Master Key Systems in Vancouver
One key that opens everything for you, individual keys that open only what each person should — designed, cut and documented by a licensed Vancouver locksmith. We plan and install master-key systems for offices, strata, retail and multi-tenant buildings across Greater Vancouver, with a keying schedule you can actually maintain.
How a master-key system works
A master-key system is a planned hierarchy of keys. At the top, a grand-master or master key opens every door in the plan. Below it, sub-master keys open a department, a floor or a suite, and at the bottom each change key opens just one lock. Everyone carries the smallest key their role needs — the caretaker gets the master, a tenant gets only their own door — and you keep a single spare that opens the lot.
Done properly, that hierarchy is worked out on paper first as a keying schedule, then the cylinders are pinned to match. Get it wrong and you end up with keys that open doors they shouldn’t, or a “master” that misses three locks. We design the schedule around how your building actually runs, pin every cylinder to it, and hand you the chart so the system stays coherent as people and doors change.
What a master-key job covers
- Hierarchy design. Grand-master, sub-master and change-key levels mapped to your departments and doors.
- Keying schedule. A written chart of which key opens which lock — yours to keep and extend.
- Restricted keyways. Optional patent-protected keys that can only be cut by us, on your authority.
- Rekey existing cylinders. Most current locks can be re-pinned into the new system — no full replacement.
- Matched new hardware. Any new cylinders we fit are cut straight into the same plan.
- Extra & replacement keys. Additional cut keys on demand as staff and tenants change.
From walkthrough to working keys
Map the doors & roles
We walk every entry with you and note who should hold what — the input for a clean hierarchy.
Approve the schedule
You get a keying chart and a fixed, itemised price before a single cylinder is touched.
Pin, cut & hand over
We re-pin and install on-site, cut and label every key, and leave you the master chart.
Control that survives staff turnover
The point of a master system isn’t convenience today — it’s staying in control a year from now, after people have come and gone and doors have been added. With a documented schedule and restricted keys, you rekey one lock instead of the whole floor when a key goes missing, and nobody quietly cuts a spare. We build it to expand, so adding a suite later is a phone call, not a redesign.
Licensed, bonded & insured · BC Security Worker Licence #E106677 · work scheduled around your hours.
