Security Tips

Rekey or Replace Your Locks? A Saskatoon & Regina Guide

By Prestige Lock & Door · September 11, 2026

You just took possession of a house, or an employee left on bad terms, or a key went missing somewhere between the parking lot and the front door. The instinct is to replace the locks. It’s usually the wrong instinct — not because replacement is bad, but because rekeying solves the same problem for less money most of the time, and nobody tells you that until you’re already holding a receipt.

The two are genuinely different jobs, though, and there are situations where replacing is the only honest answer. Here’s how our locksmiths in Saskatoon and Regina decide between them — and what actually moves the price.

What rekeying actually does

Inside a standard pin tumbler lock is a stack of small pins cut to different heights. The right key pushes every pin to exactly the right level, the cylinder turns, the door opens. The wrong key doesn’t.

Rekeying means taking the cylinder apart and swapping those pins for a different combination, then cutting new keys to match. The lock itself — the deadbolt, the handle, the strike, the hole in your door — stays exactly where it is.

What that gets you:

Every old key stops working immediately. It doesn’t matter how many are floating around or who has them.
The hardware you already paid for stays. No new lock to buy, no finish to match, no door to modify.
It’s fast. Most cylinders take a locksmith minutes, not hours.

The thing people find hardest to believe is the last one: a rekey and a replacement produce the same security outcome for the old keys. Neither one works afterward. If your only goal is “the previous keys must stop opening this door,” rekeying achieves it completely.

When rekeying is the right call

Rekeying is usually correct when the hardware is fine and only the key is the problem:

You just bought a house. You have no idea how many keys exist. The previous owner probably doesn’t either — realtors, contractors, dog walkers, a neighbour with a spare.
A key was lost or stolen. Especially a key that was on a ring with something identifying the address.
Tenant turnover. Rekeying between tenants is routine, and far cheaper per turnover than new hardware every time.
An employee left. Particularly one with after-hours access.
You want fewer keys. Separate keys for the front, back, and garage can often be keyed alike — one key for everything — during the same visit.
A contractor had access during a renovation and the keys came back, or didn’t.

That “keyed alike” point is the one customers are happiest about afterward and least likely to ask for in advance. If your doors use compatible cylinders, consolidating them onto a single key costs very little on top of a rekey you were already doing.

When you genuinely need new hardware

Rekeying can’t fix a lock that has a problem beyond its pins. Replace when:

The lock is worn or damaged. A cylinder that’s sloppy, sticky, or needs the key jiggled is telling you something. Prairie winters are hard on exterior hardware — see our guide to what fails on commercial doors in the cold for why.
The security grade isn’t adequate. Hardware is graded by ANSI/BHMA: Grade 3 is basic residential, Grade 2 is intermediate, Grade 1 is heavy-duty commercial. Builder-supplied locks on new homes are frequently Grade 3. Rekeying a Grade 3 deadbolt gives you a Grade 3 deadbolt with new keys.
There’s been a break-in or an attempt. Hardware that’s been forced should be replaced, not rekeyed, even if it still turns.
You want a different key system. Moving to a restricted or patented keyway — where blanks are controlled and keys can’t be copied at a hardware counter — means new cylinders.
You’re changing function. Adding a deadbolt, switching to lever handles for accessibility, or moving to electronic access.
The cylinders aren’t compatible with each other and you want them keyed alike. Mixed brands sometimes can’t be unified without replacing some of them.

There’s also a plain aesthetic case, and it’s legitimate: if half your hardware is worn brass and the rest is satin nickel, rekeying leaves you with a matched key and a mismatched house. Our door hardware team can usually match a finish across a whole property.

What actually drives the price

We won’t quote a number in a blog post, because a real quote depends on the door in front of us. But you should know what moves it, so you can tell a reasonable estimate from an unreasonable one:

How many cylinders. Price scales per cylinder, not per house. A deadbolt and a handleset on the same door are two cylinders.
Whether you want them keyed alike. Usually a small addition to a rekey, occasionally impossible without new hardware.
Hardware type. A standard residential deadbolt, a commercial mortise lock, and an interchangeable-core cylinder are three different amounts of work.
Where the work happens. A service call to your address costs more than hardware brought to us — and an after-hours emergency costs more than a scheduled visit.
Condition. A seized or corroded cylinder may need service before it can be rekeyed at all.
Master keying. Building a hierarchy — one key for the manager, individual keys per unit — is design work, not just pinning.

The general shape holds almost everywhere: rekeying is materially cheaper than replacing on a per-cylinder basis, because you’re paying for labour and pins rather than labour and new hardware. The more cylinders involved, the wider that gap gets. For a full lock repair and rekeying quote on your specific doors, it’s a short phone call.

The commercial version of this question

For businesses the calculation changes, because the real cost isn’t the lock — it’s the key control problem underneath it.

If your building is on a standard keyway, every key you’ve ever issued can be copied at any hardware store for a few dollars, by anyone, without your knowledge. Rekeying after a departure resets the locks but not that underlying exposure. You’ll be doing it again next time.

Three options worth weighing:

Rekey onto a restricted keyway. Keys can only be cut by authorized dealers against your signature. Higher upfront cost, and key control becomes real rather than theoretical.
Master key the building properly. Done well, a master system means a departure affects one keyed area rather than triggering a building-wide rekey.
Move to electronic access. With fobs or cards there’s nothing to rekey — you revoke the credential and it’s done in seconds, with a record of who went where. For multi-tenant, healthcare, and higher-turnover sites this usually wins on total cost within a few years. Our access control team can scope it against your actual turnover rate.

The honest summary: if you’re rekeying the same building more than about once a year, you’ve outgrown mechanical keys and should be pricing commercial locksmith alternatives instead of repeating the rekey.

What to do first, today

If you’ve just realized someone has a key you’d rather they didn’t:

Work out which doors actually matter. Exterior entries first. Interior doors can usually wait.
Count your cylinders, not your doors. Deadbolt plus handleset is two.
Check whether hardware is worn — sticky keys, loose handles, visible corrosion. That pushes a door from the rekey column into the replace column.
Decide if you want everything on one key before we arrive; it’s cheapest done in the same visit.
Don’t wait on a lost key. The window where a found key is still useful to someone is short, but it’s not zero.

If a key is missing and you can’t secure the door tonight, that’s not a rekey question — call our emergency lockout and service team instead.

Need locks rekeyed in Saskatoon or Regina?

Prestige Lock & Door provides fast, professional locksmith service across Saskatchewan — and we’ll tell you when rekeying is enough rather than selling you hardware you don’t need.

Rekeying, keyed-alike conversions and master key systems for homes and businesses
Honest assessment — if a cylinder is worn past rekeying, we’ll say so and show you why
Restricted keyways and access control when key control is the real problem
Two branches — Saskatoon (306) 880-0307 and Regina (306) 552-8646
Sales, service and installation under one roof — see the brands we carry

Winter-proofing commercial doors in Saskatoon and Regina — what fails in the cold
Access control for small business — when revoking a credential beats rekeying a building