Service 02 of 6 · per cylinder
Same-day cylinder rekey service, and the hardware never comes off the door.
A rekey changes what key opens the lock without changing the lock itself. Old keys stop working. One new key works everywhere it's cut for, and the deadbolt or knob-set stays exactly where it was.
Price basis: per cylinder
Rekey against replace
The lock rekey cost question, answered straight.
Every pin-tumbler cylinder holds a stack of pins cut to a specific combination. Rekeying pulls that cylinder and drops in a fresh set of pins cut to a new combination. The cylinder goes back into the same housing, on the same deadbolt or knob-set already mounted on your door. The finish and the strike plate stay put. So does the throw of the bolt. What changes is which key turns it.
Replacing swaps the whole unit: cylinder, housing, faceplate, sometimes the strike plate too if the new unit doesn't match the old bore pattern. That's the right call when the hardware itself is worn out, corroded, or you want a different finish or brand on the door. It is not the right call just because you lost a key or moved into a house with keys you don't trust, and replacement pays us more than a rekey does. We say that on this page anyway, because a straight answer here is worth more to us than the extra line item.
What changes on the hardware, and what doesn't
The pin stack and the springs behind it change, along with the key that fits — that's the whole list. The bolt mechanism, the strike plate, the exterior trim and the mounting screws are untouched. A rekeyed deadbolt looks and operates identically to how it did before; the only difference is the metal cut into the new key.
When a rekey is the right call, and when it isn't.
Rekey fits when
- You moved in and don't know who else holds a key to the existing lock
- Keys were lost or a set walked off with a departing tenant or contractor
- The hardware itself is sound — smooth bolt, tight mounting, no corrosion in the housing
- You want every door in the house keyed to one key, without buying new locks
Replacement fits when
- The cylinder is seized, corroded, or the bolt binds regardless of the key
- You're changing finish or brand for appearance, not just the key
- The cylinder is a bump-vulnerable low-security model and you want a rated upgrade
- The door needs a lock and hardware swap anyway — see that page instead
Five pins, one afternoon, no drama.
A standard residential cylinder holds five or six pin pairs stacked in individual chambers. We pull the plug, read the old cuts, pick a fresh pin depth for each chamber against your new key, and reseat the springs one at a time with tweezers, not a mallet. Get one pin depth wrong and the key either won't turn or the lock won't hold — that's why it's bench work, not doorstep work, even though we do it on-site.
Most single-cylinder deadbolts take fifteen to twenty-five minutes on the bench once the cylinder is out. A full house — front, back, side door, matched to one key — usually runs under two hours because the pin-depth chart only needs building once and every cylinder after the first goes faster.
How the visit runs.
-
Pull and inspect
The cylinder comes out of the housing on the door. If the housing itself is damaged or corroded, we say so before going further — that's a swap, not a rekey.
-
Read the old combination
We record the existing pin depths so we know exactly what's changing and can put the lock back to its old combination later if you ever need that.
-
Cut the new key first
The new key gets cut before the pins are chosen, so the pin depths are set to match a key that already exists rather than the other way around.
-
Rebuild the cylinder
New pins and springs go in chamber by chamber, the plug is reseated, and the cylinder goes back into the same housing on the door.
-
Test and log
The new key gets tested from both sides of the door, the old key is confirmed dead, and the job is stamped and logged the same as every other one.
| Detail | What applies |
|---|---|
| Price basis | Per cylinder |
| Typical time | 15–25 minutes per cylinder once the housing is open |
| Hardware touched | None — pins and springs only, inside the existing housing |
| Required to start | Access to the cylinder and at least one working key or a locksmith opening first |
| Not offered | Rekeying a housing that's cracked, corroded or bump-vulnerable — that's a hardware swap |
Ask before you replace anything.
Tell us how many cylinders and whether you want them matched to one key.
Next: when the hardware itself needs to go
Lock & Hardware Swap