New Keys for Your Santee Home, Without New Locks

Why rekey a brand-new home

A new house has had more keys in circulation than any resale. During construction the locks are usually on a construction key that every trade carries; the builder is supposed to "break" that key at closeout, but the deadbolts still went through framing, drywall, paint, flooring, cleaning and the model-home tour with someone else holding a key. Some builders put entire phases on a common key. If you just took delivery in Weston, Walker Trails, Castlerock, the Riverview or Prospect Fields townhomes, or a Braverman Dr single-family, a rekey the day you get possession is the cheapest peace of mind in the whole move.

Rekey vs. replace

Rekeying keeps the lock and changes the key. It costs a fraction of new hardware, takes minutes per cylinder, and leaves your handleset and finish untouched. Replacement makes sense in three cases: the lock is worn out (a 1978 knob that spins loose, a deadbolt that needs a wiggle), the door has no deadbolt at all, or you want a keypad on that door. We tell you which doors fall into which bucket when we see them, and we carry replacement deadbolts in the van so the whole job finishes in one visit.

One key for every door

The goal on most Santee homes is a single key that works:

• the front door handleset and deadbolt,
• the door from the garage into the house, which on tract homes is often the door everyone actually uses,
• side and back doors, and the laundry-room door to the side yard,
• a keyed slider lock or patio door, where fitted,
• gate padlocks, swapped for a keyed-alike padlock on the same key,
• and the mailbox, with a caveat: a cluster box in a newer HOA community belongs to the Postal Service, and only the carrier can change that lock. An individual mailbox on a post is yours and we rekey it.

Different brands can usually be keyed alike as long as they share a keyway; where a door has an odd brand we will say so and offer a matching cylinder rather than leaving you with two keys.

Older Santee homes

The 1970s and '80s tracts around Carlton Hills Blvd, Summercrest, Sky Ranch's older streets and the blocks south of Prospect Ave are a locksmith's tour of four decades of hardware: an original builder knob on the garage door, a 1990s deadbolt from the hardware store on the front, a big-box handleset from the last remodel on the back. We match them all to one key, replace any cylinder that is too worn to pin reliably, and tell you honestly if a lock has simply reached the end.

Lost keys or a roommate moved out

Same job, different reason. A key ring lost at Santee Lakes with your address on the tag, a contractor who never returned the key, a roommate or ex who still has one, a tenant turnover on a rental in a city with almost no vacancy: each of these is a rekey, not a lock replacement, and each takes about an hour. Landlords: tell us the door count and we can keep a record of the keying so the next turnover is faster. If you are locked out right now because the keys are gone, we get you in first, then rekey in the same visit.

Want to skip keys on the front door entirely? A keypad deadbolt can be keyed to match the rest of the house, so one key still opens everything and you rarely need it. Moving into one of the newer communities? Here is what we see in Weston and the Mast Blvd tracts, and in Riverwalk and the townhomes near Town Center.

Rekeys from $95 for the first lock, trip included, and $30 for each one after that. Whole-house move-in bundle from $195, quoted by door count before we drive. See starting prices

Common questions

Is rekeying as secure as new locks?

For the purpose of shutting out old keys, yes: a rekeyed cylinder only opens with the new key, exactly like a new lock would. Where new hardware wins is when the existing lock is worn out, low grade, or missing a deadbolt entirely. We tell you which doors fall into that category when we see them.

Can you rekey Kwikset SmartKey locks?

Yes. With a working key, SmartKey rekeys in about a minute with the learn tool. If the key is lost we reset the cylinder with a cradle, which takes a few minutes longer. Either way it ends up on the same key as your other doors.

How long does a whole house take?

A typical Santee home with four to six exterior locks takes about an hour. Older tracts with mixed brands or a couple of stubborn cylinders can run to ninety minutes. We give you a time estimate on the phone based on your door count.

Do I need to be home?

Someone with authority over the property needs to let us in and take the new keys: you, a spouse, or a property manager. For a new build, escrow closing the same afternoon is fine; we have waited in more than one driveway for the keys to arrive.

Can you keep the builder hardware and style?

That is the point of rekeying. The handleset, deadbolt and finish stay exactly as the builder installed them; only the pins inside change. If you want to upgrade one door to a keypad later, it can still be keyed to match the rest.

We only publish reviews from real Santee and Lakeside customers, signed with a first name and a neighborhood. This section fills in as the jobs do. Until then, ask us for a reference and we will put you in touch with a recent customer.