Change Locks in West Covina, CA

What does it mean to change locks?

People use the phrase change locks to describe two different jobs, and the difference matters for your wallet and your security. The first job is rekeying. We take the lock cylinder apart, change the internal pins to a new pattern, and cut new keys to match. The lock stays on your door, but every old key, including the one the previous owner, an ex-roommate, or a contractor kept, stops working. The second job is replacement. We remove the lock hardware and install new hardware, which comes with its own new keys.

Both jobs end with the same result: keys that used to open your door no longer do. What differs is what happens to the metal on your door. Rekeying keeps your existing hardware, finish and handle style. Replacement gives you new hardware, which is the better path when the old lock is worn out, damaged, or simply not something you want to trust anymore.

A lock change is not a repair and it is not a lockout. If a lock is sticking, loose, or dragging but you are happy with who holds keys, that is usually a repair job, and we cover it on our lock repair page. If you are standing outside your own door right now, start with our house lockout service instead. This page is for the situation where you want control of who can get in, and you want it sorted out properly.

Should you rekey or replace your locks?

This is the question we get most, and we would rather answer it honestly than steer you toward the bigger job. In many homes the lighter-cost route is a rekey, and it is often all that is needed. But there are real cases where replacing is the smarter call. Here is how we think it through with a customer standing in the doorway.

• Rekey when the hardware is in good working order, the finish still looks the way you want, and your only concern is who has copies of the old keys. This is the usual answer after moving into a home or after a key goes missing.
• Rekey when you want several locks to work with one key. We can set the front door, back door and side entry to a single key so you stop carrying a ring of them.
• Replace when a lock is worn, loose, corroded, or has a latch that no longer catches cleanly. Putting new pins in a failing lock just gives you a failing lock with a new key.
• Replace when the hardware is damaged from a break-in attempt or from forced entry. A bent strike plate or cracked body is a weak point no matter what the pins say.
• Replace when you want a different level of security, such as a better deadbolt, a reinforced strike plate, or a high-security cylinder with restricted keys.
• Replace when you want a keypad or smart lock. That is a hardware change, not a key change, and we go through the options on our smart lock installation page.
• Replace when the lock simply does not match the rest of your door hardware and you want it all to look consistent.

How do you change locks after buying a house?

If you have just bought a home, changing the locks is one of the first things worth doing, ideally before you spend your first night there. You cannot know how many keys exist for the front door. The previous owner may have given copies to relatives, neighbors, cleaners, dog walkers, a real estate agent, or a contractor, and most of those people never hand them back. Even honest sellers rarely know the full list. A lock change closes that question in one visit.

For most new homeowners, a rekey of every exterior lock is the practical answer. It is fast, it uses the hardware already on the doors, and it gives you a fresh set of keys that nobody else holds. If we look at the locks and find any that are tired or mismatched, we tell you which ones to replace and why, and you decide. We do not push a whole-house hardware swap if rekeying will do.

Do not forget the less obvious entry points. A new-house lock change should cover more than the front door:

• Front door deadbolt and handle set
• Back door and any sliding door lock or secondary bar
• Side gate and garage side-entry door
• The interior door from the garage into the house
• Mailbox lock, which people forget until a key turns up missing. We handle those too, see mailbox lock replacement
• Any detached shed, workshop or storage room lock

How we change your locks, step by step

Whether you call us at midday or in the middle of the night, the process is the same. We do not rush it, because a rushed lock change is how people end up with a key that sticks or a bolt that does not line up.

1. You call (213) 577-1366. Someone answers, any hour, any day. You tell us what happened: you bought the house, moved in, lost keys, or want to take back control from a former roommate or tenant.
2. We ask a few plain questions about the doors involved, the type of locks, and roughly how old the hardware is. That helps us bring the right parts in the van or have them ready at the storefront.
3. We come to you in one of our mobile service vans. We work out of a storefront at 10740 Wilshire Blvd in Westwood, and the same company that answers the phone is the company that arrives.
4. On site, we look at each lock before touching it. We check that the bolt throws smoothly, the strike lines up, the cylinder turns freely, and the screws are tight. This is where the rekey-or-replace decision is made, with you in the conversation.
5. We explain our recommendation and what will affect the cost before any work begins. If you prefer the lighter-cost option and it makes sense for your locks, we say so.
6. We do the work: rekeying cylinders to new pin patterns, or removing and installing new hardware. Cut keys are tested in the lock, not assumed to work.
7. We test every lock on every door we touched, with the door open and closed, and confirm the old keys no longer operate them.
8. You get your new keys, and we tell you how to order spares. If you need extra copies, our key duplication service is there for that.

What affects the cost of changing locks in West Covina?

We do not quote numbers on a web page, because honest pricing depends on what is actually on your doors. What we can do is tell you exactly what moves the cost up or down, so there are no surprises when we give you the figure on the phone or at the door.

The biggest factor is the number of locks. Changing one deadbolt is a smaller job than rekeying a whole house with a front door, back door, garage entry, side gate and mailbox. Rekeying them all to a single key is a good value in effort, since you end up carrying one key, but the labor adds up with the lock count.

The second factor is whether you rekey or replace. Rekeying uses your existing hardware, so you are paying for the labor and the new keys. Replacement adds the cost of the hardware itself, and that varies widely from a basic builder-grade deadbolt to a high-security cylinder with restricted keys. If you want to see what the upper tier looks like, take a look at our high-security locks page.

Other things that affect the cost:

• Lock brand and condition. Some locks rekey easily; older or worn ones may not, and then replacement is the honest answer.
• Door and frame condition. If a door has shifted, the strike plate is misaligned, or the frame is damaged, additional work may be needed for the new lock to work properly.
• Specialty hardware such as keypad entries, smart locks, multipoint locks, or gate hardware.
• Keyed-alike requirements, where several different brands or models need to work with a single key.
• Time of day. A midnight or holiday visit is not the same as a scheduled daytime appointment, and we say so up front.
• Travel distance. West Covina is about 30 miles from our base, and our mobile vans cover it as part of the 140 cities we serve across Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Changing locks in West Covina: what we see by neighborhood

West Covina is mostly a city of tract ranch homes built in the 1950s through the 1970s, and that housing stock shapes what a lock change looks like here. If the hardware on a house from that era is still original, it is several decades old, and that is often when we recommend replacing rather than rekeying. In other homes, previous owners have already swapped out the front deadbolt and left the rest, so you may have three different brands on three doors. Rekeying them to a single key is a common request.

The South Hills area, around South Hills Country Club, is a different picture. Hillside homes mean side gates, long walkways and exposed entries. West Covina is among the warmer parts of the San Gabriel Valley in summer, with dry heat and occasional gusty conditions along the South Hills ridgelines, and sun-exposed doors and gates weather faster here than they do near the coast. We often find finishes fading, latches getting stiff, and gate hardware tired. If your lock change involves a sun-baked front door or side gate, we look at the condition of the hardware before deciding to rekey. For homes near Galster Wilderness Park, gate and side-entry lock work often comes up in the same visit as the front door change.

In Woodside Village, the planned community of townhomes and condos from the 1960s and 70s in the southeast, the situation is usually a townhome rekey. Many of these are HOA-managed, so there may be rules about exterior hardware finish or style. Rekeying avoids that question entirely, since the lock on the door stays the same and only the inside changes. If you are thinking about replacing hardware, check your HOA rules first and tell us, so we choose something that complies. We handle townhome rekeys in the 91792 ZIP and the surrounding area regularly enough to know that a buyer in a Woodside Village townhome often wants every exterior lock redone in one stop.

Other parts of the city come with their own patterns. Around the Civic Center and Plaza district, and in the condo and apartment complexes near the malls and the I-10 corridor, many people are renters or recent movers, so lock changes are more often about moving in than about security upgrades. If you live in a rental, check with your landlord first, since they may need to approve or handle it. If you are the landlord, we work with owners on our locksmith for landlords page. Neighborhoods such as Cameron Park, Cortez Park, Shadow Oak Park, Galster Park and the Eastland area are mostly single-family tracts, where the whole-house rekey after a purchase is the standard request. Whether you are in 91790, 91791 or 91792, the approach is the same: look at the hardware first, then decide.

What else can trigger a lock change?

Buying a house is the most common reason, but it is far from the only one. Anyone who has moved knows how many people have had access to a place by the time you take the keys. Here are the situations where we change locks most often, apart from a new purchase.

• Moving into a rental or apartment where the landlord has authorized a change, or where you are the owner of the unit.
• Lost or stolen keys, especially if the keys were lost with an address, a wallet, or a car key that identifies where you live.
• A relationship ending, a roommate leaving, or someone moving out who still holds keys.
• A break-in or attempted break-in, where the hardware may need to be replaced rather than rekeyed.
• A former employee, caregiver, cleaner or contractor who had a key.
• Preparing a home for sale or rental, so that the new occupant starts with a clean set.
• Switching to a keypad or smart lock, where the old key system is retired altogether.

Why call Wilshire Lock & Key for a lock change?

We have been in business since 1987. That is not a slogan, it is just how long we have been doing this work in Los Angeles, and it means we have seen almost every lock failure, every odd door, and every rushed job someone else did before calling us to fix it. We have a storefront at 10740 Wilshire Blvd in Westwood as well as mobile service vans, so you are dealing with a real shop with an address, not a phone number that sends your request to whoever is available.

We are one company. We do not dispatch to a third-party network of contractors who we have never met. When you call (213) 577-1366, the work is done under our name and under the oversight of David, the owner and lead technician. If you have a question about the job afterward, you know who to ask.

Our phone is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year, holidays included. That is useful for lock changes because people often realize they need one late, after a stressful move, a lost wallet, or a bad night. If you want to know more about our after-hours service, see our 24-hour locksmith page.

One more thing worth knowing: California requires locksmith companies to hold a license from the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, known as a BSIS LCO license. You should ask any locksmith you hire for their license number, and you should expect a straight answer. That is a good habit regardless of who you call.

Choosing between a rekey and a replacement before you call

You do not need to have it figured out before you phone us. But a few minutes of looking at your own doors can make the conversation quicker. Walk around and note how many exterior locks you have. Check whether any of them stick, wobble, or feel loose when you turn the key. Notice whether the finish is peeling or the handle sags. If you know the brand, it is on the latch edge of the door or on the inside of the lock body, and it helps us bring the right parts.

If you have a lock you are unsure about, say so. We would rather look at it than guess. If it is worn out, we will tell you so and explain what a replacement would involve; you can read more about it on our lock replacement page. If it is fine, we will rekey it and move on. For a closer look at the rekeying process itself, see our lock rekey page.

More locksmith help in West Covina

• Deadbolt Installation in West Covina
• Gate Lock Repair in West Covina
• High Security Locks in West Covina
• Key Duplication in West Covina
• Lock Installation in West Covina
• Lock Rekey in West Covina
• All services in West Covina

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