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 Mateo
Rekeying a lock in San Mateo typically costs $85 to $160 per cylinder, and a standard mixed-inventory job (front mortise lock plus two rear deadbolts, like the houses on North Idaho Street near Central Park) runs $200 to $380 complete. That’s the honest range our techs quote daily across San Mateo’s pre-war bungalows and 1980s tracts. We confirm the exact figure in writing before any tool leaves the bag, so the number you hear on the phone at (409) 405-4485 is the number on the invoice.
San Mateo’s housing stock isn’t uniform. A single block can hold a 1920s mortise lock, a builder-grade Kwikset knob, and an ANSI Grade 1 Schlage deadbolt. That matters for a rekey because each cylinder type takes a different pin kit and a different amount of time. Our Rekey Locks team works all of them in one visit, and we stage parts locally so we aren’t driving back to a warehouse while you wait.
We cover every San Mateo neighborhood: Baywood, Shoreview, North Central, Hayward Park, and the condo and duplex clusters off El Camino Real between 2nd and 25th. A live person answers 24/7, and once you’re on the calendar you get a live, trackable arrival time. Not a four-hour window. A time you can watch.
Why Preston Locksmith & Security Is San Mateo’s Preferred Rekey Locks Company
San Mateo homeowners call us for rekeys because the price is in writing before work starts and because the person at the door matches the photo we sent. Every tech is background-checked and arrives in uniform with a branded van. When a homeowner near Central Park checks the driveway, they see the same name that was on their estimate. That matters in a city where door-knock locksmith scams have left people wary of anyone holding a drill.
We’re founded in 2008 and independently owned and operated as part of the Relay Home Co. family. Kevin Yoon leads the team, and Kevin’s approach is simple: name the price, show the pins, hand over working keys, and stand behind the work. The 365-Day Done Right Promise is stamped on every repair. If the rekey fails or a cylinder walks out of spec, we return and fix it free. No charge for the second visit, no argument about who’s responsible.
Response time to San Mateo from our Bay Area office is typically 45 to 70 minutes for non-emergency rekeys, with appointment windows held to 30 minutes. We track arrival live via The Relay Visibility Guarantee, so you see the van moving toward your cross street, not a text that says “on the way” with no ETA.
We rekey locks in San Mateo against key control gaps. If a previous tenant kept a copy, we re-pin every cylinder that key touched. Not just the front knob. Every cylinder. That’s the difference between a rekey and a partial fix that leaves your back door open to someone’s old key.
Keyed Alike in San Mateo
Keyed Alike in San Mateo means every lock you want on one key gets re-pinned to the same biting, so a single key operates the front mortise lock, the rear deadbolt, and the side door into a utility room. We do this constantly in San Mateo because the typical house has three or four entry points spread across two lock generations. Cost for keyed alike work runs $85 to $160 per cylinder depending on whether the cylinder is standard pin and tumbler, high-security, or worn past spec.
Down on North Idaho Street near Central Park, a homeowner handed us three keys from a previous tenant and asked us to rekey two entry doors plus a rear deadbolt. Our tech pulled the lock cylinders, matched a Schlage pin and tumbler kit to the existing Kwikset knob and ANSI Grade 1 deadbolt, pinned them keyed alike, and re-seated the mortise lock on the front door. All keys were in hand and working in under an hour, no hardware replaced.
How We Pin Mixed Brands to One Key
The pin depths differ between a Kwikset KW1 keyway and a Schlage SC1 keyway. You can’t simply put the same blank in both. What you do is pin both cylinders to the same depths on their own keyways, then cut one side of a Kwikset blank and the other for Schlage. Or we supply one brand’s blank cut on a compatible profile. Either way, you carry one key. The last tenant’s key no longer works in any cylinder.
When San Mateo Renters and Landlords Need This
Every time a tenant turns over, every key that tenant ever copied still operates the locks unless the cylinders get re-pinned. Keyed alike on a duplex off El Camino runs $170 to $320 complete for two exterior doors and a rear deadbolt. Landlords in San Mateo do this between every lease. The alternative is a key control hole that a future tenant inherits.
Rekey Deadbolt in San Mateo
Rekey Deadbolt in San Mateo means pulling the cylinder from the deadbolt body, loading new bottom pins and springs per a fresh key, and re-installing the cylinder to factory spec. Price for a standard Schlage or Kwikset deadbolt runs $85 to $140 per cylinder. If the deadbolt is on a two-cylinder lock (keyed both sides), both sides get re-pinned, and the quote reflects both cylinders before we start.
On San Mateo’s 1920s and 1930s bungalows, the front entry often still carries the original mortise body with a deadbolt driven by a rim cylinder. We rekey those too, but the cylinder has to be pulled from the mortise lock, not unscrewed from the face of the door. It’s a different job on paper and in time. We tell you which type you have from photos before we dispatch, so the written price is accurate.
Deadbolt-Only Jobs
Some homeowners in San Mateo only need the deadbolt rekeyed because they removed a knob set and installed a keyless entry pad. That’s common in Shoreview and Baywood. We re-pin the deadbolt cylinder to a new key while the keypad stays on its own code. Cost stays in the $85 to $140 range, and we verify the deadbolt throw still seats fully after the cylinder goes back in.
Deadbolts Paired With Knobs
If the knob and deadbolt both use keys, both should be re-pinned in the same visit. A prior tenant’s key that only fits the knob is still a key that opens a lock. In San Mateo rental homes near Hillsdale, we see this gap weekly: deadbolt rekeyed, knob left on the old key. We never do that. Both cylinders get pinned on the same visit unless you tell us to leave one.
Trusted Brands We Service in San Mateo
We work on Schlage, Kwikset, Medeco, and Yale hardware daily in San Mateo, from standard residential deadbolts to Medeco high-security commercial cylinders on downtown storefronts. Our techs carry pin kits, blanks, and replacement springs for all four brands, plus Baldwin and Mul-T-Lock hardware when a San Mateo customer calls from an older custom home. We stock local parts so a rekey on a Schlage B60N deadbolt or an old Yale mortise cylinder doesn’t stall while someone orders a part from a distributor. If your lock is worn past spec, we’ll tell you and quote rekey plus cylinder replacement in the same written estimate, before any work begins.
Common Rekey Locks Problems We See in San Mateo Homes
- Mixed-inventory doors on a single block. One house near Central Park has a 1920s mortise lock on the front door, a builder-grade Kwikset knob on the side door, and an ANSI Grade 1 Schlage deadbolt on the rear. A one-brand quote can’t cover that. Our quote names each cylinder and its method.
- Old mortise locks seized by San Mateo’s marine air. The fog and damp that roll up from the Bay accelerate rust on rim cylinders and mortise bodies. We see seized tailpieces and frozen plug springs on pre-war entries throughout Hayward Park and Aragon. Freeing and re-seating that mortise lock is part of the rekey, not an extra line item.
- Worn W1 keyways on old Kwikset cylinders. A Kwikset cylinder with 15 years of daily use has a sloppy plug. It’ll re-pin and turn, but the key can pull out in the wrong position or the cylinder can fail again in months. We flag that before rekeying and give you the option to swap the cylinder same visit.
- Partial rekeys that leave the old key on one cylinder. A tenant’s discarded key still works a knob while the deadbolt got re-pinned. We re-pin every cylinder a previous key touched, on every visit, in every San Mateo zip. No partial rekey, ever.
Pricing for Rekey Locks in San Mateo, CA
A standard rekey in San Mateo runs $85 to $160 per cylinder for most Schlage and Kwikset hardware. A full three-cylinder mixed-inventory job, the kind we do most weeks in San Mateo’s older neighborhoods, typically lands between $200 and $380. Medeco or high-security cylinders run $25 to $45 more per cylinder because the pinned components and labor are different.
What changes the price? Mortise lock re-seating takes longer than a tubular knob cylinder. A two-cylinder deadbolt is two cylinders, not one. A worn Kwikset plug that needs replacement adds the cost of a new cylinder. But the number we quote on the phone is the number on your invoice. The Relay Visibility Guarantee makes that a contract, not a hope. There’s no “surge” fee, no diagnostic charge that appears on arrival, and no call-out surcharge added when the tech gets out of the van. Call (409) 405-4485 for a written quote before we dispatch anyone. Estimates are free.
We Also Serve Cities Near San Mateo
Our Rekey Locks in San Mateo service extends to nearby cities where housing stock and lock types closely match what we see in San Mateo. We rekey locks regularly in Burlingame, Belmont, Millbrae, and San Carlos, with the same written pricing and live arrival tracking. If you’re just over the border in any of those cities, we still quote the full price on the phone before anyone heads your way.
Serving San Mateo, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Mateo 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 Mateo
Yes. We re-pin the existing cylinders so the old key stops working, without replacing any hardware. That’s exactly what a rekey does. For a duplex off El Camino with one front entry and one rear door, expect $170 to $320 for both cylinders re-pinned to new keys. We’ll ask for photos before dispatch so the quote names the actual lock types. Call (409) 405-4485 for an exact figure, free.
Typically 45 to 75 minutes on-site in San Mateo. The mortise lock takes the longest because the cylinder has to be pulled from the lock body, pinned, and re-seated so the deadbolt throw still seats fully. Two rear deadbolts add 15 to 20 minutes each. If all three cylinders re-pin without surprises, the job is done inside 75 minutes. Call (409) 405-4485 and we’ll tell you the full price before we dispatch.
Rekeying a standard Schlage or Kwikset deadbolt in San Mateo runs $85 to $140 per cylinder, and yes, we tell you the full price before we come out. That’s not a teaser. The written estimate names each cylinder, its type, and the total. That’s the price on the invoice. Call (409) 405-4485 and you’ll have a fixed number before anyone gets in a van.
Yes. We pin both cylinders to the same key depths on their respective keyways, then cut a key that works both. It’s standard keyed-alike work in San Mateo, where mixed Kwikset and Schlage hardware on one house is normal. Cost stays within the $85 to $160 per cylinder range, and the quote covers both cylinders before we start. Call (409) 405-4485 for your house’s exact number.
Before the tech arrives, you get a photo, a name, and a live trackable arrival time via The Relay Visibility Guarantee. The uniform matches the photo. The van matches the branding. When the tech knocks, you already know what they look like and what time they were scheduled to arrive. In San Mateo, that’s the standard we hold on every job. Call (409) 405-4485 and you’ll see it from the first phone call to the digital invoice.
Get Your San Mateo Rekey Priced Before We Dispatch
If a previous tenant, an ex, a cleaner, or a contractor once held a key to your place, rekey the cylinders. The price is in writing before we leave, the tech is trackable on the way, and the work is backed by the 365-Day Done Right Promise. Call (409) 405-4485, talk to a live person, and get a real number for your locks in San Mateo. Then take a look at the van when it pulls up. It’ll be us.
Written by Kevin Yoon, Owner at Preston Locksmith & Security, serving San Mateo.