Residential Locksmith Vancouver

Every figure below is the published rate, quoted before the work starts, and it is the same sheet at prices.

• Rekey, standard cylinder: $25-$45 per cylinder, first two keys included.
• Rekey, high-security cylinder: $60-$120 per cylinder.
• Lock change, installed: $80-$160 a door.
• Home lockout, standard hours: $80-$160.
• Service call, standard hours: $75.
• House and office key copy: $5-$15 each.
• Mailbox lock replacement: $40-$140.

After-hours labour starts at $150 between 5pm and 9pm and runs $250/hour from 9pm to 8:30am. That is quoted on the phone before anyone is dispatched, so a 2am callout is never a surprise on the invoice.

Hardware is graded by ANSI and BHMA: Grade 3 is residential and the weakest, Grade 2 is light commercial, Grade 1 is heavy commercial and high-security. Most builder-grade hardware on a new Vancouver home is Grade 3. That is fine on a bathroom door. It is not fine on a front door if you care about a kick.

For an exterior door the sensible minimum is Grade 2 with a one-inch deadbolt throw and a reinforced strike plate. For a high-traffic entrance, a building on a master key, or anywhere you need documented key control, that becomes Grade 1 on a restricted keyway.

The second axis is the keyway

Schlage SC1 and Kwikset KW1 are everywhere, and every hardware counter in the city cuts them. Restricted profiles such as Mul-T-Lock MT5+, Medeco M3 and Abloy Protec2 are patented, so a copy legally requires an authorized dealer and a signed key card. That is the difference between hoping the old keys are gone and knowing.

Lock types in plain English

• Deadbolt. Single cylinder, key outside and thumbturn inside, is the standard. Double cylinder is used beside glass but is a fire-exit problem on a bedroom-side door. Ask for a one-inch hardened bolt with an anti-saw pin.
• Knob or lever lock. Convenience hardware. It should never be the only lock on an exterior door. Pair it with a deadbolt.
• Mortise lock. A heavy body set into the door edge, common on pre-1970s and commercial doors. Expensive, but you replace the cylinder and keep the body for decades.
• Smart lock. A keypad, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi deadbolt. Choose a Grade 2 or Grade 1 model, because the bolt still has to be a bolt.
• High-security cylinder. Mul-T-Lock, Medeco, Abloy or Schlage Primus. Pick-resistant, drill-resistant and copy-controlled: see high-security locks.
• Padlock. Spec the shackle for the job. Boltcutter resistance matters as much as pick resistance on a gate or a storage cage.

Three different problems that get phoned in as the same one.

Rekey when the lock is sound and only the key list is wrong: a move, a tenancy ending, a lost key, a contractor who kept a spare. $25-$45 per cylinder, and every old key dies. See lock rekey in Vancouver.

Change the lock when the hardware itself has failed or you are moving up a grade. $80-$160 a door installed. See lock change in Vancouver.

Lockout when you are standing outside right now. $80-$160 in standard hours, opened without drilling on most modern locks. See emergency locksmith, or all keys lost if no key exists anywhere.

Stocked as standard: Schlage, Kwikset, Weiser and Yale residential hardware in satin nickel, oil-rubbed bronze, matte black and polished chrome, plus the strike plates and 3-inch screws that should come with every one of them.

Held for upgrades: Mul-T-Lock, Medeco, Abloy and Schlage Primus restricted cylinders, and keypad and app-controlled deadbolts from the mainstream smart-lock brands. Unusual finishes and models are ordered against a part number rather than substituted for something that nearly matches.

Spare keys are cut on the van or at the counter for $5-$15: see key cutting in Vancouver.

A condo is two lock problems, not one. The suite door is yours and you can rekey or change it. The building entry, the fob system and often the mailbox are the strata council, and work on those needs their sign-off. We ask which one you mean before quoting, because the wrong answer wastes a visit.

Mailbox locks are their own small job at $40-$140, and Canada Post community boxes have their own rules we will explain rather than cut through.

For managers running turnovers across a building, we work to your schedule, document the key count on handover and invoice net-30 after the first job.

A keypad or app-controlled deadbolt ends the spare under the mat and the rekey every time a house-sitter changes, and it is the right answer for a household with cleaners, dog walkers or short-stay guests coming and going on their own codes.

It is not automatically the right answer for security: the bolt and the strike still do the work, and a budget smart lock on a Grade 3 body is a Grade 3 door with an app. We fit them, configure them and say when a plain high-security cylinder would serve you better: see smart lock installation in Vancouver.