What We Get Called Out For
In rough order of how often the phone rings for each one.
◆ Homes, apartments and shops ✓ No call-out fee quoted separately ☎ Any hour, any day
Twenty-One Years of Answering the Phone at 3am
Rowntree has run a genuine round-the-clock rota since 2005, which is rarer than the adverts suggest. Plenty of listings that say 24 hours are answering services that page a subcontractor and add a margin — which is why the price moves once someone arrives. Ours is four locksmiths who live in the city, take the overnight phone in turn, and quote the job themselves. That is also why we can tell you a real arrival time instead of a window: the person you are speaking to is often the person getting in the van.
Four Things We Say Before We Drive
If a locksmith will not give you these on the phone, keep calling.
A Price, Not A Range
You get the number for the job before we set off. It does not change when we see the door.
A Real Arrival Time
Not a four-hour window. If we are going to be late, you get a call, not silence.
The Name Of Who Is Coming
You will be told which of us is on the way, and we carry ID and the licence number.
Proof We Are Licensed
OH Lic #LS-7724, insured, and happy to show both at the door before starting.
From Your Call to an Open Door
Four steps, and the first one is a person rather than a menu.
A Person Answers
Any hour. Tell us the address, the type of door and whether anyone is shut inside — that decides how fast we move.
You Get The Price
We quote the job on that call from what you have described. Nothing is added later for the hour or the day.
We Come To You
Typically inside thirty minutes across the city. You get told who is driving and when to expect them.
Opened, Not Drilled
The overwhelming majority of doors open without damage. If a lock genuinely has to be destroyed, we tell you first.
Call and Someone Will Pick Up
If a child or a pet is locked inside, say so first and we will treat it as an emergency and stay on the line with you.
A Credit Card Costs More Than the Call-Out
Almost every expensive lockout we attend started as a cheap one. A card slipped at a latch chews the frame and the strike; a screwdriver in a uPVC door twists the multipoint mechanism so the whole mechanism has to be replaced; a shoulder against a fire door can split the frame and turn a lock job into a carpentry job. The call-out is genuinely cheaper than any of those repairs. If you have already tried and made it worse, say so when you call — it changes what we bring, and nobody here is going to lecture you about it.
Most Doors in Cleveland, Most Nights
Old housing stock and new builds need very different tools, and the van carries both.
Older Homes
Mortice locks, rim cylinders and warped hardwood doors on the century homes across Tremont and Ohio City.
Apartments & Walk-Ups
Communal entries, letterbox-proof latches and landlord-managed cylinders, with proof of residency checked.
Shops & Units
Roller shutters, storefront deadlatches and aluminum frames, including out-of-hours so trading is not lost.
After A Break-In
Boarding and making safe the same night, with a permanent repair booked as soon as it is light.
What Is In The Number We Quote
There is no separate line for the hour, the day, or the fact that it is snowing.
The Call-Out Itself
Coming to you at whatever hour it is, quoted the same at 3am on a Sunday as at 3pm on a Tuesday.
Opening The Door
Non-destructive entry wherever the lock allows it, which is the overwhelming majority of the time.
Any Lock We Have To Replace
If a cylinder genuinely cannot be opened, the replacement is quoted before we touch it — never after.
Making It Lock Again
We do not leave a door that opens but no longer secures. If it cannot be made safe tonight, we board it.
Where Thirty Minutes Is Realistic
We cover the city and the inner-ring suburbs, and we would rather be honest about the edges than promise everywhere. Ohio City, Tremont, Detroit Shoreway, Downtown, University Circle, Lakewood and Shaker Heights are typically inside thirty minutes at any hour. Out toward the further eastern and western suburbs it is closer to forty-five, and overnight in bad weather it can be longer — you will be told which of those applies to your address on the call, before you decide whether to wait for us or ring someone closer.
People We Let Back In
Front door slammed behind me at eleven at night with my dog inside and my phone at two percent. Someone picked up on the second ring, gave me a price before hanging up, and a van was on Fulton Road in about twenty-five minutes. He opened it without a scratch on the door.
Key snapped off in the deadbolt of our shop on a Sunday. I assumed we'd be drilling it out and buying a new lock. He extracted the broken half, cut a fresh key from what was left, and the original lock is still on the door two years later.
After the break-in the frame was split and the door wouldn't shut, let alone lock. They boarded and secured it that night so we could sleep, came back Monday to fit a proper reinforced strike, and dealt directly with our insurer's paperwork.
Common Questions
Does it cost more at night or on a Sunday?
No. The number we quote on the phone is the same whatever the hour or the day, and it is the number on the invoice. We priced it that way deliberately, because the classic complaint about emergency locksmiths is a reasonable-sounding quote that grows an out-of-hours surcharge, a call-out fee and a 'complex lock' premium once someone is standing at your door. There is one number and it is agreed before we drive.
What if you can't get in?
Then you do not pay for the opening. In practice it is very rare — the doors that defeat non-destructive entry are usually high-security cylinders where the honest answer is a replacement rather than a pick, and we will have told you that on the phone from the make you describe. If we do have to drill, the replacement lock is quoted and agreed before anything is destroyed.
How fast can you actually be here?
Inside the city and the inner-ring suburbs, typically thirty minutes at any hour. Further out it is realistically forty-five, and overnight in snow it can be longer. Whoever answers will tell you the honest number for your address rather than a flat marketing claim — and if we think someone closer would be faster, we will say so.
My child is locked in the car or the house.
Say that in the first sentence and it changes everything. That is treated as an emergency, we move immediately, and we will stay on the phone with you while a van is dispatched. If it is hot, cold, or the child is distressed, call the fire service first and us second — they are closer and free, and we would far rather arrive to find you did not need us.
Will you have to drill my lock?
Usually not. Most residential locks open non-destructively with picks and bypass tools, and that is always what we try first because it is faster and cheaper for both of us. Drilling is a last resort for locks that are anti-pick by design, already broken inside, or damaged by an earlier attempt to force them. Either way you hear it from us before it happens, with the cost of the replacement lock attached.
The door was forced in a break-in. Can you secure it tonight?
Yes, and that is one of the calls we most want to get. We can make a forced door safe the same night — boarding, a temporary lock, or a new cylinder and strike if the frame survived — so the property is secure while you sleep. The permanent repair is then booked for daylight, and we can write up what was damaged and what was fitted for an insurance claim.
Call, or Leave the Details
If you are locked out right now, phone us — it is always faster. The form is for lock work you can plan.