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 University
Lock installation and rekey work in University, FL typically runs $65-$120 for a standard rekey per cylinder and $150-$350 for most new deadbolt or knob installations, with smart lock setups starting around $180. We quote the full price on the phone before anyone is dispatched, and that number is the number on your invoice. If you’re a property manager staring down an August lease-turn with 15 units to flip, call (331) 310-8471 and Daniel Novak’s team will get a schedule on the board today.
University has a rhythm most towns don’t. The USF academic calendar drives move-outs, move-ins, and a twice-a-year surge of lock work that lands hard in late July and late December. We know the apartment complexes along Fowler Avenue, the duplex pockets off 22nd Street, and the converted single-family rentals west of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard because we’ve rekeyed hundreds of their doors. When a tenant hands back keys on a Friday and a new one arrives Saturday morning, you need a locksmith who treats the deadline as a fact, not a preference.
Why Novak Lock & Security Is University’s Preferred Lock Installation & Rekey Company
Novak Lock & Security was founded in 2002, and every job since then has started with a written price and ended with a documented record. No exceptions, ever. That matters most in a neighborhood like University, where a large share of our customers are landlords and property managers who need invoices they can file, prices they can budget against, and hardware that holds up under turnover after turnover. Daniel Novak built the company on a single rule: the price on the phone is the price on the invoice. That’s Haven Standard Clause 1, and it has never been bent.
Our technicians working University are background-checked, uniformed, and trained on everything from a basic Kwikset cylinder swap to high-security Medeco and Mul-T-Lock installs. After each visit, you get a photo record of the work, the hardware, and the finished installation. That’s not an upgrade; it’s standard procedure. For a property owner who can’t be on site for every lockout or rekey, the photo record is how you verify the job was done the way we said it would be.
Response times to University addresses run 30-45 minutes for most calls during normal business hours, and we answer the phone with a live person 24/7. No voicemail queue. When a resident is locked out of a breezeway-facing apartment at 9 p.m. the week classes start, someone answers and a truck is routed from our South FL dispatch office to your door in University. You get the tech’s arrival window on the phone, not a tracking link that refreshes into silence.
Our Lock Installation & Rekey Services in University
Smart Lock Installation
Smart lock installation in University usually means one of two jobs: a landlord upgrading a rental to keypad or app-based entry, or a homeowner in the newer townhome clusters near Lettuce Lake Park putting a Yale Assure or Schlage Encode on the front door. We quote $180-$400 for most smart lock installs, including the hardware if you don’t already have it and the retrofit if your deadbolt prep is an older spindle style. On a 1980s apartment door with a worn bore, expect a half-hour of prep before the smart lock goes on; we factor that into the written price, not a surprise on the back end.
Keyless Entry and Keypad Lock Installation
Keyless entry is the fastest-growing request we see from University landlords who manage student rentals remotely. A keypad deadbolt means no more midnight calls when a tenant loses a key at a campus bar; you delete the old code, add a new one, and the hardware never leaves the door. We install and program keypad locks from Schlage, Kwikset, and Yale, and we walk you through the programming sequence before we leave the property. University’s August lease-turn is the busiest season for these installs, so schedule in mid-July if you want a slot.
Biometric Lock Installation
Biometric locks in University are less common than keypads, but we install them every month, most often for homeowners who want fingerprint entry and for a small number of property owners running high-turnover short-term rentals near the USF campus. A biometric deadbolt runs $250-$500 installed. The fingerprints are stored on the lock’s local module; for rentals, we set up a temporary code sequence so you don’t have to enroll and delete tenant prints by hand. It’s more hardware, more programming, and a written price before we start.
Key Duplication
Key duplication in University is a volume business. Student renters need spare keys for roommates; landlords need originals and copies cut at lease signing; and USF staff occasionally need restricted key duplication for office doors. We cut standard Kwikset and Schlage keys on-site from our mobile units, and we handle high-security duplication for Medeco and Mul-T-Lock systems when you bring the key card. Copy pricing in University runs $3-$8 per key for standard blanks; high-security keys require card authorization and run $15-$40.
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 University
We’re factory-authorized on Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, and Baldwin, and we service the full residential range including Schlage, Kwikset, Yale, and Sargent commercial hardware. In University specifically, what we see most in 1970s-1990s apartment stock is lower-grade Schlage and Kwikset knob-and-deadbolt sets that have been rekeyed dozens of times. We stock bulk Kwikset rekey kits, Schlage cylinders, and Yale smart lock components on our University trucks because we know that’s what the housing stock actually uses. When a landlord needs 14 units rekeyed in two days, we don’t run back to a warehouse. The parts are already in the van.
Common Lock Installation & Rekey Problems We See in University Homes
- Worn cylinders that fail after a rekey. The 1970s-1990s Kwikset and lower-grade Schlage sets common in University apartments and converted rentals have been rekeyed dozens of times over decades of student turnover. The pin chambers wear loose; after a fresh rekey, the new key can turn hard or not at all. When we find this, we quote a cylinder swap before we proceed, in writing.
- Corrosion inside exterior cylinders from Hillsborough County humidity. Ground-floor and breezeway-facing doors take the brunt of afternoon thunderstorms, and the cheap brass cylinder plugs common in budget rental hardware develop internal corrosion. A rekey that works at noon can bind up after a storm rolls through. We see this pattern across University complexes, and we’ll tell you if the cylinder needs replacement rather than just a rekey.
- Mismatched keyways in multi-tenant buildings. A building where a few units got new deadbolts while others were just rekeyed ends up with two keyways, which breaks the master key system. During a bulk lease-turn, this forces a second trip to align everything. We check the entire building’s keyway before quoting a bulk rekey in University, because we’d rather catch it before the locks are rekeyed than after the new tenants move in.
- Deadbolt misalignment from shifting concrete slabs. Some older University apartment buildings sit on slabs that have shifted enough over 40 years that deadbolt throws no longer line up with the strike plate. The tenant forces the deadbolt, the plate bends, and the lock starts jamming. We fix the alignment and replace the strike, and we use longer screws to anchor into the frame.
Pricing for Lock Installation & Rekey in University, FL
Here’s the honest breakdown for University. A standard rekey runs $65-$120 per cylinder, which covers the labor, new pins, and two new keys per lock. A typical knob or deadbolt replacement runs $150-$350 depending on the grade of hardware. Smart lock installation runs $180-$400, keypad lock installation $200-$450, and biometric deadbolt installation $250-$500. Key duplication runs $3-$8 per standard key; high-security keys run $15-$40 with card authorization. Bulk rekeys for multi-unit landlord work are quoted per-cylinder with volume pricing applied at 10+ units.
What affects the price: the grade of hardware, the number of cylinders, whether the existing cylinder is worn beyond rekeying, and whether we’re aligning deadbolts on older doors. None of that is a surcharge discovered at the door. The dispatcher quotes a firm number, the technician is not permitted to change it, and that’s the way Novak Lock & Security has operated since 2002. If you have a written estimate from another company, bring it to us. We’ll review it at no charge. The phone number is (331) 310-8471.
We Also Serve Cities Near University
From our dispatch office in South FL, our mobile crews cover a wide service ring around University. We regularly run Lock Installation & Rekey calls to Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Miami, with the same written-price rule and the same photo record on every job no matter which city the truck is in. If you manage properties across multiple Florida metros, you don’t need different locksmiths; you need one number with a consistent price policy. Call (331) 310-8471 and University residents and property managers get the same Novak standard as every other market we serve.
Serving University, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the University 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 University
We can rekey a mid-sized University apartment building of 10-20 units in a single day when we have the job booked by mid-July. The last two weeks of July are the busiest days on our University calendar, and landlords who wait until the week of lease-turn may find limited same-week availability. Call (331) 310-8471 early to get a written bulk rekey quote and a confirmed date before the August turnover rush takes every slot.
Yes, but smart lock “rekeying” usually means reprogramming rather than a physical cylinder change. If the smart lock has a key override cylinder, we can rekey that cylinder physically; the keypad codes are separate and get reprogrammed independently. We’ll give you a written price for both the cylinder rekey and the code reset before the job starts. For a duplex with two units sharing a smart lock system, we can set separate code schedules so each tenant only accesses their own unit.
A rekey is enough when the deadbolt is mechanically sound and not a lower-grade unit that has been compromised by years of forced entry attempts. The deciding factor is the condition of the cylinder and the keyway. If the deadbolt is a 1980s low-grade Schlage that binds after a rekey or shows signs of attempted bumping, we’ll recommend replacing it, and we’ll quote the replacement in writing before you spend a dollar. For a University landlord, rekeying is usually sufficient when the hardware is in good shape and we can verify the cylinder pins are not worn past tolerance.
The fastest way is to call us, tell us which building and which master key system, and we’ll dispatch a tech to cut new master keys and rekey the relevant cylinders. If you’re on a restricted keyway like Medeco or Mul-T-Lock, the key card controls duplication and we can issue new keys with the card authorization. For a standard Kwikset master system in a University apartment building, same-day rekey of the master cylinder is usually possible. The critical piece is notifying us as soon as the key is lost; every hour the missing key is unaccounted for is another hour a former tenant or stranger could still have access. Call (331) 310-8471 and we’ll walk you through what to do before the tech arrives.
Yes, and that’s one of the reasons University property owners call us specifically. We carry non-destructive entry tools including lock picks, bypass tools, and shims for the common Schlage and Kwikset hardware on University rental doors. For the majority of lockouts, our tech opens the door without any damage to the lock, the door, or the frame. On the rare occasion a lock must be drilled, we replace it with new hardware and the price for the replacement is quoted to you before we drill. No door gets drilled without the freeholder or the resident authorizing it on the phone first.
Need a rekey, a new deadbolt, a smart lock, or a bulk lease-turn schedule for your University property? Call (331) 310-8471. A live person answers, the price is quoted in writing before the truck moves, and it’s the price on the invoice. That’s the Novak Lock & Security rule, and it has been since day one.
Written by Daniel Novak, Owner at Novak Lock & Security, serving University since 2002.