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 Burlingame
Rekeying a lock in Burlingame costs $95 to $160 for a standard residential cylinder, and most jobs on the peninsula take under an hour once our technician arrives. If you’ve just closed on a house near Broadway or lost a key somewhere between Burlingame Avenue and the Caltrain station, a rekey is the fastest way to restore control of who can open your doors. We serve every Burlingame neighborhood from the flats east of El Camino Real to the hills above Adeline Drive, and our dispatchers coordinate crews from the San Francisco Bay Area office so someone in a marked van reaches you quickly. Call (956) 275-7388 and a live person answers, 24 hours a day.
Why Ridley Locksmith & Security Is Burlingame’s Preferred Rekey Locks Company
Every Ridley technician operates under The Garrison Standard, a written code that has governed Garrison Partners locksmiths since 2007. That means background-checked, uniformed techs, a written price before any work starts, and a written guarantee covering the rekey for one full year. If the repair fails inside that window, we return at no charge under the 365-Day Done Right Promise. It is a document, not a verbal promise, and it is non-negotiable.
Burlingame customers tend to ask two things before they let anyone touch a lock: who exactly is coming through the door, and what the total price will be. We answer both before dispatch. You’ll know the technician’s name, you’ll see a marked Ridley vehicle, and you’ll have a written price in hand before a single pin comes out of a cylinder. Independent shops often cannot give you that paper trail. Large call centers send an unknown crew with a price that shifts on arrival. Neither is how we work.
Our review record in Burlingame reflects the same pattern customers report across the peninsula: on-time arrival, honest pricing, and hardware left cleaner than we found it. The rekey work we do here spans pre-war bungalows near Lorton Avenue, mid-century ranch homes off Hillside Drive, and newer construction in the Easton Addition, so the technician who shows up knows what he’s looking at before he opens his pin kit.
Lock Rekey in Burlingame
Rekey Locks in Burlingame means opening a lock cylinder and changing the internal pins so the old key no longer turns it, while the existing hardware stays on the door. It is less expensive than replacing the lock and takes less time. A standard Lock Rekey for a Schlage, Kwikset, or Yale cylinder in Burlingame runs $95 to $160 per lock, and most single-family homes have two to four entry points that need to be on the same key schedule.
When a new key schedule matters
A Burlingame homeowner typically asks for a rekey right after closing, after a roommate or tenant leaves, or after a set of keys goes missing somewhere between the Burlingame Farmers Market and the Broadway Caltrain station. On the day of closing, the old owner’s keys, the contractor’s keys, and the neighbor who watched the house all become security liabilities. A rekey makes every one of those old keys useless within the hour.
What we cover on the same visit
Our Rekey Locks in Burlingame service includes all exterior doors, side gates, garage service doors, and any ADU entries on the property. We do not rekey just the front door and call it done. Every keyed opening gets inventoried so no old key still works somewhere on the property.
Locksmith Rekey in Burlingame
A Locksmith Rekey in Burlingame is the same mechanical job as a Lock Rekey but performed by a locksmith who also inspects the lock’s condition while it is open on the bench. That matters in this city because Burlingame’s housing stock is split between pre-war El Camino bungalows and newer Easton Addition builds, so a single property often has older mortise lock cylinders and modern ANSI Grade 1 deadbolts on the same job. We price the work flat per cylinder, so you know the total before we touch the first screw.
Older mortise locks on Burlingame bungalows
Homes built along El Camino and Lorton Avenue before the war often carry original mortise locks with cylinders that have decades of wear. The rekey itself is straightforward, but a worn thumb turn or a spindle that slips can leave a deadbolt that works fine today and fails next month. We service those parts in place for a small hardware charge while the cylinder is already out. Most customers prefer that to a rushed replacement.
Newer deadbolts and keypad entry
In the Easton Addition and newer hillside builds, we see more Schlage and Baldwin deadbolts, and increasingly keypad entries on back doors. A smart lock can be rekeyed to match a new mechanical key schedule, or it can be kept on its own code while the mechanical locks get new pins. We rekey the cylinders and check that every lock on the property is on one documented key schedule.
Trusted Brands We Service in Burlingame
We stock pin kits and common replacement parts for Kwikset and Schlage cylinders in our vans because those are the two brands we see most on Burlingame doors from Millbrae up to Hillsborough. We also carry Medeco keying kits and are certified to rekey Mul-T-Lock and high-security Baldwin cylinders, which matters for Burlingame homeowners who bought a house with a high-security keyway and were told by other locksmiths they would need to replace the hardware. In most cases we rekey it in place. If a cylinder is too worn to rekey safely, we carry new Baldwin and Schlage deadbolts in the van and can swap the hardware the same visit, priced on the written quote before we start.
Common Rekey Locks Problems We See in Burlingame Homes
- Rekeying only the front door. Side gates, garage service doors, and ADU entries are often left on the old key schedule, so the previous key still works somewhere on the property. We inventory every keyed opening and put them all on one new key.
- The wrong pin kit on a high-security cylinder. Burlingame has enough Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, and Baldwin cylinders that a tech who grabs a generic pin kit can bind the lock and force a $300-plus cylinder replacement. Our technicians carry brand-specific kits and know the difference.
- Worn mortise lock thumb turns on pre-war homes. The cylinder rekeys fine, but the worn thumb turn fails within weeks. We inspect the mechanism while the cylinder is open and service it in place before it fails.
- No documented key control sheet. Burlingame has a lot of rentals and multi-generational households. After a rekey, the next key control request on the property cannot be traced to the right cylinder. Our Burlingame crew issues a written key control list with every rekey so each cylinder and key is documented.
Pricing for Rekey Locks in Burlingame, CA
A standard rekey in Burlingame runs $95 to $160 per cylinder for Schlage, Kwikset, or Yale hardware. High-security cylinders from Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, or Baldwin run $25 to $60 per cylinder more because they require brand-specific pin kits and additional bench time. The total for a typical three-lock house in the flats lands between $285 and $480. We do not use teaser pricing. The written price you approve on the phone is the price on the invoice, and there is no call-out surcharge added on arrival. We quote the full price before anyone is dispatched to your Burlingame address. Call (956) 275-7388 for a free estimate.
We Also Serve Cities Near Burlingame
Our rekey crews cover Burlingame and the surrounding peninsula corridor. If you are in San Mateo, Millbrae, San Bruno, or Belmont, call (956) 275-7388 and a live person will schedule your rekey with the same written price and one-year guarantee. Rekey Locks are handled by Ridley technicians across the full service area, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise applies everywhere we work.
Serving Burlingame, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Burlingame 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 Burlingame
Yes. We rekey multi-unit properties in Burlingame to a master key system where the owner’s key opens every unit and each tenant’s key opens only that unit. We have done this for duplexes and fourplexes near Broadway and for larger buildings east of El Camino. The system is documented on a written key control sheet so future rekeys and key copies can be tracked. Call (956) 275-7388 for a flat per-lock quote on your building.
No. A rekey only replaces the pins inside the cylinder, not the lock body or the mortise mechanism. Pre-war bungalows near Burlingame Avenue keep their original hardware. We rekey the cylinder in place and service the thumb turn or spindle only if it is worn, which we will quote on the written price before any work begins.
Most three-to-four-lock homes in Burlingame are finished in 45 to 75 minutes once the technician arrives. High-security cylinders and worn mortise mechanisms can add 15 to 30 minutes per lock. We will give you an honest time estimate on the phone, and the whole job is quoted before dispatch. Call (956) 275-7388 and a live person will schedule you.
Yes, most smart locks in Burlingame homes have a mechanical key cylinder that can be rekeyed like any deadbolt. The keypad and electronics stay untouched. If you want the old code changed, we can walk you through that on the spot or do it for you. The rekey price applies to the mechanical cylinder regardless of the smart lock brand.
Yes. Our Burlingame technicians carry brand-specific pin kits for Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, and Abloy, and we rekey Baldwin high-security cylinders in place. That saves you hundreds compared to a full hardware replacement, and we do it under the same written price and one-year written guarantee. Call (956) 275-7388 with your key type and we will confirm the exact pricing by phone.
Written by Drew Kowalski, Owner at Ridley Locksmith & Security, serving Burlingame.







Before
After