Home Re-Keying Service
When you move into a new home in Raleigh — whether it's a craftsman bungalow off Glenwood Avenue or a townhouse near North Hills — you rarely know exactly who has copies of your keys. Previous owners, real estate agents, contractors, and neighbors may all have held a set at some point. Our home re-keying service is the single most practical step you can take to reset that uncertainty and make your home genuinely yours from day one. Pro Raleigh Locksmiths sends a trained, insured technician directly to your door, no shop visit required.
Open 24 hours, 7 days a week · Licensed, bonded & insured
Losing a key triggers the same concern. Whether a keychain went missing at Pullen Park or a spare was left at a job site, a lost key is an open invitation you never sent. Rekeying your exterior locks — including mortise locks, door knob locks, deadbolts, and multipoint systems — closes that invitation fast, without replacing every lockset and without damaging your doors. Our mobile team operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week across the Raleigh area, so the service fits your timeline, not the other way around.
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 Raleigh, we reach the Raleigh 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.
Why a Home Re-Keying Service Beats Changing All Your Locks
Replacing a lock means buying new hardware, patching or re-drilling the door, and in some cases dealing with mismatched finishes or incompatible backsets. Rekeying, by contrast, keeps your existing lockset in place and simply replaces the pin tumblers inside the cylinder so that only a new key will operate it. The result is the same level of security — or better, if the rekey is paired with an upgrade to high-security pins — at a fraction of the disruption. For homes with premium hardware, like a Schlage mortise lock or a Kwikset SmartKey deadbolt, rekeying preserves the investment you already made in quality equipment.
Our technicians work damage-free wherever the lock condition allows. That means no gouged door frames, no stripped screws, and no cosmetic touch-ups after the job. We disassemble the cylinder, measure the existing key cuts, replace the driver and key pins to a new configuration, and hand you freshly cut keys on the spot. The entire process for a standard door knob lock or deadbolt typically takes only a few minutes per cylinder, so a full set of exterior doors can usually be matched to a single new key in a single visit.
Mortise Lock Rekeying and Other Lock Types We Service
The mortise lock is the workhorse of both older Raleigh homes and modern upscale construction. Its body sits inside a rectangular pocket routed into the door edge, housing the latch, deadbolt, and sometimes auxiliary functions all in one unit. Because the cylinder is removable on most mortise designs, a skilled technician can rekey it without disturbing the case or the trim — a job that looks intimidating to a homeowner but is routine for an experienced locksmith. We carry replacement pins compatible with the major mortise lock platforms, including Schlage L-series and similar commercial-grade mortise cylinders that sometimes appear on high-end residential front doors.
Beyond mortise work, our home re-keying service covers the full range of residential hardware: standard knob locks, lever-handle locks, rim cylinders on surface-mounted deadbolts, padlocks on outbuildings or detached garages, and sliding-door pin locks. If your exterior doors use a mix of brands and generations — common in Raleigh's older Oakwood or Boylan Heights neighborhoods where houses have been updated in pieces over the decades — we can often key them all alike so one key opens everything. We also handle door knob lock rekeying on interior doors when privacy is a concern after a tenant changeover or a roommate situation changes.
When to Call an Emergency Locksmith for a Rekey — and What to Do First
Most rekeying appointments are planned: a closing date, a lease renewal, a contractor finishing a renovation. But not all of them. If you discover a break-in attempt, find a lock tampered with, or realize a key is missing under circumstances that feel threatening, the situation crosses into emergency locksmith territory. Pro Raleigh Locksmiths answers calls around the clock precisely for these moments. Our 24/7 dispatch means you are not waiting until business hours to secure your home after a frightening discovery.
Before our technician arrives in an emergency situation, there are a few safe, sensible steps: confirm all exterior doors and windows are closed and latched, locate any spare keys you control and keep them with you, and if the situation involves a suspected break-in, contact Raleigh Police before touching the door hardware so evidence is preserved. What you should never do is attempt to manipulate or force a damaged lock yourself — a bent cylinder or a broken key fragment inside a keyway requires professional extraction tools to avoid making the door inoperable. Call (704) 850-6756 and our mobile team will be en route, fully equipped, without delay.
How Rekeying Costs Are Determined — Getting a Fair, Up-Front Price
Two of the most common questions we hear are 'How much does a locksmith cost in NC?' and 'How much is the average locksmith charge?' The honest answer is that no single number fits every situation, and any company that quotes a flat price before seeing the job is either quoting a best-case estimate or leaving room to add fees later. At Pro Raleigh Locksmiths, we base our quotes on four clear factors: the type and brand of lock (a basic door knob lock costs less to rekey than a complex mortise lock with auxiliary pins), the time of day (evening, overnight, and holiday calls reflect the real cost of 24/7 staffing), the travel distance within the Raleigh service area, and any parts required such as new pins, replacement cylinders, or freshly cut keys.
What we commit to is full price transparency before a single tool comes out. Our technician will inspect the locks, confirm exactly what the job involves, and give you an exact quote. You approve it — or you don't — before we start. There are no line items added at the end, no 'service call fee' that wasn't mentioned, and no pressure. Customers in areas like Cary, Wake Forest, and Garner who contact us after searching for locksmiths near Raleigh sometimes arrive expecting vague estimates; instead, they get a specific number tied to their specific locks. That straightforward approach is how we've built lasting relationships across the Triangle rather than one-time transactions. To get your quote, call (704) 850-6756 — we answer 24/7.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I find a trustworthy locksmith Raleigh NC for home rekeying?
The most reliable path is to contact a local mobile locksmith directly, verify they are insured, and ask whether their technicians are trained on the specific lock brands in your home. Pro Raleigh Locksmiths fits all of those criteria — our team is trained, experienced, and fully insured, and we serve Raleigh and surrounding Triangle communities seven days a week, around the clock. Call (704) 850-6756 to speak with a live dispatcher and get an honest, up-front quote for your specific locks before anyone begins work.
How much does a locksmith cost in NC for a rekeying job?
There is no universal figure because the cost depends on the lock type (a mortise lock involves more labor than a standard knob lock), the number of cylinders being rekeyed, the time of day, your location within the Raleigh service area, and whether any replacement parts are needed. What we can promise is that you will receive an exact price confirmed before any work starts — no surprise additions afterward. Call (704) 850-6756 and we will walk through your specific situation and give you a straight answer.
How much is the average locksmith charge for emergency rekeying at night?
After-hours and overnight calls reflect the genuine cost of maintaining a trained, insured technician available at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday — which is a real operational expense, not an arbitrary markup. The exact amount varies based on your lock types and travel distance, but our dispatcher will give you the complete price before we dispatch. We do not use bait-and-switch pricing, and we do not add fees once the technician is on-site. Transparency is not a selling point for us — it is simply how we operate.
What are the four main types of emergencies a locksmith handles?
In residential and commercial locksmith work, the four most common emergency categories are: a lockout (you cannot enter your own home or vehicle), a lock failure or damage (the mechanism is broken or jammed), a security breach (a break-in attempt, forced entry, or discovered tampered lock), and a lost or stolen key situation where immediate rekeying is needed to prevent unauthorized access. Pro Raleigh Locksmiths responds to all four around the clock. Our mobile units carry the tools and parts to handle each scenario on the first visit the vast majority of the time.
Does rekeying work on a mortise lock, or do I need a full replacement?
Rekeying works on most mortise locks without any need to replace the lock body. The cylinder — the part that reads the key — is typically removable from the mortise case, and a skilled technician can replace the internal pins to match a new key profile while leaving the rest of the hardware intact. This is one of the most cost-effective services we perform, particularly on high-quality Schlage or similar mortise hardware where the lockset itself is worth preserving. In cases where the cylinder is worn or damaged, we will let you know and discuss replacement options, but a straight rekey is the right answer far more often than a full swap.
How do I get my home secured quickly after losing a key — is there something like a 1Password Emergency Kit for physical keys?
Unlike digital password managers that include a printed Emergency Kit as a recovery document, physical key security does not have a single backup document — it depends on physical control of the key and the lock itself. The correct response to a lost key is rekeying every cylinder that key operated, ideally the same day. That changes the lock's internal configuration so the missing key becomes permanently useless, even if someone finds it. Pro Raleigh Locksmiths can typically complete a full exterior re-key in a single visit. Call (704) 850-6756 as soon as you realize a key is missing — acting quickly is the closest real-world equivalent to that kind of instant security reset.