Commercial Locksmith in Austin, TX

Old buildings on Sixth Street

The Sixth Street Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1975, runs about nine blocks between Lavaca Street and Interstate 35. Most of its two- and three-story masonry Victorian commercial blocks were already standing by the 1880s; the Driskill Hotel goes back to 1886 and the Scarbrough Building to 1910.

Doors in buildings that old come in mixed types. A newer storefront door may sit in a much older opening, and an aluminum-and-glass door usually takes a narrow-stile deadbolt and cylinder set into a thin frame. An upper floor can have its own street entrance keyed apart from the business below, so decide who holds keys to that door and whether it should share a key with the shop.

East Sixth Street is also where South by Southwest and the Pecan Street Festival take place. If extra staff are handed keys for event weeks, write down who has which key, then collect them or rekey afterward.

Towers in West Campus

The University Neighborhood Overlay, introduced in 2004, opened West Campus to high-rises. A tower's property manager may run two systems side by side: ordinary cylinder keys for doors, and a building fob system for the lobby, garage and elevator, each with its own record of who holds what. A master key system or interchangeable cores can turn a move-out into a core swap instead of a separate job for every door.

Key control when staff change

• Keep a written log of every key and fob, who holds it and what it opens.
• Rekey or change cores when a manager or other keyholder leaves.
• Consider a restricted keyway so copies cannot be cut on blanks sold at a hardware store.
• For a leased storefront, read the lease and ask the landlord before changing cylinders.

Describing a commercial job

List the cross streets, the door types involved (glass storefront, steel rear door, upper-floor street door), the number of locks, and whether you want a master key system.

Commercial locksmith explains the service, and lock rekeying covers turnover work. For the city, see Austin.