Commercial · Oshawa
Commercial Rekeying
Two people left over the summer and the keys they handed back came up one short.
In plain words
Losing a master key exposes every door it opened, and a commercial rekey brings that exposure back to zero. The locksmith first works out which level the missing key sat at: a single change key affects one or two cylinders, while a master reaches every lock in its group. Only the affected cylinders are repinned, which keeps the rest of the system intact and the response proportionate. Where a keying chart exists the work is precise; where the chart has been lost, the visit begins by reading and recording the existing cylinders so the new plan starts from facts rather than memory.
How the visit goesTwo people left over the summer and the keys they handed back came up one short. Nobody is sure whether the missing key was for the front door, the stockroom or both, and the sign-out sheet stopped being filled in a year ago.
Commercial Rekeying
How the visit goes
Who needs to open what
The keying plan is a picture of how the business runs, so the assessment asks who goes through which door on a normal day. Front-line staff need the customer entrance and perhaps the stockroom; supervisors add the office; the owner and the bookkeeper hold the cash room; the IT contractor reaches the server closet and nothing else. Out of that conversation come the key groups: doors keyed alike so one key covers a role, doors keyed differently where separation matters, and whether a master for the owner earns its place. The plan also names anything left out on purpose, so the chart shows both what changes and what stays.
Storefront and mortise cylinders
Aluminum storefront doors carry a threaded mortise cylinder held by a small set screw in the door edge. The locksmith loosens the screw, spins the cylinder out, repins it, and threads it back to the same depth so the cam engages the deadbolt or hook bolt behind it and nothing else. Mortise locks in older office doors work on the same principle with a heavier lock body. On both, the depth and cam type matter as much as the pinning: a cylinder a turn too far in or a cam of the wrong shape will feel right in the hand but fail to throw the bolt, so each is cycled open and closed.
Exits that still open the way they must
Rekeying changes who can come in; it never changes how people get out. Every exit door and every door on the way to one is left opening from the inside with a single motion and no key. On a door with a panic bar, the outside cylinder simply controls entry, and the bar keeps working exactly as before. Once the locksmith has finished, walk the exit routes yourself, push each bar and turn each thumb-turn, and make that walk a habit at the start of every season so a new deadbolt or a helpful padlock never creeps onto an exit.
Commercial Rekeying
In the van
Plug follower
Master pins
Interchangeable cores and control key
Mortise cylinder set screws and cams
Cylinder removal and spanner tools
Commercial Rekeying
What affects the quote
Upgrades chosen on the day
Some businesses use the visit to move to interchangeable cores, add a lockbox for the alarm company or fit a heavier cylinder on the cash room. Each is a separate line you can accept or leave.
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.
Mix of lock types
A key-in-lever cylinder, a storefront mortise cylinder, a back-door rim cylinder and a padlock take different handling, though several full-size formats can share one pin kit for the same key system; a premises with a wide mix of cylinder types and brands still takes longer than one with one.
What to have ready
- Which staff need to open which doors on a normal day?
- Does your lease say anything about changing locks or giving the landlord a key?
- Are any cylinders stiff, loose or hard to turn at the moment?
Commercial Rekeying: questions
QuestionsWe lost a master key. Does the whole building need doing?
Only the cylinders that master opened, which the keying chart identifies. If the lost key was the top master, that is every lock in the system; if it was a departmental master, it is that department's doors. Where no chart exists, the locksmith reads the cylinders first to establish what the key reached. The remaining doors, and any keys that never opened them, are left exactly as they are.
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.
What is the difference between rekeying a business and replacing its locks?
Rekeying keeps every lock on the door and changes only the pins inside the cylinder, so a new key works and the old ones stop. Replacing swaps the hardware itself. Commercial cylinders are made to be repinned many times, so rekeying suits any lock in sound condition and leaves the levers, trim and door untouched. Replacement is chosen door by door for cylinders that are worn, corroded or too light for what they protect.
Related services
- Access Control InstallationDeliveries arrive before anyone is scheduled to be there, which right now means either propping the loading dock open at dawn or handing a key to a driver you have never met.
- Panic & Exit HardwareTwo doors used to swing as a pair at the community hall entrance, but one leaf has started closing before the other, catching the astragal and leaving a gap wide enough to worry the caretaker.
- Commercial-Grade Lock ReplacementA new tenant moved into the unit next door, and the property manager just found three different cylinders on three doors, none of them cut to the same key.