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The most common job of a Locksmith is not to unlock cars on an emergency lockout when you have locked your keys inside or to unlock doors to homes when you have lost or locked your keys inside. Actually 24 hour emergency lockout service is less than 1% of our revenue at Allied Lock & Safe after 30 years in business of unlocking cars, homes, business’s & opening safes. A lockout is the first thought that comes to mind when you think of a Locksmith, although Allied Lock & Safe has mastered opening car doors, homes, business’s and safes in a very short amount of time and has a speedy response time with Locksmith technicians covering the Silicon Valley & Bay Area service areas.
The most common job of a properly trained & established Locksmith is to rekey a lock.
The first step to securing your property is to control the perimeter doors.
The most common call for service a Locksmith gets is the request to change the locks. When technically what the client’s most cost effective way to change the locks is to Rekey or Re-Key the locks or more specifically Rekey the locks cylinders and leave the locks in place.
How to Rekey a lock
The lock is dismantled (each lock manufacturer is different) and the pins (the actual devices that lock the plug in the cylinder and incorrectly called plugs in this photo) are removed or dumped and a new combination is installed most importantly disabling the old key and can either be set to an existing key of yours that is secure (you know where all of the keys are) as long as it is the same keyway or a totally new key also of the same keyway. The keyway being the part of the cylinder that the key goes into and being a specific shape, there are thousands of keyways however, major manufacturers such as Schlage or Kwikset use the same keyway on millions of locks. The cylinder houses springs and top pins not shown and if the plug (the part shown that houses the pins) is removed without securing the top pins and springs with a follower the lock will blow apart and the top pins and springs will be ejected from the cylinder.
The job of Rekeying is best done by a professionally trained Locksmith who can assess the security of the property after the Rekey is complete also checking not only that the lock is Rekeyed correctly but that all of the functions of the lock are working correctly and in good working order. The Locksmith should check the door and the hinges for integrity as well.
The Cost of Rekeying
The cost of rekeying varies of course between Locksmith. The standard price for a Rekey however is $17.50 per cylinder or keyhole in the field, each key is around $3.00 and there is a service call starting at $65.00 to come to your location.
1 Rekey at your home or business runs less than a $100 or $88.50 and includes two keys at $3.00 in Allied Lock & Safe’s case and each additional rekey is $17.50.
In the shop $12.50 per cylinder plus $3.00 per key in the shop on the bench, when you bring the locks other locksmith shops should be around the same price.
One key is recommended by all authorities including the police & fire department to be able to get in a door. Often questions arise if the owner of the property should have two different keyed locks on the same door.
Master keying
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Master keying is an easy way to restrict access to certain doors and areas and still be able to operate the facility with one key for a manager or owner. Master keying can reduce the property owners liability in many ways with the ability to keep unauthorized areas off limits. An example would be a janitor having access to the front door and janitor closets but not to the offices.
How much does it cost to master key?
Master keying a lock has to be one of the most overestimated services out there. Time after time home owner associations and facilities wait 10 years to master key the property in the mean time the property has become less secure and harder to use.
1 Rekey at your home or business runs less than a $100 or $95.50 and includes two keys at $3.00 in Allied Lock & Safe’s case and each additional rekey is $24.50.
In the shop $17.50 per cylinder plus $3.00 per key in the shop on the bench, when you bring the locks other locksmith shops should be around the same price.
Restricted keyways
As security professionals it is our duty to inform you of the first step to take control of your property and rekeying is the first step, disabling all old keys and creating all new keys. The next step you can and should take is to take your property off of a public keyway and purchase a private and restricted keyway. This will give you administrative rights over who can copy your keys. Simply stamping DO NOT DUPLICATE on a public keyway will not prevent unauthorized key duplication. The owner of the property must know how many keys are out there and who has them to call your property secure.
For complete rekey & restricted keyway solutions San Jose, the Slicon Valley & the San Francisco Bay Area call or visit the Locksmith store.
Allied Lock & Safe is located in Silicon Valley San Jose, CA 1122 Saratoga Ave San Jose, CA 95129 (click for directions and maps).
Call today for free estimate 877-611-LOCK (5625)
Visit our website www.AlliedLockSafe.com for more information.