Home Rekey Service
Moving into a new place near Ghent, taking over a lease in Ocean View, or finally getting your own unit off Granby Street — one of the smartest first moves you can make is having every exterior lock rekeyed before you unpack a single box. You have no way of knowing how many copies of your current keys are floating around: previous tenants, old landlords, ex-roommates, maintenance workers, or anyone who borrowed a spare. A professional home rekey service neutralizes all of that risk in under an hour, without replacing your hardware.
Open 24 hours, 7 days a week · Licensed, bonded & insured
Pro Norfolk Locksmith is a 24/7 mobile locksmith operation serving Norfolk, VA and the surrounding 757 communities. Our trained, insured technicians come directly to your door — no need to remove hardware and drive it somewhere. Whether you have standard door knob locks, a heavy-duty mortise lock on an older colonial in Larchmont, or a mixed set of deadbolts and knob cylinders on a townhouse near Naval Station Norfolk, we rekey them all on the spot and hand you fresh, matching keys before we leave.
What we do
Available 24/7
Day, night, weekends and holidays — a real local locksmith answers and rolls a fully-stocked van.
Fast local response
Based in Norfolk, we reach the Norfolk area in well under an hour.
Insured & background-checked
Vetted technicians, up-front pricing, and no surprise add-ons when we arrive.
Damage-free entry
We pick and bypass locks the right way, so most lockouts are solved without drilling anything.
More about our work
Everything you need to know about how we help — at a glance.
Why a Home Rekey Service Is the Smartest Move After Any Key Event
Rekeying changes the internal pin configuration inside your lock cylinder so that every previous key becomes permanently useless. The lock body, the strike plate, the hardware finish — none of it changes. What changes is who has working access. This matters enormously in Norfolk's active rental market, where properties in neighborhoods like Wards Corner or Park Place often cycle through multiple tenants. If a prior occupant never returned a key, or if you recently parted ways with a roommate, rekeying is the precise, targeted solution that re-establishes your control without the expense of full lock replacement. It also applies when a key is lost — a lost key is an unknown key, and an unknown key is a liability.
The scenarios that call for rekeying are more common than most homeowners realize. Lost or stolen keys top the list, but so do relationship changes, renovation crews who needed temporary access, short-term guests who were given a copy, or situations where you simply inherited a property and cannot account for the full key history. Our trained technicians will assess every exterior entry point — front door, back door, side garage entry, and any outbuilding — and give you a single re-cut key that works every cylinder if you choose a keyed-alike setup. One key, every door, total peace of mind.
Mortise Lock Rekeying and Door Knob Lock Service: What We Work On
Norfolk's housing stock is genuinely diverse, and so is its hardware. Older homes near the Freemason Historic District frequently feature deep-set mortise lock units — a rectangular body that seats inside the door edge and combines the latch, deadbolt, and sometimes a privacy function into one assembly. Rekeying a mortise lock requires a different technique than a standard pin-tumbler deadbolt, and not every technician has hands-on experience with them. Our team works on mortise lock cylinders regularly, extracting the plug, re-pinning to your new key cuts, and reinstalling without marking the surrounding woodwork or antique escutcheon plates. We also handle every generation of door knob lock, from builder-grade Kwikset knobs on newer construction to Schlage commercial-grade knob sets on mixed-use properties.
Beyond mortise lock and door knob lock units, we rekey deadbolts, rim locks, padlocks, and keypad-capable cylinders. If you have a smart lock that uses a traditional cylinder as a backup, we can rekey that cylinder as well. Our goal is always damage-free service — we work methodically so we are not forcing anything, and we document the before-and-after condition of each lock. If during the assessment we find a cylinder that is worn, corroded from the salty Norfolk air near the waterfront, or simply not re-pinneable safely, we will tell you clearly before any work is done and explain your replacement options. Call (757) 993-7740 any time — we answer around the clock and can usually have a technician at your door the same day.
Emergency Locksmith Response and the Home Rekey Process, Step by Step
Our mobile emergency locksmith service means there is no shop to visit and no waiting period. When you call (757) 993-7740, a real person answers — 24/7, including holidays — collects your address and a brief description of your locks, and dispatches the nearest available technician. For straightforward rekeying calls, we ask that you be present or have an authorized adult on-site so we can verify ownership or occupancy, which is a standard professional practice we follow on every job. Once on location, the technician will walk the property, count every exterior cylinder, and provide an exact up-front price before touching a single lock. The quote accounts for factors like the number of cylinders, lock types (a commercial-grade mortise lock takes longer to service than a basic knob set), time of day, and any parts required such as new pins or keys cut on our mobile key-cutting equipment.
The rekeying itself is methodical: each cylinder is removed, the plug is extracted, old pins are replaced with new ones matched to your chosen key cuts, and the cylinder is reinstalled and function-tested before we move on. If you want all locks keyed alike — one key opens everything — we plan the pin sequence at the start so every cylinder shares the same configuration. If you prefer separate keys for different doors (common in multi-unit or accessory-dwelling-unit setups), we handle that too. We cut your new keys on-site, test each one in each lock multiple times, and do not leave until you have confirmed everything works. There are no hidden fees added after the fact.
25 Specific Rekeying and Lock Services We Provide Norfolk Homeowners
Our home rekey service is one part of a broader set of solutions our mobile technicians bring directly to your Norfolk address. Here is a specific look at what we handle: rekeying standard pin-tumbler deadbolts, rekeying mortise lock cylinders in historic and older homes, rekeying door knob lock sets, rekeying rim-cylinder night latches, rekeying padlocks, cutting duplicate keys on-site with mobile key-cutting equipment, keying multiple locks alike to a single key, rekeying after a roommate change or relationship separation, rekeying after a lost or stolen key, rekeying for new homeowners or new tenants, rekeying after a break-in or attempted forced entry (assessment included), replacing worn or corroded cylinders that cannot be safely re-pinned, installing new deadbolts on doors that currently have only a knob lock, upgrading to Schlage or Kwikset high-security cylinders, installing or rekeying smart lock backup cylinders, servicing and rekeying keypad locks with traditional cylinder overrides, repairing misaligned strikes that cause binding and incomplete locking, lubricating and servicing stiff or sticky lock mechanisms, rekeying garage side-door locks, rekeying French door and sliding door secondary locks, rekeying accessory dwelling unit entries, providing a master key setup for small landlords managing multiple units in the same building, advising on door reinforcement and strike plate upgrades after a forced-entry attempt, providing emergency lockout entry using non-destructive methods when you are locked out of your own home, and performing a full exterior lock audit so you know the security status of every entry point before we leave.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a locksmith charge to change a lock or rekey it?
There is no single flat number because several real variables affect the final price: the number of cylinders being serviced, the lock type (a mortise lock takes more time and skill than a standard deadbolt), the time of day (overnight and holiday calls reflect the cost of 24/7 availability), travel distance to your address in Norfolk, and whether any parts — new pins, keys, or replacement cylinders — are needed. What Pro Norfolk Locksmith commits to is transparency: we give you an exact, confirmed price before any work begins, so you are never surprised by the final bill. If the scope changes mid-job for any reason, we tell you and get your approval first.
Can a locksmith make a new key from a lock?
Yes. This is called key origination or impressioning, and our mobile technicians carry the equipment to do it on-site. When you have no working key at all — whether it was lost, stolen, or simply never existed for a particular lock — we can decode the lock cylinder and cut a new key to match it. This works for most pin-tumbler deadbolts, door knob lock sets, and many mortise lock cylinders. Some high-security or proprietary cylinders have restricted key blanks, and we will tell you upfront if that applies to your hardware so you understand your options before we start.
What should I do if I am locked out of my home right now?
First, check all other entry points calmly — a back door, a window you know is unlocked, or whether a trusted neighbor holds a spare key. If none of those options work, call (757) 993-7740. A trained Pro Norfolk Locksmith technician will come to you, verify that you are the resident or authorized occupant, and use non-destructive entry methods to get you back inside without damaging your door or lock hardware where at all possible. We respond 24/7, including nights and weekends. Once you are back inside, a rekey is an excellent follow-up step so that if the key is genuinely lost rather than misplaced, you are fully protected going forward.
Should I tip my locksmith?
Tipping is entirely your choice and never expected. Our technicians are paid fairly for their work, and the price we quote you already reflects the skill, time, and equipment the job requires. That said, if a technician went above and beyond — arrived quickly during a stressful late-night lockout, took extra care with a delicate antique mortise lock, or patiently walked you through your options — a tip is a genuinely appreciated gesture. There is no obligation, and the quality of our work does not change based on it.
What if I cannot get a locksmith out right away — is there anything I can do in the meantime after a lost key?
If budget timing is a concern and you cannot schedule service immediately, the most important interim step is accountability: identify every person who might currently have a key copy and, where possible, collect those copies. You can also add a temporary secondary barrier like a door chain or a door-brace bar on the inside at night while you arrange a rekey appointment. Do not attempt to disassemble or force your own lock — you risk damaging the cylinder in ways that make professional rekeying impossible and drive up replacement costs. When you are ready, call (757) 993-7740 and we will schedule a visit that fits your timeline. Our up-front pricing means no guesswork about what to budget for.
Is rekeying better than replacing the entire lock after a roommate leaves or a key is lost?
In most situations, yes — rekeying is the targeted solution. It achieves the exact same security outcome (every previous key stops working) at a fraction of the cost and time of full lock replacement, and it preserves hardware you may already be happy with. The exception is when the lock itself is damaged, worn out, corroded — common on Norfolk properties close to the Chesapeake Bay where salt air accelerates metal fatigue — or simply not worth keeping. In those cases we will recommend replacement and explain exactly why during our on-site assessment. We never upsell a replacement when a rekey will do the job properly.