Non-destructive entry first, always - and we re-key Schlage, Kwikset, and Baldwin locks on the spot while you watch
You get a price before we start. It does not change when we arrive. No surprises.
Fast, Reliable Rekey Locks Across Antioch
Rekeying a lock in Antioch typically costs $75 – $105 per cylinder for standard Schlage or Kwikset deadbolts, and the whole job usually takes 20 – 40 minutes per lock. You’re not replacing hardware. You’re swapping the internal pins so every old key stops working while new keys work perfectly. If you just bought a house off Lone Tree Way, handed a key to a contractor off Somersville Road, or lost track of who has a copy, call (409) 405-4485 and we’ll give you a written price before anyone is dispatched.
Antioch’s housing stock is genuinely mixed: 1970s and 1980s Delta-front subdivisions, newer builds near Deer Valley, and older bungalows downtown by the river. That means a rekey route here can start on a modern Kwikset smart lock and end on a mortise lock body that needs a different pin kit. We know that before we arrive because we ask the right questions on the phone. The Relay Visibility Guarantee means you get a live arrival time you can track, a written price confirmed before we leave the shop, and before-and-after photos of the work on your doorstep.
Kevin Yoon founded Preston Locksmith & Security in 2008, and the standard hasn’t drifted since: answer the phone with a live person, send a background-checked uniformed technician, and put the price in writing before a tool leaves the bag. No voicemail. No four-hour windows. No bill that swells between the estimate and the invoice. If a rekey isn’t done right, the 365-Day Done Right Promise applies: we make it right, including a free second visit if the repair fails.
Why Preston Locksmith & Security Is Antioch’s Preferred Rekey Locks Company
Antioch homeowners don’t call a locksmith for a pleasant chat. They call because they just closed on a house and don’t know how many key copies are floating around, or because a tenant moved out and the landlord needs every cylinder re-pinned before the next lease starts. Preston Locksmith & Security built its reputation in Contra Costa County on the boring stuff: showing up when we said we would, writing the price down before starting, and fixing it for free if it fails. That’s why the 365-Day Done Right Promise is stamped on every repair invoice.
Many rekey calls we handle in Antioch come from people who got a teaser quote from another company and watched the price balloon at the door. The story is predictable: a “$19 rekey” turns into a $180 invoice once the tech claims the lock needs “special pins” or a drill-out. Our pricing doesn’t work that way. You get the full written price on the phone. We dispatch a uniformed technician with a trackable live arrival time. If the lock is more complex than described, we call you with the revised price before touching the cylinder. You approve it or we don’t do it. There is no call-out surcharge added on arrival, and the price on the invoice is the price you agreed to.
Being local to Antioch matters because the housing stock isn’t uniform. A rekey route down James Donlon Boulevard can hit a 2000s tract home with Schlage B60 deadbolts, then swing to an older ranch off Hillcrest Avenue with original builder-grade Kwikset cylinders, then hit a downtown bungalow with a mortise lock body that hasn’t been touched since the 1950s. Each takes a different pin kit and a different hand. Our technicians carry the full range so we don’t have to drive back to the shop mid-job. Dispatch and scheduling are coordinated from the San Francisco Bay Area office, but the crews serving Antioch work and know these neighborhoods.
Rekey Deadbolt in Antioch
A rekey deadbolt in Antioch means we remove the cylinder, replace the internal pins and springs with a new pattern matched to a new key, and reinstall the cylinder without damaging the lock body. If you bought a house off Lone Tree Way, this is the single most important upgrade you can do in the first week. You don’t know how many keys the previous owners handed out to neighbors, dog walkers, house cleaners, or contractors. Rekeying the deadbolt kills every one of those old keys and gives you a clean key control chain.
Most standard deadbolts in Antioch run $75 – $95 per cylinder, with high-security brands like Medeco or Mul-T-Lock higher because the restricted key blanks and pin systems cost more. A typical single-door deadbolt rekey is done in 20 – 30 minutes. If we’re also doing the knob or lever below it, budget another $45 – $65 for that cylinder.
Single-Cylinder Deadbolt Rekey
This is the most common job in Antioch: the deadbolt on the front door, back door, or garage service door. We re-pin the cylinder to the new key, test the throw, and confirm the old key no longer turns. If the deadbolt has been sticking or the bolt isn’t throwing fully, we’ll flag it. A worn strike plate or misaligned frame can mean the deadbolt doesn’t fully engage even with a fresh key, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise covers us coming back if the rekey isn’t holding or the key feels rough in the cylinder.
Mortise Deadbolt Rekey
Older downtown Antioch bungalows east of A Street often have mortise lock bodies instead of modern bored cylinders. These are different: the cylinder threads into a rectangular lock body inside the door edge, and the pin kit depends on whether the original was Schlage, Corbin, or an oddball import. We carry mortise pin kits and can usually rekey these in about 40 – 60 minutes without removing the full lock body. If the mortise body itself is failing, we’ll tell you before we start and give you a written price for a replacement cylinder or full mortise cassette.
Rekey House in Antioch
A full rekey house job in Antioch means we re-pin every exterior lock cylinder to one common key, that key opens every exterior door, and every old key is dead. For a typical single-family home with three exterior doors and four keyed cylinders, the total runs $250 – $400 depending on brand and cylinder count. For smaller bungalows with two doors, $150 – $250. We give you the exact written price before we start, and that’s the number on the invoice.
This is the job we recommend most often to new homeowners in neighborhoods like Antioch’s Delta-front subdivisions off Lone Tree Way. When you close on a house, the key control chain is unknown. The sellers may have handed over two keys, but there could be five more out there on a contractor’s ring or a neighbor’s hook. A rekey house is cheaper than replacing every lock and faster than keying each cylinder to a different key going forward.
All Exterior Doors Keyed Alike
We repin front entry, back door, garage service door, and any side gate or storage door lock so every keyed entry takes one new key. Most Antioch homes have two or three brand types across these doors, often a Schlage on the front and Kwikset on the back. We pin each cylinder so the new key works across all of them, which can be done even when the brands differ.
Keyed-Alike Sets for New Purchases
If you’d rather have fresh hardware, we’ll install new Schlage or Kwikset deadbolts and knobs keyed alike to one key on the spot. The price depends on hardware grade and finish, but a standard Schlage B60 deadbolt and matching knob runs about $45 – $80 per door for hardware plus labor. We stock common finishes in the van, which matters in Antioch where the older homes downtown often have brass oil-rubbed hardware and the newer builds run satin nickel.
Trusted Brands We Service in Antioch
We carry pin kits and common replacement parts for Schlage, Kwikset, and Yale, and we’re trained on restricted high-security systems from Medeco and Mul-T-Lock for commercial work around downtown Antioch and the retail strips off Lone Tree Way. Having the pin kits in the van is what keeps a rekey under an hour. If a customer has a Schlage front door and a Kwikset back door, we don’t need to run back to a supplier for a different depth and spacing kit. We stock both, and we can cut the matching new keys on site. For Antioch’s older mortise locks, we carry the common Schlage and Corbin cylinders that these old bungalows usually take.
Common Rekey Locks Problems We See in Antioch Homes
These show up again and again across Antioch, and knowing them ahead of time saves money and phone calls:
- Mixed brands across one house. A 1980s home off Hillcrest might have a Schlage front deadbolt installed when the house was built, a Kwikset on the garage service door added in 1998, and a smart lock the previous owner put on the back slider two years ago. Each takes a different pin kit and a different key blank. We handle all three in one trip; a fly-by-night with a single pin kit may drill the odd one out and charge you for the new lock.
- Mortise lock bodies in downtown bungalows. Homes from the 1920s through the 1950s near the river often have original mortise lock bodies. A rekey isn’t just a pin swap; it’s finding the right cylinder, which can take a tech who hasn’t worked these before twice as long. We’ve rekeyed enough of them in Antioch’s older grid that we know which bodies take Schlage pins and which need an original cylinder rebuild.
- Stuck cylinders on Delta-front doors. The Delta air is moist year-round, and we regularly see deadbolt cylinders on exterior doors that have corroded or gummed up with dust and salt air. Sometimes a non-destructive teardown and clean gets it turning again. If the cylinder is shot, we say so and quote a replacement before doing anything.
- Homeowners replacing locks that could be rekeyed. People buy a new Kwikset or Schlage set at the hardware store because they think a rekey is complicated. It’s not. In most cases we can rekey the existing cylinder for a fraction of the hardware cost and the old lock stays in place, no new holes drilled, no finish mismatches. If the hardware is worn out, we’ll tell you that too and install the new set properly.
Pricing for Rekey Locks in Antioch, CA
Here’s what rekeying actually costs in Antioch’s market, written plainly. A standard rekey deadbolt runs $75 – $95 per cylinder. Rekeying a knob or lever runs $45 – $65 per cylinder. The full rekey house with three exterior doors and all keyed cylinders matched to one key runs $250 – $400. If you have high-security hardware like Medeco or Mul-T-Lock, budget $25 – $45 more per cylinder because the pin systems and restricted blanks cost more. Older mortise locks downtown run $95 – $135 per cylinder because of the extra labor. The price you get on the phone from (409) 405-4485 is the price on the invoice. No call-out surcharge added on arrival, no last-minute “unforeseen” line items. If a lock turns out to be more complex than we discussed, we call you with the revised number and get your approval before turning a screw.
Key Takeaways:
- Single deadbolt rekey in Antioch: $75 – $95, usually 20 – 30 minutes
- Complete rekey house in Antioch: $250 – $400 depending on cylinder count
- Written price before anyone is dispatched, no call-out surcharge on arrival
- All work covered by the 365-Day Done Right Promise, including free second visit if a rekey fails
- Live trackable arrival time and before-and-after photos on every job
We Also Serve Cities Near Antioch
Our crews run rekey jobs across the Delta corridor and the surrounding foothills too. If you’re in Oakley, Pittsburg, Clayton, or Brentwood, we’ll give you the same written-price-before-work standard. But if you’re searching for a Rekey Locks specialist, the process is the same: call, get a price, watch your tech’s live arrival on your phone. For homeowners throughout Antioch, from the downtown grid to the subdivisions off Deer Valley Road, we’re on the schedule daily.
Serving Antioch, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Antioch area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Rekey Locks in Antioch
In most Antioch homes, just a rekey. We re-pin every exterior cylinder to a new key pattern, every old key stops working, and the hardware stays. Rekeying a full house with three exterior doors runs $250 – $400. New hardware on every door costs more and often requires new drilling or finish matching, which isn’t needed if the locks are in good shape. If a lock is worn or damaged, we’ll tell you and quote a replacement for that lock only. Call (409) 405-4485 and we’ll walk through your door count and give you a written price.
Yes, in almost every case. A mortise lock cylinder can be rekeyed without removing the full lock body, as long as the body itself isn’t broken. Most of the older bungalows in Antioch’s downtown grid near the river have Schlage or Corbin-style mortise cylinders, and we carry those pin kits. Budget $95 – $135 per mortise cylinder, which is more than a standard deadbolt because accessing the cylinder is more involved. If the mortise body is cracked or the bolt is worn, we’ll quote a replacement cassette before we start.
We remove the lock cylinder, replace the pins and springs inside with a new arrangement matched to a new key, reinstall the cylinder, and test. The old key stops turning. Standard deadbolts take 20 – 30 minutes each. A full rekey house in Antioch with three doors takes 60 – 90 minutes total, including cutting new keys. If we find an issue like a worn cylinder or a misaligned strike plate, we fix it or quote it on the spot.
Yes to both. Keying all exterior doors alike is the standard rekey house job: every keyed cylinder accepts the new key. A master key system is useful for landlords or small commercial spots in Antioch, where the owner’s key opens everything but each tenant’s key only opens their unit. Master keying adds cost per cylinder because it requires more complex pin stacks, but it’s straightforward for us. We’ll scope it and give you a flat per-lock price before scheduling.
Before the tech arrives, you get The Relay Visibility Guarantee: a trackable live arrival time, the tech’s name, and a photo of the uniformed, background-checked person coming to your door. No anonymous van. No “we’re five minutes out” phone tag. The tech will also match the written price you approved, and you’ll get before-and-after photos of every lock worked on. If anything doesn’t line up, call us at (409) 405-4485 before opening the door.
Call Preston Locksmith & Security for Rekey Locks in Antioch
Rekeying isn’t complicated, but it has to be done right. A cylinder with mismatched pins will feel rough or fail entirely, and a fly-by-night with one pin kit will either botch your lock or drill it out and charge you for the replacement. We don’t play that game. Call (409) 405-4485 and describe your doors. We’ll give you a written price over the phone, send a background-checked uniformed tech with a live trackable arrival time, and back the whole job with the 365-Day Done Right Promise. If it’s not done right, we make it right. Free second visit if the repair fails. That’s the standard in Antioch, and it’s been the standard since 2008.
Written by Kevin Yoon, Owner at Preston Locksmith & Security, serving Antioch since 2008.