San Rafael neighborhood · 24/7
Lucas Valley locksmith service, up the valley of gated houses and ranches where the driveway is the longest part of the visit
The valley running west from 101 along Lucas Valley Rd: Eichlers at the lower end, then ranches and gated houses on large lots, driveway gates with a keypad and an intercom, detached garages, guest houses and barns, a cell signal that fades past the last streetlight, and the longest arrival in the city.
4.9 / 5· 228 reviews from San Rafael & the Marin towns beside it
26 min
Avg. arrival
$89
Service call
24/7
Availability
Twenty-six minutes is the honest number and it is the longest on the map. The van leaves 101, passes the Eichlers at the lower end, and follows the road up the valley to where the numbers on the gate posts are the only numbers there are. The figure does not change with the drive: a house lockout is $125 to $215 at the top of the valley as it is on Fourth Street, and the drive up the hill is inside it. The first question on the call is the gate. Nearly every driveway here closes with an operator and a keypad, sometimes an intercom to the house, and the person locked out of the house is often on the wrong side of the gate too, with the remote in the kitchen. The technician says on the call whether the operator can be released without damage and comes through the pedestrian gate on foot if it cannot.
The gate and the house are frequently on different keys and different lists. The gardener has the gate code and no house key. The house sitter has the house key and last year's code. The previous owner's code still works because the house was rekeyed at purchase and the keypad was not. Bringing them together is a rekey at $26 to $43 per cylinder, with the pedestrian gate latch on the house key, and a fresh code list at the keypad. The count on a Lucas Valley property runs long: house, guest house, detached garage, barn, pump house, pool gate. A smart lock at $185 to $469 goes on the door from the drive so a code can be issued and retired without a key going up and down the valley.
Power goes out here before it does in town, and a gate operator without a battery stays shut. The release key on the motor housing is the answer, and where it has never been seen the technician finds the release at the gate. Cell signal drops past the last streetlight, so the call from the gate may come from the house landline or from a text sent before the last bend. A van that cannot turn at the top of the drive stays at the bottom and the case is carried, which adds minutes and nothing to the figure. Evening calls carry $55 between 8pm and midnight and $90 overnight, named inside the figure on the call.
Give the gate code or say you will meet the technician at the gate, say how long the driveway is and whether a van can turn at the top, and say whether the number is on the gate post or nowhere. A light left on at the gate is worth more here than anywhere else in the city.
FAQ
What people ask about Lucas Valley
The gate code was changed by the last owner and the keypad is the only way in.+
Most keypads can be reset at the post once the master procedure for that model is run, and a fresh list of codes is left with you. Where the unit is old enough that the procedure is gone, the module is replaced instead. Read the make off the housing if you can: it decides which of the two the technician brings up the valley.
The power is out and the gate will not open. Is there anything to be done?+
Yes. A gate operator without power is released by hand from a key on the motor housing, and the gate swings freely afterwards. That is the first thing the technician looks for. If the release key has never been seen, it is found at the gate. Say on the call whether the pedestrian gate beside the drive is open.
There is no cell signal past the last streetlight. How will the technician reach me?+
By a text sent before the last bend, and by whatever number you name as reliable at the house. Say on the call which number that is, and whether the address is on the gate post or nowhere at all. A light left on at the gate does more here than any description of the driveway.
Open 24 hours, 7 days
One call, one full figure, the same figure on the receipt
Calls answered 24/7 across San Rafael and the Marin towns beside it. The $89 service call, the labor, the parts and the drive up the hill are inside the figure named on the call, and the receipt repeats it.