Military families PCSing into San Diego should rekey every exterior door the day they get keys to an off-base rental or purchase, and keep one key for the house, garage and gate. We work near every installation in the county. Privatized on-base housing is handled by the housing office, not by us. Tell us where you are and we confirm before booking.
What you get
- Rekey booked around your key date, moved when orders change
- Off-base rentals and purchases near every San Diego installation
- One key for the house, garage entry and side gate
- Keypad locks with codes for a sitter or neighbor during deployment
- Landlord permission and key copies handled the way the lease requires
PCS in: book the rekey for the day you get keys
Orders compress everything, and the locks are easy to forget until the boxes are already inside. The right moment for a rekey is the day you get keys to the new place, before the household goods arrive and before anyone starts making copies.
Send us the address and the date you expect keys and we book around it. If the date slides, text us and we move with it. We rekey every exterior door in one visit, usually under an hour, and hand you the new keys at the door. Our new home rekey page covers the visit itself, and the PCS lock checklist is worth reading before you sign a lease or close on a house.
PCS out: leave nothing outstanding
Return every key you were issued, including copies you made. Factory-reset any smart lock you leave behind and delete your codes, or remove it and reinstall the original hardware. Note it on the checkout paperwork. If you sold, the buyer rekeys after closing; if you rented, the landlord should rekey before the next family.
Off-base housing near each installation
Off-base housing follows the commute, and we cover all of it.
- Camp Pendleton: rentals and purchases in Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, Fallbrook and Bonsall, from beach bungalows to HOA tracts off SR-76.
- MCAS Miramar: Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch and Tierrasanta, mostly 1970s-to-2000s tract homes with builder hardware.
- Naval Base San Diego: National City, Chula Vista, Paradise Hills and Logan Heights, with a lot of rentals and older duplexes.
- NAS North Island: Coronado and Imperial Beach, where military-clause leases and salt air both shape the work.
- Naval Base Point Loma: Point Loma and Ocean Beach.
Tell us the neighborhood and we will tell you what hardware to expect and how fast we can be there. Same day in most cases.
Need a rekey at your new place today?
Call or text with your address and door count. You get a firm price before we roll.
On-base housing and base access
Privatized family housing on base runs through the housing office. The office controls the locks, the keys and any lock change, and residents generally cannot swap hardware themselves. We do not rekey on-base housing unless the housing office directs the work and arranges access. If you have a lock problem in privatized housing, report it to the office first.
Base access is a separate question. Each installation sets its own rules for vendors and visitors, and we do not claim access to any of them. When you contact us, tell us exactly where the home is: on base, in privatized housing outside the gate, or in a regular off-base neighborhood. We confirm what we can do before anything is booked, so nobody waits at a gate for a locksmith who cannot get through.
Renting off base: what the lease and California rules mean
Most military families in San Diego rent, and a rental has one extra step: the landlord. Ask in writing whether the home was rekeyed after the last tenant. If it was not, ask for permission to rekey, or for the landlord to arrange it. Most say yes, because a fresh key protects them too, and the lease usually requires the landlord to hold a copy, which we cut on the spot.
California has no statute that forces a landlord to rekey between tenants, but Civil Code 1941.3 does require a deadbolt on main entry doors and working window locks. Smart locks on a rental usually need the landlord's written permission, and you should keep the original hardware to reinstall on move-out.
Landlords can use our turnover rekey service, and the California rekeying guide explains what good practice looks like. Check current rules; this is general information, not legal advice.
Deployment and TDY: codes instead of keys
When one adult is at sea or on a long TDY, the other is managing sitters, family visits, a dog walker and a neighbor who checks the mail. Handing out keys to all of them is how a house ends up needing another rekey.
A keypad deadbolt fixes that. Each person gets their own code, codes are deleted when they are no longer needed, and there is still a key for the day the batteries die. If you want to add or remove codes from a phone while you are away, a Wi-Fi model does it, and the scheduled-code setup we use for vacation rentals works just as well for a house sitter who only needs access on certain days.
For a house that will sit empty during a deployment, a rekey first and then a keypad means no stray keys and one code you can hand to whoever checks on the place.
One key for the house, garage and gate
A family that moves every two or three years does not need a ring of six keys. While we are rekeying, we pin every door to a single key wherever the locks share a keyway, so the front door, the door from the garage into the house, the garage side door and the pedestrian gate all open with the same key. Mixed brands can usually be brought together by swapping a cylinder or two. See keyed alike for how it works and garage entry door locks for the door most people forget.
If keys went missing in the move or a set never came back from the last place, our lost or stolen keys page covers what to do. The fix is the same rekey; the difference is that we do it today rather than next week.
Which service fits your orders
| Situation | What we do |
|---|---|
| PCS in, renting off base | Rekey with landlord permission, cut the landlord a copy |
| PCS in, bought a home | Rekey every exterior door, keyed alike |
| Privatized on-base housing | Report to the housing office; we work only at its direction |
| Deployment or TDY | Keypad deadbolt with codes for a sitter or neighbor |
| Keys lost in the move | Same-day rekey |
| PCS out | Reset smart locks, return keys; the landlord or buyer rekeys next |
Send the address, the date you get keys and a door count, and say which installation you are attached to so we can confirm the neighborhood before we book. We quote before we drive, and any hardware is quoted up front. Everything else on this page is the same rekey we do for every San Diego family, done on your timeline.
For Military Families: common questions
Can you rekey our house in base housing?
Privatized on-base family housing is managed by the housing office, which controls the locks and any lock change. We do not rekey those homes unless the office directs the work and arranges access, so start with a call to the office. For off-base rentals and purchases anywhere in San Diego County, book us directly.
Do you have access to Camp Pendleton, Miramar or the Navy bases?
We do not claim access to any installation. Each base sets its own visitor and vendor rules, and they change. Tell us exactly where the home is when you contact us and we confirm whether we can reach it before anything is booked. Off-base neighborhoods around every installation are covered normally.
We are renting off base. Can we rekey without asking the landlord?
Ask first. California has no statute requiring landlords to rekey between tenants, and most leases require the landlord to hold a key, so rekeying without permission can put you in breach. Most landlords say yes when asked in writing, and many arrange it themselves. We cut the landlord copy at the same visit. Check your lease and current rules.
What is the best lock setup when one of us deploys?
A keypad deadbolt with a physical key backup. The spouse at home gives temporary codes to sitters, family and neighbors, deletes them when they are no longer needed and never hands out a key. A Wi-Fi model adds remote code changes and an entry log if the deployed spouse wants to see who came by. We rekey the remaining doors to one key at the same time.
We got orders and have two weeks. How fast can you rekey?
Same day in most cases across San Diego County. Text or send the address, the date you get keys and a door count, and we confirm a window. If the key date moves, so do we. Most homes are done in under an hour, keyed alike where the hardware allows.
Do we need to do anything with the locks when we PCS out?
Yes. Return every key you were issued, including copies you made. If you installed a smart lock on a rental, remove it and reinstall the original hardware unless the landlord wants to keep it; if you leave any smart lock behind, factory-reset it and delete your codes. Note all of it on the checkout paperwork. The next occupant should rekey.
More answers on the FAQ page. Not sure what your door has? Send us a photo and we will tell you.
Where we do this
We do this everywhere in San Diego County, same day in most cases. Some of the places we cover:
Related guides
- Military PCS to San Diego: Lock and Key Checklist for Your New Home – Moving to San Diego on orders? A locksmith's checklist for rekeying on arrival, keyed-alike setups, keypad locks for deployments and move-out steps.
- Rekeying Between Tenants in California: What Landlords Should Know – California has no statewide law forcing landlords to rekey between tenants, but deadbolt rules, liability and cost point the same way. A San Diego guide.
- Renter-Friendly Smart Locks That Keep Your Landlord's Key – Smart locks renters can install without changing the landlord's lock or key, how to get the landlord's yes, apartment install gotchas and a move-out plan.
Ready to get it done today?
Call or text for a straight answer and an upfront price. Mon–Fri 7am–8pm · Sat–Sun 8am–6pm.