The Call From Diana
Diana rang us on a Tuesday morning, sounding like someone who’d already had a long week. She managed a three-story commercial building on Van Nuys Blvd, just south of Sherman Way — one of those older mixed-use properties with a dental office on the ground floor, a coworking space on the second, and a small law firm taking up the entire third floor.
“I’ve got 14 keys floating around and I have no idea who has what anymore,” she told us. One of the coworking tenants had lost a key the previous Friday. The law firm upstairs was furious because someone had propped open the stairwell door over the weekend. And Diana was spending half her mornings just letting people into rooms they should already have access to.
She needed a — she just didn’t know that’s what it was called yet.
The Walk-Through
We sent Carlos out that same afternoon. He’s been doing commercial locksmith work for over eight years, and these multi-tenant buildings are his bread and butter. He pulled up to the property around 2 PM, found parking on a side street off Sylvan (parking on Van Nuys Blvd during the day is its own kind of adventure), and met Diana in the lobby.
The building had 23 doors total. Main entrance, rear exit, three stairwell doors, a shared restroom on each floor, individual suite doors, and several interior office doors within the law firm. The existing hardware was a mix of Schlage and Kwikset — some of it original to the building, some swapped out by previous tenants who’d brought their own knobs. A real patchwork situation.
Carlos walked every floor with Diana, documented each door, and asked the important questions: Who needs access where? Who should be restricted? Does the cleaning crew come after hours? Does the dental office need weekend access?
The answers shaped the whole system design.
Designing the Access Levels
A master key system Van Nuys property managers love is one where the hierarchy makes sense on paper and in daily practice. Here’s what Carlos mapped out for Diana’s building:
Grand Master Level — Diana Only
One key opens every single door in the building. Diana carries this. If a tenant locks themselves out, if the fire department needs access, if a pipe bursts at 3 AM — Diana’s key handles it all.
Master Level — Floor Access
Each floor got its own master key. The dental practice manager got a key that opens every door on the ground floor plus the main entrance and rear exit. Same setup for floor two and three. The law firm’s office manager could access all third-floor rooms, the stairwell, and the main entrance — but couldn’t get into the dental suite or the coworking space.
Individual Tenant Keys
Coworking members each got a key that opened the main entrance, the second-floor stairwell door, and the coworking suite — nothing else. The law firm’s associates got keys to the main entrance, third-floor stairwell, and their individual offices, but not the firm’s file room. Only the partners had file room access.
Restricted Keys — Cleaning Crew
The after-hours cleaning company got keys that opened common areas and restrooms on all floors but couldn’t access any individual suite. Diana had dealt with a theft concern the previous year, so this was a big deal for her.
The Install
Carlos came back Thursday with a helper and all the hardware. They re-keyed the entire building to Schlage B-series deadbolts and AL-series lever locks — commercial grade, all keyed to the master system. Took most of the day. The tricky part was the rear exit, which Diana also wanted fitted with a to meet fire code. Carlos handled that the same visit.
By 5 PM, Diana had a binder with the key chart, a list of every cut, and 30 labeled keys in envelopes for each tenant and employee. She also had a control key — meaning no one can duplicate the keys at a hardware store without her authorization.
What Changed After
Diana called us about three weeks later. Not with a problem — just to say thanks. The law firm had stopped complaining. The coworking tenants actually felt more secure knowing their keys couldn’t open areas they didn’t belong in. And Diana had stopped being a full-time door-opener.
“I didn’t realize how much time I was wasting on key stuff until it just stopped,” she said.
That’s the thing about a good master key system — Van Nuys building owners and managers don’t notice it working. They just notice the problems disappearing.
A Few Things We’ve Learned From Jobs Like This
Audit your keys once a year. Tenants leave, employees get fired, keys don’t come back. A quick annual re-assessment keeps the system tight.
Restricted keyways matter. If anyone can walk into a hardware store and copy your master key, your whole system is compromised. Always go with restricted or patented keyways.
Plan for growth. Carlos built extra capacity into Diana’s system so she can add new tenants or subdivide suites without re-keying the whole building. Good system design thinks two years ahead.
Document everything. Key charts, who received which key, serial numbers. It sounds tedious, but it saves you when a key goes missing and you need to know exactly what doors are at risk.
If you’re managing a commercial property and your key situation is getting out of hand, our team handles Van Nuys locksmith services like this regularly. Give us a call at (818) 398-9391 and we’ll walk through your building the same way Carlos did for Diana — no pressure, just a clear plan that actually works.
