At a glance
- 01
Tenant turnover
Rekeying between leases so last year's keys stop working, without buying new hardware for every door.
- 02
Fobs and cards
Access control and keyless entry for offices and shared entrances, including SMARTair readers.
- 03
Keys that stay controlled
Master key systems and Mul-T-Lock restricted keys that only an authorized dealer can copy.
Communities covered
Uptown Waterloo, Northdale, Beechwood, Lakeshore, Lincoln Village, Colonial Acres, Eastbridge, Westvale, Columbia Forest, Clair Hills, Laurelwood, Erbsville, Elmira
From our Kitchener shop
About 10 to 15 km from the shop via the Conestoga Parkway, depending on the neighbourhood.
Waterloo is a city where keys change hands constantly. Two universities and a college campus, a technology sector that fills offices from Uptown to the research park on the University of Waterloo's north campus, and thousands of rental units mean doors that see a different set of people every year. Most of our Waterloo work comes back to one question: who has a key, and how do we make sure it's only the people who should?
Rentals around the campuses
Northdale and the streets near the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University hold a dense mix of purpose-built student buildings and older houses converted into rental units. Each September and May, keys pass from one group of tenants to the next, and nobody can say for certain how many copies were made in between.
For landlords and property managers, rekeying between tenancies is the practical answer. We change the pin combinations inside the existing cylinders, so old keys stop working while the hardware stays on the door. For a building with several units, a master key system lets each tenant's key open only their own unit and the common doors, while the owner or manager carries one key for everything. Norm Machel of Dubrick Prop Management summed up a long working relationship in a sentence:
After 25 years of service we have found that Cote’s is fair, honest and reliable. (Norm Machel, Dubrick Prop Management)
Offices, labs and start-up space
Tech companies grow, shrink and move floors quickly, and physical keys don't keep up. Access control with fobs or cards lets a manager add a new hire in the morning and remove a departing one in the afternoon, with no locks to change. We install card and fob systems, including SMARTair wireless readers, and electric strikes on the doors they control. For a single office or a server room, a keyless entry keypad does the same job on a smaller scale: you can add or revoke codes and set the levels and times of access.
Where staff still carry keys, high-security locks from Mul-T-Lock stop the quiet problem of copies. The keys are cut under our own Mul-T-Lock account, and only an authorized dealer can duplicate them, so a key can't be copied at a kiosk without anyone knowing.
Family homes: Beechwood to Laurelwood
Away from the campuses, Waterloo is a city of family neighbourhoods. Beechwood, Lakeshore and Lincoln Village have many homes from the 1960s and 1970s, often with original or once-replaced hardware. Westvale, Columbia Forest, Clair Hills and Laurelwood are newer. Homeowners here usually call us after buying a house, when a lock gets stiff, or when they want a keypad on the side door so the kids stop losing keys. We supply deadbolts, levers, handlesets and keypads, and install them or rekey what's already there.
Uptown's storefronts
Shops, restaurants and offices along King Street in Uptown need doors that survive heavy daily traffic. We repair and replace closers, panic bars, continuous hinges and push plates, and fit automatic door operators for entrances that need to open on their own.
Getting started
Bring a key to our Kitchener store to have it copied while you wait, or call 519-894-7055 to book on-site work. We're open Monday to Thursday, 8 am to 5 pm, and Friday, 8 am to 4 pm. You can also request a quote. North of the city, we serve Elmira and Woolwich Township as well.
Questions people ask
How often should a Waterloo landlord rekey a rental unit?
Rekeying between tenancies is the simplest rule: once the outgoing tenants leave, nobody can say how many copies of their keys exist. Rekeying keeps the existing hardware and changes only the key, so it costs far less than new locks.
Can tenants in a multi-unit house have keys that only open their own room or unit?
Yes. A master key system gives each unit its own change key, lets all tenants open the shared entrance, and gives the owner or manager one master key that opens every lock in the system.
Is a fob system worth it for a small Waterloo office?
If staff come and go often, usually yes. Lost or unreturned fobs are deleted in the system rather than fixed by changing locks. For one or two doors, a keypad lock can give similar control at a smaller scale.
Can Mul-T-Lock keys be copied at a hardware store?
No. Mul-T-Lock keys can only be duplicated by an authorized dealer. We cut them under our own Mul-T-Lock account, which keeps control of who has keys to your doors.