Lock Installation & Replacement in Toronto & the GTA

People change locks at life's hinge points: a new house with unknown keys floating around, a lost key ring, a tenant turnover, a breakup, or simply a twenty-year-old deadbolt that's gone gritty and stiff. A lock change is quick work when the door is right — and a diagnosis job when it isn't, because most 'broken locks' we see are actually alignment problems where the bolt grinds against a misplaced strike until the mechanism wears out. Toronto adds a few more: condo suite doors where the building controls the master key, pre-war front doors with mortise locks, and semis with a side door nobody has had a key for in years.

A proper deadbolt installation starts with the door, not the lock. We check that the door sits square in its frame so the bolt throws smoothly into the strike without lifting or pushing the door, then fit the new hardware to the existing bores — or drill fresh ones with a jig for doors that never had a deadbolt. The detail most installs skip is the strike side: a security strike plate fastened with screws long enough to reach the wall framing, not the half-inch screws in the box that grip only the soft jamb. That one upgrade is the difference in how a door resists being kicked.

For a quote, send photos of the door face (inside and out), the edge where the latch and bolt sit, and tell us what you want: a straight lock change, new-house rekeying of everything, extra deadbolts on side and back doors, or matching hardware across the home keyed alike so one key runs every door. Note the door material too — steel, fibreglass and wood each drill differently.

• Deadbolt installation on doors with or without existing bores
• Door lock change and full hardware swaps on entry doors
• Handleset, knob and lever replacement in matching finishes
• Keyed entry installation on side doors, back doors and garage man-doors
• Keyed-alike setups so one key operates every exterior door
• Security strike plates installed with long screws into framing
• Fixing stiff, gritty and sticking locks caused by misalignment
• Latch and bolt alignment so doors lock without lifting or shoving
• Door hardware replacement on interior doors — privacy and passage sets
• Old hardware removal and hole patching where hardware is downsized

• Existing bores — standard-sized holes accept new hardware directly, while older or non-standard preps need adapting, and doors without a deadbolt need fresh drilling
• Door material — wood drills easily, steel doors need care to avoid tearing the skin, and fibreglass has its own rules; each changes the time per door
• Number of doors — securing a whole house in one visit is far more economical than door-by-door calls, especially keyed alike
• Door and frame condition — a sagging door or chewed strike area needs correcting first, or the new lock inherits the old lock's grinding death
• Hardware grade — residential locks span a wide quality range, and we'll explain what the grades mean for wear and forced-entry resistance before you buy
• Keying preferences — keyed alike, keyed different, or matching an existing key system each affect how the locks are sourced

Every home is different, so we don’t publish flat prices — the quote is free and based on your actual job. See how handyman pricing works in the GTA.