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 Commerce
Rekeying a lock in Commerce typically costs $25 to $85 per cylinder, and for most jobs we can be at your door within an hour. Whether you manage a four-unit rental on Bristow Street or run a warehouse shop along Telegraph Road, we’ll give you a written price before any work starts, and that’s the price on the invoice. No extra trip fee tacked on when the tech arrives. No bill that swells after the fact. Call (409) 405-4485 and you’ll talk to a live person who can quote the job before we dispatch anyone.
We know Commerce differently than a generic locksmith outfit. This is a small city with roughly 13,000 residents and a huge daytime industrial population. A lot of the calls we take here aren’t a single homeowner holding one deadbolt. They’re landlords flipping a unit after a tenant leaves, property managers keying-alike three sets of doors, and shop owners who just had an employee quit and need the storefront pinned for a new key. The work is fiddly, precise, and time-sensitive. Quoting it correctly on the phone requires knowing what kind of cylinder actually sits in the door.
Why Preston Locksmith & Security Is Commerce’s Preferred Rekey Locks Company
Kevin Yoon leads our Rekey Locks team, and the standard he set is simple: write the price down, send a background-checked uniformed tech, show our state-issued locksmith registration at the door, and finish with before-and-after photos of every cylinder we touched. Been that way since 2008.
Here’s what that looks like in Commerce. You call (409) 405-4485. You get a live person. They ask what kind of lock you have, how many doors, and whether you want everything on one key or separate keys per door. They quote a flat per-cylinder price and a service fee, and that’s it. The tech dispatches with all of it on the work order. When they pull up on Commerce streets, you already know their name, their face from the app, and the exact arrival window. That’s the Relay Visibility Guarantee, and it costs nothing extra.
Our 365-Day Done Right Promise covers every rekey we do in Commerce. If pins shift, a spring goes soft, or a key sticks within a year, we come back free. If the repair fails, the second visit is free. No argument. No service fee. That’s written on every invoice.
Rekey Service in Commerce
Rekey Service in Commerce is the go-to move when a tenant leaves, a roommate moves out, or an employee is let go and you need old keys dead in the water without buying new hardware. We remove the cylinder, swap the internal pins and springs to match a new key profile, and slide it back into the door. The lock body stays. The handles stay. Only the old key stops working. For a standard pin and tumbler cylinder on a Kwikset or Schlage, expect $25 to $40 per cylinder plus a modest service fee. High-security brands like Medeco or Mul-T-Lock run higher because the pinned cylinders and key registration are more involved.
When rekeying is enough
Rekeying makes sense when the lock body is in decent shape. If the deadbolt throws smoothly, the latch seats cleanly, and the cylinder isn’t loose in the bore, a rekey is all you need. We can rekey five or six cylinders in under an hour. The old keys are dead. New keys work. Done.
When the door needs a repair instead of a rekey
If the cylinder wobbles, the key sticks partway, or the deadbolt doesn’t line up with the strike plate, rekeying won’t fix that. We’ll tell you before we touch a tool. Sometimes the right call is a cylinder replacement or a light door repair, and we’ll quote both options in writing so you can decide without pressure. We don’t upsell. We just tell you what the door actually needs.
Keyed Alike in Commerce
Keyed Alike in Commerce means one key opens multiple locks, and it’s one of the most common requests we get from landlords and shop owners. We pin each cylinder so all the locks share the same internal key profile. Your front door, back door, and detached garage door all turn on one key. For a landlord with a triplex near the Citadel Outlets, that’s one key for all unit entry doors plus a separate master key that opens everything. Expect to pay $25 to $65 per cylinder depending on brand and whether you’re adding a master key layer.
Batch rekeys for rentals
We rekeyed a four-unit rental on Bristow Street after a tenant turnover: four Kwikset pin and tumbler lock cylinders on the unit doors plus the shared entry, all keyed alike to one key for the landlord and a separate master key for the property manager, no hardware replaced. We quoted the whole batch before dispatch, showed our state-issued locksmith registration at the door, and were done in under two hours without touching the doors. That’s the kind of job Commerce throws at us all the time, and it’s exactly the kind of job where a phone-quoted teaser number falls apart once the tech counts four units and a shared entry. We quote the whole batch up front.
Commercial keyed-alike systems
Along the Telegraph Road corridor, we work on storefront aluminum doors and commercial mortise lock bodies. These aren’t round residential cylinders. They take specific pinned cores and often a master key hierarchy. We stock the pins, springs, and key blanks in our service vehicles to pin these on the spot. No “we’ll have to order a part” delay.
Trusted Brands We Service in Commerce
We’re trained and equipped to rekey the hardware we actually see in Commerce: Kwikset and Schlage on most rental unit doors, Medeco and Abloy on commercial storefronts and high-security cylinders, and occasional Mul-T-Lock on newer buildings. We carry common pin kits and key blanks for all of them in the van, so a rekey on a Kwikset deadbolt or a Medeco mortise cylinder happens the same visit. If we don’t have the blank, we’ll tell you before we come out.
Common Rekey Locks Problems We See in Commerce Homes
– Worn Kwikset cylinders in older rentals: Commerce has a lot of rental stock built decades ago, and those original Kwikset cylinders are tired. Pins are loose, the plug wiggles inside the bore, and a rekey won’t fix a failing lock body. We test the throw and the latch before recommending a rekey, and we’ll show you exactly what we found.
– Batch rekeys quoted wrong on the phone: A caller gets a teaser number for “one lock” and the on-site total balloons once the tech counts four units and a shared entry. We quote the whole batch before dispatch. The number you get is the number you pay.
– Storefront mortise locks on Telegraph Road buildings: Commercial doors along that corridor use mortise lock bodies and storefront cylinders that a residential-only kit can’t pin correctly. The tech arrives, fumbles, and stalls. We carry commercial pinned cylinders and know what those doors need before we arrive.
– Mixed hardware on single properties: We see houses and buildings where someone added a Schlage deadbolt on one door and left an old Kwikset on another. Keying those alike takes matching keyways and proper pins, and you can’t always put a Schlage key in a Kwikset cylinder without replacing the hardware. We’ll tell you straight what’s possible and what costs what.
Pricing for Rekey Locks in Commerce, CA
We Also Serve Cities Near Commerce
While this page is about rekeying locks in Commerce, our crews cover a wider footprint across Southern California. If you have properties in Commerce, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, or San Francisco, we can coordinate rekeying across all of them with the same written pricing. One call covers multiple addresses.
Serving Commerce, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Commerce 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 Commerce
Can you rekey all the units in my Commerce rental to one key?
Yes, we rekey every unit door, shared entry, and common area lock in a Commerce rental property to a single key for the landlord and, if you want, a separate master key for the property manager. We quote the entire batch before dispatch so you know the full price for the full job, not a teaser number for one lock. Call (409) 405-4485 and we’ll price your building.
Do you have to drill my lock to rekey it?
No drilling is needed on a standard rekey when you have a working key. We pull the cylinder, swap the pins, and reinstall it. If the lock is broken or you’ve lost all the keys and the door is locked, we can sometimes pick it open without drilling, but even when drilling is the last resort, we tell you before we do it and we quote it in writing.
What brands can you rekey on my Commerce property?
We rekey Kwikset, Schlage, Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, Yale, Baldwin, Sargent, and Abloy hardware. Most Commerce rentals and older homes use Kwikset or Schlage. Storefronts and commercial buildings along Telegraph Road often use Medeco or Abloy mortise cylinders. We carry the pin kits and key blanks to handle all of them on the same visit.
How do I know your tech is really from your company when they arrive?
When we dispatch a tech to your Commerce address, you get the tech’s name, photo, and live arrival tracking through the Relay Visibility Guarantee before they knock. They arrive in uniform, show their state-issued locksmith registration, and have their own tools. You’ll know exactly who’s at your door.
How long does a rekey take versus replacing the locks?
Rekeying a standard cylinder takes about 10 to 15 minutes per lock. A full hardware replacement, pulling the old lock body and installing a new deadbolt and handle set, takes 30 to 45 minutes per door. Rekeying five or six cylinders is usually faster and cheaper than swapping even two full locksets, and the old keys stop working just the same.
Written by Kevin Yoon, Owner at Preston Locksmith & Security, serving Commerce, CA from our Los Angeles area office. Call (409) 405-4485 for a free written estimate.