Service 01 of 6 · per key, cut on-site
A duplicate house key, cut and tested in ten minutes or under.
Bring the original or a working spare and we cut against it directly on the bench, on a standard household blank, while you wait. No mail-in, no next-day pickup for the ordinary case.
Price basis: per key, cut on-site
Blanks, turnaround, price
What ten minutes actually buys.
Most household hardware in Austin runs on a small set of pin-tumbler keyways — KW1 and KW10 on a lot of entry doors, SC1 and SC4 on Schlage-pattern hardware, WR5 on some older builds, plus the smaller blanks used on mailboxes and cabinet cam locks. We stock all of those on the pegboard and cut against your original or a working spare, not a code card, so there's nothing to look up and nothing to wait on.
Ten minutes or under is the number for one key on a standard blank in average condition. Add a second or third key from the same original and each one after the first runs a few minutes more, since the machine is already set up and the guide is already tracking the original. A worn or double-sided original sometimes needs a light file pass after cutting to seat cleanly, which we do on the spot before we call it finished.
We test every cut key in the lock it's going into before you pay for it. A key that turns on the bench but binds in the actual door isn't done, and we don't charge for one that isn't done.
Duplicate house keys, and what "duplicate" does not mean
Cutting a duplicate copies the bitting of the original onto a fresh blank of the same profile. It doesn't change what the lock accepts, and it doesn't add a key to a system that's supposed to be restricted. It also won't work from a photograph or a description of the cuts — we need the physical key or a key that already opens the lock in your hand.
Handled at the bench, and turned back at the door.
What we cut
- Standard household entry and interior door keys, KW and SC keyway families
- Mailbox and cluster-box keys where a working original is present
- Cabinet, desk and furniture cam-lock keys, small brass blanks
- Garden gate padlock keys on common brands stocked on the wall
- Small safe and cash-box keys, where the safe itself is one we already service
What we turn down
- Car keys and transponder or chip keys of any kind — that work needs dealer or automotive programming equipment we don't run
- Restricted or high-security keyways that require a signed factory authorization card
- Fleet or multi-site commercial orders — volume work outside a single household
- Cutting from a photo, a written code, or a description with no key or lock in hand
How the visit runs.
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Bring the original
A working key, any condition, is enough. If nobody has one, bring the lock itself off the door or drawer and we work from that instead.
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We match the blank
The keyway on your original tells us which blank family to pull. If it's an unusual profile we don't stock, we say so before we start rather than force a near-fit blank into the cylinder.
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Cut and deburr
The machine traces the original against the new blank, then we clean the cut edges by hand so the key doesn't chew up the pins on its first turn.
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Test in the lock
Every new key goes into the lock it's meant for, or a matching test cylinder on the bench if the lock isn't with us. It has to turn clean, not just fit.
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Stamp and log
The job gets logged and the invoice carries the same mark as the bench — nothing leaves without both.
| Detail | What applies |
|---|---|
| Price basis | Per key, cut on-site |
| Typical turnaround | Ten minutes or under for one key on a standard blank |
| Blanks stocked | KW1, KW10, SC1, SC4, WR5, mailbox and cabinet cam profiles |
| Required to start | A working original key, or the lock itself |
| Not offered | Car and transponder keys, restricted keyways, fleet orders, code-only cutting |
Bring a key or a lock.
Tell us how many keys you need and we'll have the right blanks pulled before you get here.
Next: when a key isn't the fix
Cylinder Rekey