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.
Before
AfterFast, Reliable Rekey Locks Across Redwood City
Rekeying a lock in Redwood City typically costs between $85 and $160 for standard Schlage or Kwikset cylinders, and most jobs wrap up in under an hour. We dispatch uniformed technicians to Redwood City neighborhoods including Downtown, Horgan Avenue, and the bungalows west of El Camino Real, with same-day service available most weekdays. Call (956) 275-7388 and you’ll get a live person who can walk you through what the job involves before anyone gets in a truck.
Redwood City’s housing stock runs from pre-war bungalows to 1960s ranchers and newer condo buildings, which means the lock hardware on your doors doesn’t follow a single pattern. We’ve worked enough jobs here to know what to expect when we pull a cylinder on Clinton Street versus a keypad entry on a downtown Horgan Avenue building. The pricing we quote on the phone is the written price you’ll see before work starts, and it’s the price on the invoice.
If you’re wondering whether you actually need a Rekey Locks job or a full lock replacement, the short answer is this: most of the time, you need a rekey. It’s faster, costs less, and keeps your existing hardware. We’ll confirm that on the phone before anyone is dispatched to your Redwood City address.
Why Ridley Locksmith & Security Is Redwood City’s Preferred Rekey Locks Company
We’re part of the Garrison Partners family, operating under The Garrison Standard since 2007. That structure matters because every Redwood City job is held to a written code, not one technician’s mood on a given day. What does that mean for you? A background-checked, uniformed technician shows up in a marked van, a written price is placed in your hand before any work begins, and every repair carries a written guarantee for one full year.
Drew Kowalski runs our operations with a straightforward rule: the price on the phone is the price on the invoice. We don’t dispatch subcontractors, and we don’t run an answering service. A live person picks up the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, because a homeowner who just realized their previous tenant never returned a spare key doesn’t want to leave a voicemail and hope for a callback.
Our technicians train on the full range of hardware you’ll find in Redwood City homes, from standard Schlage, Kwikset, and Yale cylinders to high-security lines like Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, and Abloy. That training matters when a 1940s bungalow has a Kwikset knob on one door and a Schlage deadbolt on another, both working off a single old key. We’ve seen it, we’ve fixed it, and we can tell you the cost over the phone before we head out.
Keyed Alike in Redwood City
Keyed Alike in Redwood City means every exterior door in your home runs off a single key, no matter how many different locks or brands are installed. We see this need constantly in Redwood City, where original construction frequently left homeowners juggling a Kwikset key for the front door and a Schlage key for the back. A keyed-alike job typically costs $65 to $125 beyond the base rekey price per cylinder, depending on how many locks need to be brought onto the same key.
Why Homeowners Request It
A new homeowner on Middlefield Road doesn’t want to carry two or three keys for their own house. Keyed alike solves that, and it doesn’t require replacing a single piece of hardware. We rekey each cylinder’s internal pins to match the same key pattern, so the locks stay the way they are, but one key now turns every exterior deadbolt and knob.
What Slows It Down
When a home has mismatched cylinder brands, the job takes a little longer because we’re working with two different pin formats at once. That’s common in Redwood City’s older homes. The good news is that we see it all the time, and our technicians carry pins for both Schlage and Kwikset formats as standard equipment.
Rekey Deadbolt in Redwood City
Rekey Deadbolt in Redwood City means changing the internal pins in your existing deadbolt so old keys stop working and new keys turn it instead. It’s the most common job we do in Redwood City, and a single deadbolt rekey generally runs $65 to $110 on its own. If the deadbolt is paired with a knob on the same door, we can key them alike so they share one key, which adds about $20 to $40 to the total.
Deadbolts on Older Homes
Many pre-war bungalows in Redwood City have a deadbolt that was added years after the original knob, which means the two don’t match and never did. Rekeying both to a single key is straightforward for us, but it’s the kind of thing a phone quote for “one lock” misses. We ask the right questions before dispatch so the written price you receive reflects the actual work.
High-Security Deadbolts
If your deadbolt is a Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, or other high-security cylinder, the rekey process involves cutting a new key that matches the cylinder’s unique geometry. We’re certified to work on those lines, and we carry the blank keys and pin kits with us. A high-security deadbolt rekey in Redwood City typically runs $120 to $180.
Trusted Brands We Service in Redwood City
We stock pin kits and key blanks for Schlage, Kwikset, Medeco, and Abloy in our service vans, so most Redwood City jobs are completed on the first visit. That covers the vast majority of residential hardware in the city, from the standard Schlage deadbolts on newer condo buildings to the original Kwikset knobs still turning on pre-war bungalows. If your lock is from a line we see less often, we’ll tell you on the phone and arrange to bring the right parts. We don’t guess, and we don’t send a technician out to “see what’s there” before giving you a price.
Common Rekey Locks Problems We See in Redwood City Homes
- Mismatched cylinders on the same door. A Kwikset knob paired with a Schlage deadbolt on the same front door means two different keyways and sometimes two different keys. A quote for “just rekey the front lock” misses the second cylinder, and the bill grows after the technician arrives. We ask about both locks on the phone so the written price covers the whole job.
- Bay fog corrosion in unprotected exterior cylinders. Redwood City’s marine layer parks moisture in exterior locks west of El Camino, and if a rekey skips a proper cleaning, graphite, and a weather cap, the new pins feel gritty within weeks. We service the cylinder, not just swap the pins, so the rekey holds up through the fog season.
- Dummy handle sets on Horgan and Middlefield area homes. Those front door handle sets that look like they lock but actually don’t are common on 1950s and 60s ranchers. The actual locking cylinder is often in the deadbolt above, and the handle set needs its cylinder swapped, not just a knob rekey. We check this before quoting.
- Smart locks and keypads that need an app reset. Downtown Redwood City condo buildings and Horgan Avenue buildings increasingly run keypad entries or smart locks. When a new owner wants old codes dead, a cylinder swap alone won’t do it; the lock needs to be programmed out of the previous owner’s app. Our techs handle both sides of that job, but it’s a different scope than a standard rekey.
Pricing for Rekey Locks in Redwood City, CA
Here’s what you can expect to pay in Redwood City, with no call-out surcharge added on arrival. A standard single-cylinder rekey on a Schlage or Kwikset knob runs $85 to $160. A deadbolt rekey runs $65 to $110 on its own, and keying a deadbolt and knob alike on the same door runs $100 to $200 total. High-security cylinders like Medeco or Abloy run $120 to $180 per cylinder. Keying the whole house alike, on a typical three-door Redwood City home, runs $250 to $400 depending on how many cylinders are involved.
What affects the price? Mismatched cylinder brands, high-security hardware, and smart-lock programming. We tell you the exact number before anyone is dispatched, and that written price is what you’ll see on the invoice. Call (956) 275-7388 for a free estimate on your specific locks.
We Also Serve Cities Near Redwood City
Our technicians cover Redwood City and the surrounding Peninsula communities, including Atherton, Menlo Park, San Carlos, and Palo Alto. If you’re just outside Redwood City proper, call and we’ll let you know when we can get there. Same written price, same written guarantee, same background-checked technician.
Serving Redwood City, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Redwood City 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 Redwood City
No, both cylinders can be rekeyed and keyed alike to a single key in the same visit. We see this exact configuration all the time on Redwood City bungalows, and a technician carrying both Schlage and Kwikset pin formats can handle it in under an hour. Tell us on the phone what’s on your door and the written price will reflect both cylinders. Call (956) 275-7388 for an exact quote.
Our technicians are background-checked and uniformed, they arrive in a marked van, and they carry identification showing they’re part of the Ridley Locksmith & Security team operating under The Garrison Standard. We never send subcontractors to a Redwood City job. The dispatcher who takes your call gives you the technician’s name before they head out.
Yes, but the job has two parts: rekeying the physical cylinder and clearing the previous user’s codes from the keypad or smart lock memory. On Redwood City condo buildings with keypad entries, especially around Downtown and Horgan Avenue, the app reset alone is worth doing, and our techs handle both sides. We’ll tell you on the phone what the total scope looks like, and the written price covers all of it.
A standard one- or two-cylinder rekey takes 30 to 60 minutes on site. Old keys stop working the moment the new pins are seated and the cylinder is reinstalled. We also hand back the old pins so you can see, physically, that the previous key can no longer turn the lock and nothing was left to chance.
Mortise locks and ANSI Grade 1 deadbolts are more involved than a standard knob or deadbolt rekey because the cylinder is integrated into a larger body. We service them, and we’re certified on the hardware lines you’d find in older Redwood City homes. The pricing reflects the added labor, and we quote it clearly before any work begins.
If you need a rekey in Redwood City today, call (956) 275-7388. You’ll talk to a live person, get a written price before any work starts, and a written one-year guarantee on the job. That’s The Garrison Standard, and it’s how Drew Kowalski runs every call.
Written by Drew Kowalski, Owner at Ridley Locksmith & Security, serving Redwood City and the surrounding Peninsula.