Rekey or Replace? What Your Lock Actually Needs
The quick answer
If your door is uPVC or composite — which most are — replacing the cylinder is usually the better deal. It costs about the same as rekeying and you end up with a new lock instead of a repinned old one.
If you've got a solid wooden door with a good British Standard mortice lock, rekeying that lock makes real sense. It's a decent bit of hardware and worth keeping.
Why most advice you'll read is wrong here
Search this question and you'll mostly find American articles, because rekeying is routine in the US and genuinely the cheap option there. That advice gets repeated on UK sites without anyone checking whether it still applies.
It largely doesn't. A euro cylinder — the barrel in a uPVC door — is designed to come out in about a minute: one screw on the edge of the door and it slides free. There's no meaningful labour saved by repinning it in place, so the price lands in much the same spot either way. Given the choice between a new cylinder and a repinned old one for similar money, the new one is the easy call.
It depends on why you're changing it
This is the part that actually decides it, and it gets skipped in favour of arguing about price:
| Your situation | What I'd do |
|---|---|
| Just moved in | Replace — and upgrade while you're at it |
| Lost your keys | Either; replace on uPVC |
| Ex-partner or old tenant has a key | Either — both stop the old key working |
| Break-in through a snapped cylinder | Replace with 3-star. Not negotiable |
| Lock stiff, sticky or failing | Replace — rekeying won't fix worn parts |
| Good mortice lock, just want new keys | Rekey |
Notice how few of those are really about saving twenty quid.
Moving house: the one people underthink
When you move in, you have no idea how many keys exist. Not just the previous owner — their family, a cleaner, a builder, an old lodger, an estate agent's spare that never came back. Nobody is keeping a register.
So changing the locks is sensible. What's worth realising is that if you're paying for that anyway, the marginal cost of moving up to a TS007 3-star anti-snap cylinder at the same time is small. Rekeying gets you new keys and leaves you with whatever grade of lock the last owner happened to buy.
"Had keyed alike barrels fitted for my patio doors — arrived on time, explained everything clearly, completed quickly. Stress free from start to finish."
Liaa T, NottinghamKeyed alike: ask for it while someone's there
If you're changing more than one lock, they can be set up to take the same key — front, back, garage, patio. It's called keyed alike, and people consistently don't ask for it because they don't know it's an option.
Doing every door in a single visit costs less than calling someone out three times, and you stop carrying a keyring that looks like a caretaker's.
What it costs
A lock change is £70–£90 fitted on my price list, fixed and quoted before I start — the spread is the part, not the labour. Rekeying is something I'll do where it's genuinely the better answer, and I'll tell you when it is rather than defaulting to whichever pays more.
If a locksmith pushes rekeying hard on a uPVC door without explaining why, or insists on full replacement of a perfectly good mortice lock, ask them to justify it. A straight answer is easy for anyone who isn't working an angle.
Not sure which you've got?
Send me a photo of the edge of your door. If it's a euro cylinder you'll see a barrel; if it's a mortice you'll see a rectangular plate. I'll tell you which applies and what it'd cost, with no callout for the question.
Call or text 07414 727717 — across Beeston, Bulwell, Arnold, West Bridgford, Hucknall, Ilkeston and Derby.