New Home Lock Change Newmarket
Every exterior door onto one key you have never handed to anyone. Usually done in under an hour, usually a rekey rather than new hardware.
Quick answer
A new home lock change in Newmarket means rekeying or replacing every exterior cylinder so that no key handed out before closing still works. A rekey costs $75 to $130 for the first cylinder and $25 to $45 for each additional one, and a typical house of six to eight doors runs $220 to $420 in a single visit.
Here is the question worth sitting with for a moment. Between the day your house was framed and the day you got the keys, how many people held a working key to your front door?
On a resale in Newmarket: the previous owners, their adult children, at least one cleaner, whoever walked the dog, the listing agent, the lockbox, and the contractor who did the basement in 2019. On a brand new build in East Gwillimbury or Sharon: the framer, the drywallers, the painters, the flooring crew, the HVAC installer, the final-clean company, the site supervisor and the sales office. Nobody is suggesting any of them is a thief. The point is that you have no idea how many keys exist or where they are, and neither does the builder.
A new home lock change in Newmarket fixes that in about an hour, and for most houses it does not involve buying a single new lock.
The builder key problem on new construction
Volume builders do not hand a different key to every trade on every house. That would be unmanageable across a subdivision. Instead they use a construction keying system, and it works one of two ways.
The common approach uses a construction key that opens every lock on the site, paired with a homeowner key that has not been introduced yet. Inside each cylinder sits an extra pin or a breakaway wafer. The first time the homeowner key is inserted and turned, that element is displaced permanently and the construction key stops working from that moment on. It is a neat system when it is used correctly.
The problem is the phrase ‘when it is used correctly’. It relies on someone actually turning the homeowner key in every cylinder — front, back, garage man-door, patio deadbolt, side entry — before the trades leave. In practice the person doing the walkthrough turns the key in the front door, confirms it works, and never touches the others. Those cylinders stay on the construction key. We have found this on Newmarket-area houses more than once.
The other approach is simpler and worse: the builder keys every house on a phase alike and swaps nothing at all. Your neighbour’s key opens your door because it is the same key. That is not a conspiracy, it is a scheduling shortcut, and it is why a rekey on possession day is not paranoia.
The fix is the same either way. Rekey every exterior cylinder to a fresh combination cut on site, and confirm every old key is dead. Our lock rekey service covers the mechanics.
Rekey or replace on a brand new build?
Rekey, almost always. The hardware on a new house is brand new — the springs are fresh, the plugs are tight, the finish is untouched. Replacing it is throwing away working locks in order to solve a problem that a pinning kit solves for a quarter of the price.
There are three exceptions worth naming, and they apply to resales more than new builds.
Builder bolts that throw short
A lot of new-build deadbolts are Grade 3 with a five-eighths inch throw. If yours is one, that is the door to upgrade — a Grade 1 or 2 bolt with a full inch of throw and a box strike. Everything else can still be rekeyed.
No deadbolt at all on a side or garage door
Common on man-doors and mudroom entries. Rekeying a keyed knob does not make it a lock. Bore it and fit a deadbolt while the technician is there.
Mixed keyways across the house
Where a Schlage patio deadbolt has crept into a Weiser house, that one cylinder gets swapped so everything can key alike. One cylinder, not one lock.
The arithmetic
Rekeying a whole house: $220 to $420. Replacing every exterior lock: $900 to $1,800. Same key-control outcome. Spend the difference on strike reinforcement.
On a resale where the hardware is fifteen or twenty years old, the balance shifts. Worn plugs will not hold a rekey well and the bolts are usually short. That is a genuine lock replacement conversation, and the trade-off is set out in more detail on our rekey or replace page.
A move-in day checklist
Work through this on possession day, before the boxes go in. Fifteen minutes of walking, then one phone call.
- Count the exterior doors: front, back, side, mudroom, garage man-door, patio deadbolt, basement walk-out
- Try the key you were given in every one of them and note which ones it does not open — those may still be on the construction key
- Check every deadbolt throw with the door open. Under an inch means builder-grade
- Pull one strike plate and look at the screw length. Under an inch means it holds into trim only
- Look at the door from the garage into the house. Hollow slab and a privacy knob is the most common finding
- Try to lift the patio slider in its track. More than a centimetre and it comes out with the latch engaged
- Check for a lockbox still hanging on a gas meter or a railing, and have the agent remove it
- Ask whether a garage door opener remote was handed over, and reprogram the opener code anyway
- Ask the previous owner directly whether anyone else holds a key. Some will tell you and it costs nothing to ask
- Book the rekey for the same day, not next week. This is the week the keys are most widely distributed
The garage opener point matters and gets skipped. Rekeying every door while an old remote still opens the overhead door leaves the whole exercise half done. Most openers have a learn button that clears all paired remotes in a few seconds — do that, then re-pair only your own. See garage door locks for the rest of that door.
New builds in East Gwillimbury, Sharon and Holland Landing
The heaviest new-build activity in this area is north and east of Newmarket: Sharon, Queensville, Holland Landing and the Green Lane corridor, plus continuing phases through East Gwillimbury. Those houses arrive with Weiser or Kwikset SmartKey hardware in a satin nickel finish, generally keyed alike within the house, and generally with the construction keying situation described above.
SmartKey cylinders make possession day quick, because the reset is a thirty-second operation per door rather than a strip-down. A six-door house is often finished in forty minutes. The detail on how those cylinders work — and how they occasionally jam — is on our Kwikset SmartKey rekey page.
Newmarket itself is mostly resale, and resale is where the key history gets long. A 1990s house in Stonehaven or Summerhill Estates may have been through three owners, and each of those owners cut keys for family, neighbours and tradespeople. Nobody tracked any of it. That is not a reason to be alarmed; it is a reason to spend two hundred dollars.
Condos and townhomes near Yonge and Davis are a special case. Suite door cylinders can normally be rekeyed freely, but building entry fobs, mail keys and garage remotes are controlled by property management and have to go through them. We will rekey the suite door and tell you what management has to handle.
New home lock change prices in Newmarket
| Job | What it covers | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Rekey, first cylinder | Re-combinated, two keys cut on site | $75 – $130 |
| Each additional cylinder | Same visit, all keyed alike | $25 – $45 |
| Typical house, 6–8 doors | Everything on one key, every old key dead | $220 – $420 |
| Larger home, 9–12 doors | Same, larger property | $380 – $620 |
| Deadbolt upgrade, per door | Grade 1 or 2 bolt with box strike | $190 – $300 |
| New bore where no deadbolt exists | Door prepped and bolt fitted | $210 – $340 |
| Strike reinforcement, per door | Box strike and 3-inch screws | $45 – $85 |
| Cylinder swap for keyway match | Odd door brought onto the house key | $120 – $220 |
| Extra keys | Cut and tested on site, per key | $6 – $14 |
| Same-day possession booking | Priority slot on your closing date | No surcharge in business hours |
Ranges are typical for a Newmarket address in 2026 and cover labour plus standard hardware. Overnight, weekend and statutory holiday call-outs carry a premium. A firm price is confirmed on the phone before anyone is dispatched.
Why Newmarket calls us first
Possession day service across the area
New-build possession work runs mostly through East Gwillimbury, Sharon, Queensville, Holland Landing and Bradford, with resale rekeys concentrated in Newmarket and Aurora. King City, Richmond Hill and Stouffville are covered from the same base, with drive times of 20 to 35 minutes depending on the 404.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a new home lock change cost in Newmarket?
A rekey is $75 to $130 for the first cylinder and $25 to $45 for each additional one done on the same visit, so a typical six to eight door house is $220 to $420. Replacing hardware instead runs $900 to $1,800 for the same house and gives you the same key control. Prices are confirmed before dispatch.
Do I really need to change the locks on a brand new house?
You need to rekey them, yes. Between framing and closing, a construction key opened every lock on the site for every trade working there. That key is supposed to be voided when the homeowner key is first turned, but only in the cylinders where somebody actually turned it. Rekeying takes under an hour and removes the guesswork entirely.
What is a builder construction key?
A key that opens every lock on a construction site, so trades do not need a key per house. Each cylinder holds an extra pin or breakaway wafer; the first turn of the homeowner key displaces it permanently and the construction key stops working in that cylinder. It only voids in cylinders where the homeowner key has actually been used.
Should I rekey or replace on a new build?
Rekey. The hardware is new — tight plugs, fresh springs, unworn finish — and replacing it solves nothing that re-pinning does not. The exceptions are a deadbolt that throws less than an inch, a side or garage door with no deadbolt at all, and a stray cylinder in the wrong keyway. Those get upgraded; everything else gets rekeyed.
Can you come on my closing day?
Yes, and it is the busiest kind of booking we take. Give us the possession date and preferred window when you call and we will hold a slot. There is no emergency premium for a scheduled daytime appointment. If keys are handed over late in the afternoon, evening bookings are available at the after-hours rate.
Can all the doors be put on one key?
Yes, and that is the standard outcome. Front, back, side entry, mudroom, garage man-door and patio deadbolt all end up on a single new key, provided the cylinders share a keyway family. Where one door is Schlage in an otherwise Weiser house, that single cylinder is swapped rather than the whole lock, for $120 to $220.
What about the garage door opener and the lockbox?
Both matter and both get missed. Clear the opener’s paired remotes with the learn button and re-pair only your own, or an old remote still opens the overhead door. And check the gas meter and railings for a real estate lockbox that was never collected — it happens, and there is often still a key in it.
How long does the whole job take?
A typical six to eight door house is forty minutes to ninety minutes depending on cylinder type. SmartKey cylinders on a new build are the fastest, since each reset is a matter of seconds. Older conventional cylinders take about fifteen minutes each because the plug comes out and the pins are changed by hand.
Related locksmith services in Newmarket
Book the rekey for possession day
Call 866-820-1331 with your closing date and the number of exterior doors, and we will hold a window and quote it on the call.
