Locksmith in
Tenafly, NJ
Licensed, bonded and insured. Mobile to Tenafly ZIP 07670, 24 hours a day — emergencies usually within the hour.
Tenafly houses have a specific problem
Tenafly carries the oldest and most mixed housing stock in the Northern Valley, and that is the whole job here. The Northern Railroad reached the town in 1859 and the blocks around it filled with commuter housing: Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival, with mansard roofs and deep porches still on plenty of them. Post-war building added ranches and splits on the flatter ground. Just over sixty percent of the borough's structures were standing before 1960, and the single largest cohort went up in the 1940s. Since the 1990s a steady teardown wave has been replacing the smaller of those houses with much larger ones. That is four generations of door hardware inside one borough, frequently on the same street.
It makes two different trades share a block. The older houses run mortise lock bodies set into a pocket cut in the edge of the door, original escutcheons worth keeping, and keyways accumulated over decades so no single key runs the house. The rebuilds and gut renovations run EMTEK and Baldwin trim, Mul-T-Lock cylinders, and multipoint patio and French doors, meaning one handle throwing several bolts along the edge of the door, built into Andersen and Marvin units or imported from Europe. Most locksmiths will not touch multipoint and quote a door replacement instead, because that is easier than sourcing a gearbox. We service, rekey and replace them.
The third Tenafly job is the one people forget the town has. Single-family houses are a smaller share of the stock than they were in 2000, and the larger apartment buildings have grown fastest. That is different work again: common entry doors on closers, mail room and storage cylinders, unit locks that have to be rekeyed between tenancies, and fobs that leave with a departing resident and are never recovered. If you own a unit rather than a house, ask the board what you are authorised to change on your own door before anyone orders hardware. A fair share of the disagreements we get called into are about trim finish rather than about security.
If you have just closed on a Tenafly house, the most useful thing we do is walk it with you and count what is actually there before quoting anything. It is almost never what the listing said. A hill house with a front door, a kitchen door, a side entry, a basement hatch and a garage is five openings and more cylinders than that. Do one test before you call anybody. Take your existing key to every keyhole in the house. Where it enters but will not turn, those locks share a keyway and we can bring them onto one key. Where it will not enter at all, that hardware has to change. Five minutes of that changes the quote.
Just closed on a house in Tenafly? Somewhere between five and fifteen copies of your key are already out there — previous owners, contractors, cleaners, realtors, a neighbour. Rekeying is the only way to make that number zero. Book within 30 days of closing and the visit includes a free home security walkthrough and five extra keys. See the packages →
What we charge in Tenafly
Real numbers, published up front. You should not have to call three locksmiths to find out what something costs.
| Service | Price |
|---|---|
| New homeowner — Rekey & Secure up to 6 cylinders, keyed alike, 5 keys cut on site | $695 |
| New homeowner — Rekey, Secure & Keyless the above plus an MK-1 smart deadbolt | $1,275 |
| New homeowner — Complete Smart Entry plus a second opening and a garage keypad | $2,395 |
| Rekey one cylinder with a working key | $55 |
| Rekey one cylinder no working key | $100 |
| MK-1 / MK-2 smart deadbolt installed, on its own visit | $750 |
| Mul-T-Lock high-security deadbolt installed, on its own visit | $825 |
| Smart garage keypad installed and paired | $750 |
| Door won't close or lock is sticking | $250–$600 |
| European-style multipoint door service | $450–$1,250 |
| House lockout daytime / after 5 PM | $250 / $350 |
| Commercial door & hardware evaluation | $250 |
What the price includes:
- The mobile service charge — every price above includes coming to you
- Keying every lock we touch to a single key
- 5 keys cut and tested in the locks on any rekey
- Testing everything works before we leave, and an itemised receipt with photographs
What costs extra, and how much:
- Each cylinder beyond a package limit — $55 with a working key, $100 without
- A door needing a new bore — $100 per lock
- Keys beyond the 5 included — $5 each
- After 5 PM the mobile service charge is $350, collected before dispatch
- A lock destroyed during an emergency entry, replaced — $150
Prices shown are in effect from August 2026 and remain in effect until updated on this page. Final price is confirmed with you before any work begins. Where a range is shown, the final figure is confirmed on site before work starts. If the job is smaller than quoted, you pay less.
Everything we do in Tenafly
The whole house rekeyed to one key, with keyless and garage upgrades.
From $695 RekeyingKeyed alike at no extra charge, five keys cut and tested at your door.
$55 per cylinder Smart locksThe MK line, with a two-year guarantee on the lock — it fails, we replace and refit it free.
$750 installed High-security deadboltsMul-T-Lock, with a patented key no hardware store can copy.
$825 installed Doors that stickAlignment, strike plates, hinges, and multipoint hardware.
From $250 Commercial & propertyEvaluations, turnovers, master keys, exit devices.
$250 evaluationWhat people in Tenafly actually say
We had excellent service. Timothy, the Locksmith arrived within a half hour of phone call. He repaired two locks for us and new keys for our front door. I would definitely recommend his service and I would definitely call him again if I needed him
Geraldine M.Google review
Timothy from Major Key Locksmith was such a nice and honest guy. He did a great job rekeying the locks at my house in Hasbouck Heights. He explained how the keypad works and was so patient with me. He is a very polite and cleaned up after the job was done. Would definitely recommend him to my friends and family.
Ann M.Google review
Called Tim this morning problem with two anderson French doors locks one not locking one loose handle keeps falling off. Tim was great fast efficient and resolved both issues quickly. We are in north caldwell private home in essex county. Highly recommend Tim he comes out and does the work himself.
Rima N.Google review
Excellent service and attention to detail. Tim was able to troubleshoot a number of mechanical issues with competence and creativity. Got everything working smoothly and efficiently. Tech options explained clearly. Highly recommended!
Julie G.Google review
Those are real, and they are quoted exactly as written — but they are still five we chose. Read them where they live — unedited, in whatever order Google puts them, including any we would rather you skipped.
400+ reviews is not a handful of friends. It is nine years of doors.
Opens Google · nothing to sign up for
Tenafly questions
My Tenafly house has a patio door where one handle locks several points at once. Can you service it?
Yes, and it is something of a speciality. That is a multipoint mechanism and it is genuinely different work: the gearbox runs the full height of the door edge and the cylinder is often a European profile rather than a standard American part. It can be a handle or thumb turn repair, or a full locking strip replacement, and the two are not close in cost. Send photographs of the door edge and the handle before anyone quotes. Most locksmiths default to replacing the whole door, and that is rarely necessary.
The locks in our older house are all different. Do they need replacing?
Usually not. Different keys does not mean incompatible hardware. If your key enters a cylinder but will not turn, that lock shares a keyway with the one you are holding and we can rekey it to match, original knobs and escutcheons untouched. Only the ones your key will not physically enter have to be swapped, and we key those new cylinders to everything else while we are there. On pre-war doors the existing mortise hardware is often better made than what would replace it.
We own a condominium here rather than a house. What can we actually change?
Your own unit cylinder, in almost every case. The common entry, the mail room and anything on a building master usually belong to the association, and changing a unit lock in a way that breaks the building's master key system is the one thing that will get you a letter. Ask the board first, then we rekey your cylinder to a key nobody else holds and leave the master function intact if the building relies on one. If a fob has gone missing, that is a management office job, not a locksmith one.
How much does it cost to rekey a house in Tenafly?
Up to six cylinders — the usual three-door house — is $695 as the Rekey & Secure package, which includes the mobile service charge, keying every door alike, five keys cut and tested on site, and every deadbolt checked. Beyond six cylinders it is $55 each with a working key.
Is there a minimum charge?
$250. That is the mobile service charge and it is the floor on any residential or commercial visit in Tenafly. Estimates by text, photo or video are free.
Do you charge extra after hours in Tenafly?
After 5 PM the mobile service charge is $350 and it is collected before a locksmith is dispatched. Everything else is priced the same. After-hours dispatch is subject to technician availability.
Can I book online rather than calling?
Yes, for everything except car keys and active lockouts. Answer three questions about your doors, see a real price, pick a time. Leaving the deposit online takes $25 off.
Are you licensed to work in Tenafly?
Yes. New Jersey Locksmith Business License Number 34LX00020300, bonded and insured through State Farm, and Google Guaranteed. The licence number appears at the bottom of every page of this site, on our invoices and on our trucks, as New Jersey requires.
How soon can you get to Tenafly?
Emergencies are usually within the hour. We run technicians across the coverage area rather than sending everything out from one place, so Tenafly is covered around the clock. We give a realistic arrival window on the phone rather than an optimistic one.
Also serving nearby
Cresskill, Englewood Cliffs, Demarest, Alpine, Closter, Bergenfield