Fast, Reliable Lock Installation & Rekey Across Miami
Lock installation and rekeying in Miami runs $120-$450 depending on hardware grade, door type, and whether you’re matching to an existing master-key system. Most residential jobs in Coral Gables, Little Havana, and Brickell are completed same-day, with our Miami team carrying Schlage, Medeco, and Kwikset cylinders on every truck. Call (877) 664-8139 and we’ll quote a flat price before we leave the shop.
We’ve been answering calls from Miami homeowners for over 42 years. The work here is different from Los Angeles or anywhere else. Miami-Dade County’s building code, the salt in the air off Biscayne Bay, and the layered security customs brought from Cuba and Latin America all shape what we install, how we rekey, and what fails first. Our technicians know the difference between a standard deadbolt and a multipoint hook system on an impact-rated door. We’ve navigated ornamental iron rejas in Little Havana and programmed smart locks in Brickell condos where the lobby system has to talk to the unit lock. When you call Strongbox, you get a live person, 24/7, and a technician who shows ID at the door.
Why Strongbox Lock & Safe Co. Is Miami’s Preferred Lock Installation & Rekey Company
Miami homeowners remember the last time a locksmith quoted $19 on the phone and handed them a $400 invoice. We’ve built our name on the opposite. Gil Navarro runs Strongbox on a simple rule: the price we quote is the price you pay, and every job is backed by our 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. No paperwork to file, no argument to have. If it’s not right, we come back.
Our reviews from Miami customers mention the same things repeatedly. The technician arrived when promised. He wore a uniform and showed his ID without being asked. The lock worked smoothly, and the invoice matched the phone quote. That pattern matters to us because it means we’re doing what we said we’d do.
Response time to central Miami neighborhoods, including 33142 and 33143, is typically under 45 minutes during business hours. We stock hardware for Miami’s specific conditions: marine-grade components for waterfront units, multipoint replacement hooks for post-Andrew impact doors, and cylinders sized for the ornamental iron rejas common in Little Havana and Allapattah. This is not generic inventory. It’s shaped by four decades of working on Miami’s actual doors.
Our Lock Installation & Rekey Services in Miami
Smart Lock Installation
Smart lock installation in Miami starts around $280 for a quality Kwikset or Yale retrofit and runs to $600+ for integrated systems in Brickell and Downtown condos where the lock must interface with building-wide access control. The challenge here is specific. Many Miami homes, especially in ZIP 33101 and 33102, have CBS (concrete block and stucco) walls and steel security doors or ornamental rejas that complicate retrofitting. We measure twice: the smart lock’s bolt throw must clear the reja frame, and the Wi-Fi or Z-Wave signal must penetrate concrete to reach your hub. In Coral Gables, we recently installed a Schlage Encode on a century-old mahogany door, building a custom strike plate to accommodate both the smart mechanism and the door’s original mortise hardware. The homeowner wanted keyless entry for family and temporary codes for the housekeeper. We keyed it alike to their garage entry as well. Done right, and backed in writing.

Keyless Entry & Keypad Lock Installation
Keypad locks suit Miami’s rental market and multi-generational homes where several people need access without copying keys. Installation runs $180-$350 for most residential doors. In Miami’s high-rise condos, we frequently install keypad locks on unit doors that must also work with the building’s master-key system, a coordination step many locksmiths skip. The building management provides the master pinning specifications; we match them precisely so your keypad lock doesn’t disable the lobby master. We’ve done this work in towers along Brickell Avenue and in the post-Andrew condo developments near MIA. The key is advance planning. We call the building engineer before we arrive, confirm the keyway and master hierarchy, and bring the right cylinder blank. No second trip.

Biometric Lock Installation
Biometric locks, fingerprint-activated, are less common in Miami’s humid residential market than in commercial settings, but we install them where they fit. The technology has improved: newer sensors handle moisture better than five years ago, which matters when your thumb is damp from Miami’s 80-degree January afternoons. We see these most often in home offices, wine rooms, and gun safes in Coral Gables and Pinecrest estates. Typical installation is $450-$800. We always advise a mechanical override key, and we key that override to your house system so you’re not carrying yet another separate key. Our Lock Installation & Rekey team stocks biometric hardware from Schlage and Yale with local warranty support.

Electronic Lock & Key Duplication
Electronic lock covers a broad category: mag-stripe, prox-card, and fully networked systems. In Miami, we install these primarily in small commercial buildings, HOA clubhouses, and the amenity floors of larger condos, pool gates and gym entrances where a mechanical key is impractical. Key duplication, meanwhile, is the service we perform most often after rekeying. When we rekey your Miami home, we cut however many keys you need on-site, testing each in every lock before we leave. That includes the segunda, the secondary deadbolt inside your primary door, which too many locksmiths forget to test. Key duplication runs $4-$12 per key for standard brass; high-security Medeco or Mul-T-Lock blanks run $18-$35. We stock both.

What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Miami
We install and service Schlage, Kwikset, Medeco, and Yale in Miami, with replacement parts stocked locally for same-day repair. Schlage Primus and Medeco cylinders are our go-to for high-security applications in Coral Gables and waterfront homes where key control matters. Kwikset SmartKey serves the value tier well for residential rekeys where the homeowner wants easy future changes without replacing hardware. Yale’s Assure line integrates cleanly with smart-home systems popular in newer Brickell condos. We don’t install what we can’t support. If a brand lacks local parts distribution or warranty service in Miami-Dade, we won’t sell it to you. That policy has saved our customers from orphan hardware more times than we can count.
Common Lock Installation & Rekey Problems We See in Miami Homes
- Multipoint hook-bolt misalignment in out-of-plumb CBS frames. Miami’s concrete block and stucco construction settles and shifts, especially in pre-1992 homes. The door frame goes out of square, and the multipoint hooks no longer align with their strikes. The door won’t latch fully, or you must lift the handle hard to engage the top hook. We diagnose this with a simple gap check, then adjust or shim the frame, reposition the strikes, or replace worn hooks. It’s routine work here, rare elsewhere.
- Corroded brass tumblers and seized deadbolts in waterfront units. The salt-laden air off Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic, combined with year-round humidity above 75%, destroys standard lock internals in three to five years. We replace with marine-grade stainless components and lubricate with synthetic grease that won’t wash out. In ground-floor condos on Brickell Key and Miami Beach, this is preventive maintenance, not just repair.
- Overlooked segunda or reja in rekey planning. A homeowner calls to rekey the front door, and we arrive to find a secondary deadbolt inside and an ornamental iron grille outside, each with independent cylinders. If we rekey only the primary Schlage, the customer still carries three keys. We always ask. In Little Havana and Allapattah, we expect this. We key alike the full stack: reja, primary lock, and segunda, so one key operates everything. It’s the baseline, not an upgrade.
- Smart lock failure on CBS walls with steel security doors. The retrofit looks straightforward until you discover the door is a 16-gauge steel security door with a narrow stile, or the CBS wall requires a 4-inch backset not included in the retail box. We measure for this on every Miami smart lock call and carry extension kits and narrow-stile adapters that big-box stores don’t stock.
Pricing for Lock Installation & Rekey in Miami, FL
| Service | Typical Range in Miami |
|---|---|
| Standard deadbolt rekey (1-2 cylinders) | $120-$180 |
| Multipoint lock rekey or adjustment | $180-$340 |
| New deadbolt installation, grade 2 | $160-$280 |
| Smart lock installation, retrofit | $280-$600 |
| Keypad lock installation | $180-$350 |
| Biometric lock installation | $450-$800 |
| High-security cylinder (Medeco, Primus) | $220-$420 installed |
| Key duplication, standard | $4-$12 each |
| Key duplication, high-security | $18-$35 each |
These ranges reflect Miami’s market: higher-end hardware demand in Coral Gables and Brickell, the complexity of multipoint systems required by code, and the travel time to outlying ZIP codes. What moves you up or down within the range: number of cylinders, whether we key alike existing hardware, door material and condition, and whether the job requires coordination with building management for master-key compatibility. We quote flat on the phone. The price we say is the price on the invoice. Seniors and veterans receive a permanent 5% discount. Repairs over $250 qualify for $50 off. Call (877) 664-8139 for your exact quote, estimates are free.
Miami-Dade’s Unique Building Code: What It Means for Your Locks
Here is the fact that separates Miami from every other major U.S. city we serve. After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Miami-Dade County adopted building code requirements for impact-resistant exterior doors that have no parallel in Los Angeles, Chicago, or New York. These doors, required across virtually all construction, almost universally ship with multipoint locking systems, three to five hook bolts engaging the frame simultaneously, rather than the single deadbolt standard elsewhere.
This code reality defines our daily work. A “standard” lock call in Miami often means diagnosing which of five hook bolts is misaligned, rekeying a cylinder that must mate with a specific multipoint gearbox, or replacing a failed mechanism where the part number is stamped inside a channel no homeowner looks at. Neighboring Broward County has similar requirements, but not identical. Miami-Dade’s testing and certification protocols, the HVHZ (High Velocity Hurricane Zone) designation, create a hardware ecosystem that locksmiths in most U.S. cities never encounter. We do. On a Coral Gables estate off Granada Boulevard, we rekeyed seven multipoint hooks on a custom-carved mahogany door, matching a Schlage Primus high-security cylinder to the homeowner’s existing master suite set while ensuring smooth throw despite humidity-swollen wood. That job took precision and patience. It’s the kind of work we trained for.
We Also Serve Cities Near Miami
Our technicians cover Allapattah, West Little River, Miami Beach, and Hialeah with the same flat-price, same-day service we provide in central Miami. Whether you’re in a 1960s CBS home in Allapattah with ornamental rejas, a Miami Beach condo with salt-air corrosion, or a Hialeah duplex needing a full rekey between tenants, we carry the hardware and know the local conditions. Call (877) 664-8139 and we’ll confirm travel time to your address.
Serving Miami, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Miami 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 - Lock Installation & Rekey in Miami
Yes. Impact-rated doors with multipoint locking systems require specific knowledge of hook-bolt alignment, gearbox part numbers, and HVHZ certification that standard deadbolt training doesn’t cover. A technician unfamiliar with Miami-Dade’s post-Andrew code may damage the multipoint mechanism or install a cylinder that doesn’t mate properly. Our team works on these systems daily. Call (877) 664-8139 for a technician who knows your door type.
Yes, and in Miami’s older neighborhoods, we consider this standard practice, not an extra. The segunda, common in Little Havana and central Miami, is a cultural norm of layered security. When we rekey your home, we key alike the reja, primary lock, and segunda to one key unless you specifically request otherwise. We test every cylinder in every lock before we leave. If your hardware brands differ, we’ll tell you upfront what can and cannot be matched.
Almost certainly yes, especially if you live near the water or on a ground floor. Miami’s humidity above 75% and salt-laden air corrode brass tumblers and steel bolts faster than inland climates. We see seized deadbolts as a top summer complaint in ZIP 33142, 33143, and waterfront condos citywide. The fix is replacement with marine-grade components and proper lubrication, not just forcing the key harder. Call (877) 664-8139, we’ll diagnose it and quote the repair flat.
Three measurements matter: the door stile width, the backset depth through the CBS wall, and clearance past any ornamental reja. Steel security doors often have narrow stiles that won’t accept standard smart lock footprints. CBS walls may need longer bolts than the retail box includes. We carry narrow-stile adapters and 4-inch backset kits for exactly these Miami conditions. We measure on-site, quote flat, and install same-day if the hardware is in stock.
Coordination with building management before installation. The building engineer provides the master-key hierarchy and keyway specification; we match our cylinder pinning to it precisely. We do this regularly in Brickell and Downtown Miami high-rises. The alternative is a unit lock that overrides the lobby master, creating access conflicts and potential HOA fines. We call ahead, confirm specs, and test both keys in your new lock before we leave. Call (877) 664-8139 to schedule.
Ready to get your locks sorted? Call Strongbox Lock & Safe Co. at (877) 664-8139 for a free, flat-price estimate. We’ll answer live, quote honest, and show up when we say. Done right, backed in writing, for Miami homeowners who expect the job finished once and finished well.
Written by Gil Navarro, Owner at Strongbox Lock & Safe Co., serving Miami and local communities for over 42 years.