Non-destructive entry first, always - and we re-key Schlage, Kwikset, and Baldwin locks on the spot while you watch
You get a price before we start. It does not change when we arrive. No surprises.
Fast, Reliable Lock Installation & Rekey Across Farmington Hills
Lock installation and rekeying in Farmington Hills comes down to one question on most calls: can we save the hardware, or does it need to go? In this city, with its 1970s-1990s executive colonials and ranches, the answer often lands somewhere in between. A standard rekey in Farmington Hills runs $18-$35 per cylinder, and a full smart lock installation typically lands between $185-$420 depending on the door prep. We dispatch to Farmington Hills from our Detroit office, and our crews know this housing stock well enough to tell you before we arrive whether we’re rekeying, retrofitting, or replacing. Call (331) 310-8471 and you’ll get a written price before anyone gets in the van.
Why Novak Lock & Security Is Farmington Hills’s Preferred Lock Installation & Rekey Company
We’ve worked on enough Farmington Hills doors to know that the original Baldwin, Schlage, and Kwikset hardware from the 1980s doesn’t always play nice with modern smart locks. The strike plates are thin. The door frames have settled. The cylinders have been through 35 Michigan winters. Homeowners here tend to notice when a technician actually measures the backset before quoting a retrofit, and that’s exactly what we do.
Daniel Novak founded this company in 2002 on one rule: the price quoted on the phone is the price on the invoice. Haven Standard Clause 1. No technician is permitted to change that number at your door. Every visit from our Lock Installation & Rekey team includes a written scope, a documented photo record when we finish, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise behind the work. Farmington Hills customers get the same background-checked, uniformed technicians on every call, whether it’s a rekey after a closing or a frozen deadbolt at 2 a.m. in January.
Our Lock Installation & Rekey Services in Farmington Hills
Smart Lock Installation
A smart lock retrofit on a 1980s Farmington Hills front door is rarely a drop-in job. The original deadbolt holes were drilled to older standards, and the door itself may have shifted a quarter inch since it was hung. We quote these honestly: if the bolt won’t align without forcing it, we say so and price the strike plate adjustment or re-drill up front. We install Schlage Encode, Kwikset Halo, and Yale Assure lines regularly here, and we’ll tell you whether your existing cylinder can be rekeyed to match the smart lock’s keyway or if you’re better off going fully keyless.
Keyless Entry
Keyless entry systems make sense for Farmington Hills households with contractors, house cleaners, or vacation schedules. Instead of cutting another key, you assign a code and delete it when the work is done. We see a lot of executive homeowners here who want keyless entry on the garage-to-house door specifically, because that’s the door that gets the most daily use. A keypad deadbolt installation in Farmington Hills runs $210-$390, including the hardware and a written quote before we start.
Keypad Lock
Keypad locks are the most common smart-lock request we field in Farmington Hills, and they’re a good fit for the city’s front-door layouts. The older colonials often have a single front entry with a deadbolt above a handle, so a keypad deadbolt replaces the chunky part without reworking the handle below. If your existing deadbolt hole has drifted or the bolt binds when the door swells in summer, we fix that before mounting the new unit. We also rekey the bottom handle to match the top so you’re not carrying two keys for one door.
Biometric Lock
Biometric locks are a rarer request, but Farmington Hills has a tech-literate homeowner base that asks about them more than most suburbs. A fingerprint deadbolt works well on a properly aligned door, but it’s a bad purchase on a warped 1980s entry where the bolt throws hard. We’ll tell you that directly. We quote biometric installs case by case because the door condition dictates the prep work, and the last thing we want is a fingerprint reader that fails to engage a misaligned strike plate in February.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Farmington Hills
We’re factory-authorized on Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, Abloy, Baldwin, and Schlage, which covers the security spectrum from an entry-grade Kwikset replacement to a high-security cylinder that can’t be bumped or picked with standard tools. For Farmington Hills homes with original Baldwin mortise entry sets, we stock the cylinders and trim pieces that match the existing finish rather than forcing a modern deadbolt above a lock that was never designed for one. We also service Sargent and Mul-T-Lock hardware for commercial properties along the I-696 corridor. Parts arrive faster here because we keep the common formats in stock, not on a slow-boat order.
Common Lock Installation & Rekey Problems We See in Farmington Hills Homes
- Frozen deadbolts and seized cylinders. Farmington Hills gets the full Detroit-metro winter, including ice storms that work water into lock cylinders and then freeze solid. The freeze-thaw cycling doesn’t just jam the lock, it cracks the housing over enough seasons. What starts as a $25 rekey becomes a $180 cylinder replacement if the freeze already did the damage.
- Misaligned smart locks on aged doors. DIY smart lock installs on 1980s front doors are a repeat call for us. The deadbolt hole wasn’t drilled for a modern unit, the door has settled, and the bolt jams against the strike plate. We re-drill, shim, or replace the strike plate and then mount the lock so it deadbolts cleanly in both summer and winter weather.
- Worn original builder-grade cylinders. Many subdivision homes in Farmington Hills went up with Kwikset pin-and-tumbler cylinders that are now 30 to 40 years old. The pins are worn enough that a bump key will walk right through them. We see this constantly at closings on executive homes, where the new owner inherits cylinders that offer almost no pick resistance. Rekeying to a fresh keyway solves it without replacing the visible hardware.
- Lost key control after a sale or divorce. High real estate turnover in Farmington Hills means a lot of recently purchased homes where the previous owners’ keys are still in circulation. We rekey every entry cylinder to a single new key on the day of closing, usually $18-$30 per cylinder, and you get a written record of how many keys exist for the new system.
Pricing for Lock Installation & Rekey in Farmington Hills, MI
A standard lock rekey in Farmington Hills runs $18-$35 per cylinder, and most homes have three to five entry cylinders. A whole-home rekey on a typical executive colonial usually lands between $90-$160. Deadbolt replacements with Grade 1 hardware run $95-$185 per lock, installed. Smart lock installation runs $185-$420, and keypad or keyless entry systems run $210-$390. High-security cylinder retrofits to Medeco or Mul-T-Lock grade run $225-$450 per door, including the cylinder, installation, and new keys. Every quote is written before we dispatch. The price on the phone is the price on the invoice. Free estimates: call (331) 310-8471.
We Also Serve Cities Near Farmington Hills
Novak Lock & Security covers the full metro from Farmington Hills outward. Our crews also serve Detroit, Warren, Sterling Heights, and Clinton Township on the same written-price policy, including same-day lock installation and rekey calls during the winter freeze season when lockouts spike.
Serving Farmington Hills, MI - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Farmington Hills area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Lock Installation & Rekey in Farmington Hills
Yes, in most cases we can rekey the original mortise cylinder on an older Farmington Hills home to a new key, including keying it to match a Schlage or Kwikset smart key format. The question is whether the mortise lock is worth saving. If the cylinder hasn’t cracked from freeze-thaw cycling and the lock body still throws smoothly, rekeying is the cheaper and better option. If the housing is seizing or the bolt mechanism binds, we’ll tell you it’s a replacement, not a rekey. Call (331) 310-8471 and we’ll walk through what you have before scheduling anything.
Freezing is almost never about the keyway or the pins, so rekeying won’t fix it. What freezes in a Farmington Hills winter is the exterior cylinder housing, where condensation collects and then locks the tailpiece solid. The fix is lubrication, installing a weather-resistant cylinder, or replacing the deadbolt entirely if the freeze has already cracked the housing. If yours seizes every January, book the repair before the next ice storm, not during it.
Rekeying changes the key, not the hardware. We replace the pins inside the cylinder so the old key no longer works and a new key does. Replacing means swapping the entire lock, which matters when the original hardware is worn out or below ANSI Grade 1 standard. For a 1970s-1990s Farmington Hills colonial with original deadbolts, we usually recommend rekeying the cylinders and upgrading only the weak deadbolts. If a lock has failed from freeze damage or can’t be rekeyed because the cylinder is cracked, replacement is the only honest answer.
Yes, you need to rekey every exterior door after closing. The previous owner, their family, their broker, and whoever they gave a spare to still hold keys to that house. We rekey all entry cylinders to a single new key, usually $18-$30 per cylinder, and the original hardware stays in place. You’ll get a documented list of every lock rekeyed and how many keys exist for the new system, which is standard Novak procedure on every closing call in Farmington Hills.
Yes. A misaligned deadbolt hole does not stop a smart lock install, but it does require prep work before the new lock goes on. We re-align the strike plate, re-drill or shim the deadbolt hole as needed, and then mount the smart lock so it deadbolts cleanly instead of binding. This is the part DIY installs miss, and it’s why smart locks jam on older Farmington Hills doors. We quote the prep work up front and include it in the written price before anyone arrives.
Written by Daniel Novak, Owner at Novak Lock & Security, serving Farmington Hills since 2002.