Did you recently rent or purchase a home or office? Was your home or office burglarized recently? Did you lose your key? After being fired, did an employee forget to leave his or her office key and you're worried about him or her trying to re-enter the office for revenge? Whatever your situation may be, there are a number of reasons why rekeying or replacing your home or office locks makes sense. However, which one do you choose? Rekeying the locks or replacing the locks? Here are a few things to consider:
Rekeying Your Locks
Usually, you will have your locks rekeyed if you need to maintain security and control over a property. For example, if you just purchased a new home or office, you may want to have the locks rekeyed to guarantee that the previous owners do not have a key to your place. If you purchased a home in a recently-built community, there may have been a master key that opened all of the homes. Rekeying your locks would remove the "master" pin from inside the lock so that there is no risk of a second key being able to operate your locks.
It is estimated that to have your locks rekeyed by a locksmith it will cost you $5 to $25 per lock. On top of that, there is also a fee for coming out, usually somewhere between $40 and $100. Prices vary from one location to the next, so this is not a hard estimate. Luckily, you do save money by not having to purchase brand new locks since rekeying simply involves using the existing locking mechanisms.
Replacing Your Locks
There are situations when you may actually want to replace your locks completely rather than simply having them rekeyed. This may be because you are renovating the home and need a new look or you want to consider a new style of lock, such as electronic locks. It could be simply to accommodate someone in the home who has a disability and finds a lever handle easier to use than a round knob. In some cases, your locks may just be worn out and need to be replaced.
In terms of cost for replacing your locks, you're looking at the same fee for coming to your home ($40 to $100) plus an additional $20 to $30 per changed lock. Again, this is not a hard estimate since locksmith rates can vary widely depending on where you live. On top of this, however, you'll have to pay for the new locks, as you can't use the existing locks with this method.
Regardless of the route that you take, you may want to consider hiring the services of a professional locksmith to ensure that the task is performed accurately and quickly. If you're still unsure whether to rekey or replace, a locksmith can help you decide.
