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 Detroit
Lock installation and rekeying in Detroit typically costs $85-$165 for a standard rekey (up to five cylinders keyed alike) and $120-$320 for a new deadbolt or entry knob installation, including hardware. Most jobs in Detroit are completed same-day, often within 90 minutes of arrival. If you’ve just bought a bungalow in Grandmont-Rosedale, evicted a tenant from a two-family flat in Southwest, or found your new key sticks in a 1930s mortise lock in East English Village, we handle the hardware side of it. Call (331) 310-8471 and we’ll give you a written price before anyone gets in the van.
Why Novak Lock & Security Is Detroit’s Preferred Lock Installation & Rekey Company
Detroit is not a generic housing market. The city has more pre-WWII brick bungalows and stacked two-family flats per square mile than nearly any city in the country, and most of them still carry original mortise locksets. A locksmith who learned on 1990s suburban housing stock will stare at a 1920s Corbin case and reach for a drill. Our technicians don’t. We stock tailpieces, case parts, and strike plates for locks that most shops have literally never seen outside a catalog. That’s the difference between a $95 rekey and a $600 door replacement, and it’s why Detroit homeowners call us after another company tells them their door “can’t be saved.”
Daniel Novak founded this company in 2002 on a single rule that still runs every job: the price on the phone is the price on the invoice. Haven Standard Clause 1. No dispatcher games, no technician “discovering” extra charges at the door. We also leave a documented photo record of every job we complete in Detroit, and every tech is background-checked and uniformed. When a customer in Sherwood Forest wants to see exactly what was done to their Yale mortise lock, we hand them the photos.
Our Lock Installation & Rekey Services in Detroit
Smart Lock Installation
Smart locks on Detroit’s older doors present a real challenge: many pre-WWII solid-oak doors are 1¾” thick or more, with a mortise pocket cut for a full-size lock case, not a modern tubular deadbolt. We install smart locks from Schlage, Yale, and Baldwin with the correct adapters and extended tailpieces for thicker doors, and we’ll tell you honestly if your existing mortise lock can accept a smart conversion or if a separate deadbolt above the mortise is the better call. Because a smart lock that works for one week and then binds because the installer ignored the door’s actual construction isn’t a smart lock. It’s a problem with a battery.
Keyless Entry & Keypad Lock
For Detroit landlords managing two-family flats in Bagley or Grandmont-Rosedale, keypad locks solve the single biggest rekeying cost driver: tenant turnover. Instead of rekeying cylinders every time a unit turns over, you change a code. We install weatherproof keypad deadbolts rated for Detroit winters, because a keypad that works in San Diego fails in January in Detroit if it’s not sealed and spec’d for sub-zero operation. The units we stock are tested for freeze-thaw conditions and use mechanical or solid-state keypads that don’t ice over.
Biometric Lock Installation
Fingerprint and biometric locks are becoming common in Detroit home offices, gun rooms, and basement rental units where key control matters. But a biometric lock is only as good as its power supply and its mechanical override. On Detroit’s older doors, we almost always recommend a biometric lock with a hidden keyed cylinder as backup, so a dead battery at 7°F doesn’t leave you locked out on the porch. We install biometric hardware from Schlage and Yale, with all programming done on site and demonstrated to you before we leave.
Key Duplication
Not every key is copyable at a hardware store kiosk. Detroit’s older homes often still have original keys cut on now-obsolete blanks for Yale, Sargent, or Corbin mortise cylinders. We cut those blanks from stock we keep on the truck, and for high-security locks like Mul-T-Lock or Medeco, we duplicate only with proper authorization cards. We also offer Detroit Medeco service for installation and maintenance. If you bought a fixer-upper in East English Village and got one bent original key at closing, we can resolve that same day.
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 Detroit
We’re factory-authorized for Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, Abloy, Baldwin, and Schlage, and we service Sargent and Yale mortise hardware that’s still turning a century after it was installed. For Detroit customers, that means we maintain an inventory of obsolete and slow-moving parts that suburban shops don’t bother carrying: Sargent rim-cylinder tailpieces, Yale mortise case screws in uncommon thread counts, Baldwin escutcheon plates in period finishes. When your 1920s Baldwin mortise lock needs one specific part, we are not going to tell you to replace the door. We’re going to open the truck and pull the part.
Common Lock Installation & Rekey Problems We See in Detroit Homes
- Frozen or bound mortise cylinders in winter. Detroit winters routinely push into single digits, and old brick door frames heave with freeze-thaw cycles. A deadbolt that turned smoothly in October binds by January because the strike plate has shifted a few millimeters. We adjust strike plates as a standard part of winter lock service, because drilling a frozen cylinder is rarely the actual fix.
- Vacant-house hardware stripping. Tens of thousands of Detroit properties sat vacant for years during the city’s population decline. Doors were forced, cylinders pulled, and strike plates torn out. When a rehab is finished and a new owner moves into a home near Livernois or Mack, the lock work almost always requires replacing the full mortise case, not just rekeying the one remaining cylinder.
- Modern deadbolts installed over old mortise pockets. Flippers often bore a new hole for a tubular deadbolt right into or beside the original mortise pocket, leaving a gap that freezes open in January and fails basic security. We see this constantly in Detroit’s rehabbed housing stock, and the fix is usually a proper mortise rebuild or a correctly placed deadbolt with a full-wrap reinforcement plate.
- One key that works one day and not the next. On older Detroit doors, this is usually a worn key combined with a worn cylinder, or a misaligned strike plate from seasonal frame movement. We diagnose the actual cause rather than simply cutting another copy of a bad blank, which wastes your time and a trip to the hardware store.
Pricing for Lock Installation & Rekey in Detroit, MI
Lock rekeying in Detroit typically runs $85-$165 for up to five cylinders keyed alike, which covers most two-family flats. A new deadbolt installation with hardware runs $120-$320 depending on the grade (ANSI Grade 2 versus Grade 1) and whether we’re boring a new hole or fitting to an existing prep. Keypad or smart lock installation runs $180-$450 including hardware, programming, and full demonstration. Mortise lock rebuilding on Detroit’s older homes runs $150-$400 depending on part availability and the extent of case repair needed. Every price is quoted in writing over the phone before we dispatch, and no technician is permitted to change that number on your doorstep. Ever. Call (331) 310-8471 for an exact quote on your Detroit home.
We Also Serve Cities Near Detroit
From our Detroit office, we dispatch Lock Installation & Rekey crews to Dearborn, Lincoln Park, Eastpointe, and Royal Oak daily. If you’re on the border of Detroit in Warrendale or near the Dearborn line, you’re within our standard service area. For a full view of the Detroit neighborhoods we cover, see our Lock Installation & Rekey in Detroit service area page.
Serving Detroit, MI - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Detroit 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 Detroit
We can rekey most 1930s Corbin and Yale mortise locks in Detroit without replacement, as long as the lock case is intact and not cracked from a prior forced entry. The answer depends on what we find: if the cylinder is present or replaceable and the tailpiece is intact, rekeying is straightforward and costs $85-$165. If the cylinder is missing, the tailpiece sheared, or the case itself is cracked, replacement of the full mortise lock or a proper retrofit is the honest call. We’ll show you the damage and quote both options in writing before any cutting starts. Call (331) 310-8471 for a same-day evaluation.
In Detroit, the most common cause of a January deadbolt that won’t turn is not the lock itself but the door frame: brick construction heaves with freeze-thaw cycles, shifting the strike plate a few millimeters so the bolt binds against it. The second most common cause is ice inside the cylinder, which is solved with a proper lubricant, not by forcing the key. We treat a winter “broken lock” call as a misaligned strike plate or frozen cylinder until proven otherwise, and we carry the tools to fix both on the spot.
You need a new cylinder at minimum, and likely more, because Detroit vacant properties are stripped in predictable ways: the cylinder is pulled, the tailpiece snaps, and the strike plate is often torn from the frame. If the mortise case is still intact, we can rebuild it with a new pin-and-tumbler cylinder for $150-$300 and you keep your original door. If the case is cracked or the door frame is split, a full replacement is the only secure fix. We’ll quote both paths in writing. Call (331) 310-8471 for a free estimate.
Yes, but not by ignoring the door’s construction. Most Detroit mortise doors are 1¾” or thicker solid oak, so a modern smart lock or keypad deadbolt requires extended tailpieces and often a separate deadbolt installed above the original mortise lock, not a retrofit that removes it. We install keypad and smart hardware from Schlage, Yale, and Baldwin on Detroit’s older doors regularly, with weatherproofing rated for single-digit winters and the original mortise lock retained as a mechanical backup. Call (331) 310-8471 and we’ll tell you exactly what your door will take.
Yes, in the vast majority of cases. A skilled locksmith can non-destructively pick a functioning mortise cylinder on a 1920s Detroit door, even one with a frozen or stiff mechanism, using proper lubricant and pick techniques. Drilling becomes necessary only when a cylinder is so seized or damaged that no pins remain to manipulate. A locksmith who reaches for a drill first is not doing you any favors, because on a 1930s Corbin or Yale mortise lock, drilling destroys the case and turns a $95 rekey into a $400 rebuild. We exhaust non-destructive methods first, every time, on every door we touch in Detroit.
Contact Novak Lock & Security in Detroit
If you need lock installation, rekeying, or a mortise lock rebuild in Detroit, call (331) 310-8471. A live person answers 24/7, and you’ll get a written price before anyone is dispatched. No call-out surcharge added on arrival, no price changes at the door, no drilling your door because it’s faster than doing the job right. Just a written quote, a background-checked tech, and a documented record of exactly what was done when we leave.
Written by Daniel Novak, Owner at Novak Lock & Security, providing Lock Installation & Rekey services across Detroit under The Haven Standard.