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 Lomita
Rekeying a lock in Lomita typically costs $85 – $130 per cylinder for a standard pin-and-tumbler lock, and most house-wide rekeys take 30 – 60 minutes once the tech arrives. We work across Lomita from PCH to the 405 side, and our dispatchers send a background-checked, uniformed tech from the Los Angeles office with a written price confirmed before anyone gets in a truck. Call (409) 405-4485 and a live person answers. Not an answering service, not a callback queue.
We know Lomita homes run tight on space and share walls more than people think. That shapes what we recommend and how we price it. A duplex off Eshelman Avenue needs a different setup than a single-family ranch on a quiet cul-de-sac near Fleming Middle School. The locks may look similar from the curb, but the job is not the same.
You know the frustration if you’ve tried to coordinate a rekey around a tenant move-out, a new house purchase, or a roommate change. We keep it simple: a written price, a live arrival time you can track, before-and-after photos, and a digital invoice with a pay link. No swelling bill. No anonymous tech.
Why Preston Locksmith & Security Is Lomita’s Preferred Rekey Locks Company
Because Lomita sits on the Palos Verdes Peninsula’s fog-cooled coastal edge with houses packed on small lots, most homes already share a street-level entry point with a rental unit or garage. That makes a master key system or a rekey to a bump-resistant deadbolt far more valuable here than a simple one-key change. We see it every week: a homeowner off 252nd Street wants one key for the front door and another for the ADU, with a master for themselves. That is standard work for us, not a specialty add-on. We were called to a single-story ranch off 252nd Street near Narbonne High School after a tenant moved out; the homeowner wanted to rekey two Kwikset deadbolts and one mortise lock to a single new key. Our tech pulled the lock cylinders, swapped the pin and tumbler stacks for fresh pins, and cut three keys on-site. Non-destructive, no drilling, and the old tenant’s key stopped working the moment we left.
Lomita is dense enough that our techs know the parking realities around Oak Street and the side streets off Lomita Boulevard before they arrive. That sounds small. It matters when a 45-minute parking search turns a quick rekey into an all-morning affair. Our Lomita response window is typically under an hour from dispatch confirmation, and you see the live arrival time on your phone the moment the tech leaves.
Every Preston job in Lomita carries the 365-Day Done Right Promise. If the rekey is not done right, we make it right. That includes a free second visit if anything fails. We are part of the Relay Home Co. family, founded in 2008, and each location is independently owned and operated. Kevin Yoon leads the team.
Rekey Deadbolt in Lomita
A Rekey Deadbolt in Lomita means we replace the internal pins inside your existing deadbolt cylinder so the old key stops working and a new key operates the same lock. This is the most common rekey request we handle in Lomita, especially after a tenant move-out, a divorce, a caregiver change, or any situation where an unknown number of old keys might be out there. A standard Schlage or Kwikset deadbolt rekey in Lomita runs $85 – $110 per cylinder, and the tech can typically finish two or three deadbolts in under an hour.
One thing specific to coastal Lomita: older deadbolts on homes built in the 1960s and 70s sometimes have corroded pins because marine fog works its way into the cylinder over time. That does not usually mean you need a full replacement. It means our tech may replace the pin stack with fresh pins, not just reposition the old ones. The result is the same: old keys die. The lock feels smoother than it has in years.
Bump-Resistant Deadbolt Rekey
For Lomita clients who want more than a standard pin change, we rekey to bump-resistant cylinders on request. Kwikset’s SmartKey and Schlage’s bump-resistant deadbolts have different internal geometry than the standard pin-and-tumbler stacks. Our techs carry the pins, springs, and top pins for these on the truck, so there is no second trip.
A bump-resistant deadbolt rekey in Lomita runs $110 – $150 per cylinder depending on whether we are working with an existing bump-resistant cylinder or converting a standard one. The value here is higher for anyone whose lock faces a shared corridor or a street-level door near a driveway.
Rekey House in Lomita
A Rekey House job in Lomita is a complete rekey of every exterior door on the home so all locks operate from a single new key. This is the right move when you buy a house in Lomita, when a tenant leaves a rental unit, or when you realize you cannot account for who has copies of your current key. A full house rekey in Lomita with two to three exterior doors typically runs $250 – $450 depending on the lock count, lock types, and whether any locks need extra work beyond the pin swap.
We walk the property with you before any work starts. We check each door, confirm which locks get rekeyed, and write the price down. Then we start. What does not get included is a surprise fee at the end. The written price is the invoice price. Full stop.
One Lomita-specific note: many homes here have front doors, side yard gates, and garage entry doors that all use different hardware brand families. A Kwikset on the front, a Schlage on the garage, a Baldwin on the back door. That is normal. We rekey them all to one key when the hardware allows it, and where it does not, we tell you before we touch anything.
Single-Key Convenience for Lomita Homeowners
Most Lomita homeowners want one key that opens everything: front door, back door, side gate, garage side door. That is the whole point of a house rekey. If a lock is too worn to rekey cleanly, the tech will show you and give you a replacement option with a flat price before any new hardware goes in.
We do not drill locks to rekey them. Drilling is what happens when a lock is already broken and the cylinder has to be sacrificed. On a normal rekey, no drilling, no mess, and the job takes under an hour for most Lomita homes.
Trusted Brands We Service in Lomita
Our Lomita calls involve a steady mix of Kwikset deadbolts on mid-century homes, Schlage hardware on newer builds, and occasional Yale or Baldwin hardware on upgraded entry sets. We carry pins, springs, and cylinder kits for all of these on the truck, so most Lomita rekeys finish in one visit. For high-security Medeco or Mul-T-Lock cylinders, we quote the pinning and key cost before we start. We are trained on Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, Abloy, Baldwin, and Sargent alongside the everyday hardware. That matters when the old tenant had a Medeco key and the new owner wants the same cylinder rekeyed, not replaced.
Common Rekey Locks Problems We See in Lomita Homes
- Assumed a rekey fixes a sticking deadbolt. On older Lomita homes, especially those built before 1980, the door frame or strike plate is often the real culprit. The cylinder rekeys fine. The bolt still drags. We check the strike plate alignment before we pin anything, and we tell you if the frame needs attention. A rekey will not fix a sagging door.
- Chose a locksmith without a written price and got a teaser fee. A common Lomita driveway scenario: the quote says $19, the tech pulls the cylinder, and suddenly the job costs $290. We do not play that game. The price is written before the first tool leaves the bag, and it is the price on the invoice. No call-out surcharge added on arrival.
- Used a cheaply cut duplicate key on a bump-resistant cylinder. Lomita weather and salt air already wear keys and cylinders faster than inland neighborhoods do. A bad duplicate key on a Schlage or Medeco cylinder can wear the pins unevenly and defeat the whole point of the rekey. We cut keys from code on a calibrated machine, not a worn copy.
- Rental units and shared entries with an unclear key plan. Lomita has a higher share of duplexes, ADUs, and converted garage units than the surrounding South Bay cities. When a tenant leaves, the landlord wants certainty that no old key still opens the door. A full rekey the same day the tenant moves out is the standard we recommend, and we quote it as a flat per-lock price, not an hourly rate.
Pricing for Rekey Locks in Lomita, CA
Here is what you can expect to pay in Lomita, written out so there is no vague “it depends” runaround:
- Standard deadbolt rekey: $85 – $110 per cylinder
- Bump-resistant deadbolt rekey: $110 – $150 per cylinder
- Full house rekey (2 – 3 exterior doors): $250 – $450 total
- Mortise lock rekey (common on older Lomita entry sets): $120 – $180 per lock
- New keys cut on-site: included in the cylinder price
What changes the price: how many locks you have, what brand families they are, whether they are pin-and-tumbler or bump-resistant, and whether any cylinder needs repair before it can be rekeyed. We tell you all of that on the phone and confirm it in writing before dispatch. Call (409) 405-4485 for an exact quote. Estimates are free, and the price we quote is the price on the invoice.
We Also Serve Cities Near Lomita
Our Lomita coverage extends naturally into the surrounding South Bay communities. We serve Lomita residents and regularly run calls in Lakewood, Torrance, Carson, and Rancho Palos Verdes. If your rekey job sits near the Lomita border on Western Avenue or over toward the Harbor City line, we have you covered with the same written price and live arrival tracking. Our Rekey Locks team handles the whole South Bay corridor.
Serving Lomita, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Lomita 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 Lomita
You will see the tech’s name and photo in the booking confirmation before they arrive, along with a live trackable ETA. The tech arrives in a uniform with company identification. When we dispatch, we include a written price and you get before-and-after photos of the job. If anyone ever shows up claiming to be us without a uniform and ID, that is not us. Call (409) 405-4485 and we will confirm who is en route.
No. Rekeying a functioning lock means taking the cylinder out, swapping the pins, and reinstalling. No drilling. We only drill when a lock is already broken, seized, or the key is snapped off in the cylinder and there is no other way to open it. Even then, we show you the problem first and quote a replacement before any drilling happens.
A full house rekey on a typical Lomita home with two or three exterior doors takes 30 to 60 minutes once the tech is on site. That includes cutting new keys and testing every lock. Coastal fog and salt air can add five or ten minutes per lock if the cylinders need a little cleaning before we repin them. The written price you get before dispatch already accounts for that.
If your lock functions fine and you just need old keys to stop working, a rekey is the right call. It runs $85 – $110 per cylinder in Lomita and takes minutes per lock. If the lock is physically worn out, rusted from coastal moisture, or the bolt no longer throws cleanly, a replacement makes more sense. We tell you the truth either way, and the replacement price is quoted flat before any work starts.
Yes. For Lomita duplexes, ADUs, and homes with a converted garage rental, we build master key systems where the owner’s key opens everything and the tenant’s key only opens their own unit. Pricing depends on the number of cylinders and the hardware brand, but a simple two-unit master setup usually runs $350 – $600 in Lomita. This is exactly the kind of job we recommend for the shared-entry homes that are common along Eshelman Avenue and the streets off Lomita Boulevard. Call (409) 405-4485 for a written quote.
Written by Kevin Yoon, Owner at Preston Locksmith & Security, serving Lomita since 2008.






