Home Rekeying in North York
We carry out home rekeying & lock changes for homes across North York, from Willowdale, Bayview Village and Don Mills through to Armour Heights. New home, lost key or a tenancy change — existing locks re-pinned to a new key at a fraction of replacement cost.
Post-war bungalows and side-splits from the 1950s and 60s across Willowdale and Bathurst Manor, increasingly replaced by custom two-storey rebuilds, plus a fast-growing condo spine along Yonge. Knowing the housing stock matters: the right hardware for a 1960s side entrance in Willowdale is not the right hardware for a post-2010 build, and fitting the wrong one wastes your money.
North York has an unusual split: original 1960s homes still running the builder-grade Weiser and Dexter hardware they were built with, right next door to teardown rebuilds fitted with smart deadbolts. The older locks are frequently past the point where rekeying is sensible — worn wafers and sloppy tolerances mean a fresh grade-2 deadbolt is both cheaper and materially more secure. Medical and dental offices along Yonge are a steady source of access-control work, because patient-record rooms need audited entry.
We hold stock for the hardware that recurs in North York, which is often what decides whether a door is fixed today or boarded until a part arrives.
Typical range: $35–$120 CAD per cylinder, plus service call. Ranges are typical for the GTA and depend on the door, the hardware and the time of day. We confirm the price before dispatching.
Where we work in North York
We cover the whole municipality for home rekeying & lock changes, including Willowdale, Bayview Village, Don Mills, York Mills, Downsview, Jane and Finch, Bathurst Manor, Newtonbrook, Lansing and Armour Heights — across the M2N, M2M, M2R, M3A, M3C and M3H postal areas. The main corridors we work are Yonge Street (Sheppard to Steeles), Sheppard Avenue East, Finch Avenue, Wilson Avenue, Dufferin Street and Steeles Avenue West.
Rekey on possession, always
This is the one piece of advice we give unprompted. Whatever assurances came with the sale, keys accumulate over years and nobody tracks them. The cost of rekeying is small and the certainty is complete.
It matters more on newer builds than people expect. Builders routinely key an entire phase to a small number of profiles so trades can move between houses, and that construction keying is frequently still in place at closing. In fast-built areas like Milton, Mount Pleasant and Vellore Village this is common.
Getting to one key
Most homes accumulate different keys for the front door, the back door, the side door, the garage and the shed. There is no reason for that.
Where the locks share a keyway, keying them alike is straightforward and inexpensive. Where they do not, swapping cylinders to a common keyway achieves the same result without replacing the locksets.
When replacement is better
- The lock is worn enough that the key drags or has to be jiggled
- It is a builder-grade lockset on an exterior door, where the grade is genuinely inadequate
- The finish is damaged or the lockset is loose in the door
- You want smart lock functionality, which rekeying obviously cannot provide
- You are rekeying because keys were copied without your knowledge, in which case the open keyway is the actual problem and a restricted cylinder is the fix
This page covers home rekeying & lock changes specifically in North York. For the full technical detail — every option, every fault mode and the complete FAQ — see our main home rekeying & lock changes page.
Home Rekeying in North York — questions
Do you cover all of North York?
Yes — the whole municipality, including Willowdale, Bayview Village, Don Mills, York Mills and Downsview, across the M2N, M2M, M2R and M3A postal areas and the rest. We also cover the surrounding City of Toronto area and the neighbouring municipalities, so a job that sits on a boundary is not a problem.
How quickly can you get to North York?
It depends on the time of day, where in North York you are, and what is already in progress. We give you a realistic window when you call rather than an optimistic one, and we would rather tell you ninety minutes and arrive in seventy. For non-urgent work we will usually offer you a scheduled slot, which is cheaper than an emergency callout.
Can all my house locks use the same key?
Yes in almost every case. If the locks share a keyway it is straightforward. If they are different brands, cylinders can usually be swapped to a common keyway at modest cost, which is still far cheaper than replacing the locksets. Front, back, side, garage and shed on one key is a normal request.
Should I rekey or replace locks when I buy a house?
Rekey, unless the hardware itself is worn out or inadequate. Rekeying gives you exactly the same security outcome — every old key stops working — at a fraction of the cost of new locksets. Put the savings into a reinforced strike plate on the doors that matter, which does more for your actual security than a new lock body would.
How much does it cost to rekey a house?
It is charged per cylinder plus the service call, so a typical home with three to five exterior locks is modest. Keying them all alike so you carry one key is normally included rather than extra. We quote the total on the phone once you tell us how many doors.