Lock Rekeying in Redwood City
New pins in the locks you already own so the old keys stop turning, $25 to $41 per cylinder, the $89 visit already in the total.
$25–$41 per cylinder
Typical price
21 min
Avg. arrival
24/7
Availability
Rekeying is the answer when the locks are sound and a key is loose somewhere. Redwood City produces that condition steadily. A house in Woodside Plaza changes hands and the buyers have no idea how many copies the previous family cut. A downtown flat near Courthouse Square turns over between tenants. A Redwood Shores townhome comes back from a corporate lease. A cleaner is let go and the key was not returned. Sequoia Lock & Key repins the cylinders already on your doors so the old keys stop turning and the hardware looks as it did.
The lock stays yours; only the pins inside it change. Each cylinder is taken off the door and carried to the van, where the plug is drawn out, the old pin stacks are discarded, and new stacks are loaded to match a key cut on the spot. The Kwikset and Schlage cylinders in the Shores and the newer downtown buildings take a few minutes each. The mortise cylinders on the 1920s houses west of El Camino can be repinned too, as long as the plug still turns freely; if it drags, you are told before anything comes apart. Mailbox locks come with fixed keys and are exchanged rather than repinned. When the doors go back together, your old keys are tried in each one so you can see for yourself that they no longer turn.
Rekeying is $25 to $41 per cylinder. A house with four cylinders comes to $100 to $164. A one-bedroom with a deadbolt and a knob is $50 to $82. The $89 service call is inside the total, not on top of it, and it is also the floor: two cylinders at $25 is $50, so that visit reads $89 and nothing more. Cylinders in different keyways that cannot share a key are named before work starts, with the cost of swapping the odd one quoted under lock replacement.
Tell us the doors, or send a photograph of each lock face if you would rather not count. Hear the per-cylinder figure and the total read back on the same call. Watch it done: the count checked, the pinning, the key cutting, old and new keys tried on every door. Pay what was read, card or tap. Property managers and HOAs receive a receipt listing each unit and each door, which is what a turnover file wants.
“Our 1926 house has the original mortise lock and I managed to shut the door with the only working key on the kitchen table. The call gave me $139 and a text with a name arrived while I was still standing on the porch. The technician had the door open in a few minutes with the brass untouched, then showed me how the old key was worn and why it had started sticking. $139 on the card, receipt in my email before he reached the van.”
Every job is priced from the list below. The figure is settled on the call, before the van turns its own key, and the receipt shows the same figure.
- Daytime (7am–8pm)standard rates
- Evening (8pm–12am)+$50
- Overnight (12am–7am)+$85
FAQ
Lock Rekeying: quick answers
Our Redwood Shores building has a master key for the HOA. Does rekeying my unit break it?+
It does not have to. The technician repins your cylinder around the existing master pins, so your new key opens your door and the association's key still works for maintenance. Check the CC&Rs first, since some boards want notice, and the receipt can be written to the management company.
A roommate left and kept the key. Whole flat or one door?+
Every door that key opened, which in most flats means the front door and perhaps a deadbolt above it. A mailbox or a storage cage on the same key is an extra item. The whole visit takes well under an hour and usually reads the $89 floor.
Rekey or replace on a 1930 house in Centennial with the original mortise set?+
Rekey, if the plug turns without catching; those cylinders were well made and take new pins readily. If ninety years of keys have worn the plug out of round, a new key will bind, and replacing the cylinder is the honest answer. The technician tells you which at the door and does the second only with your yes.
Related
More residential services
24/7 — nights, weekends & holidays
One call, one figure, settled before the van turns the key
Calls answered 24/7 for Redwood City and the towns beside it. One figure for the visit, the labor and the parts, with the $89 service call inside it, and a receipt that matches it line for line.