Commercial · Pickering
Commercial Rekeying
The office has been reshuffled twice since the locks were last touched. Reception can open the server room, the warehouse crew has a key to accounting, and the chart that once explained who could open what has not been seen since the move.
Call now · open 24/7(289) 275-9650In plain words
A business hands out keys as people join and rarely gets every one back as people leave. Rekeying resets that count. Instead of guessing how many copies of the front-door key exist, the cylinders are repinned so only the newly cut set works, and those keys are numbered and signed for. Where turnover is steady, the locksmith can fit interchangeable cores, which let a manager swap a core with a control key in a couple of minutes when someone departs, so the reset becomes routine rather than an event. Either way you end up with a premises where the keyholder list matches the staff list.
How the visit goesYou have just signed the lease on a unit the previous tenant ran for a decade. The landlord handed over three keys, the back door wears a padlock nobody can open, and nobody can say how many front-door keys are still out there.
Commercial Rekeying · Pickering
How the visit goes
- 1
Who is entitled to order the change
Every commercial rekey starts by confirming that the person asking for it has the standing to do so. For a small business that is usually the owner or a director; for a larger one, a facilities manager or property manager acting under written authority. The lease matters here too, because it decides which doors are the tenant's to alter and which remain the landlord's, and many leases ask that the landlord be given a key or told when locks change. Getting this straight before any cylinder comes out protects the business, its neighbours in the building and the locksmith, and it means the finished keying chart lands in the right hands.
- 2
Retiring the old keys
The job is finished when the old keys are proven dead, not when the new ones work. At every rekeyed opening the locksmith tries a sample of the old keys, including the master if one existed, and confirms that each one enters the keyway and turns nothing. The collected old keys are then cut through with snips in front of the manager and can be handed back as scrap or taken away. Any door deliberately left on its original key is written on the chart in plain words so nobody assumes it changed. That last check is what turns a day of brass work into a genuine reset of who can open the business.
- 3
Telling the landlord and the alarm company
A rekey touches a few people outside the business, and the handover covers them. If the lease asks for it, the landlord or property manager receives a key to the suite entrance and a note that the locks were changed, which keeps you onside for emergencies and inspections. The alarm monitoring company is given the updated keyholder list, and it is a good moment to change the alarm codes of anyone who no longer works there, since a key and a code usually leave together. Cleaners, the courier with after-hours access and the neighbour who watches the place on holidays each collect their new key against the register like everyone else.
In the van
- Mortise cylinder set screws and cams
- Plug follower
- Code key machine
- Key gauge and decoder
- Interchangeable cores and control key
What affects the quote
- 1
After-hours or split visits
Work done after closing, before opening or split across two visits to suit trading hours costs the same amount as a single daytime block. The exact figure is confirmed on site once the number of cylinders and the keying plan are known.
- 2
A master key plan
Pinning cylinders to accept both a change key and a master, and designing the chart so no key opens a door it should not, is more work per cylinder than keying everything alike.
- 3
Number of cylinders
The count of openings drives the quote more than anything else: each cylinder is removed, repinned, refitted and tested individually, so a three-door shop and a twelve-office suite are very different jobs.
Same fees day, night or weekend.
Commercial Rekeying: questions
Do I need my landlord's consent before rekeying my unit?
Read the lease, because that is where the answer lives. Commercial tenancies are governed mostly by the lease itself, and many leases require the tenant to tell the landlord when locks change, to provide a key for emergencies, or to use the landlord's approved locksmith. Doors on the building's master system, such as corridor or service doors, are normally the landlord's to change. Bring the lease to the assessment and the locksmith will sort the doors accordingly.
Should we rekey every time an employee leaves?
Rekey when a key has not come back or when the departure was unfriendly; when a key is returned and the register confirms it, the cylinders it opened are as secure as before. Businesses that want a response to every departure without a visit each time fit interchangeable cores and swap them in-house. Whatever the trigger, dealing with only the cylinders that key opened keeps the response proportionate.
We are a landlord with a tenant leaving. When should the unit be rekeyed?
Between tenants is the ideal moment: the departing tenant has handed back their keys, the new one has not yet received any, and the unit is empty for the work. The incoming tenant then starts on keys nobody else has held, and the landlord's own master or emergency key is set up at the same time. Where a lease has ended in dispute, the locksmith asks to see the paperwork before changing locks on a unit that still holds a tenant's goods.
Commercial Rekeying near you
Durham, Ontario
Pickering information
- Town
- Pickering, Durham, Ontario
- In business
- 11 years
- Hours
- Open 24/7 · nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
- Phone
- (289) 275-9650
- Visits
- On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.
What the census means at the door
31%
Newer homes. About 31% of homes in Pickering were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.
In areas of recent construction, doors mostly carry builder-grade locks that were chosen for the whole development at once. They work, but a household that wants more can upgrade the cylinder or the whole set without any surprises about fit.
60%
A mix of homes. Single-detached houses make up about 60% of homes in Pickering (2021 Census).
In an area with both houses and attached homes, the work varies by the door. A detached house wants all its exterior doors on one key; a suite door wants a cylinder that suits a metal frame and respects building rules. A locksmith carries parts for both.
Open 24/7
Request a visit
The office has been reshuffled twice since the locks were last touched.
Call now · open 24/7(289) 275-9650- On-site assessment preferred
- Same fees day, night or weekend
- 11 years in business