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.
Fast, Reliable Rekey Locks Across Union City
Rekeying a lock in Union City typically costs $95 – $180 for a standard residential job, and most homes are finished in under an hour once our technician arrives. If you’ve just bought a house near Union Landing, ended a lease in the Alvarado area, or gone through a change at home in Decoto, you don’t need new hardware. You need the old keys to stop working. That’s a rekey, and it’s what our Rekey Locks crew does every day across Union City. Call (956) 275-7388 and a live person answers, day or night. We’ll give you a written price before anyone is dispatched, and that’s the price on the invoice.
Why Ridley Locksmith & Security Is Union City’s Preferred Rekey Locks Company
Ridley Locksmith & Security has been part of the Garrison Partners family since 2007, and every job we run in Union City operates under The Garrison Standard. That means background-checked, uniformed technicians on every call. It means a written price handed to you before any work starts. It means a written guarantee covering the repair for one full year. If the rekey fails inside that window, we return at no charge. That’s the 365-Day Done Right Promise, and it isn’t a slogan. It’s a document.
When you call us from a house off Alvarado-Niles Road or an apartment near Union City BART, you aren’t getting a call center that dispatches an unknown subcontractor. You get a Ridley technician who shows up in a marked van, shows state license and ID at the door, and can talk you through exactly what’s on your door before touching it. Drew Kowalski leads our crew, and he holds every technician to The Garrison Code on every single job. No bait pricing. No drill-first mentality. No leaving the back door on the old key.
Lock Rekey in Union City
Lock Rekey in Union City means changing the internal pin and tumbler stack inside your existing cylinder so the old keys stop turning the plug. The hardware stays on the door. The lock isn’t replaced. We remove the cylinder, swap the pins to match a new key, and reinstall it. A Union City homeowner needs this after any event where someone else might still hold a key: a home purchase, a roommate move-out, a divorce, a lost key, or a renovation contractor who never returned a copy.
On a standard Schlage or Kwikset deadbolt, this takes 10 to 20 minutes per cylinder. Pricing runs $25 – $45 per cylinder for residential pin and tumbler locks, and that includes the new keys. If your home still has original 1970s-era locks, the job is often straightforward. If you’ve upgraded to high-security cylinders like Medeco, the rekey costs more because the key blanks and pins are proprietary. We give you the full price before work starts, not after we’ve seen the door.
The Written Price Rule
Some locksmiths quote a flat per-lock rate over the phone, then arrive and discover what’s actually on the door. Then the price shifts. We do it differently. You describe the lock, we confirm the brand and type, and we give you a written price that covers the work. If we arrive and the lock is different than described, we stop, show you what we found, and agree on a new written price before any tool comes out of the bag. You never pay a surprise.
One Key or Separate Keys
We can rekey every lock in your house to a single key, or we can set up a keyed-alike system for specific doors. Some Union City homeowners want the front and back doors on one key and the garage on another. We’ll match what you ask for, and we’ll tell you if a particular lock can’t be keyed to the same key due to brand or keyway differences.
Locksmith Rekey in Union City
Locksmith Rekey in Union City is the same mechanical job whether you call it a lock rekey or a locksmith rekey. The difference is who shows up. When you call Ridley, you get a trained locksmith, not a handyman with a rekey kit from a hardware store. We work on the full spectrum of hardware you find on Union City streets: Schlage, Kwikset, Yale, Baldwin, Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, Abloy, and Sargent. And we carry pins, springs, and key blanks for all of them in the van, so you aren’t waiting on a parts order.
Our technicians are certified to work on high-security hardware, not just standard residential brands. That matters when you have a Medeco deadbolt on the front door and a Kwikset knob on the back. One tech can rekey both on the same visit. We also do master key systems for commercial properties in Union City, including offices near Union Landing and storefronts along Alvarado-Niles Road.
What Happens on Site
The tech arrives, confirms the written price with you, and gets to work. Most single-family homes in Union City have two to four exterior locks. A full-house rekey to one key usually runs $75 – $160 total, including labor, pins, and new keys. We keep the work area clean and test every lock with the new key before we leave. The tech hands you the keys, walks you through which key opens what, and leaves you a copy of the written guarantee.
Commercial and Access Control
For commercial rekey work in Union City, we schedule a site survey, write a scope, and quote a flat per-lock price. There’s no dispatch-time pressure because commercial rekey isn’t an emergency call. It’s a planned job. We handle storefront mortise cylinders, access control rekeys, and master key system changes. You get a written scope and a written price before the first cylinder is pulled.
Trusted Brands We Service in Union City
Union City’s housing stock is a mix of 1960s and 70s ranch homes in Decoto and Alvarado alongside 1990s and 2000s two-story homes near Union Landing. That means a single street can hold original builder-grade Kwikset knobs next to newer ANSI Grade 1 Schlage deadbolts and the occasional Baldwin or Medeco unit. We stock pins, springs, and key blanks for Schlage, Kwikset, Medeco, and Yale in our Bay Area vans, so a Union City rekey is done in one visit, not two. If we need a high-security key blank for a Medeco cylinder, we carry those too. No parts runs. No rescheduled appointments.
Common Rekey Locks Problems We See in Union City Homes
- Builder-grade Kwikset knobs from the 1970s with worn pins. These rekey fine, but the old pins are often so worn that the original key is sloppy in the plug. We swap in fresh pins and a new key so the lock actually feels tight again.
- Mixed brands on one door. Plenty of Union City homes have a Schlage deadbolt above a Kwikset knob. Both can usually be keyed to the same key, but the keyway differs. We cut the right key for each and explain the limitation if one can’t match.
- High-security cylinders the previous owner installed. Medeco and Mul-T-Lock cylinders take proprietary blanks and a registered card system. We can rekey them, but the job costs more than a standard rekey. We tell you that before we start, not after.
- Garage keypads left on the old key. A surprising number of Union City homes have a Schlage or Kwikset keypad deadbolt that the previous rekey skipped. We rekey the keypad’s mechanical cylinder too, so the old key is dead and the keypad still works for your new code.
Pricing for Rekey Locks in Union City, CA
A standard residential rekey in Union City runs $25 – $45 per cylinder for pin and tumbler locks like Schlage, Kwikset, and Yale. A full-house rekey to one key on a typical 3-lock Union City home runs $75 – $160. High-security cylinders like Medeco or Mul-T-Lock run $45 – $85 per cylinder because the components cost more. Commercial mortise cylinders run $35 – $60 per cylinder, and access control rekeys are quoted per job after a site survey.
What affects cost: the number of locks, the brand and cylinder type, whether you want all locks on one key or separate keys, and whether it’s a residential or commercial job. There is no call-out surcharge added on arrival. The written price we agree on before dispatch is the price on the invoice. Call (956) 275-7388 and we’ll give you an exact number for your doors, free.
We Also Serve Cities Near Union City
Besides Union City, our technicians regularly run rekey jobs in Fremont, Newark, San Lorenzo, and Castro Valley. If you work in Fremont but live in Union City, we can schedule both your home and office rekeys on the same day. Same crews, same written price policy, same 365-Day Done Right Promise.
Serving Union City, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Union 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 Union City
You get a written price before anyone is dispatched, and that is the price on the invoice. No surprise at the door. If we arrive and find the lock is different than described, we stop and agree on a new written price with you before any work begins. Call (956) 275-7388 for a free quote.
A standard residential rekey in Union City takes 10 to 20 minutes per cylinder on site. A typical three-lock home is done in under an hour. High-security cylinders like Medeco take a little longer, but most single-family rekey jobs are a one-visit job. We don’t leave and come back.
Yes. We rekey every lock in the house to a single key on request, as long as the keyways are compatible. If you want a master key system where one key opens everything and other keys open only certain doors, we set that up too. That’s more common in commercial properties, but it works fine in a Union City home with a home office or an ADU.
Our technicians are background-checked and uniformed, and they arrive in a marked van. They show state license and ID before stepping onto the porch. Drew Kowalski leads the team and enforces The Garrison Code on every dispatch. If someone shows up without ID or in an unmarked vehicle, it isn’t us. Call (956) 275-7388 and we’ll confirm the tech’s name before arrival.
If the hardware is in decent shape, rekey. It costs a lot less than replacing, and the old keys stop working completely. If the lock is damaged, rusted, or you want a security upgrade, replace it. We’ll tell you which makes sense for your door. We rekey and replace, so the recommendation is based on what’s actually on the door, not what we’d rather sell you.
Call for Union City Rekey Service
If you need your locks rekeyed in Union City, call (956) 275-7388. A live person answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You’ll get a written price before work begins, a technician who shows ID at the door, and a written guarantee covering the work for one full year. That’s The Garrison Standard, and it applies to every job we run in Union City, from a single Kwikset knob in Decoto to a full commercial master key system near Union Landing.
Written by Drew Kowalski, Owner at Ridley Locksmith & Security, serving Union City and the surrounding Bay Area.







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