Change Locks in City of Industry, CA

Should you change locks or just rekey them?

When someone calls and says they need to change the locks, they usually mean one of three different things, and the right answer depends on which one. The first is that they want old keys to stop working. The second is that the hardware is worn, damaged or outdated. The third is that they want a higher level of security than what is on the door now. Only the second and third really call for new hardware.

If your problem is that too many people have keys, or you don't know who does, rekeying is often the more economical route. A rekey keeps the existing lock body and changes the internal pins so that the old keys no longer turn it. You get new keys, and the old ones become useless. You can read more about that on our lock rekey page.

If the lock is loose, corroded, sticking, broken, or simply not a good lock to begin with, then replacing it makes more sense, because new pins inside a failing cylinder won't fix the cylinder. Our lock replacement page covers that side. The point of this page is the decision between the two, and we are glad to walk through it with you before anyone picks up a tool.

What a lock change really looks like in City of Industry

City of Industry is not a typical residential city, and that shapes how we think about this service here. The city is almost entirely industrial and commercial, with only a few hundred residents and very little housing. The buildings you see are warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing plants, office parks and big-box retail. So when someone in City of Industry asks us to change locks, the door in question is far more likely to be a steel door, a roll-up door, a gate or a panic-bar exit than a front door with a standard deadbolt.

That changes the questions. Instead of asking how old the house is, we ask how many people have keys to the building, whether the doors are on a master key system, whether any of them are fire exits with panic hardware, and whether a lock change needs to happen across several doors at once so the building stays consistent.

None of this means we can't help someone who has bought one of the few homes here, or who lives nearby and needs the same service. It just means we won't pretend the typical customer here is a homeowner. We would rather tell you that plainly than recycle a generic page that could have been written for any suburb.

How we handle a lock change, step by step

Every job is a little different, but the sequence is consistent. Here is what you can expect when you call.

1. You call (213) 577-1366 at any hour. A person answers, and you describe the doors, the reason for the change and whether anything is urgent, such as a recently departed employee or a break-in.
2. We ask the questions that decide the approach: how many locks, what type, how old, whether the keys you have are accounted for, and whether any doors are exits that must remain operable from the inside.
3. A technician comes to the site in a mobile van from our company, not a handed-off subcontractor, and looks at the actual hardware. This is where the rekey-or-replace question gets answered honestly, because we can see the condition of each lock.
4. We explain the options in plain terms, including what each one affects in cost, before work begins. If rekeying is enough, we say so. If a lock is too worn to be worth rekeying, we say that too.
5. We do the work, then test every lock with the new keys from the outside and the inside, and confirm the old keys no longer operate the rekeyed locks.
6. We hand over the keys, note how many were cut, and talk through key control: who should hold which key, and what to do the next time someone leaves.

Rekey or replace locks: how to decide

Here is the working rule we use. If the lock is mechanically sound and you are happy with its security level, rekey it. If it is damaged, weak or mismatched, replace it. The details below help sort the gray areas.

• Rekey when the hardware works smoothly, the finish is intact and you only need to cancel old keys. This is common after staff changes, tenant turnover or a lost key.
• Replace when a lock sticks, spins loosely, shows corrosion, has been forced, or has a cylinder that no longer holds a key well.
• Replace when the lock is a basic grade and you want something tougher. Our high-security locks page explains what that involves, although a rekey alone will not upgrade the hardware.
• Replace when a set of doors has a mixture of brands that you want to consolidate onto one keying system.
• Consider a different approach entirely when the problem is many people needing different levels of access. A master key system or access control may serve you better than repeatedly changing individual locks.
• Ask us if you are unsure. Looking at the lock is a quicker way to settle the question than guessing from a description.

What affects the cost of changing locks?

We don't quote numbers on a web page, because a number given without seeing the doors is a guess dressed up as a promise. What we can do is tell you exactly what moves the cost up or down, so you can judge any quote you receive, ours or anyone else's.

The biggest factor is whether you are rekeying or replacing. Rekeying uses existing hardware, so it is usually the more economical route when the locks are in good shape. Replacement adds the cost of the new hardware itself, and that varies a great deal by grade and type.

The number of locks matters, but so does how they are keyed. Putting several doors on the same key is a different job from giving each its own key, and a building on a master key system needs more planning than a single door.

The type of hardware counts. A standard cylinder is simple. A commercial mortise lock, a panic device, a roll-up door lock, or a high-security cylinder takes more time and sometimes special parts. Condition counts too: a lock that is seized or corroded can take longer to deal with than a clean one.

Finally, timing and travel play a role. A scheduled lock change is a different situation from an overnight urgent call, and our storefront is in Westwood, about 31 miles from City of Industry, so the mobile trip is part of the picture. We tell you the shape of the charge before we start, not after.

Changing locks after buying a house or moving

Many people searching for a locksmith for a new house or a locksmith after moving have the same instinct, and it is a good one: you do not know who has keys to the place you just bought or rented. Previous owners, their relatives, contractors, agents and neighbors can all hold copies, and no one can tell you how many.

The usual approach is to rekey every exterior lock, which makes all older keys stop working while keeping the hardware you already have. If a lock looks old or worn, or if the deadbolt is missing on a door that should have one, we would replace it instead. Our lock replacement and deadbolt installation pages cover those cases.

We will be straightforward about the local picture. Because City of Industry has very little housing, a new-homeowner call from inside the city is rare. If you have bought a home elsewhere in Los Angeles or Ventura County, we serve 140 cities and the same advice applies. The same logic also covers a business that has taken over a unit: a new tenant in a warehouse or office suite is in the same position as a new homeowner. The previous occupant's keys, vendors and staff may still have access, and rekeying is the first thing to do.

Lock changes along Valley Boulevard, Gale Avenue and the Grand Avenue business parks

In City of Industry, the occasions for changing locks tend to follow the commercial calendar. Along the Valley Boulevard industrial corridor, the work is typically warehouses and distribution centers where a rekey ties into a master key system, so that managers, shift leads and maintenance all have the right level of access. Along the Gale Avenue business corridor, we see more offices and mixed commercial buildings, where exit devices and panic bars sit alongside the main entry locks and need to be considered in any change. If you need to add or replace those exit devices, see our panic bar installation page.

The scenario that most often leads to a lock change in this city is employee turnover at business parks. Someone leaves, perhaps on good terms, perhaps not, and you realize they still have a key, or that a key was copied somewhere along the way. The Grand Avenue business parks near SR-60 are an example of the kind of site where this comes up: multiple suites, multiple doors, and a lot of people with keys. Rekeying the affected doors is usually the right first step, and it can be done without replacing every lock in the building. Note that in a business setting, a key change often needs to be coordinated so that the doors people need for work remain usable.

Retail is another thread. Around the Puente Hills Mall retail district and the surrounding big-box centers, tenants change, managers rotate and the locks on back-of-house doors need to keep pace. Our commercial locksmith page describes the wider commercial work we do.

A note on the local ZIP codes: calls from 91744, 91745, 91746 and 91748 all come through the same number, and we handle them the same way. For the weather, the hot inland summers and the heat that builds up around pavement and large rooftops matter for steel doors, roll-up doors and gate hardware. Sun and thermal expansion can leave a lock stiff or a latch misaligned, and when we change a lock on such a door we check the alignment, because sometimes the problem is the door, not the cylinder.

Why call Wilshire Lock & Key for a lock change

We have been in business since 1987. That is a long time to work on locks, and it means we have seen a lot of the odd situations that don't fit the simple description: mixed hardware, locks installed by someone who did not finish the job, and keying systems that no one remembers designing.

We have a storefront at 10740 Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles, CA 90024, in Westwood, plus mobile service vans. When you call, the company that answers is the company that sends the technician. There is no dispatch middleman taking a cut and sending whoever is free. David, the owner and lead technician, oversees the work, so there is someone accountable for how a job goes.

Our phone line is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year-round at (213) 577-1366. If your lock change is urgent, see our 24-hour locksmith page, and if you'd like to know how our vans work, see mobile locksmith service.

One more thing worth saying: California requires locksmith companies to hold a BSIS LCO license. Whoever you hire, ask for their license information before work starts. It is a reasonable question and a legitimate company will not take offense.

More locksmith help in City of Industry

• Deadbolt Installation in City of Industry
• Gate Lock Repair in City of Industry
• High Security Locks in City of Industry
• Key Duplication in City of Industry
• Lock Installation in City of Industry
• Lock Rekey in City of Industry
• All services in City of Industry

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