The builder
A construction key opened every house in the phase while it was being finished. It is meant to be retired at closing, and often is not.
Move-in rekeys for new-build and resale homes
Rekey Your San Marcos Home: New Keys, Same Locks
Builders, trades, realtors and prior owners may all have a key to your house. A rekey keeps every lock you already own and gives it new pins and one new key, in a single visit, for less than replacing a single deadbolt.
- Licensed and insured
- Background-checked technicians
- Open 8am–8:30pm, every day
Who still has a key to your new home
Nobody hands you a list at closing. Here is who is usually on it.
The trades
Framers, painters, flooring crews and the punch-list tech all needed in for months. Copies get made and never come back.
The lockbox
A resale sat on the market with a lockbox on the hose bib. Every agent who showed it had the code and the key inside.
Previous owners
Neighbors with a spare, a dog walker, a cleaner, an adult kid who moved out. Nobody is trying to get in. They just still can.
None of this is a reason to worry. San Marcos has one of the lower property-crime rates in the county. It is a reason to spend an hour on move-in day and stop wondering.
Rekey vs. replace
Inside every keyed lock is a small cylinder with a row of spring-loaded pins. The cuts on your key push those pins to exactly the right height so the cylinder can turn. Rekeying means taking that cylinder out, dropping the old pins, and loading a new set matched to a freshly cut key. The deadbolt, the handle and the finish stay on the door. The old key slides in and simply will not turn.
Replacing makes more sense when the hardware itself is the problem: a deadbolt that grinds, a handleset with a broken spring, a finish flaked to bare brass, or a brand nobody stocks pins for. On a 1990s Santa Fe Hills home we often rekey the front and garage-entry doors and replace a worn slider or gate latch on the same visit. Send a photo of each lock and we will tell you which is which before we drive.
Builder "construction keys" and SmartKey cylinders
Large builders in San Elijo Hills, Rancho Dorado and the newer streets near the University District often hang locks with a construction-key feature. The crews use one temporary key for every house, and when the owner inserts their real key for the first time a small ball bearing drops inside the cylinder and the construction key is locked out for good. It is a good system when it works.
Three things get in the way. The feature only exists on the locks the builder ordered with it, usually the front door, while the side gate and patio locks came from a different bin. Trade copies were cut from the owner key blank, not the construction key, so they survive the lockout. And the lockout only happens on a full turn of the owner key, which a stiff new deadbolt does not always give on the first try. We check each cylinder rather than trusting the feature.
Kwikset SmartKey cylinders, standard in many tract homes built since the late 2000s, use sliders instead of pins and reset with a small tool and a working key, which also means a previous owner could have reset one to a key you do not know about. We reset every SmartKey lock to your new key. Older pinned cylinders on a Richland ranch home or a Lake San Marcos condo are rekeyed the traditional way, with a pinning kit on the tailgate.
Every lock, one key
The goal of a move-in rekey is a single new key that opens everything you own and nothing you do not. That list is longer than the front door.
- Front door deadbolt and handleset.
- Garage-entry door, the one from the garage into the kitchen that every trade used.
- Side and rear gates with keyed locks, common on hillside lots and in Twin Oaks Valley.
- Patio and French doors with a keyed cylinder rather than just a thumb latch.
- The keyed backup on a smart lock, pinned to the new key so it is not the one door the old key still opens.
Going keyless on the front door anyway? We can install the keypad or app deadbolt on the same trip.
Move-in lock checklist
A one-page printable list of every lock, code and fob to deal with in the first week, from the garage keypad code to the HOA cluster mailbox. Free, no email address required.
- Front door and garage-entry door rekeyed
- Side gate, slider and smart lock backup on the same key
- Construction key tested dead
- Garage keypad code and remotes reset
- Mailbox lock, HOA fobs, CC&Rs checked
Rekey ranges for a typical San Marcos home
How much does it cost to rekey a house in San Marcos? Most homes land between $150–$300 all in, made up of a service call of $55–$95 plus $25–$45 per lock cylinder, with four to six cylinders on a typical three or four bedroom home. That covers the front door, garage-entry door, side gate and slider keyed alike, new keys cut on the van, and the old keys tested. A smart lock backup cylinder counts as one cylinder.
The number moves with how many cylinders you have, whether any need rebuilding, and how many keys you want cut. We quote the whole house on the phone and confirm it on site before the first cylinder comes out. The full table of ranges shows how a rekey compares with replacement and with adding a smart lock.
How a move-in rekey goes
Count the doors
Front, garage-entry, side gate, slider, the smart lock backup. Text a list or a few photos and we quote the whole house.
Pull the cylinders
Each lock stays on the door. We remove the cylinder, dump the old pins and load a fresh set to a new key cut.
One key, every door
Every cylinder is pinned to the same new key, keys are cut on the van, and the old ones are tested to make sure they no longer turn.
Hand over and walkthrough
You get the keys you asked for, a written invoice, and the move-in checklist for the rest of the list.
Rekey questions
Should I rekey a brand-new home?
Yes, and the newer the home the more it matters. A new build in San Elijo Hills has been opened by a construction key and a dozen trade copies for most of a year. Some builders use a construction-key system that locks out the old key the first time you use yours, but only on the cylinders set up for it, and the garage-entry door and side gate usually were not. A move-in rekey costs less than one replacement lock and settles every door at once.
Can you match my smart lock's backup key to the house key?
Yes. Most keypad and app deadbolts use a standard cylinder we can pin to the same new key as the rest of the house, so you carry one key and the backup stops matching the builder key. If your lock uses a proprietary cylinder, we tell you before we start and rekey it within its own system or leave it labeled on its own key.
Do renters need the landlord's permission to rekey?
In most San Marcos leases, yes. California landlords are entitled to a working key, so a rekey done without telling them can breach the lease. A quick text to the property manager usually settles it, and near CSUSM many managers pay for the rekey as part of summer turnover. We can bill either party and cut a copy for the manager if the lease requires it.
Can every door in the house use one key?
Usually. Front door, garage-entry door, side gate and any keyed patio lock can all be pinned to one key as long as they share a keyway, and most tract homes were hung with matching Kwikset or Schlage hardware for that reason. When one lock is a different brand, we either give you a second key for it or swap that one cylinder so the whole house matches. We tell you which before we start.
How long does a whole-house rekey take?
About an hour for a typical three or four bedroom home with four to six cylinders, including cutting new keys and testing the old ones. Add fifteen minutes if a smart lock backup or gate lock needs to come apart, and a little more on older Richland or Lake San Marcos homes where hardware has been painted over or a cylinder is seized.
San Elijo Hills and the streets around it are where we do the most move-in rekeys, and we know the hardware the builders used there.
Moving in this week?
Text your door count and the neighborhood. We quote the whole house and hold a slot around your move.