A vacation rental hands out keys like a hotel without a front desk. Guests get a set, the cleaning crew has one, the property manager keeps one, and the owner holds the originals somewhere up north. Each set is cut and tried in every door it should open, then tagged so the cleaner's keys never get mixed up with the guests'.
Keeping those sets separate pays off later. When a guest leaves with a key in a suitcase, you know which set it came from, and a single lock can be dealt with instead of the whole house. If the counting has already gone wrong, a rekey and a fresh set are usually the cleaner fix, and the technician says so.
A condo that just changed hands is the classic case. The last owner, their cleaning crew and their manager may all still hold keys, and nobody can promise every one came back. The new owner starts with a rekey, then gets exactly as many spares as the household and the new rental plan call for.
Most key jobs are a single stop at the condo, the house or the shop.
The locks, how many copies, and whether any key belongs to an association, a landlord or a business.
Your own keys are copied for you; anything restricted or someone else's needs that person's say-so first.
Each copy is cut from the right blank at the truck, or made fresh from the lock when the original is too far gone.
Every key turns in its own lock before the technician leaves, so a dud never makes it into a guest packet.
Sand gets into everything, including the cuts on a key and the pins inside a lock. A key that has been to the beach all summer comes back scratched and packed with grit, and a copy of it repeats every flaw. Salt in the air does the rest, dulling brass and stiffening cylinders by the end of the season.
When a key is that worn, the better spare is cut fresh to what the lock expects, not copied from the tired one. If the lock is gritty or stiff as well, it gets serviced on the same visit, because a sharp new key in a sandy cylinder will not stay smooth for long.
A condo by the course can come with a surprising key ring: the unit door, a deadbolt, a storage closet down the hall, the mailbox and sometimes a locker by the pool. Unit keys are copied for the owner, or for a tenant with the owner's OK.
Shared doors are a different matter. Pool gates, building entries and amenity rooms usually belong to the association, and those keys are left to the association's own rules. New owners often find the mailbox on a key of its own, which can stay that way or be matched to the unit where the hardware allows.
Businesses along the Strand hire for the season, and every new hire seems to need a key. Copies for staff are cut on request from the owner or manager, and a restricted key system is the answer when you want copies to stop at the people on your list.
Golf clubhouses are a good example of a building that wants several keys on one plan. The pro shop, the cart barn, the office and the maintenance shed can each have their own key for the people who work there, while management carries one key that opens all of them. Copies then come from the plan, not from whoever happens to be holding a key.
A key stamped do not duplicate is cut here only for the person who controls it, after an ID check. For anything more than a polite request, a restricted keyway and a written list of who holds what do the real work. Once the season ends, the business side of that is covered under commercial locks.
Lost keys are a beach-town tradition. If the only key to a door went into the surf, there is nothing to copy, so a new key is made from the lock itself once you show that the place is yours, or that the owner agrees.
The same goes for padlocks on a storage unit, a beach-gear closet or a bike rack. If the key is gone and the padlock is simple to swap, you hear that option too, and you choose.
Owners coming back after the off-season sometimes find the spare they left with a neighbor has wandered off too. A new key made from the lock settles it in one visit, and a second spare cut at the same time means the next trip south does not start with the same problem.
Most car keys carry a chip that has to be programmed, so they are handled at the car rather than at the door. A spare made before the long drive home is a lot calmer than a new key made after the last one is lost. That side of the work is on our car keys page.
Rental cars are the exception. Their keys belong to the rental company, which handles a lost one through its own counter, so the first call for a rental car key goes to them rather than to a locksmith.
Yes. Each set is cut, tried in its doors and tagged, so you always know which keys went where.
For the unit owner, yes. Keys the association issues itself stay under its rules.
A new key can be made from the lock once ownership is shown. If more keys are missing than you can count, a rekey may be the better fix.
Only for the person who controls it, such as the property owner or the manager who issued it, after an ID check.
Usually it was copied from a worn key, or the lock is full of sand and salt. A fresh key and a serviced lock normally solve it in one visit.
Yes, with a restricted key system and a written key list kept by the owner or manager.
Yes, at the car, with programming: see car keys.
Yes. The work happens wherever the lock is, and the keys are cut at the truck on site.
Yes. You hear it before any key is cut.
Call us and we get a tech out to you.
