Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey: how the work is done

The visit runs in a steady order. On the phone you describe what was lost, which doors it opened and whether you have a way in. At the door the locksmith confirms your connection to the property, then walks it with you listing every cylinder. Each one comes off in turn, is repinned to the new key and refitted. The first key is cut to the new combination and checked in every lock, and the remaining copies are cut from it. Then every key is tried in every door with you watching, the count is agreed, and the new key code is written down for future copies.

Can all these doors share one key?

With the cylinders read, the locksmith can say whether the whole property can live on one key. Cylinders from the same keyway family accept the same blank, so they can be pinned to the same combination. Where the front door is one family and the garage entry another, the choice is to keep two keys or swap one cylinder for a compatible one during the visit. Five-pin and six-pin cylinders, and homeowner-rekeyable types, each have their own limits on what they can be matched to. A minute of comparing keyways before the work begins is what makes a single ring possible afterwards rather than a near miss.

Cutting the new keys on site

Common keys are cut on the van rather than ordered in, though some restricted systems need the blank from an authorised distributor first. The first key is cut on a code machine, a crisp, original-depth key rather than a copy of a copy, and tried in the first repinned cylinder before another is touched, so any adjustment happens once. The rest are cut to the same code, deburred, and tested in turn. Keys cut this way run smoothly from the start and stay accurate through years of copying, because every later duplicate can be made from the code rather than from a worn blade.

A known number of keys, with names on them

You leave with a set of keys whose count you agreed and can name: one each for the adults, one for the neighbour, one in the lockbox. That is the count of authorised keys, not proof against every copy unless the key system also controls its blanks. A small habit keeps it honest: when a key goes to a contractor, a cleaner or a house sitter, note it and get it back, or rekey when the arrangement ends. From today the answer is a figure you wrote down, not a guess about who might still hold something from years ago.