Home Rekeying in Thornhill
We carry out home rekeying & lock changes for homes across Thornhill, from Old Thornhill, Bayview Glen and Royal Orchard through to German Mills. New home, lost key or a tenancy change — existing locks re-pinned to a new key at a fraction of replacement cost.
A mix of 1960s–80s detached housing, established townhouse complexes, and the heritage village core along Yonge. Knowing the housing stock matters: the right hardware for a 1960s side entrance in Old Thornhill is not the right hardware for a post-2010 build, and fitting the wrong one wastes your money.
Thornhill is administratively split down the middle — the western half is Vaughan, the eastern half is Markham, and the boundary runs along Yonge Street. That matters for permits and for which municipal by-laws apply to a commercial door alteration, and it catches out contractors who assume one jurisdiction covers the whole community. The housing stock is mature enough that original hardware is generally at end of life.
Thornhill sits within our standard GTA coverage, so there is no travel surcharge and no minimum job size.
Typical range: $35–$120 CAD per cylinder, plus service call. Ranges are typical for the GTA and depend on the door, the hardware and the time of day. We confirm the price before dispatching.
Where we work in Thornhill
We cover the whole municipality for home rekeying & lock changes, including Old Thornhill, Bayview Glen, Royal Orchard, Brownridge, Crestwood and German Mills — across the L3T and L4J postal areas. The main corridors we work are Yonge Street, Bathurst Street, Steeles Avenue, Centre Street and John Street.
Rekey on possession, always
This is the one piece of advice we give unprompted. Whatever assurances came with the sale, keys accumulate over years and nobody tracks them. The cost of rekeying is small and the certainty is complete.
It matters more on newer builds than people expect. Builders routinely key an entire phase to a small number of profiles so trades can move between houses, and that construction keying is frequently still in place at closing. In fast-built areas like Milton, Mount Pleasant and Vellore Village this is common.
Getting to one key
Most homes accumulate different keys for the front door, the back door, the side door, the garage and the shed. There is no reason for that.
Where the locks share a keyway, keying them alike is straightforward and inexpensive. Where they do not, swapping cylinders to a common keyway achieves the same result without replacing the locksets.
When replacement is better
- The lock is worn enough that the key drags or has to be jiggled
- It is a builder-grade lockset on an exterior door, where the grade is genuinely inadequate
- The finish is damaged or the lockset is loose in the door
- You want smart lock functionality, which rekeying obviously cannot provide
- You are rekeying because keys were copied without your knowledge, in which case the open keyway is the actual problem and a restricted cylinder is the fix
This page covers home rekeying & lock changes specifically in Thornhill. For the full technical detail — every option, every fault mode and the complete FAQ — see our main home rekeying & lock changes page.
Home Rekeying in Thornhill — questions
Do you cover all of Thornhill?
Yes — the whole municipality, including Old Thornhill, Bayview Glen, Royal Orchard, Brownridge and Crestwood, across the L3T and L4J postal areas. We also cover the surrounding York Region area and the neighbouring municipalities, so a job that sits on a boundary is not a problem.
How quickly can you get to Thornhill?
It depends on the time of day, where in Thornhill you are, and what is already in progress. We give you a realistic window when you call rather than an optimistic one, and we would rather tell you ninety minutes and arrive in seventy. For non-urgent work we will usually offer you a scheduled slot, which is cheaper than an emergency callout.
Should I rekey or replace locks when I buy a house?
Rekey, unless the hardware itself is worn out or inadequate. Rekeying gives you exactly the same security outcome — every old key stops working — at a fraction of the cost of new locksets. Put the savings into a reinforced strike plate on the doors that matter, which does more for your actual security than a new lock body would.
How much does it cost to rekey a house?
It is charged per cylinder plus the service call, so a typical home with three to five exterior locks is modest. Keying them all alike so you carry one key is normally included rather than extra. We quote the total on the phone once you tell us how many doors.
How long does rekeying take?
Roughly ten to fifteen minutes per cylinder, so a typical house is done well within an hour including testing every door with the new key.