What it costs to rekey a lock in Los Angeles depends on five things: how many lock cylinders you have, what kind of locks they are, whether you want every door on one key, whether the visit is daytime or after hours, and whether the property is an apartment or a house. There is no single number because a Koreatown studio with two cylinders and a Mid-City house with eight doors and gates are different jobs. Locksmith Liberty counts your locks with you on the phone and gives you a written upfront quote before any work starts, so the price you hear is the price you pay.
The eight factors that set the price of a rekey
- Per-lock pricing plus one service visit. A rekey is priced per cylinder, and the mobile visit is a separate, fixed part of the quote. A front door with a knob and a deadbolt is two cylinders, not one door. Because the visit is the fixed part, rekeying every lock in one trip costs less overall than doing one door now and another next month.
- Lock grade. Builder-grade Kwikset, Schlage and Defiant hardware, which is what most Los Angeles homes and apartments have, sits in the standard tier. An ANSI Grade 1 deadbolt takes a little longer to pin than a Grade 3 knob, but the tier is set by the keyway, not the grade, so a heavy-duty Schlage deadbolt still rekeys at the standard rate.
- High-security and smart locks. Medeco, Mul-T-Lock and Schlage Primus cylinders use restricted pins and sidebars, and their keys are cut from a card rather than a blank, so they rekey at a higher per-cylinder tier. Keypad and smart deadbolts such as Schlage Encode, Yale Assure and Kwikset Halo still contain a mechanical cylinder that rekeys at the standard tier; the user codes are reset separately on site. Kwikset SmartKey cylinders are reset with a tool rather than re-pinned, which puts them at the fastest end of the job. Our guide to high-security locks explains the differences.
- Keyed alike and master keying. One key for every door is included in the per-cylinder price when all your cylinders share a keyway, which is true of most homes that are all Kwikset (KW1) or all Schlage (SC1). When one door is a different brand, the technician swaps that cylinder so the set matches, and the swap appears on the quote as a small parts line. Master keying, where a manager key opens every unit and each tenant key opens one, is a different job: it is priced per cylinder on a keying chart and is common in Koreatown and Hollywood apartment buildings.
- Time of day. Daytime visits carry the standard rate. Evenings, weekends and holidays carry an after-hours rate on the service visit, and it is stated before dispatch, never added afterwards. If the door still locks, a key lost at night can usually wait for a daytime slot.
- Apartment versus house. A Koreatown or Hollywood apartment usually has two or three cylinders, but the quote can also include a mailbox lock, a storage cage, building access and parking in a structure with no guest spaces. A house in Mid-City, Mid-Wilshire or Beverly Grove usually has five to eight cylinders once you count the garage pedestrian door, the side door and the gates, and may have a guest house or ADU that needs its own key.
- Extra keys. Copies are cut on the van and priced per key. Standard blanks are the least expensive line on the quote; restricted blanks for high-security cylinders cost more and may require the owner’s card.
- Los Angeles specifics. Three local rules change the job. Under California Civil Code 1941.3, landlords must provide a working deadbolt on the main entry door, and most Los Angeles landlords rekey at turnover as standard practice, so a tenant is normally only charged for a rekey when keys were lost or not returned. Many condo and HOA buildings in Mid-Wilshire, Miracle Mile and Hancock Park require exterior hardware to match or to stay on a building master, so a rekey may have to preserve the building’s keyway rather than change it. And the 1920s duplexes along Mid-City and Mid-Wilshire often still have original mortise locks; most can be rekeyed, a few need a new mortise cylinder, and the technician tells you which before touching the door.
Rekeying a whole house
A whole-house rekey follows the same pricing logic, per cylinder plus one visit, but the planning is where people go wrong: most homeowners undercount by two or three cylinders because they forget the garage pedestrian door, the side door behind the bins, the pool gate and the guest house. Our companion guide on rekeying a whole house in Los Angeles walks the property room by room, shows typical cylinder counts for apartments, duplexes and single-family homes, and gives you a checklist so every door ends up on one key in a single visit.
Rekey versus replace
| Rekey existing lock | Replace with new lock | |
|---|---|---|
| Parts | New pins only | New lock, priced by grade |
| Labor | Per cylinder | Per door, including fitting and adjustment |
| Makes old keys useless | Yes | Yes |
| Improves security grade | No, same hardware | Yes, if you move up to ANSI Grade 1 or 2 |
| Best for | Move-ins, lost keys, roommate or staff turnover | Worn or damaged locks, upgrading to a keypad or smart lock |
Rekeying is almost always the less expensive option because you keep the hardware and only the pins change. Rekey when the lock is in good shape and your only problem is who has keys. Replace when the latch sticks, the cylinder spins, the deadbolt only throws halfway, or when you want a keypad. Many homeowners do both on one visit: rekey every cylinder and convert the front or garage entry door to a keypad so cleaners, dog walkers and guests get codes you can delete instead of keys you cannot get back.
How to get an accurate quote in one short call
- Walk the outside of the home and count every keyed knob, lever and deadbolt, including gates, the garage pedestrian door and the guest house.
- Read the brand off the key or the face of the lock. Kwikset, Schlage, Defiant, Medeco or Mul-T-Lock changes the tier.
- Say whether you want every door on one key, and whether any door (a tenant unit, a home office) should stay separate.
- Say how many extra keys you want cut on the van.
- Tell us the time you need, and any gate code or parking rule, so the after-hours rate and any parking cost are in the quote rather than on the invoice.
With those five facts the dispatcher gives you a total that covers every cylinder, the visit, the keys and the time of day. You confirm it before the technician starts, and nothing is added at the door.
When to call a pro
- You just bought or rented. Rekey the day you get keys. Our post on rekeying after a move or break-in covers why the previous occupant’s spare keys are the most common way into a new home.
- A key was lost or stolen, especially on a ring with anything showing your address.
- A roommate, tenant, nanny or contractor moved on. Rekeying is cheaper than an argument about whether they made copies.
- You have high-security or commercial cylinders that a hardware store cannot rekey.
- You are locked out. The emergency locksmith team can open the door and rekey it in the same visit, on one service call.
- You want it done right. A licensed technician tests every lock from both sides, checks the strike and latch, and adjusts a binding deadbolt while on site, which is common in older Mid-Wilshire buildings where doors have sagged.
Rekeys for houses, condos and apartments are handled by our residential locksmith team; storefronts and offices go to commercial locksmith. Neighborhood pages: Mid-Wilshire and Hollywood. Call (213) 314-1971 or use the contact page.
Locksmith Liberty is a mobile locksmith company based in Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, CA, serving central and west Los Angeles including Mid-City, Mid-Wilshire, Koreatown, Hollywood, Beverly Grove, Miracle Mile, West Hollywood, Culver City and Santa Monica. Technicians respond 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for home, apartment and car lockouts, rekeying, lock installation and repair, car key replacement and programming, and commercial locks and access control. Every job is priced upfront before work begins. Call Locksmith Liberty any time at (213) 314-1971.
Rekeying cost FAQs
How much does it cost to rekey a house in Los Angeles?
It depends on how many lock cylinders the house has, not how many rooms. A whole-house rekey is priced per cylinder plus one service visit, with any extra keys and an after-hours rate added only when they apply. Count every keyed exterior door, the garage pedestrian door and the gates, tell us the brand, and you get the full quote before anyone arrives.
How much does it cost to have a lock rekeyed?
A single lock is priced per cylinder plus the service visit, so the visit is the larger share of a one-lock job and the reason it pays to rekey everything at once. Standard Kwikset, Schlage and Defiant cylinders are the base tier; high-security brands such as Medeco and Mul-T-Lock are a higher tier because of restricted pins and keys.
Does a locksmith charge per lock to rekey, or per visit?
Both, as two separate lines. Locksmith Liberty charges one mobile service visit for the trip and then a per-cylinder rate for each lock rekeyed, plus any keys you want cut. The visit is the same whether you rekey one door or eight, which is why a quote for the whole home is better value than a quote for the front door alone.
How much is it to rekey a door lock compared with replacing it?
Rekeying is nearly always less because you keep the lock and only the pins inside the cylinder change, so there is no new hardware to buy and no fitting labor. Replacing makes sense only when the lock is worn or damaged, when you want a higher security grade, or when you want a keypad or smart lock on that door.
