Rekeying: same lock, different key
Priced per cylinder, which is the number most phone quotes never ask about.
Rekeying changes the pins inside a cylinder you already own so that every existing key stops working and a new key starts. The lock body stays on the door, the strike stays in the frame, and the finish stays matched to the other hardware. It is the cheapest way to guarantee that nobody who once had a key still has access, and it is the single most predictable recurring job in New Jersey because every closing, every move-out and every ended relationship produces one.
What a licensed locksmith actually does
- 01
The cylinder count
Before pricing, a locksmith counts cylinders, not doors. A stoop door, a vestibule door and a unit door are three. A front door with a knob lock above a deadbolt is two on one door.
- 02
The cylinder comes out
The lock is removed from the door or the cylinder is pulled from the lock body. On old mortise hardware this is the slowest part of the job, because the screws have been painted over since the Ford administration.
- 03
The plug is dropped and repinned
The plug comes out of the shell, the old bottom pins are removed, and a new pin stack is built to match the bit depths of the new key.
- 04
Keying alike, if you asked for it
Several cylinders can be pinned to accept the same key, so one key opens the stoop, the vestibule and the unit door. This is a decision to make before the work starts, not after.
- 05
Reassembly and a function test
The lock goes back on, and the key is turned from both sides with the door open and closed. A rekey that works on the bench and binds in the frame is not finished.
- 06
Keys handed over, old keys made useless
You receive the new keys and a written invoice. Any key cut to the old pinning no longer turns that cylinder, wherever it is and whoever holds it.
What is actually happening inside the lock
A pin tumbler cylinder holds a stack of pins in each chamber. The cut depths on your key push each stack to exactly the height that lets the plug rotate. Rekeying swaps the bottom pins for a set matched to a different key. Nothing else changes. Same lock, same finish, same screws in the same holes, new key, and every old key is now a piece of scrap brass.
That is why it costs a fraction of replacement. The expensive part of a lock is the lock.
When rekeying is the right call
- A closing. You have no idea how many keys the previous owner cut over fifteen years, and neither do they. This is the most common rekey in New Jersey, and April through July is when it lands.
- A tenant turnover. Between tenants, in a state where a very large share of the housing is two-family, three-family and garden apartment.
- A key that did not come back. A contractor, a cleaner, a dog walker, an ex, a roommate who moved out in January.
- Consolidating keys. Several cylinders pinned to accept one key, which on a Hudson County entry is the difference between one key and three.
- A key lost outside the house. Lost with a bag that also held mail with your address on it is a rekey, not a wait-and-see.
When it is not
Rekeying assumes the cylinder is mechanically sound. A plug worn loose by twenty years of a sloppy duplicate key will accept a new pinning and still turn on the wrong key. Damaged lock bodies, seized mortise cases and hardware whose replacement parts have not been manufactured since the war are all situations where a locksmith may say replacement is the honest answer.
That judgment is theirs to make in front of the door, and New Jersey law puts hardware selection advice inside the licensed definition of locksmithing. What you can do is make them explain it. “Show me what is worn” is a fair sentence, and a legitimate locksmith will have an answer that involves the hardware rather than an answer that involves your feelings about security.
The three-cylinder problem
Count before you call. Almost every complaint about a rekey price in this state traces back to a phone quote given for “the door” when the address had three of them.
Walk the entry and count actual cylinders. The stoop door. The vestibule door. The unit door. The knob lock and the deadbolt on the same door are two separate cylinders, and both have to be done or you have rekeyed half a door. Then ask whether they can be keyed alike, and ask before the work starts, because pinning several cylinders to one key is easy while the plugs are already out and irritating afterward.
What moves the price
The per-cylinder labor is the small number. The service call, the hour of day and the age of the hardware are the large ones. A rekey at two in the afternoon on a modern bored cylindrical lock in a 1968 Edison split is a different job from the same rekey at midnight on a painted-shut mortise case in a Paterson mill house, and honest pricing reflects that. What is not honest is discovering the difference only after the invoice is written.
Ask these
- What is the total for the number of cylinders I actually have, including the service call and tax?
- Can all of these cylinders be keyed alike, and does that change the price?
- If a cylinder turns out to be too worn to hold a new pinning, what happens next and what does that cost?
- How many keys are included, and what does an extra copy cost today rather than later?
- What is your licensed business name and license number so I can look it up?
- Will the invoice show your license number on it?
Red flags
- A flat per-door price quoted before anyone has asked how many cylinders are on the door.
- A recommendation to replace sound hardware when nothing has been shown to be wrong with it.
- Drilling suggested for a lock that opens normally with the current key.
- A quote that counts a stoop, vestibule and unit door as one job and then recounts them on arrival.
- An unmarked vehicle, or a technician who cannot say whose license the work is being done under.
- Pressure to add hardware upgrades during a routine rekey visit.
Sources
Common questions
Does rekeying make the old keys stop working everywhere?
It makes them stop working in the cylinders that were rekeyed. If the building's vestibule door was not part of the job, a key to that door still opens it. This is the most common gap after a New Jersey rekey, because the vestibule door usually belongs to the building rather than to the unit.
When does replacing the lock beat rekeying it?
When the cylinder itself is worn past the point of holding a clean pinning, when the lock body is damaged, or when parts for very old mortise hardware are not obtainable. Those are on-site judgments about specific hardware, and New Jersey places hardware selection advice inside the licensed definition of locksmithing, so the answer has to come from the licensee looking at the door.
Can I rekey an apartment door myself?
That is a question for your lease and your landlord before it is a question about locks. Many New Jersey leases require written permission and a copy of the key for the management company. Changing hardware on a shared building entrance door is a separate problem, because multi-family entrance doors carry specific state requirements.
How many cylinders does a typical New Jersey rekey involve?
More than people expect. A single-family Cape or split in Edison or Cherry Hill is commonly two to four, counting the front door, the back door and the garage entry door. A two-family or three-family in Newark, Jersey City or Paterson routinely runs three to six once the stoop and vestibule doors are counted.
When is the busiest time for rekeys in New Jersey?
April through July, because real estate closings and moving season overlap, and the new-homeowner rekey is the most predictable recurring job in the state. Late August is the other spike, concentrated in New Brunswick and Piscataway, where Rutgers leases signed in January all turn over inside about three weeks.