Cupertino neighborhood · 24/7
Inspiration Heights above the town: twenty-four minutes, private driveways of a few hundred feet, and hardware that lives outdoors all year
The foothill streets above Cupertino: houses set well back on climbing lots, private driveways that run a few hundred feet from the road, a gate at the road on some parcels, and views that come with the longest drive of any neighborhood on this map. Twenty-four minutes from the van.
~24 min
Avg. arrival
$89
Service call
24/7
Availability
Twenty-four minutes is the honest figure and it is said on the call, before you decide whether to wait for it. The distance is not the problem; the last stretch is. The roads narrow, they climb, they turn back on themselves, and then there is a driveway that a map counts as nothing and a van counts as a minute. Nothing about the price moves with any of that. The same published list applies up here, the $89 service call sits inside every figure exactly as it does twelve minutes down the hill, and if the drive runs long the number you were told is still the number on the receipt.
Weather is the honest complication with anything battery-powered on these lots. A door facing west takes full afternoon sun through the summer and cold nights in winter, and cells in a keypad lock in that position will not last what the packaging claims. That is worth knowing before choosing where a connected lock goes, not after the first time it dies. Two rules follow from it and they are both cheap. Keep a working keyway under any keypad, and have the mechanical key cut and pinned at the moment the lock is installed, not at some later date that never arrives.
The second thing the marketing does not mention is that the house network does not reach the gate at the road. Three hundred feet of driveway, a few trees and a stone wall between the router and the gate is enough to end the conversation, and a lock that needs to talk to the house will sit at that gate doing nothing useful. A gate that far out wants a standalone unit that holds its own codes, or a good mechanical cylinder and a key everybody actually carries. Which of the two suits your parcel is settled by looking at the parcel. Replacement hardware is $129 to $339, and outdoor positions are where paying once for the right finish beats paying twice.
The doors themselves move with the seasons more than they do down in the flat. A bolt that turns easily in August and fights in February is a leaf that has taken up moisture, not a lock that has failed, and it is planed and realigned rather than replaced. Beyond that the work is what a large old property produces: a house lockout at $135 to $245, repinning at $29 to $47 per cylinder across a count that usually runs higher than people expect once the gate and the outbuilding are added, and now and then a safe with a combination that left with a previous owner, opened at $205 to $549.
Say whether there is a gate at the road and whether it currently opens, because that decides whether the van drives up or the technician walks up. Give a landmark at the driveway mouth, mailbox, gatepost or the number on a rock, and if it is dark leave a light on somewhere at the top. Twenty-four minutes is the usual arrival and it is quoted before you commit to waiting.
Most requested in Inspiration Heights
Nearby
Over the hill, the same van
FAQ
Asked about Inspiration Heights
Twenty-four minutes is the longest run on your map. Is that firm?+
It is the honest average for these streets, matched only by Los Gatos at the far end of the coverage. The climb and the driveway account for more of it than the mileage does. You hear the figure before you decide to wait rather than discovering it while standing outside, and the quote does not change if the drive runs long on the night.
Can a connected lock go on the gate at the road?+
Only one that holds its own codes without needing the house network, because the house network will not reach that far through the trees and the wall. A unit that expects to talk to a router three hundred feet away will disappoint you in the first month. Either a standalone keypad rated for weather goes on the gate, or the gate keeps a good mechanical cylinder and everybody carries the key. You are told which fits your parcel after somebody looks at it.
The deadbolt turns fine in summer and sticks every winter.+
That is the door, not the lock. Wood takes up moisture in the wet months and the leaf grows enough to fight the frame and push the bolt out of line with its keeper. It is corrected by planing the edge and realigning the strike, which is a visit rather than a purchase. Replacing the lock would leave you with exactly the same problem in a new cylinder.
Open 24 hours, 7 days
Say the year the house was built, and the rest of the call is short
Cupertino and the west valley, every hour of the day. The age of the door decides the work and the work decides the figure, so the number comes back on the call with the $89 service call and the hour already inside it, and it is the number on the receipt. Ninety days on the labor, in writing.