router is at the far end of the house, we test signal at the door before you commit to a Wi-Fi model.
Can you install a smart lock I already bought?
Yes. Bring the box and we install and pair it for the labor range on our pricing page. We check it against your door before starting, and if it is the wrong backset or defective out of the box we say so before anything is drilled, so you can exchange it.
Ready to stop carrying a front door key?
Text a photo of your door and the current deadbolt. We confirm the fit and hold a time for you.