Master key systems in Vancouver
So the right people carry fewer keys.
A master key system is a hierarchy of keys. Each key opens only the doors its holder needs, and one opens the lot. We design, pin and chart them anywhere in the Lower Mainland.
One key for your door. One for the floor. One for the whole building.
Change keys for individual doors
The bottom of the system. A change key opens one door, or a few doors keyed alike, like a suite and its storage cage. Most people in your building carry only this.
Master keys for a floor or department
A master key opens every change-key door in its group: one floor, one department or one tenant's suites. If your building also has a grand master, it is often called a sub-master.
Grand master key for the whole building
One key that opens every door in the plan. It stays with you or your property manager, in very few copies, each signed out to a name.
Great grand master key across several properties
For when you own more than one building. One key opens all of them, while each building keeps its own grand master and change keys.
Who holds which key in a master keyed building.
Whether you run an office, a strata building, a retail unit or a multi-tenant block, the rule is the same: each person carries the smallest key their job needs.
Tenants and staff on change keys
A tenant opens their own suite and the common doors they use. Your staff open their own office and their floor's shared doors. Neither key opens anything else.
Supervisors and cleaners on master keys
A floor supervisor or the cleaning crew needs every door in one group, and only that group. A master key gives them exactly that.
Owners and property managers on the grand master
The grand master stays with the people accountable for the building. Lend yours out for convenience and every lock is only as safe as the borrower.
Fire department access keys in the lockbox
If your building keeps keys for firefighters in a lockbox by the entrance, those keys must still open the right doors after every change. We plan them in from day one.
A master key system that is written down and can grow with the building.
The point is keeping you in control a year from now, after staff come and go. When a change key goes missing, the chart shows which locks to rekey, not the whole floor.
The master key bitting chart kept on file
The chart, also called a keying schedule, lists every key level, its cuts and the doors each key opens. Keep it locked away. It is the blueprint for every key in your building.
Adding doors to an existing master key system
A new storage room, a second entrance, a gate. With your chart, a new cylinder is pinned into the plan and the right masters open it. Usually nobody else's key changes.
Splitting off a new sub-master when a tenant grows
When one of your tenants takes the suite next door, both suites can usually move under a sub-master of their own. Their manager carries one key; everyone else keeps theirs.
Master key system pricing follows the doors, the levels and the cylinders.
Master key systems are usually quoted after a free walk-through. Your quote lists every cylinder and every key.
The mobile service call, from $75, is added to the quoted work. It is never the whole bill.
See starting pricesNumber of doors and hierarchy levels in the master key design
Each door is a cylinder to pin, and each level adds master pins. Twelve doors on two levels is a different job from forty doors on four.
Standard versus restricted cylinders for master keying
On a standard keyway, a master can be copied at any key counter, which quietly undoes the plan. Restricted keyways use controlled, often patent-protected blanks, so copies need your authorization. They cost more per cylinder.
Rekeying existing locks versus new master keyed hardware
Most working cylinders can be rekeyed into the new system, which keeps your cost down. Worn cylinders and odd keyways need new ones, each priced on the quote.
Extra change keys and master keys cut at handover
Every door comes with its keys, labelled by level. Extras cut at handover save a second visit. Replacements are cut on your authority as staff change, and masters only in the numbers you approve.
Things building owners ask before master keying.
Can our existing locks be master keyed without replacing them?
Often, yes. Most pin-tumbler cylinders can be re-pinned into a new system. Worn cylinders or locks on another system's restricted keyway may need replacing, and the walk-through shows you which.
What happens to the master key system if a grand master key goes missing?
Every lock it opens is exposed, so those cylinders are rekeyed to a new grand master. Your chart shows exactly which. Depending on the design, everyone's own key may keep working.
Can two businesses share one master key system in the same building?
Yes, that is what the levels are for. Each business gets its own sub-master, the landlord keeps the grand master, and neither tenant's keys open the other's doors.
Does master keying make each lock easier to pick?
A little, yes. Master pins give a cylinder more than one way to line up, so it is slightly easier to pick. A lean design and high-security cylinders keep that small.
How many levels can a key hierarchy have before it gets unwieldy?
Most buildings need two or three: change keys, masters and a grand master. A great grand master suits several properties. Every extra level adds master pins, so we stop where your building's needs stop.
Master keying by a licensed locksmith. Pinned by hand, cylinder by cylinder.
A master key system decides who gets into your building for years, so we confirm who may order one before any work begins. The locksmith doing the pinning is BC-licensed and shows identification before starting.
Cylinders are re-pinned from the chart you approved, so your door hardware normally stays put. Any cylinder that cannot join the system is named in the quote.
Our 929 Drake Street shop opens soon; every job is mobile until then, so the pinning happens at your building. Evenings, weekends and holidays are by appointment.
From walk-through to working keys.
1. Walk the doors and map who needs what
We walk every entry with you and note who should hold which key: tenants, staff, cleaners, managers and the fire lockbox. That list becomes the hierarchy.
2. Approve the keying chart before a cylinder is touched
You get the chart, showing every door and key level, with the quote beside it. Nothing is pinned until you sign off on both.
3. Pin, cut, label and hand over
Cylinders are re-pinned and refitted, and every key is cut and labelled. Each door is tested with the keys meant to open it and one that should not. Then the chart is yours.
Tell us what is going on, and we will price it first.
Call or book online with a rough door count and who needs access. You have the chart and the number before any work begins.