Meet the family behind Colorado Dependable Locksmith

Our founder's story — how a bad locksmith call started a good one

Our founder, Sarah, grew up in the Denver south metro and moved into Highlands Ranch as a young mom in the mid-2000s. In late 2010 she stepped out to grab the mail on a cold night, her front door swung shut behind her, and the deadbolt latched. Two young kids inside asleep. Phone still on the kitchen counter. A neighbor let her use their phone and pulled up the first "24-hour locksmith Highlands Ranch" ad in Google. The ad said "$19 lockouts, 15 minutes."

Ninety minutes later a beat-up unmarked van finally pulled up. The technician wouldn't give a written estimate, refused to try a bump key or a slim jim, and told her the only option was to drill the deadbolt out for $385 — cash preferred, card if she really had to. She paid. He drilled a perfectly good Kwikset in under 30 seconds. He left, no receipt, no lock replacement, no invoice, no business card. Later she learned the "local" number rang through to a dispatch center in New Jersey.

She spent the next few months looking into it. What she found was a well-documented pattern that the New York Times, ABC News, and the FTC have all written about — hundreds of "local" ads, most run by a handful of out-of-state dispatch networks, all engineered around bait-and-switch pricing. She also found the flip side: a small but stubborn community of independent locksmiths, mostly one- or two-person shops, quietly doing the work the right way. In April 2011, with a used van, a modest set of tools, and a Colorado Secretary of State registration (Entity ID 20221767620), Colorado Dependable Locksmith opened.

Why she started CDL — the promise that hasn't changed

The whole company was built around one rule: the price on the phone is the price on the invoice. No trip fee, no "diagnostic," no arrival surcharge, no weekend surge, no holiday multiplier, no midnight tax. If the phone quote is $89, the invoice is $89. If we find something on-site that changes the scope, we stop and requote before we touch a tool. If the requote is a "no thanks," there is no charge for the trip.

That rule sounds simple, and it is — but it forces every other decision in the company. It's why our technicians aren't commissioned on upsells. It's why we send a written quote by text before we dispatch. It's why we don't run pay-per-click campaigns on scam-heavy keywords. It's why the same family that answered the phone in 2011 still answers it in 2026.

Growing up here, raising kids here

Sarah's kids went to school in Douglas County. Her weekends are Daniels Park hikes, Highlands Heritage Park soccer games, farmers-market Saturdays at the Town Center, and enough visits to the C-470 Home Depot to know the parking lot by heart. Both of her older kids now work in the business summers — one on the phones, one shadowing service calls on the way to (fingers crossed) a locksmith apprenticeship of their own.

That neighborhood context matters more than it sounds like it should. When a call comes in from Backcountry, we know which HOA rekey policy applies. When it's Eastridge, we know which builder used which lock brand and which pins are commonly cross-keyed. When it's a car lockout at the King Soopers on Broadway, we know the shortcut behind the strip mall that shaves seven minutes off the drive. Fifteen years of the same service area builds a kind of muscle memory that a dispatch center in another state simply cannot replicate.

We are not the biggest locksmith serving Highlands Ranch. We are, as far as we can tell, the one that has been here the longest under the same ownership. That is the thing we're most proud of.

The flat-price guarantee — how it actually works

Every job starts with a phone call. On that call we ask enough questions to give you a flat, all-in price before we dispatch. That price includes:

• The trip to your address (Highlands Ranch, Centennial, Lone Tree, Castle Pines, Castle Rock, Parker, Littleton, Englewood, Greenwood Village, South Denver, Lakewood, Arvada, Westminster, or Ken Caryl)
• All labor to complete the scope you described
• All standard parts required for that scope (pins, springs, keys, cylinders where applicable)
• State and local sales tax
• The written invoice, emailed to you before the technician leaves

It does not include the following, and if they come up we stop and requote before continuing:

• Non-standard parts (a specific brand or finish you requested, or a high-security cylinder you're upgrading to)
• A different scope than what was described on the phone (e.g., you called for a lockout and now want the deadbolt rekeyed too)
• Damaged hardware discovered on arrival that the phone description couldn't have known about

If a requote is required, we tell you the new number before we do anything else. If you say no, we pack up and leave. There is no charge for the trip in that case. We can afford to do it that way because we're independent and small — we don't have a national marketing overhead to feed.

Meet the technicians

Every technician on our crew lives in the Denver south metro, drives a lettered vehicle, carries state ID, and shows a written quote at the door. Photos to be added; in the meantime here's a short intro to the three-person team.

Se habla Español · Women-Owned · 15 Years · Bonded & Insured

Four things we hear most on the phone before someone books:

• Se habla Español. Marco takes Spanish-language calls directly, and after hours our voicemail greeting is bilingual. Puede llamar o enviar un texto — respondemos las 24 horas.
• Women-owned. Independently operated by Sarah since day one. No franchise, no dispatch parent, no "as seen on" network affiliation. Under 8 percent of U.S. locksmiths are women-owned; we take that seriously.
• 15 years in Highlands Ranch. Same ownership, same address, same phone number since April 2011. The Colorado Secretary of State Entity ID is 20221767620 and it's public record.
• Bonded & insured. $2M general liability bond, $1M auto policy. Certificate of insurance available on request for HOA boards, property managers, and commercial accounts.

Community involvement

We do more than paid work in Highlands Ranch, and we're always looking to do more. Current commitments:

• HOA partnerships. We work directly with Highlands Ranch Community Association and several Backcountry, Eastridge, Northridge, and Westridge sub-associations on move-in / move-out rekey guidance for new homeowners. Discounted rekey packages are available through participating HOA partners. If your HOA would like to be added, have your board contact us — no fee, no exclusivity.
• Youth sports sponsorships. Rotating annual sponsorship of Douglas County youth soccer and Little League teams. Placeholder for logos and team photos as they roll in each spring.
• Free rekeys for domestic-violence survivors. In coordination with Douglas County victim-advocate services, we do a free same-day rekey for any survivor at a verifiable Douglas / Arapahoe County address. No police report required, no documentation, no questions.
• Senior discount. 25 percent off lockout and rekey service for residents over 65 in Highlands Ranch and adjacent communities. No paperwork — just mention it on the phone.
• December giveback. A portion of December revenue is donated each year to Douglas County Cares and local family-support nonprofits.

If you run a community group or nonprofit in the Highlands Ranch / Castle Pines / Castle Rock corridor and think there's a way we can help — call us. This is the part of the business we like the most.

A short 15-year timeline

• April 2011. Founded. First job: residential rekey in Eastridge.
• 2013. Coverage expands to Centennial, Lone Tree, and Castle Pines.
• 2015. Added automotive locksmith service — transponder programming for Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chevrolet.
• 2017. Authorized dealer for Schlage Encode, Yale Assure, and Mul-T-Lock high-security cylinders.
• 2019. 25 verified Google reviews, all 5-star. BBB A+ confirmed.
• 2020. Marco joins full-time; company becomes fully bilingual.
• 2021. Ten-year anniversary. Automotive service expanded to BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Tesla key-card replacement.
• 2023. Commercial portfolio service launches with net-30 invoicing for property managers.
• 2025. Service area covers 15 cities across the Denver south metro and (by appointment) Colorado Springs.
• 2026. Fifteen-year anniversary. 38+ verified Google reviews. 5-star average. Zero BBB complaints.

What customers say

5.0 out of 5 stars across 38 verified Google reviews, spanning 2014 through 2026. Common themes in the review text: response-time consistency, honest scope assessment, women-owner-on-site for residential work, no-surge after-hours pricing, and follow-up calls to make sure the fix held. Read the reviews yourself at our Google Business Profile — the link goes straight to Google, we don't curate or filter.

Coverage across the Denver south metro

From our shop at 2282 Terraridge Dr in Highlands Ranch, we dispatch across the south metro. Typical drive times:

• Highlands Ranch — 15 to 25 min
• Centennial — 25 to 35 min
• Lone Tree — 25 to 35 min
• Castle Pines — 25 to 35 min
• Castle Rock — 30 to 40 min
• Parker — 30 to 40 min
• Littleton — 30 to 40 min
• Englewood — 30 to 45 min
• Greenwood Village — 35 to 50 min
• South Denver — 35 to 55 min
• Ken Caryl — 35 to 50 min
• Lakewood — 45 to 60 min
• Arvada — 45 to 60 min
• Westminster — 45 to 60 min
• Colorado Springs — by appointment

Get in touch

The fastest way to reach us is still the phone: (720) 299-9964. Seven AM to midnight, seven days a week. A real person answers. English or Español. For commercial accounts, HOAs, and portfolio managers, please also see our landlord & property-manager page. For general questions, our contact page has a short form.