Lock Rekeying in San Mateo
Same hardware, new pins, old keys retired, $24 to $40 per cylinder with the $89 visit inside the total.
$24–$40 per cylinder
Typical price
23 min
Avg. arrival
24/7
Availability
Rekeying is the answer when the locks are sound and a key is loose somewhere. San Mateo produces that condition all year. A Baywood house changes hands after forty years and the buyer has no idea how many gardeners and contractors hold a copy. A Bay Meadows townhome turns over between two corporate leases inside a month. A North Central duplex comes back to the family after a decade of tenants. Hillsdale Lock & Key repins the cylinders already on your doors, so the old keys stop turning and nothing on the door looks different.
The work is done on a bench in the van. The cylinder comes off the door, the plug is pushed out with a follower, the old pin stacks are tipped into a tray, and new stacks are loaded to a fresh key. Builder-grade Kwikset and Schlage on the newer buildings take a few minutes each. The original mortise cylinders in Aragon and San Mateo Park can be repinned too, as long as the plug still turns cleanly; if it does not, you hear that before anything is done. Mailbox locks are different: most are supplied with fixed keys and cannot be repinned, so they are swapped. Keys are cut on site, and every old key is tried in every repinned lock while you watch.
Rekeying is written at $24 to $40 per cylinder. A house with four cylinders comes to $96 to $160. A one-bedroom with a deadbolt and a knob is $48 to $80. The $89 service call is inside the total. Two cylinders at $24 is $48, which sits under the service call, so that visit is written as $89 and nothing more. Cylinders in different keyways that cannot share one key are named on the call, with the cost of swapping the odd one written under lock replacement.
Describe the doors: how many, or send a photo of each lock face. It is written down: the per-cylinder figure and the total go on the work order on the same call. The van pulls out: the name and the window come by text first. The receipt matches: the count is checked, the cylinders are pinned, keys are cut, old and new keys are tried on every door, card or tap is taken. Property managers get a receipt listing each unit and each door, which is what a turnover file needs.
“Our 1928 Spanish-revival house has the original mortise lock and the front door swung shut with my keys on the hall table. $138 written down on the call. The text with the technician's name came before I had finished walking to the neighbor's porch, and the van was outside in twenty-three minutes. He picked the mortise cylinder without a mark on the brass and the card was charged $138.”
Every job is priced from the list below. The figure is written down on the call, before the van pulls out, and the receipt matches it line for line.
- Daytime (7am–8pm)standard rates
- Evening (8pm–12am)+$45
- Overnight (12am–7am)+$75
FAQ
Lock Rekeying: quick answers
Our Bay Meadows building has a master key for maintenance. Does rekeying my unit break it?+
No. The unit cylinder is repinned with the building's master pins left in place, so your new key works and the manager's master still opens the door for repairs. Check the HOA rules first; some require the management office to book it, and the receipt can be written to them.
A roommate left without handing back the key. Is that the whole apartment or one door?+
The front door plus any door that key ran, usually two cylinders. A mailbox or a storage cage on the same key is a separate item. The visit takes under an hour and, at two cylinders, is nearly always written at the $89 minimum.
Rekey or replace on a 1926 Aragon house with its original mortise cylinders?+
Rekey, if the plug turns without catching. Those brass cylinders are simple and repin cleanly. Where a century of keys has worn the plug oval, a new key will bind, and replacement is the honest answer. The technician says which at the door and does nothing further without your yes.
Related
More residential services
24/7 — nights, weekends & holidays
One call, one figure on the work order, the same figure on the receipt
Calls answered 24/7 across San Mateo and the towns beside it. The $89 service call, the labor and the parts are inside the number written down on the call, and the receipt matches it line for line.