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 Miami
Rekeying a lock in Miami typically costs $85 to $160 per cylinder, and most homes are done within 60 to 90 minutes. That’s the honest range, written on a quote before anyone drives to your door in Brickell, Coral Gables, or anywhere across Miami. If you just bought a home, fired a contractor, ended a lease, or lost a key you can’t account for, rekeying is the fastest way to make every old key useless. Call (409) 405-4485 and we’ll give you a firm price over the phone before we send a background-checked, uniformed technician your way.
Why Preston Locksmith & Security Is Miami’s Preferred Rekey Locks Company
Miami homeowners and small business operators don’t want a four-hour arrival window or a tech whose price changes when he sees the door. That’s why we built our whole operation around The Relay Visibility Guarantee: a written price confirmed before dispatch, a live trackable arrival time, before-and-after photos of every job, and a written guarantee on the repair itself. You know who’s coming, what they look like, and exactly what you’ll pay before a single tool leaves the bag.
Our customers across Miami hear the same thing when they call: a live person answers, no voicemail tree, no callback queue. Kevin Yoon leads our team, and every technician who shows up in Miami has passed a background check and wears a Preston uniform. We’ve been doing this since 2008 as part of the Relay Home Co. family, with each location independently owned and operated. Miami gets the same standard we’ve built across every city we work in.
Response time matters in Miami because the streets between Downtown, Little Havana, and the Upper Eastside don’t move the same at 2 p.m. as they do at 7 p.m. Our crew works out of our Miami (South FL) office, so we plan routes against real traffic, not a generic radius. You’re not waiting on a guy from three counties over.
Lock Rekey in Miami
Lock Rekey in Miami means swapping the internal pins in an existing lock cylinder so the old key no longer turns it, and no new hardware needs to be purchased. It’s the right call after a home purchase, a tenant change, a break-in, or when you realize a spare key has been floating around too long. In Miami, that work typically runs $85 to $160 per lock cylinder, depending on the lock’s age and condition, and the full written price is confirmed before anyone is dispatched.
One decision you’ll face in Miami is whether to rekey the lock itself or go bigger. A rekey keeps your existing hardware and simply changes the key. That’s the cheaper path. If the lock is corroded or the cylinder is pitted from salt air, you may need new hardware instead. We’ll tell you which one makes sense after looking at the lock, not after you’ve paid for a rekey that won’t hold.
When Miami Homeowners Rekey
Miami sees a lot of turnover in condos and single-family rentals, especially near Brickell and Edgewater. New owners and landlords almost always rekey on move-in day. The same goes for vacation rentals in Miami Beach, where key control is a real security issue. You don’t know who has copies from the last three guests.
What Rekeying Does Not Fix
Rekeying does not repair a failing latch, a sagging door, or a deadbolt that’s no longer aligned. Those are separate things. On Miami’s older doors, especially in Coral Gables with original 1920s and 1940s mortise locks, a worn cylinder may bind even after a fresh pin stack. A good tech will spot that before quoting the rekey, not after the new key still sticks.
Locksmith Rekey in Miami
Locksmith Rekey in Miami is the version where a licensed pro does the work rather than a handyman with a pinning kit from a big-box store. This matters more in Miami than most places because the city’s housing stock splits between grandfathered mortise locks in older neighborhoods and builder-grade cylinders in newer towers. The job involves pulling the cylinder, replacing the pin and tumbler stack to match a new key, and testing every entry point. Typical cost in Miami runs $85 to $160 per cylinder, quoted in writing before we show up.
Here’s a specific thing that trips up cheap rekey jobs in Miami: some techs only swap the plug instead of repinning the full pin and tumbler stack. The lock will take a new key, but the old keys may still work. We’ve seen it in Brickell, where a tenant’s old key still opened the door after move-in. That’s not a rekey. That’s a shortcut that leaves your security broken, and it’s exactly the kind of job we won’t let walk out of our bag.
Miami’s Mixed Lock Stock
In Coral Gables and Little Havana, we regularly work on original mortise locks from the 1920s through 1940s. These aren’t interchangeable cylinders you can swap from a shelf. They need hand-fit pin stacks and someone who’s actually touched that hardware before. In Brickell and Doral, we see mostly post-2000 builder-grade Kwikset and Schlage cylinders. The rekey process is similar, but the labor changes, and sometimes the pin kits do too.
Salt Air and Cylinder Corrosion
Coastal Miami humidity and salt air attack lock internals. A pitted cylinder will grit up a new pin stack within months if you ignore the corrosion. That’s why our techs check cylinder condition before rekeying. If the cylinder won’t hold a clean pin job, you need a new cylinder, not just new pins. We’ll show you photos before and after so you see exactly what we did.
Trusted Brands We Service in Miami
We work on the hardware Miami homes and businesses actually have: Schlage, Kwikset, Medeco, Abloy, Yale, Baldwin, Mul-T-Lock, and Sargent. From a standard residential deadbolt to a high-security commercial cylinder, our stock and pin kits cover the range. For Miami customers specifically, we keep common Schlage and Kwikset pin kits loaded because that’s what most post-2000 buildings use. When a Medeco or Abloy cylinder needs a rekey in a Coral Gables office, we’ve got the key blanks and the training to handle it without sending your lock to a shop across the county.
Common Rekey Locks Problems We See in Miami Homes
- Teaser price, then a “mortise lock surcharge” at the door. Miami’s older Coral Gables and Little Havana doors have grandfathered mortise hardware that many shops don’t stock pins for. A competitor quotes a cheap rekey over the phone, then tacks on an extra charge when the tech sees the lock layout. Our price is written before dispatch and it’s the price on the invoice, no arrival surcharge.
- Old keys still working after the rekey. If a tech only swaps the plug instead of repinning the pin and tumbler stack, old keys can still operate the lock. We’ve caught this on Brickell rental units after move-in. We repin the full stack and test with both the new key and the old key before we leave.
- Salt air corrosion ignored. Coastal Miami condos near Biscayne Bay and the beach get lock cylinders pitted by salt air and humidity. A rekey that doesn’t address a pitted cylinder leaves a lock that starts binding within months. We check the cylinder and tell you straight if new hardware is the better move.
- Lost keys with no keyed entry left. When all keys are lost, we can’t just rekey to a new key, we have to shim or pick the cylinder first, then repin it. It’s still usually faster and cheaper than replacing all hardware. This comes up a lot in Miami rental turnovers where the previous tenant vanished with the only copy.
Pricing for Rekey Locks in Miami, FL
Rekeying a standard lock in Miami runs $85 to $160 per cylinder. That’s the on-the-phone quote range for most single-cylinder deadbolts and knobs in the city. A job with multiple locks on one door, like a knob plus a deadbolt, typically falls at the upper end per cylinder because we match both to the same new key. Mortise locks in older Coral Gables homes and high-security cylinders from Medeco or Abloy push the number higher because the cylinders take longer to pin and the key blanks cost more. What affects the total: number of locks, cylinder type, whether we need to remove a corroded cylinder, and whether you want one key to operate everything. The quote we give you on the phone is the price on the invoice, and a phone estimate is free. Call (409) 405-4485 for an exact number before anyone is dispatched. There’s no call-out surcharge added on arrival.
We Also Serve Cities Near Miami
Our Rekey Locks in Miami coverage includes the city, plus we head out to Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Key Biscayne, and Hialeah. Same pricing model, same written-quote-before-dispatch rule, same Rekey Locks team. If you’re just over the line from Miami in any direction, call and we’ll get a live arrival time on your phone.
Serving Miami, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Miami 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 Miami
Yes, we rekey both. Original mortise locks from the 1920s through 1940s that are common in Coral Gables and Little Havana need hand-fit pin work, and our techs are trained on exactly that hardware. We don’t add a surprise mortise surcharge at the door. The quote we give you before dispatch already accounts for the cylinder type. Call (409) 405-4485 and describe your door, and we’ll give you an honest number.
A single rekey on one cylinder usually takes 15 to 25 minutes once the tech is at the door. A Miami condo with a front door, a deadbolt, and maybe an interior door or two typically takes 60 to 90 minutes total. Traffic in and around Brickell and Downtown can add to the arrival time, but that’s why we give you a live trackable arrival window, not a four-hour guess.
Only if the pins are cut for it. A standard rekey uses standard pins. If you want bump-resistant or pick-resistant pin stacks in your Kwikset or Schlage hardware in Miami, ask us before the job. We can install security pins during the rekey for an added per-cylinder cost, and the quote on the phone includes that line item.
Yes. Every Preston technician who shows up in Miami is background-checked and in uniform, and you’ll have already seen our live arrival tracking on your phone before the knock. The written quote we sent before dispatch matches the name and number on the person at your door. There’s no anonymous contractor showing up in a rental car.
Yes. If all keys are lost, we can pick or shim the cylinder open, then repin it to a new key. This is faster and cheaper than replacing the hardware in most Miami homes. The price we quote over the phone for a lost-key rekey is the same price on the invoice. Call (409) 405-4485 and we’ll walk you through the exact steps and cost before anyone is sent out.
If you need a rekey in Miami, call (409) 405-4485 now. A live person answers, asks about your locks, and gives you a written price before any dispatch. No call-out surcharge on arrival, no price changes between the quote and the invoice, and a 365-Day Done Right Promise stamped on every job.
Written by Kevin Yoon, Owner at Preston Locksmith & Security, serving Miami since 2008.