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 Change Door Locks Across Davis
Changing door locks in Davis, CA typically runs $85 – $240 per lockset depending on hardware and cylinder type, and most jobs are completed the same day. We cover every corner of Davis, from the rental blocks along Olive Drive to the quiet streets of North Davis and Wildhorse. If you need a lock swapped after a tenant move-out, a roommate change, or lost keys, call (910) 714-4287 and we’ll give you a written price before anyone is dispatched.
Davis isn’t like other Sacramento Valley towns. The UC Davis lease-turn cycle in August creates a lock-change sprint unlike anything you’ll see in Woodland or Winters. That’s where we spend a lot of our late summer: rekeying and replacing locks across campus-adjacent apartments where the previous tenant’s key needs to become useless, fast. We’re part of the Change Door Locks team at Dunmore Locksmith, and we know what Davis landlords, property managers, and renters face because we see it every year.
Why Dunmore Locksmith Is Davis’s Preferred Change Door Locks Company
Dunmore Locksmith operates under Threshold Group, a network built on one premise: you should know exactly who is coming to your door before you open it. Every technician we send into Davis is background-checked, identity-verified, and photo-badged. You get the technician’s name and photo before the visit, not just a vague “he’s on his way.” When the van pulls up, the person at the door matches the person we told you about. If they don’t, that visit is on us.
Our work in Davis is covered by the 365-Day Done Right Promise. That’s a written guarantee on every repair and installation, not a handshake. If a lock we changed fails within a year, we come back and make it right at no charge. Perry Osgood, who leads our team, insists on putting that in writing on every single job ticket.
We also answer the phone with a real person, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. When a deadbolt won’t throw at 9 p.m. in August or a tenant lockout happens at 11 p.m. before the lease starts, you get a human voice, a firm price, and a known technician headed your way. No chatbots. No voicemail maze.
Lock Change in Davis
Lock change in Davis means removing the existing lockset or deadbolt entirely and installing new hardware, whether that’s because a key is lost, a tenant left without returning keys, or the old lock is worn beyond repair. In the dense rental stock west of UC Davis, we routinely replace 1960s and 1970s originals that predate modern bump-resistant cylinders. A standard knobset or deadbolt replacement in Davis typically runs $95 – $180 per door, including the new hardware.
Rental Turnover Hardware
For landlords near Russell Boulevard, replacing a worn original Kwikset knobset with a new Kwikset SmartKey or Schlage deadbolt costs $140 – $240 per door installed. That includes the hardware, our labor, and the written 365-day guarantee. You’re not paying extra for us to haul away the old lock.
Owner-Occupied Door Upgrades
Homeowners in Central Davis and Village Homes often want the same lever or knob sets on every exterior door. We stock common residential hardware locally, so we can match your existing finishes and set up a keyed-alike pair without ordering from a distributor and waiting a week.
Change Lock Cylinder in Davis
Change lock cylinder in Davis means replacing only the internal pin-and-tumbler core of the lock, not the whole lockset. The cylinder is the part you put the key into. You keep the exterior hardware and swap the guts, which changes what key operates that lock. For most residential cylinders in Davis, this runs $65 – $120 per cylinder, depending on brand and whether it’s a standard pin tumbler or a high-security cylinder like Medeco or Yale.
When a Cylinder Is Enough
If the lock body is in good shape and you just need to invalidate an old key, replacing the cylinder is faster and cheaper than a full lock change. We see this a lot in Davis apartment complexes where a bedroom door lock needs to be re-cylindered between roommates but the freeholder doesn’t want the door hardware touched.
Cylinder Upgrade While We’re There
Many Davis rentals still run standard Kwikset cylinders that are easy to bump. When we’re changing a cylinder, we’ll tell you if a bump-resistant Schlage cylinder fits the existing housing. It’s usually a modest upgrade, $15 – $40 over the standard cylinder price, and it closes a real vulnerability.
Trusted Brands We Service in Davis
We install and service hardware from Kwikset, Medeco, Yale, and Baldwin, among others. For Davis property managers who want a single key across all units, Medeco restricted keyways are a common request because you can’t walk into a hardware store and copy the key. For owner-occupied homes, Baldwin and Yale offer durable, good-looking hardware that holds up to the Sacramento Valley sun. We keep common residential parts on our trucks serving Davis so we don’t have to make you wait while we order a cylinder from an out-of-state distributor. If the job needs a special order, we tell you before you agree to anything.
Common Change Door Locks Problems We See in Davis Homes
- August lease-turn rekeying floods: Property managers along Olive Drive, Russell Boulevard, and in the downtown core need entire apartment portfolios rekeyed within a two-to-three-week window. A locksmith taking only walk-in calls during that window gets overwhelmed, which is why we pre-book bulk rekeying contracts with Davis property management companies starting in June.
- 105°F frame swelling that makes deadbolts stick: Wooden door frames in Davis expand in July and August heat, which pushes the strike plate out of alignment. The deadbolt then won’t throw fully, and it smells like a lock failure. Most of the time it’s a frame adjustment, not a broken lock, and drilling the cylinder would have destroyed a lock that just needed the strike plate repositioned.
- Worn original Kwikset knobsets on 1960s – 1980s campus rentals: We see original hardware that’s been rekeyed so many times the pin stack is physically worn. Re-using that knobset for another tenant just means another call in weeks. Replacing it once with a bump-resistant deadbolt ends the cycle.
- Freeholder-owned doors where non-destructive entry goes wrong: A tenant locks themselves out, and someone tries to force the lock without confirming which key they actually hold. On a multi-tenant front door owned by the freeholder, damaging the lock means Damaging someone else’s property. We always verify the key question first, which keeps us from drilling a door we then have to compensate for.
Pricing for Change Door Locks in Davis, CA
A standard residential knob or deadbolt replacement in Davis typically runs $95 – $180 per door, including new hardware and labor. Changing a lock cylinder alone runs $65 – $120 per cylinder. Full rekeying of a single lock runs $25 – $45 per cylinder, discounted when we do multiple locks in one visit. If you want Medeco or another high-security cylinder, add $20 – $60 per cylinder depending on the keyway. The price we quote on the phone before dispatch is the price on your invoice. No call-out surcharge added when we arrive. No bait-priced “from $19” nonsense. We tell you the full cost up front, in writing, and you approve it before we touch a screwdriver. Call (910) 714-4287 for an exact quote – estimates are free, and we won’t send anyone until you’ve approved the price.
We Also Serve Cities Near Davis
Our team covers Dixon, Woodland, West Sacramento, and Winters with the same written pricing and 365-day guarantee. If you manage properties across Yolo County, one call to (910) 714-4287 can schedule rekeys and lock changes across all four cities during the August lease-turn window.
Serving Davis, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Davis 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 Change Door Locks in Davis
Because the UC Davis lease-turn window compresses two turnovers into a couple of weeks, and so many units run on original Kwikset knobsets that have been rekeyed for decades. When a tenant lockout happens on worn hardware, forcing entry often scrapes the cylinder or snaps the tailpiece, at which point a full lock change is the only repair that restores security. Call (910) 714-4287 if a lockout turns into a broken lock, and we’ll give you a written price before you agree to the replacement.
Yes, rekeying is the standard job for changing key control without touching the hardware itself. We remove the cylinder, replace the internal pins so the old key no longer works, and cut new keys to match. For a standard residential cylinder in Davis, this typically runs $25 – $45 per cylinder. If the cylinder itself is too worn to rekey reliably, we’ll tell you and quote a cylinder change instead.
Usually not. In Davis, 105°F-plus summer days swell the wooden door frame enough to shift the strike plate out of alignment, so the deadbolt bolt hits the plate edge instead of sliding into the hole. The fix is often a strike-plate adjustment, not a new deadbolt. We diagnose this correctly before drilling a cylinder that just needed a frame correction. If you’re wrestling a stiff deadbolt, call us and we’ll tell you what’s actually wrong before you pay for a repair.
Yes. University-managed housing and co-op buildings around campus use institutional mortise locks and access-control systems that need different tooling than standard residential calls. We service mortise cylinders, electric strikes, and restricted keyways from Medeco, Sargent, and Abloy. If your building has a restricted key system, we can match the keyway and cut new keys within the property manager’s control, not outside it.
Yes, and we recommend it. A master key system lets one landlord key open every unit while each tenant key opens only their own door. We design the pinning chart, cut the restricted keys, and rekey or replace all cylinders. For a Davis portfolio, we can usually complete this work in a two-to-three-week window if you book with us before the June move-out rush. Call (910) 714-4287 with your unit count and we’ll give you a flat per-lock price.
Written by Perry Osgood, Owner at Dunmore Locksmith, serving Davis since the Threshold Group network began operating in 2007.