Various instances in your life may call for change of your locks. You may have to move to some new places for establishing your business or you may have a situation with your broken lock or lost keys. All those above situations leave you with only two alternatives of either replacing or rekeying your lock. You will always find the second option as the most viable option of the two most of the time as it is going to cost you less though you may have to go through the first option also at times. Rekeying is always a security improvised, cost effective and easy option which can be done without wasting most of your valuable time. It is true that rekeying is a lot cheaper than replacing a lock but it is essential to know “what is proper pricing for rekeying services?”
Resources:
Staten Island Locksmith
homedepot.com
lowes.com
Rekeying costs based upon situations
Locked up car and home
There are various factors basing on which the locksmiths are going to charge you. Normally the costs include a minimum charge. The locksmiths charge you a minimum fee when you call them to rescue you out of locked up situations in your home or in your car. The nominal fee can be between $35 and $150.
Odd timing and holidays
The cost includes various factors like the place you are call them to fix your lock, the time you are calling them and the type of lock that you wish to be rekeyed. The price of the lock rekeying goes beyond the normal minimum charges when you ask for the locksmith services on the holidays. The same criteria hold also with the evening time services and the time taken for the locksmiths to get you out of the situation.
You stay in a remote area
Sometimes hard work involved in drilling out the lock out of its base can add to your existing cost. If you are living in some sort of remote areas, the costs are going to be further added up.
Standard rekeying costs as charged by the locksmiths
Costs basing on the lock type
If you have installed a very standard key in your house, your locksmith is going to charge you between $1.5 and $4. The more your key is specialized one, the more is your locksmith is going to charge. Basing upon the specialty of the key, the locksmith is going to charge you between $3 and $20. The costs can go up to $50 to $150 when you have electronic locks in your car. These locks at times have transponder key that require reprogramming of the chip.
Costs on the house locks
Generally people use locks with cylinder on their doors. During the process of rekeying the cylinder of the lock is replaced. The locksmith is going to charge separately for the rekeying adding to the cost of the cylinder of the lock. Generally the cost of the cylinder can cost you between $5 and $25. This cost comes in addition to the rekeying cost of your door lock. The rekeying cost in this case would be between $40 and $100.
Number of locks rekeyed
At times, people call their locksmith to rekey a number of locks at a time. The situation is created out of a long time delay because of the nature of procrastination of people. When people get locked upon in their home, they want their locks to be rekeyed. Along with that they want other locks in their homes to be rekeyed. During such times, the standard rates asked by the locksmiths can be between $40 and $100. In addition to that the locksmiths ask for labor charges per lock. The labor charge per lock fees can be between $20 and $30.
Additional costs that you can expect to pay to your locksmiths
Locksmiths have to pay a lot of fees to acquire license from the state. Apart from that the professionals need to qualify standard test to be locksmiths. Adding to that any licensed locksmith is fully insured of its services. Since the professionals pay a lot of fees during their course of becoming locksmiths, they charge some extra fees for being the legitimate service provider.
Getting the rekeying estimates over the phone
Sometimes getting the estimates of your rekeying over the phone can end you up in a situation of paying a hefty bill. This is because, you may be able to describe the lockout situation to your locksmith but you may not tell all the rekeying needs. Sometimes, you may not know whether there is need for drilling out the lock or not. You may not know whether there are any old locks to be replaced or not. This is where you end up paying extra which you might not have calculated.
Can you make the rekeying costs affordable for you?
There are many ways you can really take control of the additional costs that you end up paying your locksmith. This requires you to have additional knowledge about the hardware used in the whole rekeying process.
Knowing the cost of the hardware used in the rekeying operation
Your locksmith tells you the costs of the hardware being uses to rekey your lock. It is better to ask your locksmith the cost of the concerned hardware. It is right time to call any local store to get confirmation about the fee. It is rather better to get a quote from the local hardware store to show that to your locksmith. In this way you can save a lot of costs that would have paid to your locksmith.
You can shop the cylinder or any other hardware required of your own
First of all you need to check the type of lock that you have in your house. Before buying a cylinder for you lock you can check the model of your lock. This helps you in buying the required hardware from the local shop. You can get confirmation from the locksmith whether the hardware that you are going to purchase is right or not.
Prior knowledge on the costs can save you from paying additional money to your locksmith. Apart from that it can help you to deal with your local locksmith pretty well.