How Long Does It Take to Rekey a Lock in Los Angeles? Usually 15 to 30 Minutes Per Lock
A standard deadbolt or knob lock takes 15 to 30 minutes to rekey in Los Angeles. A full home rekey with 3 to 5 locks runs about 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on what we find once we’re at the door. Call (877) 664-8139 and we’ll quote a flat price before the truck rolls.
Last Tuesday we were in a 1940s Spanish Colonial Revival bungalow in Los Feliz. The new owner had six locks, three of them original mortise sets that hadn’t been serviced since the Reagan administration. Total time: just under two hours. The mortise cylinders needed cleaning before we could even pin them. That’s the kind of variable you don’t see until you’re standing at the door.
Rekeying is straightforward work, but Los Angeles housing stock doesn’t always cooperate. The city has spent decades layering different building eras on top of each other, and the locks tell that story.
What Actually Happens During a Rekey
Rekeying changes the internal pin configuration so the old key no longer works. We disassemble the cylinder, remove the existing pins, and install new ones to match a fresh key. The lock hardware stays on the door. You get new keys. Anyone holding the old set gets nothing.
Here’s how the time breaks down for a typical residential call:
- Standard Kwikset or Schlage deadbolt: 15-20 minutes
- Entry knob plus deadbolt on same door: 25-35 minutes
- Original mortise lockset (common in Highland Park, Silver Lake, Echo Park Craftsman homes): 30-50 minutes, longer if parts need sourcing
- High-security cylinder (Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, Abloy): 20-35 minutes, depending on sidebar and pin complexity
- Master-key system rekey: 45-90 minutes, depending on hierarchy levels
The marine layer along Venice, Mar Vista, and Playa del Rey speeds up corrosion inside cylinders. Salt air doesn’t just tarnish the exterior. It gets into the pin chambers and makes them sticky. We clean as we go, which adds a few minutes per lock but saves you a callback.
Gil Navarro learned the mechanical side of this trade at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, where a night-class instructor told him that a locksmith’s real job is making people feel safe again. That line stuck with him. It’s why we don’t rush the work.
Why Some Rekeys Take Longer in Los Angeles
Three local factors reliably stretch the timeline.
Soft-Story Retrofit Aftermath
The city’s mandatory seismic retrofit program hit roughly 13,500 buildings, most of them 1950s-1970s dingbat apartments in Koreatown, Hollywood, and the Fairfax corridor. Structural work on ground floors shifted door frames out of plumb. Deadbolts now bind or fail to throw fully. We’ve spent years correcting strike-plate alignment and frame issues that didn’t exist before the retrofit crews left. A “simple rekey” becomes a rekey plus hardware adjustment. Add 15 to 30 minutes.
Obsolete Mortise Hardware
Those Craftsman and Spanish Colonial Revival bungalows in Highland Park, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, and Echo Park frequently run original mortise locksets. The cylinders are often proprietary or no longer manufactured. We machine adapters or source obsolete parts from our network. Sometimes we recommend upgrading to a modern Schlage or Baldwin that fits the existing door prep. Either way, it’s not a 15-minute job.
High-Turnover Rental Stock
LA’s estimated 30,000 to 50,000 dingbat apartment buildings see constant tenant turnover. Property managers call us to rekey between leases, often on short notice. These buildings run aging master-key systems that require careful pinning to maintain hierarchy. Rush the job and you create a key that opens the wrong unit. We don’t rush.
When Rekeying Makes Sense vs. Full Replacement
Rekeying costs less than replacement and preserves hardware that matches your door. We recommend it when:
- You’ve moved into a new home and don’t know who has keys
- A tenant, roommate, or former partner has left
- Your locks are quality hardware in good mechanical condition
- You want keyed-alike convenience (one key for multiple doors)
Replacement becomes the better option when cylinders are corroded beyond reliable function, when you want to upgrade to high-security pins, or when the lock itself is a cheap builder-grade product that won’t last another five years. We carry Schlage, Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, Abloy, Baldwin, Yale, Kwikset, and Sargent on our trucks. The right lock for the door, not just what we have.
Our Lock Installation & Rekey in Los Angeles page covers full replacement options if you’re weighing that route.
What We Quote vs. What the $19 Ads Quote
Los Angeles is ground zero for the locksmith bait-and-switch. You see the $19 service call advertised, the technician arrives, and suddenly it’s $280 for a “complex cylinder.” We’ve been cleaning up those calls for 42 years.
Our pricing model is simple. We quote flat on the phone. The price we give is the price on the invoice. No surprise hardware charges. No “after hours” fees that weren’t mentioned. No vague “and up” language.
Typical rekeying costs in Los Angeles:
| Service | Price Range |
|---|---|
| Single standard lock rekey | $25-$45 |
| Full home rekey (3-5 locks) | $85-$175 |
| High-security cylinder rekey (Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, Abloy) | $45-$85 |
| Mortise lockset rekey with cleaning/service | $55-$95 |
| Master-key system rekey | $125-$250+ |
Seniors and veterans receive a permanent 5% discount. Any repair over $250 qualifies for $50 off. We also offer a free second opinion on any written estimate you’ve received elsewhere.
Tell me what you need. We will give you a price before we move, and we will stand behind the work when it is done.
FAQs
Lockout service plus rekeying typically takes 30 to 60 minutes total. We gain entry first, then rekey on the spot. Our technicians carry everything needed to do both without a return trip. Call (877) 664-8139 - we answer live, 24/7, including holidays.
Yes, if the locks share the same keyway or can be matched with compatible cylinders. Most Schlage and Kwikset hardware key-alike easily. Mixed brands sometimes require cylinder replacement to achieve single-key convenience. We’ll tell you before we start whether your existing hardware allows it or what the upgrade path costs.
Rekeying is almost always cheaper, typically 40% to 60% less than full replacement for quality hardware. Replacement only makes sense when the lock is failing, obsolete, or a security upgrade is warranted. We assess on arrival and give you both options with flat prices before any work begins.
Yes. You cannot know how many copies of the previous owner’s keys exist - contractors, housekeepers, dog walkers, neighbors, Airbnb guests. Rekeying is the fastest, most cost-effective way to reset access control. We handle this daily for new homeowners across Los Angeles County and can coordinate with your closing timeline.
Ready to Get It Done?
If you’d rather have it looked at, Strongbox Lock & Safe Co. offers a no-pressure assessment in Los Angeles. A live person will answer when you call (877) 664-8139, we’ll quote a flat price before the truck rolls, and every job is backed by our 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing.
Written by Gil Navarro, Owner at Strongbox Lock & Safe Co., serving Los Angeles, CA.