Meet the Team - Novak Lock & Security Katy

Meet the Katy Team Behind Novak Lock & Security Katy

We’re the crew that shows up when you’re staring at a door that won’t budge, a lock that turns freely without engaging the bolt, or a key that sheared off inside a cylinder at 11 PM on a Sunday. Every one of us is background-checked, uniformed, and working to the same documented standard. What unites us is simple: we name the price before we touch a tool, we photograph what we found and what we did, and we stand behind it for 365 days.

Our People

Daniel Novak, Owner

I’ve been running this shop since 2002, and I’ve personally installed or serviced more locks than I can count - though our records say we’re past 60,000 across the ten brands under The Haven Standard. I started Novak Lock & Security after watching a competitor quote my neighbor one price on the phone and triple it on the doorstep. That day I wrote what became Haven Standard Clause 1: the price on the phone is the price on the invoice, no exceptions. I’m factory-authorized on Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, Abloy, Baldwin, and Schlage, and I still take the after-hours calls myself when the queue backs up. My desk is cluttered with old lock cylinders I’ve kept as teaching tools - the first one, a Kwikset I rekeyed backwards in 2002, still sits in the top drawer to remind me that a deadbolt installed backwards technically locks, but only from the wrong side.

Marcus T., Lead Technician

Marcus has been with us eight years and handles the calls nobody else wants: high-security retrofits in Cinco Ranch, master key systems for Katy ISD adjacent properties, and the occasional safe lockout where the combination was written on a sticky note inside the safe. He’s certified in Mul-T-Lock’s Interactive+ system and Abloy Protec2, and he’s the one we send when a customer needs to know exactly why their existing Grade 2 commercial lever failed an inspection. Off the clock, Marcus restores vintage motorcycles and applies the same patience to a 1973 Honda carburetor that he does to a seized mortise cylinder. He keeps a borescope in his personal toolkit - not company issue - because he likes seeing inside walls before we cut.

Elena R., Senior Installer

Elena runs our new construction and commercial tenant improvement work across Katy, from the business parks near I-10 and Mason Road to the retail strips along Westheimer Parkway. She’s installed everything from basic entry sets in spec homes to full access control systems with HID readers and electrified strikes for medical offices. Her specialty is door prep: when a frame is out of square or a hollow metal door has been core-drilled wrong, Elena can read the gap and shim a strike plate so the latch engages clean every time. She came to us from a commercial door hardware supplier, so she speaks the vocabulary of ANSI grades, BHMA finishes, and fire-rated assemblies without translating. She grows tomatoes in raised beds behind her house in Old Katy and brings the extras to the shop in summer, which means August around here smells like ripe Cherokee Purples and cutting oil.

James K., Service Coordinator

James answers the phones. Not a machine, not a callback queue - James, or one of the two other live people who rotate shifts with him. He’s been doing it since 2019 and knows the difference between a customer who needs a rekey scheduled for Thursday and one who is locked out of their house with a dog inside and a stove on. He quotes prices from our flat-rate book, explains what’s included, and confirms the technician’s name and ETA before hanging up. James tracks every call in our dispatch system and flags patterns - three rekey requests in the same Katy subdivision usually means a realtor changed management companies. He fishes the lakes around Katy on weekends and will ask you about your boat if you mention living near Barker Reservoir.

Darnell W., Apprentice Technician

Darnell joined us in 2023 after six years as an HVAC installer, which means he’s comfortable in attics, crawl spaces, and the 105-degree garage that every Katy August delivers. He’s working through our internal certification track: basic rekeying and key duplication, then residential lock installation, then commercial hardware, then high-security cylinders. Right now he handles most of our residential rekeys in the Katy area and shadowed Elena for three months on commercial preps before we let him drill his first hollow metal door. Darnell asks more questions than anyone on the team, which is exactly what we want. He lives in a 1978 ranch house in Memorial Parkway that he’s renovating himself, and he called us for a rekey before he ever applied for the job - that’s how we knew he understood the customer side.

One Standard, Every Job

We’re independently owned and operated here in Katy, but we work under The Haven Standard, the same documented quality framework that governs all ten Haven brands. That means Haven Standard Clause 1 applies to every call we take: the price you hear from James or Marcus on the phone is the price on your invoice, and the technician is not permitted to change it. It means every visit produces a documented photo record, left with you at completion, showing what we found and what we did. It means our 365-Day Done Right Promise covers every lock installation, rekey, and emergency call - if it’s not right, we make it right. And it means every technician who enters your home or business in Katy has passed a background check, wears a uniform with a name badge, and carries a photo ID you can verify. We don’t think of these as selling points. They’re the baseline for being allowed to work under this name.

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