Key Copies Cut at Your Door, Including the Ones Kiosks Can't Do

Everyday House and Padlock Keys

Kwikset, Schlage, Weiser, Master padlocks, gate locks, the usual. We cut from your key on a real duplicator with a fresh cutter, then check each copy in the lock before we leave, which is the step a kiosk can't do. Escondido households run big: three generations, five or six drivers, a cousin staying the summer. If you need eight copies of the front door and four of the gate, that's a normal Tuesday for us.

Why kiosk copies fail: they trace a worn key and reproduce the wear, so the copy is one generation further from the original cut. We measure the key instead and cut to the factory depths when the blank allows, which is why our copies tend to work smoother than the key you handed us.

Padlocks, Gates and Sheds

Groves in Hidden Meadows and San Pasqual, backyard workshops in East Valley, the side gate on a North Broadway lot: all of it runs on padlocks, and padlocks lose keys. We copy padlock keys, and where a padlock has no key left we can often fit a new cylinder rather than cut the lock off. If you'd rather carry one key for the gate, the shed and the shop, we sell padlocks keyed alike to each other or to your house key on the same visit.

Keys the Kiosks Won't Cut

Grocery-store kiosks handle a dozen common blanks. Anything else, the screen says no. We cut restricted and high-security keys with the owner's authorization; "Do Not Duplicate" keys when the person in front of us can show they own the lock or are on the authorization card; older and odd blanks (Ilco, Yale, Sargent, the long-discontinued ones); skeleton and mortise keys for the historic homes south of Grand Avenue; and keys originated from a code stamped on a lock, a cabinet or a file drawer when there is no key at all.

Mailbox Keys and Locks

Lost the mailbox key at a condo complex? Most cluster mailbox units, the metal banks in 1980s courtyards and apartment complexes, have a compartment lock that belongs to the property or the resident, and a master lock the carrier uses that belongs to the Postal Service. We replace the compartment lock and hand you new keys; we don't touch the carrier's lock. If you rent, check with your property manager first; many will call us themselves.

Authorized Copies on Restricted Systems

If your building runs on a restricted keyway, we keep a signature card on file listing who may order copies. Show ID, sign, and we cut it and log it. If you're an owner thinking about setting up that kind of system for the whole building, that's a different conversation and its own page.

Add Copies to Any Visit

The cheapest time to get copies is while we're already at your door for another job: no trip fee, just the per-key price. Tell us how many when you book and we'll have the blanks on the van. Car keys with chips and remotes are a different machine; chip keys and fobs have their own page and their own prices.

We're a mobile shop. There is no walk-in counter; the van is the counter, and it comes to you anywhere in Escondido.