Last Updated on November 18, 2022
Cost to Rekey A Home
Just bought a home? Just tossed your roommate? Fired your cleaning crew or no longer need that house sitter? It’s time to rekey your locks! How much is a rekey? This post will give you the information you need to understand the rekeying process, and the costs associated with it.
Most homeowner decide to have locksmith out on site to do the work so that they don’t need to remove and replace the locks themselves.
The cost to rekey a house with 3-doors is from $200-$250. This cost includes a service call and the cost to remove the locks, rekey the lock cylinders, and reinstall. The cost to rekey your house will fluctuate depending on the total number of lock cylinders (i.e. keyholes) that are being rekeyed. Homes location (i.e. city and state) may also impact cost due to cost of living differences.
For the cost of other common services, see our article, “How Much Does a Locksmith Cost.”
To reduce the cost of a home rekey, as the table “Cost to Rekey a Home” below shows, you can take the house locks into a local lock shop. This drops the rekey price down to about $13 per lock cylinder (per keyhole). Bringing your locks to a lock shop is the most affordable way to rekey a home.
So bringing those same house locks into a lock shop for rekeying would be just around $78. If you are able, you will save money by taking your locks to a local locksmith shop
The table below provides detailed pricing. We arrived at that price this way. The national average price of a service call is $90-125 and average cost to rekey a lock cylinder is $25 per cylinder (keyhole). The most common number of keyholes in a home is six, as most homes have three doors with each door having two keyholes.
Follow the links in our table below for details on the price break down and any other charges that may apply. Thee prices shown in the table are based on national averages. If you live in my state, it cost less to rekey your Arizona home as we are priced lower than the national average.
Cost to Rekey a House
| Rekey Service Provided | *Rekey Cost Per Cylinder (Keyhole) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to Rekey Locks in a Lock Shop | $ 13 | |
| Cost to Rekey Locks at Your House | $ 25 | |
| Cost of Trip Charge | $ 90-125 | |
| Cost for Mailbox Key in a Lock Shop | $ 20 | |
| Cost for Mailbox Key at House | $ 40 | |
| Rekey Surcharge if No Current Keys are available | $ 8 | |
| Rekeying Kwikset Smartkey Locks | $0-$30 | |
| Cost to Rekey Padlock | Same as Lock Rekey | |
Why Should I Rekey My Locks
Rekeying a lock makes sure that any existing key copies will no longer open the lock and you will have the only working key.
Rekey vs Changing Locks - Which Costs Less?
In almost all cases, rekeying cost less than replacing the locks. We tell you why and when it makes sense to replace the locks.
How Much does it Cost to Rekey a Lock
Rekeying can cost from $10 to $40 per lock. Cost depends on where you have the rekey done (in a lock shop or at your home) and how many cylinders (keyholes) the lock has. We'll dive into the cost differences.
Can I Rekey My Own Locks?
Yes, in some cases. The Kwikset Smart key product can be easily rekeyed by anyone, but there are some thigs you must have in order to do it.
*This article uses cost numbers from a nationwide locksmith pricing survey conducted in 2022 that has been adjusted for inflation to get the cost of a rekey in 2022. If you live in a city with a high cost of living, your cost may be slightly higher. For those living in a low-cost city, cost will be a little bit less.
The Cost to Rekey a Home in Arizona
A home rekey in Phoenix, AZ will run about 5% less than the above prices. If you are in the Phoenix Arizona market, you can schedule your rekey with ACME online.
Is it Cheaper to Rekey or Replace Locks?
When you want to protect your home from anyone that may have an existing key copy, you can rekey the locks so that they work with a new key. You DO NOT need to replace the door hardware. But, how much is a rekey? Is it cheaper to buy new home locks?
It is always cheaper to rekey a lock than to replace it. Depending on the door hardware, you can save up to 10X by rekeying the lock rather than buying a new one. The savings can be substantial as the number of locks increases. You will get the biggest savings when you can bring your locks into a locksmith shop near you.
Cost Savings When Locks are Taken to a Locksmith Shop?
When it’s possible, the least expensive rekeying option is to bring the locks into a lock shop.
Will Home Depot rekey locks? Sometimes, but only if you are buying new locks through them (they will rekey them to match one key). A locksmith will rekey locks you bring to the for much less than the cost of a new lock.
The main price differences between having a locksmith out to your home to rekey and bringing the locks to a lock shop occur because:
- You’ll save the trip charge (the cost associated with getting a locksmith to your location), and
- The rekey will be a little less expensive, because you will be doing the removal and reinstall of the hardware.
Locksmith Pro Tip: When in doubt, take pictures at each step when removing the lock body from the door – this will help you replace the hardware properly!
Taking your locks into a locksmith shop for rekeying is a great low-cost option available to you if you:
- Only have one or 2 locks on a single door and
- Can have someone who can watch the home while you’re at the locksmiths having the work done and
- Feel comfortable with removing and replacing the hardware yourself.
The cost to rekey a house lock cost about $13 per lock cylinder when brought to a lock shop with the existing key. You save money when brought into a shop because you are providing the labor to remove and replace the lock on the door.
A ‘cylinder’ is where a key goes into a the lock – so each keyhole you have will need to be changed and incur this cost. Some locks have 2 cylinders – a key on each side, and some instead have a thumb turn and only one cylinder. Rekeying is priced by cylinder, and not by locks, so keep this in mind – just count the number of keyholes.
If you don’t have the existing key, the locks can still be rekeyed but it will cost slightly more as it will take longer to perform the rekey. Expect around $8 additional.
Locksmith Pro Tip: If you are rekeying because you bought the home and you are taking your locks into a locksmith shop, be sure to check out our article Cheap and Easy Ways to Boost Your New Home’s Security.
Cost Saving When a Locksmith Goes to Your Home
For larger jobs with more doors and cylinders to be changed (or if you just aren’t comfortable or willing to do a little of the work), it will be worth your time and money to hire a locksmith to come out to your location.
If you have a locksmith come out to your home, you start to save money at roughly 4 locks. That is, you will need to have at least 4 locks rekeys before it is cheaper to rekey than to replace. However, you do have the added value of having a local locksmith take care of everything and ensuring everything is functioning properly even if the price is comparable. After 4 locks, it’s less expensive to rekey the home.
The cost of a trip charge to get a locksmith to your home to perform the rekey will be around $90-125, depending on where you live. The cost to rekey each lock at your location will be about $25 per cylinder, plus the trip charge. It is more expensive to rekey a lock at your location because the locksmith is doing the removal and replacement of the hardware.
Arizona Locksmiths charge 5% less than the national average as our cost of living is lower than many other states.
There are also some circumstances when the costs will be a little higher. For instance, if you don’t have a working key for a door lock, all is not lost – locksmiths can still rekey them, but they will have to pick the lock open in order to pull the cylinder. When you don’t have the current key the cost to rekey the lock will have a surcharge of about $8.
House Rekey Cost Variables
You may also have specialty hardware if you live in an upscale home; things like profile cylinders (which take a longer time to rekey due to how they are built) or some homes have complex 3 – point lock systems that are a bit more time consuming in getting the cylinders out for a rekey.
You may have a high security lock system in place. If you have high-security locks in the home, you will know it. The keys won’t look like any other you have ever had. These lock systems often have more internal moving parts which are retooled in the rekey, and the keys themselves are usually more expensive. These are great for security, but the trade-off is a higher price for the key blanks.
Each of these scenarios will add a moderate cost increase to your rekey, but most homes we go out to have the most common brands (Schlage, Kwikset, Yale, Baldwin are all popular), and these are fairly standard at the basic prices we’ve listed above.
Rekeying a Kwikset Smartkey Lock – Special Case
One other note – newer Kwikset residential products (and, by licensing agreement, some newer Baldwin products) have a different kind of cylinder system using wafer technology instead of pins, called a ‘SmartKey’. You can recognize this by the addition of a second small hole next to the keyhole.
One of the added benefits to this system is that the home owner can rekey their own Smartkey locks for $0 (so long as you still have the current working key, and a small tool provided by Kwikset).
Instructions for how to rekey SmartKey locks and Smartkey Rekey Kits are available on our website .
However, if you have a Kwikset Smartkey lock without the existing key it is very labor intensive to rekey the lock. It requires a special reset cradle and a lot of time. In some cases, it’s less to just replace this lock if you don’t have the keys. To rekey a Kwikset Smartkey lock rekeyed without the existing key, you can expect to pay about $30.
The Cost to Rekey Other Common Locks Around the Home
Padlocks by a number of manufacturers like Master Lock, American Lock, and ABUS can also come in rekeyable keyways. If you buy, or have the right product, these can be rekeyed to match your house key. These are great when you don’t want to track additional keys, such as with a side gate or shed.
You can pick up a rekeyable ABUS padlock on Amazon for a great price. Just order the keyway that matches your house key. Take it into you local locksmith shop and they will rekey it to match your house key. Or, even better, support your local locksmith and they will get you all set with a padlock that works with your home key in one stop.
The cost to rekey padlocks is usually the same as any other lock cylinder. Your local locksmith shop can help you get the right padlock or rekey an existing one.
The Cost to Rekey Mailbox Locks:
Many community mailbox banks have locks that are the responsibility of the home owner (you can verify if this is the case with your local post office). These locks typically aren’t made to be rekeyed, but they can be replaced easily enough.
While a locksmith is at your house performing a rekey, have them rekey the mailbox too. The cost (lock and labor) to rekey/replace mailbox lock is around $40. Plus the trip charge if the locksmith is not already out onsite.
For this price the locksmith will drill out the mailbox lock (when you don’t have a key) and replace the lock with a new lock. If you can get the postman to open the box for you, just remove the lock and take it into a local locksmith shop. They will have the replacement lock on hand. It is best to bring them the lock because there are a few types and the locksmith will want to match it.
In some communities, however, there may be proprietary locks which may not be able to be addressed with a locksmith (you would go instead to a home or community association or the post office to address these).
More of Our Favorite Security Products
See our Amazon Store for Videos and Links to All of Our Favorite Security Products.
Door Armor: Reinforce your doors. This video on YouTube shows the installation of Door Armor, and you can buy the product direct from Door Armor at a great price.
Video Doorbells: This video doorbell offers great images and video and has NO monthly video storage fees. Watch our SkyBell Video Doorbell Review on YouTube and buy it on Amazon.
Smart Locks: Access Your Locks via Smart Phone. You’ll find some of our favorite smart locks that allow you to control home access and monitor entry in our Amazon Smart Lock Shop. Watch our Smart Lock Comparison Video on YouTube fore reviews of the most popular Smart Locks.
High Security Safes: When you want a safe that is designed to protect the valuable you put inside, you want a high security safe found on ACME Locksmith’s Safes for Sale website.
Sliding Glass Door Lock: The best arcadia door lock that stops your sliding glass door from being lifted out of it’s tracks and to prevent little ones from opening the door and leaving the home. Check out the video on YouTube and Buy it on our website.
Disclosure: As an eBay / Amazon Associate I may earn from qualifying purchases.
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FAQs
How Much Does it Cost to Rekey a House? ›
Costs of rekeying can vary for the
Rekeying your lock is almost always cheaper than replacing a lock. This is because of the cheaper price of the key pins inside the locks, whereas when you replace a lock, you are paying for all brand-new parts.
Will Home Depot rekey for free? ›All home store will key new locks the same with the purchase of a lock for free. So if your one deadbolt is cooked, buy a new one and have the others keyed the same.
How much does a locksmith charge to change locks? ›Installation and Labor
Expect most of your budget to go toward installation fees. According to HomeAdvisor, a professional locksmith charges an hourly fee between $50 and $100 to change a lock, or $75 per hour on average.
- Remove the Exterior Knob. Insert the key and turn it a quarter-turn to the right. ...
- Remove the Cylinder Lock From the Knob. ...
- Push the Clip Ring Off. ...
- Remove the Key Plug From the Key Housing. ...
- Remove the Old Pins. ...
- Insert the New Key. ...
- Insert the New Pins. ...
- Insert the Key Plug Into the Housing.
Rekeying a lock generally takes about 15 minutes, but this depends on the type of lock as well as the skills of the person working on it. The most time-consuming part of the process is removing the lock from the door – the actual rekeying is much simpler. If it's simple, should you rekey your lock yourself?
What are the benefits of rekeying your locks? ›The main benefit of rekeying is improved security. It's faster and less expensive than replacing all the locks in your home or business – but the effect is just the same. Certainly, if you have numerous locks to replace, then rekeying is going to be a much more cost-effective option than changing all the locks.
Can Ace Hardware rekey locks? ›Do you have too many keys to get into your house? For $10.00 each, our qualified staff will rekey your Schlage, Kwikset, or Ace brand doorknob or deadbolt. If you have a newer Kwikset lock it may use SmartKey technology, which makes re-keying quick and easy. We'll gladly show you how to rekey those locks for free!
What exactly do you mean by rekeying? ›: to provide (something) with a new key. rekeyed the house/room/door. You can take your lock and key to a locksmith and have them rekey it, making it unique. CNN Wire.
How much does it cost to rekey a Kwikset lock? ›In general, prices average between $20 and $50 for a single lock and can cost up to $130 for a house. However, if you call a locksmith out on an emergency you can expect it to cost an extra $100 to $150. If you need to rekey your vehicle the price ranges from $75 to $180 for most locksmith companies.
Can I rekey my own locks? ›
If you're in a pinch, it's relatively easy to rekey your door locks on your own. The easiest method is to purchase a rekey kit, including pins, keys, and various other tools. Rekey kits typically cost $10 to $25 each. However, don't buy the first rekey kit you find on the hardware store shelf.
Should you change locks after buying house? ›When you move into a new home, you should change the locks on your house. You have no idea how many copies of the house keys are floating around out there from the previous homeowners, so changing the locks will keep your new house more secure. Tom recommends changing the locks whenever a new home is purchased.
How much does a deadbolt cost? ›Prices for deadbolt locks are typically between $25 to $300 depending on the the quality. Deadbolt installation typically costs between $75 to $400, depending on if you do it yourself or hire a professional to help you.
Can 2 houses have the same key? ›Hello, YES, many thousands of homes share identical keys. Look at any lock manufacturing company, many say that they have 10,000 key patterns, If they make 1,000,000,000 locks of a particular design, they would make 100,000 different keys of each design.
Can I get all my locks keyed the same? ›Keyed alike means one key fits all locks, for example your front and back door locks can both use the same key or every lock in an office can use the same key. Having your locks keyed alike is very beneficial if you want to open & close all your door locks with one key.
Can two house keys be the same? ›No two copies of keys are exactly the same, even if they were both made from key blanks that are struck from the same mould or cut from the same duplicating/milling machine with no changes to the bitting settings in between.
What is the difference between changing locks and rekeying locks? ›The main difference between a lock rekey and changing your locks is that rekeying locks fixes your existing hardware and changing your locks means you want to replace your hardware.
How is rekeying done? ›This is done by taking the lock apart and replacing some of the parts inside (called “tumblers” or “key pins”). Every series of key pins in your lock correspond to a specific key pins so when you replace those pins with different ones, you essentially set a new key that will now operate the lock.
How much does a locksmith cost? ›Locksmiths typically charge $50–$75 per hour, or they charge per lock with a flat fee for the visit. A locksmithing job may cost as little as $50 or as much as $400 depending on the following factors. Emergencies: You'll pay extra for service at night or on weekends.
How often should you change your house locks? ›Most locksmiths advise that a door lock should be changed once every seven years.
Can you rekey a lock without replacing it? ›
Yes, it is possible for you to rekey a lock without the original key. A locksmith can change your locks even if you have lost or misplaced the original key. In general, it is possible to pick or shim the lock and unlock the door. Then, the locksmith will have a much easier time removing the lock cylinder.
What is it called when you rekey a lock? ›Rekeying is method of changing the lock cylinder pins in order to turn an existing set of keys into a different set of keys that opens that particular lock. In simpler terms, this is a way to reinvent the lock using a different code.
Can a smart deadbolt be rekeyed? ›Can Smart Locks Be Rekeyed? Yes, smart locks can be rekeyed.
Can all Kwikset locks be rekeyed? ›And all Kwikset pin & tumbler locks can be re-keyed to achieve convenient one-key operation across multiple locks. All you need is a Kwikset Re-keying Kit, a Kwikset key, and a pin & tumbler lock.
Will Home Depot key locks to match? ›A: Yes. Most Home Depot's have an associate on staff that can rekey door locks. Call your local Home Depot and make sure that the person that does the rekeying service is there before you arrive. Also there may be a charge for this service.
Does a bump key really work? ›Do Bump Keys Actually Work? Bump keys work very well and are highly effective against 90% of pin tumbler locks. Most locks can be bumped in under 30 seconds and leave no noticeable evidence that the lock was compromised.
Can Lowes make a key from a lock? ›The short answer is yes, Lowe's makes keys, and its customers can access the service online and in person. The process is also seamless, and it would take just a few minutes to get a copy of your key!
How many times can you rekey a smart lock? ›Unlimited amount of times.
Should I change locks after buying a house? ›When you move into a new home, you should change the locks on your house. You have no idea how many copies of the house keys are floating around out there from the previous homeowners, so changing the locks will keep your new house more secure. Tom recommends changing the locks whenever a new home is purchased.
Can Ace hardware rekey locks? ›Do you have too many keys to get into your house? For $10.00 each, our qualified staff will rekey your Schlage, Kwikset, or Ace brand doorknob or deadbolt. If you have a newer Kwikset lock it may use SmartKey technology, which makes re-keying quick and easy. We'll gladly show you how to rekey those locks for free!
Should I key all my locks the same? ›
Having your locks keyed alike is very beneficial if you want to open & close all your door locks with one key.
Can a deadbolt be rekeyed? ›How to Rekey a Deadbolt Lock. If your deadbolt requires a separate key from your entry doorknob, you can rekey it if they are the same brand. To rekey the deadbolt, remove it from the door and repin as you do a doorknob. Make sure the bolt is out and remove the screws holding the deadbolt to the door.
Can you rekey multiple locks with same key? ›When rekeying multiple locks to fit a single key, all locks must first have been made by the same manufacturer. For example, if your front door lock is a Schlage, the other locks you want rekeyed to match must also be made by Schlage.
How long does it take to change locks on a house door? ›On average changing one lock takes around 30 minutes, but this time may change depending on the type of door, make of lock, condition of your door and other variables. A reputable Locksmith will discuss how long they think the job should take before starting any work.
Can I rekey a lock myself? ›You can re-key a lock like a pro at a fraction of the cost. Re-keying kits are available for most lock brands but they're not interchangeable. You must buy a kit for each brand of lock in your home. (If you're lucky, they'll all be the same brand!)
What are the easiest locks to rekey? ›Interchangeable Core Cylinder
Also called an IC lock, the Interchangeable Core Cylinders are often used simply because they are easy to rekey. These easy to rekey locks have two types of keys that work for them, making them quite universal.
Rekeying a lock does not hurt the security of the lock, nor does it make it more secure. One of the factors that makes a lock secure is how many pins are inside of it. As long as the locksmith swaps the old 5 pins with 5 new ones, the lock will remain just as secure as it was before.