Rekeying vs. Replacing Locks: Which One Do You Really Need?

Rekeying and replacing get pitched as if they were interchangeable. They are opposite answers to two different questions — one changes who your locks recognize, the other changes the locks themselves — and picking the wrong one first means paying twice. The short version for any Orlando homeowner: if the lock works and the worry is who holds a key, rekey. If the hardware itself is the problem, replace. A rekey runs $20–$50 per cylinder plus a trip charge; a replacement runs $30–$100 labor plus $20–$300+ hardware per lock — so the price gap alone makes “which one do I actually need?” worth ten careful minutes.

What each job actually touches

A rekey opens the cylinder, swaps the pin stack to match a new key, and puts everything back. The hardware, the finish, the door — untouched. Every old key becomes scrap metal the moment the new one works.

A replacement installs a new unit: new cylinder, new bolt, new trim. That is your one chance to raise the security grade, fix a mechanism that fights you, or move a door to a keypad or smart lock.

Worth keeping in mind: each job has a blind spot. A rekey does nothing for a bolt that drags or a cylinder that grinds — the weakness travels with the hardware, not the key. A replacement, meanwhile, does nothing about a key that is still in someone else’s pocket if you skip having the new lock keyed differently from the old ones. Say out loud what you want each job to end, and the technician can confirm the plan before the first screw comes out.

Side by side

	Rekey	Replace
The problem it solves	Key control — old keys stop working	The hardware — wear, damage, quality
Typical cost*	$20–$50 per lock + trip	$30–$100 labor + $20–$300+ hardware per lock
Security grade	Unchanged	Can go up
Look and finish	Kept exactly	New
Time per door	Minutes	Longer — varies by door and hardware

*Typical Orlando-area figures. The full table is on our prices page.

Three Orlando homes, three right answers

The handoff in Conway. You just got the keys to a bungalow. Nothing is mechanically wrong — but a small crowd of strangers technically still has a way in: the previous owners, their cleaner, a lockbox nobody emptied. This is pure key control, which is exactly what a rekey is for. Every exterior door, one visit, old copies dead — and the whole job is usually finished before the moving truck is empty.

The sticky cylinder in College Park. A mid-century deadbolt that needs a shove is not a key-control problem — it is a dying lock, and dying locks snap keys. A snapped key turns a $30–$100 decision into a $50–$150 extraction stacked on top. Replace that one before it eats another key; there is no pin swap that fixes metal fatigue.

The upgrade itch in MetroWest. Builder-grade hardware everywhere, and you keep eyeing keypad locks. Replace the one door you actually want upgraded — the front one — and rekey the rest so the whole house still works from a single key ring. You get the feature where it matters and pay hardware prices for exactly one door.

When the honest answer is both

Most houses land between the categories: one or two locks that are genuinely done, and a majority that are healthy. Ask the technician for a cylinder-by-cylinder verdict — which are worth keeping, which are finished — and treat it as a read on the hardware, not a sales pitch. Rekey the healthy majority, replace the failures, and pay only for work that corresponds to a real problem.

One wrinkle to know before you fall in love with the one-key idea: a rekey can only put doors on a shared key when the cylinders already speak the same brand language. An all-Schlage house unifies easily; a house assembled door by door over forty years may hold three brands and a mystery. The usual resolution is the same hybrid — replace whichever single odd-brand cylinder stands between the rest and a common key, rekey everything else to match.

One visit or three: the trip-charge math

Every visit carries a trip charge, so the schedule is part of the budget. Three doors handled across three separate appointments pay that charge three times; the same doors in one appointment pay it once. Book every exterior cylinder together, settle on one key plan, and be done.

If the budget needs a second look before you commit, start at the full price breakdown, then describe your doors through the contact page — you will get an honest verdict on each lock and a range for either path.