Every hardware aisle now offers you a small computer for your door. Sometimes that’s exactly right, and sometimes a $40 deadbolt is the smarter buy. Having installed plenty of both across Orlando — homes, rentals, and the occasional door that fought back — here’s the honest decision guide.
What do they cost, installed?
Smart lock setup starts at $129 flat — mounted, app-paired, codes set, auto-lock configured, and tested against your door’s real-world alignment. A classic lock and deadbolt install runs from $109. Either way the price is agreed before we touch the door.
When the smart lock wins
- You host guests. Per-stay codes that expire at checkout, cleaner codes with timestamps, zero key anxiety. For short-term rentals this isn’t a gadget; it’s the front desk. (It’s first on our rental setup punch list.)
- Kids, dog-walkers, and in-laws. Codes beat hidden rocks and copied keys, and you can see who came home when.
- You lock yourself out on a schedule. You know who you are.
When old-school wins
- Doors nobody manages. A smart lock is a subscription to battery awareness. On a side door nobody thinks about, dead batteries turn “smart” into “locked out.”
- Weak Wi-Fi at the door. Remote features live and die by signal. (Mesh nodes fix this — worth checking before, not after.)
- Pure simplicity budgets. A quality mechanical deadbolt, properly installed with long strike screws, is superb security per dollar and needs attention roughly never.
The Florida asterisks
Two local realities. First, humidity eats batteries — plan on swaps every 6–9 months, and pick locks with low-battery warnings you’ll actually see. Second — and this is the big one — a binding bolt is the #1 smart-lock killer. Florida’s door-swelling season makes the motor grind against a misaligned strike, draining batteries and throwing errors. If the bolt doesn’t glide with the door closed, fix the alignment first ($99 as a door adjustment) and the lock will behave forever after.
The bottom line
Rentals and busy families: smart lock, no hesitation. Quiet doors and simple lives: a well-fitted deadbolt is honest hardware. Either one is a sub-$150 single-visit job — and doing the door adjustment, the lock, and the wobbly handle set together is how you get your money’s worth out of the trip.