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 Coral Gables
Rekeying a lock in Coral Gables typically runs $25 to $45 per cylinder, and the work itself takes about 20 to 30 minutes per lock when you’re dealing with modern deadbolts. Older Mediterranean Revival homes with original mortise locks run higher, usually $45 to $85 per cylinder, because the lock body has to come out of the door, get cleaned, and be re-pinned by hand. That’s the honest range across Coral Gables right now. Call (409) 405-4485 and you’ll get a written price before we dispatch anyone.
We know Coral Gables because we work here constantly. The streets off Alhambra Circle, the condos along Biltmore Way, the single-family pockets near Coral Way and Riviera Drive. Our Rekey Locks in Coral Gables customers call us for one of two reasons: they just bought a home and don’t know who else has keys, or a tenant, contractor, or housekeeper left on bad terms. Either way, the fix is the same: the lock stays on the door, we swap the internal pins, and every old key dies on the spot. No new hardware needed. No giant bill.
Why Preston Locksmith & Security Is Coral Gables’s Preferred Rekey Locks Company
Preston Locksmith & Security has been doing this work since 2008, and we built our Coral Gables reputation on a simple promise: the price you approve on the phone is the price on your invoice. Not a penny more. That matters in Coral Gables because local homeowners have been burned too many times by out-of-area dispatchers who quote $19 on the phone and then show up claiming the job requires a $400 lock replacement.
Every technician who arrives at a Coral Gables property is background-checked, in uniform, and sent with a live arrival time you can track. You’ll see a real photo of who’s coming before they pull up. That’s the Relay Visibility Guarantee, and it’s how we handle every job, from single-cylinder rekeys in Coral Gables condo units to full-home rekeys on vintage mortise hardware. We answer our phones with a live person 24/7. You won’t get a voicemail tree, and you won’t get a call center that farms your job to a stranger.
Kevin Yoon leads our team, and he holds every tech to the same standard: if it isn’t done right, we come back and make it right. That’s the 365-Day Done Right Promise, and it’s stamped in writing on every repair we do in Coral Gables.
Rekey House in Coral Gables
A Rekey House job in Coral Gables means changing the internal pins on every exterior lock so all old keys stop working, and one new key opens everything. Homeowners ask for this after buying a 1920s-era property off Alhambra Circle, after a breakup in a Biltmore-area condo, or after a renovation crew in the Granada neighborhood walks off with copies of the key. In Coral Gables, a full exterior rekey on a standard two-door home with modern deadbolts runs roughly $90 to $180. On a vintage home with original Baldwin mortise lock cylinders, expect $150 to $340 depending on how many cylinders need to be pulled, cleaned, and re-pinned.
What We Actually Do On-Site
We remove each lock cylinder, replace the spring-loaded pins inside with new ones cut to match a fresh key, and reinstall everything in the door. The lock hardware itself never changes. We test every key at least twice, and we photograph the before and after so you can see exactly what changed.
The Coral Gables Mortise Reality
Many Coral Gables homes built between 1920 and 1940 have mortise locks, not the modern cylindrical deadbolts you’ll find in newer construction. These lock bodies sit inside the door, not on the face of it, and the original cylinders often seize up from decades of humidity. A standard rekey kit won’t touch them. The cylinder has to come out of the mortise body, be disassembled, cleaned, and re-pinned by hand. We carry the older-style pins and tools for this work because we’ve done it hundreds of times in Coral Gables. Plenty of locksmiths haven’t, and that’s when you hear the “you need a full replacement” line.
Lock Rekey in Coral Gables
A Lock Rekey in Coral Gables can mean one lock or ten. Single deadbolt rekeys are common for Coral Gables condo owners who want the front door keyed to match the building’s common areas or who need a lock changed after a property manager turnover. Single-lock rekey pricing in Coral Gables typically runs $25 to $45 for a standard pin-and-tumbler deadbolt. Original mortise cylinders run $45 to $85 per lock, and that includes the cleaning and hand-re-pinning work those old lock bodies demand.
Single Lock vs. Full Home
The difference comes down to key count. A single lock rekey means one key opens that one lock. A full home rekey means every exterior door gets matched to the same key, so you carry one key instead of three. We can also set up a new key for a side door only, which is common when a Coral Gables homeowner gives a gardener or pool service access to the backyard without handing over the front door key.
Rekey Without New Hardware
Rekeying does not require new locks. The finish, the deadbolt, the handle set: all of it stays. You keep the look of your original Baldwin or Schlage hardware, which matters in Coral Gables where the doors themselves are often gorgeous 1920s solid-wood originals. Replacing them would change the look of the house. Rekeying changes only what the key can do.
Trusted Brands We Service in Coral Gables
We carry pin kits and service tools for Schlage, Kwikset, Medeco, and the original Baldwin mortise cylinders you see throughout Coral Gables’s older homes. Kwikset and Schlage cover most of the modern deadbolts in Coral Gables condos and newer construction near the Granada Golf Course. Medeco high-security cylinders show up on some commercial properties and a handful of estate homes, and those need factory-coded pins cut to match the specific key card. We don’t substitute generic parts. We come stocked for the job, which means we finish most Coral Gables rekeys in one visit instead of running back to a supply house in Miami.
Common Rekey Locks Problems We See in Coral Gables Homes
- Seized original mortise cylinders. Salt air and high humidity work their way into 1920s-era lock bodies, and the brass pins inside corrode. A technician who tries to rekey without pulling and cleaning the cylinder will leave you with a lock that works for a week and then jams. We pull, clean, lubricate, and re-pin these on site.
- Bait-and-switch pricing from out-of-area dispatchers. We hear this constantly from Coral Gables homeowners: the phone quote was $29, then the tech arrives and says the mortise lock “can’t be rekeyed” and needs a $400 replacement. A real rekey of a mortise cylinder is slower and costs more than a Kwikset deadbolt, but it almost never requires a new lock body.
- Grade 1 deadbolts replaced for no reason. Some Coral Gables homes have high-security deadbolts from Schlage or Medeco. A rekey is a fraction of the cost of replacing that hardware, but if a tech doesn’t carry the right pins, they’ll tell you replacement is the only option. It isn’t.
- Multiple keys from multiple past workers. Coral Gables homes with staff, contractors, or short-term rental turnover often end up with six different keys floating around for six different doors. A full rekey puts every door on one key or one master key system, and every old key stops working immediately.
Pricing for Rekey Locks in Coral Gables, FL
| Job | Typical Coral Gables Price |
|---|---|
| Standard deadbolt rekey (Schlage, Kwikset) | $25 – $45 per cylinder |
| Vintage mortise lock rekey (Baldwin, 1920s-era) | $45 – $85 per cylinder |
| Full home rekey, 2 – 3 standard doors | $90 – $180 |
| Full home rekey, mortise locks, multiple doors | $150 – $340 |
| Master key or key-alike setup for additional doors | $20 – $35 per additional cylinder |
What moves the price in Coral Gables is the age of the hardware and how many cylinders need hand re-pinning. Newer deadbolts are quick. Mortise cylinders are slower and the pins cost more. Before we dispatch anyone to Coral Gables, we quote the full price in writing. The number on that quote is the number on your invoice. There’s no call-out surcharge added on arrival and no “the technician will assess it” runaround. You approve the price, then we roll. Call (409) 405-4485 for a free estimate.
We Also Serve Cities Near Coral Gables
Our team covers Coral Gables and the surrounding metro. That includes Miami, Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, and Hialeah. If you’re in any corner of Coral Gables, from the streets near the Biltmore to the residential blocks off Coral Way, we’re dispatched locally and we carry the mortise lock parts older homes need. Rekey Locks is what we do, and we do it across the whole Coral Gables area with the same written-price guarantee.
Serving Coral Gables, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Coral Gables 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 Coral Gables
Yes, we rekey original mortise locks, and we’ve done hundreds of them in Coral Gables’s 1920s and 1930s Mediterranean Revival homes. The process costs more than a standard deadbolt, typically $45 to $85 per cylinder, because the lock body has to be removed from the door, opened, cleaned, and the internal pins hand-cut to match a new key. Most locksmiths only carry kits for modern pin-and-tumbler deadbolts. We carry the older mortise pins and the tools to extract seized cylinders without damaging the door. Call (409) 405-4485 and tell us the age of the home and the brand stamped on the lock face; we’ll quote the exact job over the phone.
You’ll see a photo of your technician in our confirmation message before they arrive, along with their name and a live tracking link to their arrival time. The technician who shows up will be in a Preston Locksmith & Security uniform and will match that photo. We never subcontract Coral Gables jobs to third-party dispatchers. The person who calls you to confirm the appointment is the same team that sends the job, and you can call us anytime to verify the tech at your door.
In most cases, yes. If the lock is a standard Schlage or Kwikset deadbolt and the door is open, we can rekey it without any drilling, even with no working key. If the door is locked and you have no key, we pick the cylinder first, then rekey it. Original mortise locks in Coral Gables’s older homes can be picked and rekeyed non-destructively about 90% of the time. If a cylinder is too corroded to pick, we’ll tell you before we drill anything, and the written quote we gave you on the phone will be updated with the exact new price before a drill ever touches the lock. Call (409) 405-4485 for an exact quote; estimates are free.
A standard rekey on a Coral Gables home with two or three modern exterior doors takes about 60 to 90 minutes total, door to door. If the home has original mortise locks, plan for 90 minutes to two hours because each cylinder has to be pulled, disassembled, cleaned, and re-pinned. We don’t rush mortise work because you can’t speed up a job where the internal pins have to be hand-fit to the new key. Before we start, you’ll have a written price for the whole job and a live arrival window you can track from your phone.
Yes. We set up master key systems for Coral Gables homeowners who rent out guest houses, employ live-in staff, or run small apartment buildings. A master key system means each unit or door gets its own key, but one master key opens everything you choose. We also offer key control systems with restricted keyways for Medeco and Schlage Primus cylinders, so keys can’t be duplicated at a hardware store. Pricing depends on the number of doors and the keyway type, but a basic key-alike system for a home with three to five doors runs $20 to $35 per additional cylinder after the first rekey. Call (409) 405-4485 and we’ll map out the system in writing before you commit.
Call Preston Locksmith & Security for Rekey Locks in Coral Gables
If you need a rekey in Coral Gables, at a price that won’t change when the tech shows up, call (409) 405-4485. You’ll talk to a live person, get a written quote before anyone is dispatched, and know exactly who is coming to your door. We serve Coral Gables daily, we carry parts for the original Baldwin mortise locks on the city’s older homes, and every job is backed by the 365-Day Done Right Promise. One call, one written price, one key that only you control.
Written by Kevin Yoon, Owner at Preston Locksmith & Security, serving Coral Gables since 2008.