When you close on a house or sign a new lease, the seller or previous tenant can still open your door. So can every contractor, real estate agent, and handyman who was ever given a copy. In Las Vegas, new-construction homes in Summerlin and Henderson often use contractor-grade Kwikset or Schlage B-series hardware on a construction key — meaning the same key opened every house in the development during the build. Until you rekey, you have no idea how many copies of that key are out there.
Rekeying is the solution. A locksmith replaces the internal pins in your cylinder to match a new key. The old key stops working. The hardware stays in place. For most residential locks — Kwikset, Schlage, Yale, Baldwin, and similar — a rekey takes about 10 minutes per cylinder and costs $25–$60. For a typical Las Vegas single-family home with a front door, back door, and garage entry, figure $75–$150 for the full house. That is the cost of a good dinner, and it buys you certainty.
When to replace instead
Replace the lock when: the hardware is damaged or worn; the lock is a Grade 3 builder's special and you want a Grade 1 deadbolt; you are upgrading to a smart lock; or the cylinder is a brand we cannot rekey (some import hardware uses proprietary pin configurations). In Henderson and Summerlin, we see a lot of builder-installed Kwikset Titan series locks that are genuinely low-grade — the boron-carbide insert is thin, the bolt throw is 3/4 inch instead of the Grade 1 standard of 1 inch, and the strike plate is attached with 3/4-inch screws into the door frame trim. A $35 Grade 1 deadbolt with a 3-inch strike plate screw into the stud is a meaningful security upgrade over what a lot of new construction installs.
The one thing people forget
In Las Vegas, many HOAs in Summerlin, Green Valley, and Henderson have rules about what exterior hardware you can install — finish, brand, sometimes even whether you can install a smart lock. Check your CC&Rs before ordering. We have had to pull out newly installed hardware because it did not comply. A quick email to the HOA property manager before the appointment saves everyone time.
Bottom line: move in, call a locksmith, get rekeyed that week. The cost is trivial. The alternative is not knowing who has your key.