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.
Lock Installation & Rekey in San Antonio: Straight Answers, Written Prices
Lock installation and rekeying in San Antonio runs $75-$190 per cylinder for a standard rekey and $160-$450 per lock for full installation, depending on grade and hardware. Our team at Novak Lock & Security reaches most San Antonio neighborhoods within 60 minutes and every quote is delivered in writing before dispatch. That price is the price on the invoice. The dispatcher quotes it on the phone, the technician honors it at the door, and Clause 1 of The Haven Standard prohibits changing it on arrival.
If you just got PCS orders for Joint Base San Antonio and need every lock changed on a rental in Lackland’s 78242 or a house off Fort Sam’s 78109 corridor, call (331) 310-8471. We block out extra crews every May through August specifically for that surge.
Key Takeaways
- Standard rekey in San Antonio: $75-$190 per cylinder, written quote before dispatch
- Full lock installation: $160-$450 per lock based on hardware grade
- Same-day service across San Antonio, including PCS-season priority scheduling for military families
- One visit can key every outbuilding, gate, and main-house lock alike on rural acreage properties
- 365-Day Done Right Promise on every installation and rekey, with a documented photo record left on site
Fast, Reliable Lock Installation & Rekey Across San Antonio
We work in San Antonio every day, from Victorian-era mortise locks in King William to 2010s smart-lock preps in Stone Oak and five-acre properties off Potranco Road near Government Canyon. Local familiarity changes how a lock job gets scoped. A deadbolt that throws cleanly in a January rental in Leon Valley can bind by May when Blackland clay shifts the door frame, and the fix is a strike-plate adjustment, not a new lock. A rekeyed Schlage cylinder on a Stone Oak aluminum door frame in August can feel stiff enough that a customer thinks the pins are wrong when the real culprit is 100°F heat expanding the frame. We know the difference because we see it weekly.
Daniel Novak founded this company in 2002 on one rule: the price quoted on the phone is the price on the invoice. That rule has never changed. When you call (331) 310-8471 for lock installation or rekeying in San Antonio, a live person answers. Not a voicemail tree. Not a callback window.
We also serve Lock Installation & Rekey in San Antonio with the same documented process on every job: written scope, written price, photo record at completion. That’s The Haven Standard, and it applies whether we’re rekeying a single Kwikset cylinder in a Converse rental or retrofitting a six-lock master key system on a Helotes acreage.
Why Novak Lock & Security Is San Antonio’s Preferred Lock Installation & Rekey Company
San Antonio homeowners between 32 and 50 tend to research before they call. They read the three-star reviews. They want a number in writing before a van rolls. That’s exactly how we operate, and it’s why our Lock Installation & Rekey team carries a strong local reputation built on documentation rather than slogans.
Every technician who arrives at a San Antonio address is background-checked and uniformed. Before work starts, you get a written scope and a firm price. After work ends, you get a photo record of what was done: the cylinder removed, the new hardware installed, the keyed-alike set laid out. Not a promise, a procedure. That’s Haven Standard Clause 6, and it’s included on a $95 rekey the same as on a $1,500 gate-and-barn master key project.
Response time to San Antonio neighborhoods runs about 60 minutes for most of the city. Westover Hills, Alamo Ranch, and the Southwest Side near Lackland usually run closer to 45. Rural roads out toward Government Canyon or Grey Forest add 15-25 minutes. We tell you the window on the phone, in the same written quote that locks your price.
Since 2002, Novak Lock & Security has installed or serviced over 60,000 locks, keys, and systems. Every one of those jobs started with a written price and ended with a documented record. Daniel Novak’s name is on the van and on the invoice, and that matters in a trade where bait pricing is the norm.
Our Lock Installation & Rekey Services in San Antonio
Smart Lock Installation
San Antonio’s 2000s-era housing stock in Stone Oak, Helotes, and Converse was built with standard cylindrical door preps, which means most smart locks from Schlage, Yale, and Kwikset drop in without new boring. A typical smart lock installation on an existing prep runs $190-$275 and takes under an hour. On older King William or Monte Vista doors with mortise hardware, we’ll tell you honestly whether a smart lock retrofit makes sense or whether a high-security mechanical cylinder is the better call. You get that assessment in the written quote before any work starts.
Keyless Entry
Keyless entry gets specified differently depending on where in San Antonio you live. On a ranch property near Government Canyon, we frequently pair a keypad deadbolt on the main house with a keyed-alike mechanical set on outbuildings, so the ranch hand has code access to the shop while the owner carries one key for everything else. On a rental near Fort Sam Houston, a property manager often wants ephemeral codes so each PCS tenant cycle starts fresh. Keyless entry installation in San Antonio typically runs $210-$380 per door including hardware and programming.
Keypad Lock
Keypad locks solve a specific San Antonio problem: seasonal PCS turnover. Landlords in Converse, Universal City, and Schertz don’t want to rekey physically every two to three years when a tenant rotates out. A good keypad deadbolt with a master code plus tenant-specific codes eliminates that. We stock Yale and Schlage keypad models locally and can typically install one within 48 hours of your call. Standard keypad deadbolt installation runs $180-$260, and we program codes in front of you and show you how to delete them.
Biometric Lock
Biometric locks are a narrower application. We install them most often on interior doors in San Antonio, a gun safe room, a home office, a rental turnover staging closet, where fingerprint access makes more sense than another key. On exterior doors, San Antonio’s heat and humidity don’t bother the sensor itself, but dusty conditions on acreage properties can require more frequent sensor cleaning. We’ll tell you that before you buy. Biometric lock installation runs $240-$420 and includes full fingerprint enrollment.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
- 3
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 San Antonio
We are factory-authorized for Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, Baldwin, and Schlage work, and we regularly service Yale and Kwikset hardware across San Antonio. What that means for you is straightforward: we can cut and program high-security keys locally, we keep common cylinders and tailpieces stocked for same-day work, and we do not void factory warranties by improvising. When a Monte Vista client has original Baldwin mortise hardware on a 1920s house, we repair and rekey it properly rather than telling them to replace it. When a Stone Oak client wants a Mul-T-Lock upgrade, we quote the cylinder, the keys, and the install as a written line item.
Common Lock Installation & Rekey Problems We See in San Antonio Homes
- Deadbolts that throw fine in January but bind by May. Expansive Blackland Prairie clay under neighborhoods like Leon Valley and the West Side shrinks and swells with moisture, moving door frames seasonally. The fix is strike-plate and latch timing adjustment, not a new lock. We check alignment before we ever rekey a cylinder.
- Aluminum door frames that expand in summer heat. 2000s-era construction in Stone Oak and far north San Antonio used aluminum frames that grow measurably at 100°F. A rekeyed Schlage cylinder can feel broken when the frame is actually pinching the latch. We bore the strike or adjust the latch radius accordingly.
- Mismatched lock brands across acreage properties. A 1980s Helotes house with a Baldwin mortise lock on the front door, Kwikset cylindricals on the barn, and a no-name knob on the horse stall means three key rings minimum. A master key system retrofit solves this in one visit, not three.
- Victorian mortise locks that big-box stores won’t touch. King William and Monte Vista houses built between 1880 and 1930 often have original mortise lock bodies with worn springs and loose spindles. Replacement parts are obsolete. We repair and rebuild these mechanisms, then rekey them to modern keys so the historical hardware stays intact.
The PCS cycle at Joint Base San Antonio adds another layer that no neighboring city deals with at this scale. Tens of thousands of military families rotate through rental homes around Lackland AFB, Fort Sam Houston, and Randolph AFB on two-to-three-year cycles. Every incoming family needs locks changed on day one, and nearly every call from a 78242 or 78109 rental starts with “we just got our orders and moved in, we need all the locks changed today.” During peak season, which runs May through August, we add extra crews and compress scheduling windows intentionally so PCS families aren’t waiting.
We worked a five-acre property off Potranco Road near Government Canyon where the owner had three separate key rings: one for the main house, one for the workshop and horse barn, one for the steel gate at the drive. Our crew rekeyed six Schlage deadbolts, two on the house, one each on the workshop, barn, and gate, so a single bump-resistant key now opens everything from the driveway gate to the tack room. We also installed a keypad entry on the shop door for the ranch hand. One visit, one key, one written price.
Pricing for Lock Installation & Rekey in San Antonio, TX
- Standard rekey (per cylinder): $75-$190
- Keyed-alike rekey, 3+ locks on one property: $65-$140 per cylinder
- Standard deadbolt or knob installation: $160-$280
- High-security cylinder installation (Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, Abloy): $290-$450
- Smart lock or keypad installation on existing prep: $180-$275
- Master key system retrofit (acreage/multi-building): $450-$1,500 depending on lock count
San Antonio’s market pricing is slightly below Austin’s for equivalent hardware, mainly because the city’s mix of older single-family and newer tract housing means fewer high-security retrofits per capita. What affects your cost most is the existing hardware. If every lock on a Helotes property is Kwikset and you want one key for everything, that’s a straightforward keyed-alike job. If an original Baldwin mortise in Monte Vista needs a rebuild before it can be rekeyed, that adds labor. We give you the full price on the phone, in writing, before anyone drives to your address. No call-out surcharge added on arrival. No “from” teaser rates. Call (331) 310-8471 for an exact quote, free, with the final number locked in writing before dispatch.
We Also Serve Cities Near San Antonio
Our crews cover the full San Antonio metro and surrounding communities, including Schertz, New Braunfels, Kyle, and Austin. Scheduling and dispatch run from our San Antonio office, so response times to nearby cities are predictable and quoted up front. If you’re outside the immediate metro, we’ll tell you the window on the phone along with the written price.
Serving San Antonio, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Antonio 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 San Antonio
We can typically rekey a San Antonio rental within 24-48 hours during peak PCS season, and in many Lackland-area and Fort Sam-area ZIP codes we get there the same day. We hold extra crew capacity from May through August specifically for military family turnover. The price is quoted on the phone in writing, and the technician is prohibited by Haven Standard Clause 1 from changing it on arrival. Call (331) 310-8471 as soon as you have your move-in date; earlier calls get earlier slots.
Yes. We regularly key main houses, detached workshops, barns, and steel gate locks onto a single key in one visit on Helotes area acreage. The key is making a written lock-by-lock scope first, because mismatched brands across buildings sometimes require replacing one or two cylinders to get everything onto the same keyway. We quote that entire scope on the phone, in writing, before dispatch, and one crew completes the whole job in a single trip.
Older King William homes sit on expansive clay that swells after heavy rain, shifting door frames enough to misalign deadbolts and strike plates. The fix is usually a strike plate adjustment and a latch re-time, not a new lock. We check alignment first on every older San Antonio home before rekeying, because a rekey alone won’t fix a frame that has moved.
We repair and rekey original Victorian mortise locks in Monte Vista. Daniel Novak’s position since 2002 has been that functional historical hardware should be preserved, not replaced with a modern cylindrical lock that requires new boring. We rebuild worn springs, replace spindles, and rekey the original cylinders to modern keys. If a mortise body is truly unsalvageable, we’ll show you the damage in the photo record and discuss options before quoting any replacement.
Yes. Most 2000s-era Stone Oak doors have a standard 2-1/8-inch cylindrical prep, which means smart locks from Schlage, Yale, and Kwikset install without new boring. Typical installation runs $190-$275 and takes under an hour. We’ll confirm your existing prep on the phone, quote the full price in writing, and bring the hardware with us.
Get a Written Quote for San Antonio Lock Installation or Rekeying
Call (331) 310-8471 and tell us what you’re dealing with: a PCS move-in, a six-lock acreage, a sticky King William deadbolt, or a Monte Vista mortise that hasn’t been serviced since the 1960s. We’ll quote a firm price on the phone, in writing, before anyone is dispatched. That price is the price on the invoice. That’s how Novak Lock & Security has operated since 2002, and that’s how we work in San Antonio every day.
Written by Daniel Novak, Owner at Novak Lock & Security, serving San Antonio since 2002.
Lock Installation & Rekey in Nearby Areas