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 Sunnyvale
Rekeying a lock in Sunnyvale typically costs $25 – $45 per cylinder for standard Kwikset and Schlage hardware, and most apartment or townhome jobs wrap up in 20 to 40 minutes. The written price you get on the phone is the price on the invoice, and we confirm it before any tech is dispatched. If you’re on El Camino Real, near downtown, or tucked into a complex off Lawrence Expressway, we can usually have a tech at your door within the hour. Call (409) 405-4485 and a live person picks up, 24/7.
Kevin Yoon and the Rekey Locks crew know Sunnyvale’s housing stock well. That matters, because a 1980s townhome on Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road has different locks than a newer build near the Apple Park campus. We stock parts for both, and we tell you the real cost before we load the van.
Why Preston Locksmith & Security Is Sunnyvale’s Preferred Rekey Locks Company
Sunnyvale homeowners and property managers call us because the price is already in writing before a tech leaves our Bay Area office, and the tech shows up in uniform, background-checked, with an arrival time you can track live. That’s The Relay Visibility Guarantee, and it removes the two things Sunnyvale residents hate most about booking a locksmith: vague hourly rates and a four-hour waiting window.
Kevin Yoon has been in the trade since 2008 and he built our process around a simple rule: if the work isn’t done right, we fix it free. Every rekey gets the 365-Day Done Right Promise, a written guarantee, and a free second visit if anything fails within the year. No deduction games, no arguing over whether the loose cylinder was “pre-existing.”
For Sunnyvale property managers running multiple units near Murphy Avenue or Wolfe Road, we schedule rekeys in batches and hand over a single written scope per building. You know exactly what each unit costs before we touch the first lock.
Locksmith Rekey in Sunnyvale
Locksmith Rekey in Sunnyvale means swapping the internal pins inside your existing lock cylinder so the old keys stop working, without replacing any hardware. It’s faster and usually cheaper than buying new locks, and it leaves the door’s exterior finish untouched. In a city where so many apartment and condo entries use matching builder hardware, this is the go-to move after a tenant turnover, a rough roommate split, or a lost key that could be anywhere between Fair Oaks and the Caltrain station.
A standard Locksmith Rekey (one knob or deadbolt cylinder) runs $25 – $45. High-security cylinders from Medeco or Mul-T-Lock run $60 – $90 per cylinder because the pins and tooling cost more. If you have a knob-plus-deadbolt pair that shares one key, we rekey both to a fresh key for $45 – $80 total. You’ll get a key count in writing before work starts.
Apartment and Townhome Entries
Sunnyvale’s complexes along El Camino Real and the Lawrence Expressway corridor skew to 1970s – 1990s build dates. Many units have a Kwikset or Schlage entry knob paired with a single-cylinder deadbolt on the same key. When we rekey, we do both. It’s not an upsell; it’s the only way the job actually secures the unit. Leaving the second cylinder on the old key defeats the whole point.
Mortise Locks and Older Hardware
Older buildings near downtown Sunnyvale sometimes have mortise-style locksets rather than modern bored cylinders. We rekey those too, but the job involves a compact style of pins and takes a little longer, usually 45 minutes to an hour. Same written price promise applies, confirmed before the tech heads your way.
Rekey Door Lock in Sunnyvale
Rekey Door Lock service in Sunnyvale covers exactly what it sounds like: we change the pinning inside the lock on your door so all existing keys become junk. You keep the same exterior hardware, the same keyhole, and the same finish. This is the most common request we get from renters and owners in the city’s central neighborhoods, from Heritage District bungalows to the townhome rows off Remington Drive.
The job usually takes 20 – 30 minutes for a standard door, assuming the lock is in working shape. If the cylinder is rusted or the tailpiece is failing, that’s a separate repair and we’ll show you the issue and quote it in writing before touching it. No “discovered fees” halfway through.
After a Move-In or Move-Out
Every year we get a wave of Sunnyvale rekey calls in August and September when lease cycles turn. New tenant, new key, no exceptions. Property owners along Mathilda Avenue and in complexes near Highway 237 call to schedule the days before turnover, and we rekey unit after unit on one trip.
Keyed-Alike Simplification
If you own a few units and want one key to open the common laundry, the gate, and the unit door, we can key locks alike so a single cut works everywhere. We do this for small Sunnyvale landlords who manage four to ten doors and don’t want a keychain the size of a banana.
Trusted Brands We Service in Sunnyvale
We work on Schlage, Kwikset, Medeco, and Yale hardware every week in Sunnyvale, from builder-grade entry knobs to high-security commercial cylinders. Parts for Schlage and Kwikset are on the van. Medeco and Yale cylinder parts are stocked at our Bay Area shop so we can usually complete the rekey same day. We are trained on all four brands and can tell you honestly whether a worn cylinder should be rekeyed or replaced, instead of just selling you the bigger ticket.
Common Rekey Locks Problems We See in Sunnyvale Homes
- Key-alike neighbor doors in older complexes. Much of Sunnyvale’s rental stock was built between the 1970s and 1990s, and builder-grade Kwikset and Schlage keyways were installed in huge repetitive runs. We regularly hear “my key opens my neighbor’s door” from tenants along El Camino Real and near downtown. The fix is rekeying to fresh, unique pins, and it takes about half an hour per door.
- Subletters and former roommates still holding keys. Sunnyvale’s tech job market means lots of short-term sublets and fast roommate changes. The person who moved out four months ago may still have a copy. We rekey and hand you fresh keys, and after that the old key physically cannot turn the cylinder.
- Rekeying only one lock on a two-lock entry. In complexes where the entry has a knob plus a deadbolt, we have seen techs from other companies rekey just one and leave the other on the old key. We rekey both. It’s not an add-on. It’s the job.
- A lock that works fine but should be rekeyed anyway after a lost key. A lost key somewhere between Sunnyvale Public Library and the Caltrain platform is not a reason to replace a perfectly good lock. A rekey costs a fraction of new hardware and achieves the same security result: the lost key no longer works.
Pricing for Rekey Locks in Sunnyvale, CA
Expect to pay $25 – $45 per cylinder for standard Schlage or Kwikset rekeying in Sunnyvale, and $60 – $90 per high-security cylinder for Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, or Yale commercial cores. A standard two-lock entry (knob plus deadbolt) lands between $45 and $80 to put both on one fresh key. If you want multiple locks keyed alike, we quote a flat per-lock price in writing before dispatch, and that’s the number on the invoice.
There is no call-out surcharge tacked on when we arrive and no “starting at” teaser that turns into a bigger bill on your doorstep. Kevin Yoon insists on giving you the full price on the phone, every time. Call (409) 405-4485 for a free estimate.
We Also Serve Cities Near Sunnyvale
Our Sunnyvale crews regularly run rekey jobs in Mountain View, Santa Clara, Cupertino, and Los Altos, usually within the same day. If you’re a landlord with units in two or three of these cities, one call books the whole route. See Rekey Locks in Sunnyvale for the local service area details, or call and a live person will route you fast.
Serving Sunnyvale, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Sunnyvale 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 Sunnyvale
For a standard Kwikset or Schlage knob or deadbolt, 20 to 30 minutes. A two-lock entry takes about 40 minutes. Mortise-style locks in older downtown buildings can take up to an hour. We live-track your tech’s arrival so you’re not waiting in a four-hour window. Call (409) 405-4485 and ask for a current Snow White route estimate.
Yes, rekeying changes only the internal pins. The housing, keyhole, and finish stay exactly as they are. If a cylinder is genuinely worn out, we’ll show you the slop and quote a replacement in writing, but we don’t push new hardware when a rekey will do the job. The written scope before work starts names what’s being serviced, what’s being replaced (if anything), and the line-item price.
Yes, and it’s common in older Sunnyvale apartment stock where builder-grade locks were keyed alike in large production runs. A rekey cuts the shared-key issue at the root: fresh pins, new keys, old keys dead. We see this regularly in complexes along El Camino and near Lawrence Expressway, and it takes about half an hour per cylinder to fix.
Every Preston Locksmith & Security tech arrives in uniform, is background-checked, and carries company ID. The Relay Visibility Guarantee gives you a live-trackable arrival time before the visit, and you’ll see a match between the name on the booking and the person at the door. Before-and-after photos of the work go into your digital invoice. No anonymous freelancers.
Non-destructive entry (picking or bypassing a lock without drilling) is a separate locksmith service from rekeying, but our Sunnyvale techs can do both on the same visit. If you’re locked out and want the lock rekeyed once you’re inside, we handle the full sequence: open, rekey, fresh keys, written invoice. Confirm both on the phone first and we’ll quote the combined price in writing.
Written by Kevin Yoon, Owner at Preston Locksmith & Security, serving Sunnyvale since 2008.






