Across Broward County the answer varies by city, and Plantation has a clear leader: the rekey after a move. Not emergency lockouts, not car keys — new owners and new tenants who want the previous keys to stop working. Here is why this particular city produces that call more than any other, and what it costs.
Why Is Rekeying the Most Common Job in Plantation?
Two reasons that compound. First, the housing stock. Much of Plantation was built between the late 1960s and the mid 1980s — Plantation Acres, the neighborhoods around Central Park, and the areas off Broward Boulevard and University Drive. Homes of that age have changed hands several times, and each transaction left keys in circulation. Sellers hand over a bag of keys and genuinely do not know who else has copies: a former housekeeper, a pool company, a contractor, an adult child who moved out a decade ago.
Second, the mix of owner-occupied houses and rental properties. Plantation has a substantial rental market, and every tenant change is a rekey if the landlord is doing it properly.
What Does a Rekey Cost in Plantation?
Rekeying starts at $39 per lock plus the service call for any Plantation locksmith job. A typical Plantation single-family home has three to five exterior openings — front, back, garage side entry, and often a patio or screened porch door, which puts a whole-house rekey in the range of $150 to $290 including the trip.
| Service | Plantation Pricing |
|---|---|
| Service call / trip charge | $29 |
| Rekey, per lock | from $39 |
| Typical whole-house rekey (3–5 doors) | $150 – $290 |
| House lockout | from $49 |
| Lock replacement, per lock | from $65 |
Worth knowing: rekeying multiple locks in one visit is far cheaper per door than doing them separately, because the setup is the same. If you are going to do the front door, do all of them at once.
Should You Rekey or Replace?
Rekey, in most Plantation homes. The hardware on a 1980s house is often perfectly serviceable — solid deadbolts, correct sizing, no drilling damage. What has failed is not the lock; it is that you do not know who holds a key. Rekeying solves exactly that problem at a fraction of replacement cost.
Replacement makes sense in three cases: the lock body is damaged, the door has been forced at some point, or you are deliberately upgrading from builder-grade hardware to a higher security grade.
The upgrade worth doing at the same time
Older Plantation homes almost universally have strike plates fixed with half-inch screws that reach only the door trim. Replacing them with three-inch screws into the structural stud costs almost nothing and does more for security than the rekey itself. Ask for it while the technician is already at the door.
What Is the Second Most Common Call?
House lockouts, and they cluster in a predictable way. Plantation has a lot of homes where the garage is the everyday entrance and the front door key rarely leaves a drawer. When the garage remote dies or the power goes out, people discover they are not sure where the front door key is.
Car key work runs third. It is less frequent here than in cities closer to the airport, but the jobs are larger when they happen.
How Fast Can a Locksmith Reach Plantation?
Permit and building department information for local work is available from the City of Plantation.
Bottom Line
The most common locksmith job in Plantation is a rekey after a move, driven by 1970s–80s housing that has changed hands repeatedly and a steady rental market. It starts at $39 per lock, and a typical whole-house rekey runs $150 to $290. Do every exterior door in one visit. It costs far less per door, and have the strike plate screws upgraded while the technician is there. Call (954) 947-7666.
Frequently Asked Questions
Rekeying after a move. Plantation's housing stock is largely from the late 1960s through the mid 1980s and has changed hands repeatedly, so new owners routinely inherit keys with no idea who else holds copies. The city's substantial rental market adds steady tenant-turnover rekeys on top of that.
Rekeying starts at $39 per lock plus a $29 service call. A typical Plantation home has three to five exterior openings, putting a whole-house rekey at roughly $150 to $290 including the trip. Doing all doors in one visit costs far less per door than separate appointments.
Rekey, in most cases. Hardware on 1980s Plantation homes is usually still serviceable, and the actual problem is unknown key holders rather than a failing lock. Replace only if the lock body is damaged, the door has been forced, or you are deliberately upgrading to a higher security grade.
Typically 15 to 20 minutes across most of the city, with the University Drive and Broward Boulevard corridors on the faster end. Western areas toward Plantation Acres run slightly longer, and we quote that honestly rather than promising a time we cannot meet.
Longer strike plate screws. Older Plantation homes almost always have strike plates fixed with half-inch screws reaching only the door trim, which pull out easily under force. Three-inch screws reaching the structural stud cost almost nothing and improve door security more than the rekey itself.
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