Redwood City neighborhood · 24/7
Emerald Hills locksmith work above the city, where the gate is a hundred yards from the door and the garage is a separate building
The unincorporated hillside above Farm Hill Blvd and Edgewood Rd, up toward Cañada College: winding roads, driveway gates on keypads and swing arms, long drives, detached garages, houses with more doors than the owner has counted, and the longest arrival on the map.
4.9 / 5· 231 reviews from Redwood City & the towns beside it
27 min
Avg. arrival
$89
Service call
24/7
Availability
Twenty-seven minutes is the honest number for Emerald Hills and it is not padded. The roads up from Farm Hill Blvd and Jefferson Ave wind, there is no straight line to anything, and the last quarter mile is often a private lane. The gate is the first lock the technician meets. Swing gates and slide gates on this hill run on keypads, remotes and a battery backup that was last checked when the gate was installed; when the power is off or the operator has failed, there is a manual release behind a small cylinder, and that cylinder is a lock like any other. Say on the call whether the gate is open, whether you can meet the van there, or whether the release needs to be worked first.
The houses are 1950s to 1990s and they sprawl: a front door, a mudroom door, a set of French doors onto the deck, a pool house, a detached garage with a side door, and two side gates. A lockout is $119 to $205, and on this hill the technician asks which door you usually use, because the front door is often not it. A whole-property rekey after a purchase is $25 to $41 per cylinder and the count is taken on the call so that one figure covers the lot. Replacement where a door has been on the same worn hardware for forty years is $115 to $309 per door. Safes are common in these houses and open at $179 to $505. Smart locks at $175 to $449 are asked for by owners who want codes for a housekeeper, a gardener and the pool service rather than keys in a drawer.
Parking is not the issue; the driveway is. The van comes up the drive if it can turn round at the top, and stops at the gate if it cannot, with the case carried the rest of the way. Cell reception between the trees is patchy, so the text with the technician's name and the thirty-minute window is sent before the van leaves the flat part of town, and the technician calls from the gate rather than from the road. This is county land rather than city, which changes nothing about the visit and everything about who to call for the road. Evening adds $50 from 8pm and overnight $85 from midnight, inside the figure settled on the call.
Give the gate code or say that you will meet the van at the gate, and tell us how far the house is from it. Count the doors before you call, including the garage side door and the pool house. If the house number is not visible from the lane, describe the mailbox.
Nearby
Across the town line, the same van
FAQ
Asked about Emerald Hills
Twenty-seven minutes seems long for a hill inside the city. What makes it that?+
The roads. Everything above Farm Hill Blvd and Edgewood Rd winds, there is no straight run to any address, and the last stretch is often a private lane shared by several houses. Add a gate at the bottom and a driveway longer than a downtown block. The number is measured rather than rounded down.
The power is out and the driveway gate will not open. Can the van still reach the house?+
Usually. Swing and slide operators on this hill carry a manual release behind a small cylinder, and that cylinder is a lock like any other, so it is picked or keyed and the gate is pushed by hand. Say on the call whether the gate has power, whether a battery backup exists, and whether you can walk down to it.
How many doors should I count before calling about a rekey?+
All of them, including the ones nobody uses. Houses up here run to a front door, a mudroom, French doors onto a deck, a detached garage with a side door, a pool house and two side gates. Rekeying is $25 to $41 per cylinder, so the count taken on the call is what lets one figure cover the property.
Open 24 hours, 7 days
One call, one figure, settled before the van turns the key
Calls answered 24/7 for Redwood City and the towns beside it. One figure for the visit, the labor and the parts, with the $89 service call inside it, and a receipt that matches it line for line.