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 Residential Locksmith Across Kendale Lakes
A residential locksmith in Kendale Lakes typically arrives within 30 to 45 minutes for a lockout, and most lock changes or deadbolt installations are finished the same day. The cost for common jobs runs from $75 for a basic lockout to $220 – $340 for a full deadbolt installation with hardware, depending on whether your door is an original 1970s unit or a post-Andrew impact-rated door. If you need someone who understands the split-generation hardware common in Kendale Lakes homes, call (910) 714-4287.
We know this area well. The tract-home subdivisions off Kendall Drive and around the Kendale Lakes Golf and Country Club were built almost entirely between 1972 and 1990, and a lot of those original locks are still in service today. Some are holding up fine. Plenty are not. Our Residential Locksmith team works on both generations every week, and we stock parts for the multi-point systems you’ll find on impact-rated front doors as well as the single-cylinder deadbolts on side and garage entries.
Why Dunmore Locksmith Is Kendale Lakes’s Preferred Residential Locksmith Company
Dunmore Locksmith has been serving customers since 2007 as part of the Threshold Group family of independent local locksmith businesses. Homeowners around Kendale Lakes call us because we send a technician by name and photo before the visit, and that technician carries a photo ID badge and shows it at the door before stepping inside. If someone shows up who you were not told to expect, that visit is covered at no charge. That is the Threshold Standard, and it matters in a community where opening your door to a stranger is a real worry.
Our pricing works differently than what many homeowners have experienced with other locksmiths. Before any work begins, you get a written price. The total on that paper is the total on the invoice. No arrival surcharges, no after-the-fact additions. Every repair is backed by the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the repair fails within a year, we return at no charge to make it right. Perry Osgood, who leads our team, insists on this because a guarantee stamped on paper means more than a verbal promise.
We also answer the phone with a live person, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Not a voicemail tree, not a chatbot. When you call about a jammed deadbolt on a 1978 CBS home near Snapper Creek, a real human picks up.
Deadbolt Installation in Kendale Lakes
Deadbolt installation in Kendale Lakes runs $68 – $140 for labor plus $40 – $120 for the hardware itself, depending on whether the lock is a standard single-cylinder unit or part of a multi-point system. The job starts with removing the old deadbolt (or boring a new hole if the door never had one), setting the new bolt and strike plate, and testing the throw so the bolt seats fully into the jamb. In a Kendale Lakes home, that matters more than in drier communities, because humidity-driven frame swelling means a deadbolt that fits in January might bind by August.
Impact-Rated Front Doors Need a Different Approach
Post-Hurricane Andrew building codes pushed many Kendale Lakes homeowners to replace entry doors with impact-rated units. Those doors often use multi-point locking systems with a completely different cylinder than the original builder deadbolt. Installing a standard deadbolt on one of these doors can mean drilling into a door you don’t want to weaken. We check the door first and match hardware to the system it already has.
Secondary Doors and Garage Entries
Side doors, rear doors, and garage entry doors in Kendale Lakes typically still carry the original 1970s or 1980s deadbolts. These are single-cylinder pin-and-tumbler locks, and after 35 to 50 years near the Everglades buffer, the internal springs and pins are often corroded past the point where replacement parts make sense. If we’re already on site for a front-door job, we’ll check the secondary locks and tell you honestly whether they can be rekeyed or should be swapped for a new Kwikset or Schlage unit.
Locksmith Key Replacement in Kendale Lakes
Locksmith key replacement in Kendale Lakes costs $5 – $12 per key for standard cuts, plus a $15 – $25 service call if we come to you. If you have lost all copies of a key, we can decode the lock cylinder and cut a fresh key from the lock itself, which usually runs $65 – $95 on site. This is a different job from rekeying, which changes the internal pins so old keys stop working entirely. Replacement gives you new copies of the existing key; rekeying gives you a new key altogether.
Keys for Detached Workshops and Gates
Many Kendale Lakes properties include a detached workshop, a side-yard utility gate, or both, and those locks often were keyed separately from the house from day one. That means you’re carrying three or four keys for one property. We can cut replacements for any of them, but the smarter move for most owners is to key everything alike in one visit. More on that below.
Decoder Work for Old Cylinders
If your original key is gone and the cylinder is an old builder-grade unit, decoding it requires care. Corrosion inside the cylinder can make the pins bind and give false reads. We’d rather spend ten extra minutes getting an accurate decode than hand you a key that works once and jams on the second turn. This is a common issue on 1970s and 1980s homes west of the Turnpike, where ambient humidity does real damage to unsealed lock bodies.
Trusted Brands We Service in Kendale Lakes
We are factory-authorized to install and service hardware from Schlage, Kwikset, Medeco, Yale, Baldwin, Mul-T-Lock, Sargent, and Abloy. For Kendale Lakes specifically, we keep a working stock of Kwikset and Schlage deadbolts, Medeco high-security cylinders for homeowners who want key control, and Yale hardware for those who prefer a brand that has been on American doors for over a century. We do not push one brand. We match the hardware to the door, the lock generation, and whether the property needs a master key system. Parts are on the truck when our technician arrives, so there is rarely a second trip.
Common Residential Locksmith Problems We See in Kendale Lakes Homes
- Split-generation hardware on the same house. A post-Andrew impact front door with a multi-point lock sits alongside original 1970s – 80s single-cylinder deadbolts on the side and rear entries. Rekeying only the front door leaves the property half-secured, and rekeying everything without checking cylinder condition can fail days later when a corroded pin lets go.
- Corroded cylinders from Everglades-side humidity. Kendale Lakes sits at the western fringe of Miami-Dade, where sustained humidity is among the highest in the county. Unsealed lock bodies accumulate oxidation inside the cylinder, and homes left vacant through the summer often come back to seized or frozen mechanisms by October.
- HOA gate locks and keypad systems from the 1980s. Several Kendale Lakes subdivisions still run gate-entry keypads and intercom locks installed during the original buildout. Association records are often incomplete, so our job is decoding a 30-year-old gate lock with no documentation rather than a straightforward rekey.
- Seasonal snowbird homes that sat closed all summer. A lock that worked fine in April may be completely seized by the time the owner returns in November. The bolt binds in the strike plate, the cylinder pins rust, or the key snaps off in the lock on the first turn. These callouts are routine for us every fall.
Pricing for Residential Locksmith in Kendale Lakes, FL
Here are the ranges we quote over the phone, and the price we write down before dispatch is the price you pay.
- Lockout (non-destructive entry): $75 – $120
- Lock change (labor only, standard single-cylinder): $85 – $130
- Rekey a standard knob or deadbolt: $110 – $210 per lock
- Deadbolt installation (labor plus hardware): $180 – $340
- Key replacement: $5 – $12 per key, $65 – $95 if decoded from the lock on site
- Keying an entire property alike (house, workshop, gate): $260 – $480 depending on lock count
The biggest price driver in Kendale Lakes is hardware generation. A 1974 side-door deadbolt that is just being rekeyed costs less than a post-Andrew multi-point front door that needs a new cylinder. We tell you the number before anyone is dispatched. Call (910) 714-4287 and you will get an exact quote from a live person, not an email.
We Also Serve Cities Near Kendale Lakes
Our team handles residential lock work across the surrounding area, including Miami, Hialeah, Miami Gardens, and Homestead. We know the housing stock changes block by block down here, which is why we treat each call as its own job instead of applying a generic Kendale Lakes formula to every door. Whether you’re in a 1970s CBS tract home or a newer build, the written quote and the 365-Day Done Right Promise stay the same.
Serving Kendale Lakes, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Kendale Lakes 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 About Residential Locksmith in Kendale Lakes
Yes. We do this regularly for properties in Kendale Lakes, including homes near the Kendale Lakes Golf and Country Club. The job requires checking every cylinder on the property before we commit to rekeying, because a 1970s builder-grade cylinder that is corroded inside will not hold a new pin configuration for long. If a workshop or gate lock is past rekeying, we swap it for a new Schlage or Kwikset deadbolt matched to the same keyway as the house, then build a master key system covering every opening. One truck, one visit, one key. Call (910) 714-4287 and we’ll give you a written number before we head out.
Because the lock inside an impact-rated door is often a multi-point system, not a standard single-cylinder deadbolt. The cylinder is different, the keyway is different, and the hardware is methodically more complex than the builder-grade deadbolts on your side and rear entries. We can rekey it, but it requires the correct cylinder kit for that specific multi-point brand, and sometimes the cylinder has to be replaced rather than repinned. Before we order or bring hardware, we ask what brand and style the front door lock is, and if you don’t know, we identify it on site before touching anything.
It depends on what’s inside. If the cylinder body is sound and the pins are just worn, we can rekey it. But on many original builder-grade locks in Kendale Lakes, the corrosion from decades of high humidity has eaten the springs and scored the plug. Those locks seize and fail days or weeks after a rekey, and we will tell you that before doing the work. A replacement Kwikset or Schlage deadbolt typically runs $180 – $340 installed, and it comes with keys matched to the rest of the property if you want the whole house on one key. Call (910) 714-4287 for an exact quote.
We use non-destructive entry on the vast majority of lockouts, including homes in Kendale Lakes. That means picking or bypassing the lock rather than drilling it out. The exception is high-security or badly seized hardware where picking would risk damaging the cylinder beyond repair. We’ll tell you before we start whether we can open the door without replacing the lock, and the price for the lockout is written down before the first tool comes out.
For most Kendale Lakes homeowners, the better first move is getting the whole property onto one mechanical key, then adding a smart lock or keypad only on the main entry if you want keyless access. Smart locks are convenient, but they don’t solve the workshop-key, gate-key, garage-door-key problem, and several models don’t fit multi-point impact doors without an adapter plate. We install and service Yale smart locks and can integrate a keypad with a master keyed mechanical system, but the mechanical foundation has to be solid first. Call (910) 714-4287 if you want to talk through the options.
Written by Perry Osgood, Owner at Dunmore Locksmith, serving Kendale Lakes as part of the Threshold Group family of independent local locksmith businesses.