Commercial · Markham
Commercial Rekeying
The manager's key ring went missing somewhere between the bank and the car, and the master on it opened every door in the building.
In 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 goesThe manager's key ring went missing somewhere between the bank and the car, and the master on it opened every door in the building. Until the cylinders are changed, whoever finds it is holding the run of the place.
Commercial Rekeying
How the visit goes
Reading the keys that already exist
Before deciding anything new, it helps to understand the old. Gather every key the business can find, including the ones with faded tape labels, and the locksmith reads them against the cylinders on the walk. Some will turn out to be duplicates of each other, some will belong to hardware that was replaced years ago, and some may operate doors nobody expected them to. Hardware-store copies stand out by their blanks and by the way they wear. This reading shows how far the key count has drifted and whether an old master still exists, and it lets the new plan retire everything found in the drawer rather than only the keys anyone remembered.
Padlocks, cabinets and the mailbox
A business is more than its doors, and the same visit brings the smaller locks into the plan. Rekeyable padlocks on the compound gate, the propane cage or the roll shutter can be pinned to the same key as the back door, so the opening crew carries one key instead of four. Filing cabinets, the till drawer, a medicine or chemical cupboard and the display cases can be keyed alike for the staff who use them or kept separate for the manager. The lobby mailbox, which often still answers to a key from two tenants ago, gets a fresh cylinder or is repinned where its design allows. Each small lock is added to the chart alongside the doors.
Adding a door without starting over
The pinning records kept from the visit mean the system can grow. When the business takes the unit next door, adds a storage cage or replaces a worn lever set, the new cylinder is pinned into an unused combination on the existing chart and handed a key from the right group, and nobody already carrying a key notices anything changed. That is the value of leaving reserve combinations in a master system rather than using them all up on day one. Keep the locksmith's reference number for the system with the chart, mention it when you call, and a single new door becomes a short visit instead of a fresh plan.
Commercial Rekeying
In the van
Standard and restricted key blanks
Code key machine
Master pins
Interchangeable cores and control key
Key gauge and decoder
Commercial Rekeying
What affects the quote
Doors out of alignment
A door whose cam, strike or closer needs adjusting so the freshly rekeyed cylinder throws the bolt fully is corrected during the visit, and that adjustment is a separate item.
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.
Landlord and base-building coordination
Suite doors that must accept both your key and the landlord's master, or work that needs the property manager on site, add coordination the quote allows for.
What to have ready
- Do you want one key for everything, or separate groups with a master?
- Do you have a current list of who holds keys?
- Are any of the locks interchangeable cores, and where is the control key?
Commercial Rekeying: questions
QuestionsDoes stamping keys 'do not duplicate' stop people copying them?
Not reliably. The stamp is a request, and any key on a standard blank can be copied by anyone with the blank and a machine. What does work is controlling the blank itself through a restricted keyway, or controlling access to the lock through interchangeable cores and a tight register. Stamping still has a place: a serial code on each key, instead of the business name, lets you track it without telling a finder where it fits.
Is a restricted keyway worth it for a business?
A restricted keyway uses blanks that only the locksmith or authorized source can obtain, released against whatever that key-control program requires, a signed letter, card, signature record or factory authorization naming who may order keys. Hardware stores and kiosks have no blanks, so copies are far harder to get without your say-so. It costs more per key than a standard keyway and is most valuable where keys pass through many hands, such as retail with part-time staff, shared premises or anywhere the count of copies has drifted before.
What information should I have ready before the locksmith arrives?
A list of the doors and other locks you want included, a copy of the lease or the property manager's contact, every existing key you can find, and a rough idea of who needs to open what. Note which doors, if any, are interchangeable cores and where the control key is. Knowing your quiet hours and who opens up in the morning helps the locksmith plan the order of work and the key handover.
Related services
- Access Control InstallationSomething went missing from the storeroom over a weekend, and when you ask who was in the building, the honest answer is anyone with a key.
- Panic & Exit HardwareThe fire inspector's note is blunt: the banquet hall's second exit still turns on a deadbolt, and the crowd it is rated to hold needs a door that opens under one motion, no key involved.
- Commercial-Grade Lock ReplacementThe key to the office entrance turns with almost no resistance now, and some mornings the deadbolt does not fully retract until someone jiggles the handle and tries the key again.