Commercial · Barrie
Commercial Rekeying
The office has been reshuffled twice since the locks were last touched.
In plain words
Losing a master key exposes every door it opened, and a commercial rekey brings that exposure back to zero. The locksmith first works out which level the missing key sat at: a single change key affects one or two cylinders, while a master reaches every lock in its group. Only the affected cylinders are repinned, which keeps the rest of the system intact and the response proportionate. Where a keying chart exists the work is precise; where the chart has been lost, the visit begins by reading and recording the existing cylinders so the new plan starts from facts rather than memory.
How the visit goesTwo people left over the summer and the keys they handed back came up one short. Nobody is sure whether the missing key was for the front door, the stockroom or both, and the sign-out sheet stopped being filled in a year ago.
Commercial Rekeying
How the visit goes
Who is entitled to order the change
Every commercial rekey starts by confirming that the person asking for it has the standing to do so. For a small business that is usually the owner or a director; for a larger one, a facilities manager or property manager acting under written authority. The lease matters here too, because it decides which doors are the tenant's to alter and which remain the landlord's, and many leases ask that the landlord be given a key or told when locks change. Getting this straight before any cylinder comes out protects the business, its neighbours in the building and the locksmith, and it means the finished keying chart lands in the right hands.
Retiring the old keys
The job is finished when the old keys are proven dead, not when the new ones work. At every rekeyed opening the locksmith tries a sample of the old keys, including the master if one existed, and confirms that each one enters the keyway and turns nothing. The collected old keys are then cut through with snips in front of the manager and can be handed back as scrap or taken away. Any door deliberately left on its original key is written on the chart in plain words so nobody assumes it changed. That last check is what turns a day of brass work into a genuine reset of who can open the business.
Keys counted into named hands
Alongside the chart comes a key register: each key's stamped code, the person it was issued to, the date, and a line for the date it comes back. Filling it in as keys are handed out on the first morning takes ten minutes and pays off at every departure afterwards, because the question becomes 'return key A-07' rather than 'did she have a key?'. Spare keys are counted too and kept somewhere locked rather than in the drawer where the old tangle lived. When the register and the chart agree with the keys on the hook, the business knows exactly who can open it, which is the whole point of the exercise.
Commercial Rekeying
In the van
Commercial pin kit
Interchangeable cores and control key
Standard and restricted key blanks
Master pins
Rekeyable padlocks
Commercial Rekeying
What affects the quote
How many keys are cut
Each key cut to code and stamped is counted into the quote. Two per door group for a small shop and forty for a warehouse shift are different numbers.
Distance to the premises
Travel to the site is part of the call-out, and a unit in a downtown plaza and one at the end of a rural industrial road are different trips.
After-hours or split visits
Work done after closing, before opening or split across two visits to suit trading hours costs the same amount as a single daytime block. The exact figure is confirmed on site once the number of cylinders and the keying plan are known.
What to have ready
- Are any of the locks interchangeable cores, and where is the control key?
- Are any cylinders stiff, loose or hard to turn at the moment?
- Which doors, if any, belong to the landlord or a shared corridor?
Commercial Rekeying: questions
QuestionsWhat is the difference between rekeying a business and replacing its locks?
Rekeying keeps every lock on the door and changes only the pins inside the cylinder, so a new key works and the old ones stop. Replacing swaps the hardware itself. Commercial cylinders are made to be repinned many times, so rekeying suits any lock in sound condition and leaves the levers, trim and door untouched. Replacement is chosen door by door for cylinders that are worn, corroded or too light for what they protect.
How often should a business change its keys as a matter of routine?
There is no fixed interval. Rekey on events rather than on a calendar: a key not returned, a lease change, a break-in, a renovation crew finished, or a key count that no longer matches the register. Businesses with a good register and a restricted keyway often go years between rekeys because nothing prompts one. A yearly check of the register against the keys on the hook is the habit that tells you when the time has come.
What condition does a lock need to be in to be rekeyed?
It needs a plug that rotates without catching, pins that return under their springs, and a face free of heavy corrosion or cracks. Most commercial cylinders in daily use pass easily. Ones that are stiff, gritty or green with salt bloom can sometimes be cleaned and repinned, and the locksmith will say when a replacement for that door is the better value; the rest of the doors are rekeyed regardless.
Related services
- Access Control InstallationHead office wants a record of who opens the branch and when, tied to an actual name rather than a shared code scrawled on a sticky note taped under the till.
- Panic & Exit HardwareThe crossbar on the loading-dock door barely returns anymore.
- Commercial-Grade Lock ReplacementThe kitchen delivery door gets shouldered open more than a hundred times a shift, and lately the latch slips past the strike plate instead of catching it on the first push.