Rekey at Home Depot or a Locksmith? What Each One Actually Does

Updated September 2026. Written and checked by the technicians at Safe & Secure Locksmith, 4105 Macdonald St, Vancouver. Every figure below matches our published price list. Call 604-734-7233 for a quote before anyone is dispatched.

The short version

Home Depot can rekey a lock you carry to the service desk, if it is a brand and model they are set up for, which in practice means Kwikset and some Schlage. A locksmith rekeys the locks while they are still in your door, on any brand, including mortise bodies, high-security cylinders and commercial hardware, and can key several doors to one key in the same visit.

If you have one new Kwikset deadbolt still in its box, the store is a reasonable option. If you just moved into a house with four different keys, or your hardware is anything other than mainstream residential, it is a locksmith job. Our rate is $25 to $45 per cylinder for standard hardware, published on the prices page, and the service page is lock rekey Vancouver.

What rekeying actually is

Inside a cylinder is a stack of small pins in each of five or six chambers. The pins sit at different heights, and the correct key pushes every stack to exactly the same line so the plug can turn. Rekeying means opening the cylinder and swapping those pins for a different combination of heights, so a different key works and the old one stops working.

Nothing about the outside of the lock changes. The hardware, the finish and the fit stay the same. That is why rekeying is almost always cheaper than replacing: you are buying a handful of pins and fifteen minutes, not a new lockset.

What the store can do

A hardware store rekey desk works on hardware you bring to it, off the door. The technician is a store associate with a rekey kit for the brands the store stocks. For a Kwikset knob or deadbolt, that is a real service and it is inexpensive.

The limits are specific. It has to be a supported brand and keyway. It has to come off your door and go back on, which is your work and your time, and re-hanging a deadbolt out of alignment is how a door stops latching. Nothing high-security, nothing restricted, nothing mortise, nothing commercial. And a store cannot key your front, back and garage locks to one key unless all three happen to be the same supported platform.

What a locksmith does differently

We rekey in place. The cylinders stay in the doors, the alignment is not disturbed, and the whole house is done in one visit. Any brand, including the older mortise locks common in Kitsilano and Point Grey houses, and high-security platforms such as Mul-T-Lock, Medeco and Schlage Primus at $60 to $120 per cylinder.

We can also key everything to one key, which is the request behind most rekey calls after a move. See can a locksmith make one key for all doors. And while the cylinder is open, a technician will tell you if the lock itself is worn out, which is the one thing a rekey cannot fix.

Cost, honestly

A store rekey is cheaper per cylinder than a locksmith call, and it should be: you did the removal, the transport and the reinstallation. Our number includes a technician coming to you, a $75 service call during standard hours plus $25 to $45 per cylinder for standard hardware, with the first two keys included and extra keys $4 to $10.

The comparison flips as soon as you have more than one or two doors, non-Kwikset hardware, or no interest in taking your own deadbolts apart on a weekday. It also flips if you value the alignment check, because a lock reinstalled slightly proud is the most common cause of a door that will not latch afterwards.

When neither is right

Rekeying assumes the lock is mechanically sound. If the cylinder is worn, the key turns roughly, the finish has failed or the hardware is a builder-grade set from the 1990s, replacing it is the better spend. A lock change installed is $80 to $160 plus hardware. See lock change Vancouver and the longer argument in why rekeying beats replacing.

If you just moved in

Rekey. You do not know how many keys exist or who has them: previous owners, their family, contractors, a cleaner, a former tenant, the realtor's lockbox. Rekeying every exterior cylinder to one new key removes all of that in one appointment, and it is the single highest-value security spend a new homeowner makes. For older mortise hardware, the walkthrough is how to rekey a mortise lock.

Frequently asked questions

Article history

This is the rewritten version of Rekey At Home Depot Or A Locksmith, updated September 2026. The prices now match the shop sheet, the store comparison is based on what the service desks actually offer, and every link points at a live page. To book, call 604-734-7233 or use book online.