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 San Francisco
Rekeying a lock in San Francisco typically costs $25 to $45 per cylinder for standard Kwikset or Schlage hardware, and a written price is confirmed before we dispatch anyone. On older Victorian and Edwardian locks with rim cylinders, you’re usually looking at $35 to $65 per cylinder because the internal pins are older and often need more cleaning. Call (409) 405-4485, tell us what you have, and the number we quote on the phone is the number on the invoice. No dispatch fee, no arrival surprise.
Why Preston Locksmith & Security Is San Francisco’s Preferred Rekey Locks Company
We’ve rekeyed locks from the Outer Sunset to Bayview-Hunters Point, and the work is the same whether it’s a 1906 flat off Valencia or a 2010 condo in Mission Bay. Our Rekey Locks team is background-checked, uniformed, and shows up with a live arrival time you can track from your phone. You’ll get before-and-after photos of the cylinder and the keyway, plus a written guarantee on every job. If the rekey fails within 365 days, we come back and fix it free under our 365-Day Done Right Promise.
Kevin Yoon leads the crew that handles San Francisco rekey calls. He has trained our technicians to work on mortise locks, rim cylinders, smart deadbolts, and everything in between. When you book with us, you aren’t handed off to a call center or a subcontractor who sublets the job. The price you get on the phone is the price you pay when the work is done, and that’s stated in writing before any tool comes out of the bag.
Lock Rekey in San Francisco
Lock Rekey in San Francisco means pulling the cylinder, swapping the internal pins to a new key configuration, and putting the same hardware back on the door. You keep your existing deadbolt and handleset, but every old key stops working. It’s the right call after a tenant moves out, a roommate leaves, a contractor finishes a remodel, or a set of keys goes missing somewhere between the BART station and your front door.
What Gets Repinned
We rekey the cylinder itself, not the whole lock. On a Schlage deadbolt or a Kwikset entry knob, the cylinder slides out and takes a new set of pins cut to match your new key. The lock body, strike plate, and handles stay exactly where they are. The process takes about 10 to 15 minutes per cylinder once the lock is open and accessible.
Old Mortise Locks Need a Different Hand
San Francisco’s older flats in the Richmond and Noe Valley often have mortise lock bodies with separate rim cylinders. These are heavier than modern deadbolts and the cylinders sit behind a faceplate that may have been painted over fifteen times. We free the set screw, pull the cylinder, repin the pin and tumbler stack, and reinstall it without replacing the century-old lock body. The door keeps its character; the keys change.
Locksmith Rekey in San Francisco
Locksmith Rekey in San Francisco is the same physical job, done by a licensed locksmith instead of a handyman with a rekey kit. The difference matters on old hardware. Someone who has rekeyed two hundred Kwikset knobs may not know how to handle a San Francisco Medeco service call on an Excelsior District storefront or a rim cylinder on a painted-over Victorian. We do, and the price is still in writing before we touch the first tool.
Smart Lock Rekeying
Keypad and smart deadbolts still have a physical keyway for backup entry. We can rekey that keyway on Schlage Encode, Kwikset Halo, and similar units, or swap the cylinder if the smart lock uses a modular design. You keep the app pairing, the keypad codes, and the motor. Only the physical key changes. Figure $35 to $55 for the keyway rekey on a smart deadbolt in San Francisco.
Confirm the Keyway Before You Cut
Some San Francisco buildings run a master key system, especially older apartment buildings in the Tenderloin and Nob Hill. If we repin the cylinder without checking for a master wafer system, the building manager’s key still works. That’s a security hole. We check for master pins as part of every rekey, and we’ll tell you if your cylinder was cut to a building-owned keyway before we do anything.
Trusted Brands We Service in San Francisco
We stock pins, cylinders, and tailpieces for Schlage, Kwikset, and Medeco hardware, which covers most of what you’ll find in San Francisco homes and small businesses through our our Residential Locksmith in San Francisco team. Abloy cylinders show up on higher-end doors in Pacific Heights and on some commercial storefronts in SoMa, and we service those too. Because we carry parts locally, most rekeys happen same-day without waiting on an order from a distributor. If your lock uses an uncommon keyway, we’ll tell you before you pay anything.
Common Rekey Locks Problems We See in San Francisco Homes
- Painted-over cylinders on Victorian doors. A rim cylinder sitting behind a century of landlord paint jobs won’t turn freely. We free the set screw and clean the cylinder face before any repinning happens. Skip that step and the new key binds in the keyway.
- Old mortise locks with seized set screws. In damp fog-belt neighborhoods like the Sunset and Richmond, brass set screws corrode inside the lock body. A little heat, a little penetrating oil, and the cylinder comes out without stripping the screw head. It adds ten minutes, not a new lock.
- Master key systems that nobody told the new owner about. If your building in the Mission still operates a master key, a standard rekey leaves the old master key working. We check for master wafers on every cylinder, and we’ll tell you what that means before we cut a new key.
- Keys copied at hardware stores that never worked right. In Bernal Heights, a tenant on Cortland Avenue handed us a Kwikset key that had been copied at a big-box store, and the old tenant’s key still worked. We pulled the lock cylinder, repinned the pin and tumbler stack to a fresh key control set, and reinstalled the existing deadbolt. She had working keys the same visit, and no hardware was replaced.
Pricing for Rekey Locks in San Francisco, CA
A standard deadbolt or entry knob rekey in San Francisco runs $25 to $45 per cylinder. Rim cylinders on old mortise locks run $35 to $65 each because they take longer to free and clean. Smart lock keyway rekeys run $35 to $55. If you need multiple locks keyed alike, the first cylinder is the highest price and each additional cylinder drops by a few dollars. The price we quote on the phone is the full price on your invoice, written down before we dispatch. Call (409) 405-4485 for an exact quote. We won’t give you a teaser number and then inflate it on arrival.
We Also Serve Cities Near San Francisco
We handle rekey work in San Francisco and the surrounding cities, including Daly City, Brisbane, Sausalito, and South San Francisco. If you own property in San Francisco but live in one of those cities, we can meet you at the property and rekey everything the same afternoon.
Serving San Francisco, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Francisco 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 San Francisco
Yes, and that’s the standard job for old San Francisco mortise locks. We free the rim cylinder, pull it out, repin the pin and tumbler stack to your new key, and slide it back into the existing lock body. No new hardware goes on the door. If the cylinder is too corroded to repin, we’ll show you the exact replacement cost before swapping it. Call (409) 405-4485 and describe the lock.
Almost always. Rekeying a cylinder costs $25 to $65 in San Francisco. Replacing a deadbolt with hardware and labor usually runs $85 to $200 or more, especially on old doors that need the faceplate routed or the strike adjusted. Unless the lock itself is failing, rekey it and keep the original hardware. The 365-Day Done Right Promise covers the work either way.
Yes, every key cut to the old pin configuration stops working the moment we repin the cylinder. What a rekey can’t stop is a tenant who swapped the lock before they left, or a key that was copied to a different lock on the same keyway. That’s why we check for master key systems and confirm the keyway before we quote. If someone had a Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, or Abloy key, count on needing the original card to cut new keys. Call (409) 405-4485 and we’ll walk you through what we need.
We rekey the physical backup keyway without touching your app, keypad codes, or motor. The lock keeps its electronic programming and the physical key changes. On a Schlage Encode or Kwikset Halo in a San Francisco condo, that’s usually a $35 to $55 job and takes under 20 minutes. If your smart deadbolt uses a non-standard keyway, we’ll confirm parts availability before we schedule. Call (409) 405-4485 for a firm price.
Yes. You get a written price over the phone or by text before anyone is dispatched. That’s the price on the invoice, and there’s no call-out surcharge added when the technician arrives. It’s part of The Relay Visibility Guarantee: a written price before work starts, a live trackable arrival time, before-and-after photos, and a written guarantee on every repair. Call (409) 405-4485 and you’ll have a number in under five minutes.
Call Preston Locksmith & Security for Rekey Locks in San Francisco
Tell us what lock you have, how many doors you need rekeyed, and whether any keys are missing. We’ll give you a flat price over the phone, a live arrival window you can track, and the name of the technician coming to your door. The price is written, the guarantee is written, and the work is done right the first time. Call (409) 405-4485 now.
Written by Kevin Yoon, Owner at Preston Locksmith & Security, serving San Francisco since 2008.