Meet the Team - Novak Lock & Security Los Angeles

Meet the Los Angeles Team Behind Novak Lock & Security Los Angeles

We’re the crew that shows up when your key snaps off in a Baldwin deadbolt at 11 p.m. or when your storefront’s access control panel decides Tuesday is the day to forget every credential. Every technician on this page is background-checked, uniformed, and working to the same documented standard. What unites us isn’t a slogan. It’s the procedure: written price before we start, photo record when we leave, and Haven Standard Clause 1 - the price on the phone is the price on the invoice.

Our People

Daniel Novak, Owner

I started this shop in 2002 after watching one too many customers get quoted one price on the phone and handed another on the doorstep. My background is in commercial master-key systems and high-security cylinders, the kind Medeco and Mul-T-Lock build to resist picking, bumping, and unauthorized key duplication. I still take field calls when we’re stacked deep, mostly because I like seeing the actual condition of the hardware - a Grade 2 Schlage that’s been rekeyed four times by four different guys tells a story if you know how to read the wear marks. I sign every written scope personally, and I keep a drawer of failed lock components in the shop as a reference library. Some people collect stamps. I collect evidence of what happens when corners get cut.

Marcus T., Lead Technician

Marcus has been with us since 2014, which in Los Angeles locksmith years makes him practically furniture. His specialty is emergency entry and damage-free bypass techniques - the kind of work that separates a technician from a guy with a drill. He’s factory-authorized on Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, and Abloy, and he’s the person we send when a property manager in Koreatown calls about a tenant lockout in a building with $400 cylinders. Marcus carries a borescope in his kit and uses it to inspect shear lines before he touches a tool. Off the clock, he restores vintage motorcycles and applies the same patience to a 1974 Honda carburetor that he does to a stuck mortise lock. He once spent forty minutes on a Sunday evening freeing a broken key from a Baldwin entry set because the customer had a newborn inside and he didn’t want to replace the whole hardware if he didn’t have to.

Elena R., Senior Installer

Elena runs our commercial and access control installations - card readers, electrified strikes, mag locks, the full spectrum from basic HID Prox to cloud-managed systems. She came to us from the low-voltage side of the trade in 2019, which means she thinks about wire runs and power drops before she thinks about the lock itself. That’s exactly the mindset you want when you’re installing a door loop on a high-traffic Hollywood production office. Elena is particularly sharp on ADA-compliant hardware and California Building Code requirements for egress, which saves our commercial customers from expensive corrections during final inspection. She speaks Spanish with customers who prefer it, and she keeps a running list of every job site where she’s found a mag lock installed without a proper request-to-exit device. The list is longer than it should be. In her spare time, she volunteers with a community tool library in Echo Park and teaches basic home maintenance classes.

James K., Service Coordinator

James answers the phones. That sounds simple until you realize he’s the person who takes your call at 2 a.m. when you’re locked out of your Silver Lake bungalow, figures out what you’ve actually got on your door, quotes a firm price that the technician cannot change, and dispatches the right person with the right parts. He’s been doing this since 2017 and he’s heard every variation of “I think it’s a Schlage, maybe?” James maintains our scheduling board, our parts inventory alerts, and our direct line to Medeco and Mul-T-Lock factory support. He’s also the person who follows up after every job to make sure the photo record was delivered and the invoice matches the quoted price. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley, knows the difference between a 1960s LA tract home deadbolt and a modern smart lock retrofit, and can estimate drive time from our dispatch point to any neighborhood in the city within two minutes. He drinks too much coffee and has strong opinions about Los Angeles traffic patterns, both of which serve him well.

Tariq H., Apprentice Technician

Tariq joined us in 2023 after completing a locksmith certification program and deciding he wanted to learn the trade properly rather than fast. He’s currently rotating through all service lines - residential rekey, commercial installation, emergency response - under direct supervision from Marcus and Elena. His current focus is key origination by code and impressioning, the old-school technique of making a working key from a blank by reading the wear marks in a lock cylinder. It’s slow, finicky work, and Tariq puts in the hours after formal training to practice on our shop locks. He grew up in Inglewood and already knows which apartment complexes in his neighborhood have Kwikset SmartKey cylinders that fail in predictable ways after rekeying. He asks good questions. He takes notes. We’re keeping him.

One Standard, Every Job

Every person on this page works under The Haven Standard, the same documented quality framework applied across all ten Haven brands. That means Haven Standard Clause 1: the price on the phone is the price on the invoice. It means a written scope before any work starts, a documented photo record left with you at completion, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise on every lock installation, rekey, or emergency call. We’ve installed or serviced over 60,000 locks, keys, and systems since 2002, and every one of them has a record. Not because it’s impressive, but because it’s verifiable. We’re independently owned and operated here in Los Angeles, not a franchise, and we answer our own phones with live people 24 hours a day. If you need a second opinion on a competitor’s written estimate, bring it in. We’ll review it at no charge. That’s not a promotion. It’s just how we work.

Written by Daniel Novak, Owner at Novak Lock & Security Los Angeles, serving Los Angeles since 2002.