Locksmith Rekey Scheduling for Property Managers (2026)

TL;DR

Turnover rekeys are the steadiest work a locksmith can win. A property manager with a few hundred doors has units changing hands every month, and each one needs new keys before the next tenant arrives. As of October 2026, the locksmiths who keep these accounts do five things well: they set the account up once with contacts, access, and key system notes, they book against the move-out date instead of waiting for a call, they batch units by property, they hand keys off with a record, and they invoice per property in the format the manager's accounting needs.

This guide walks through each of those. It is deliberately not about emergency response. If you want the lockout side of the business, read locksmith lockout dispatch and response time. Turnover work is the opposite discipline: nothing is urgent if you plan it, and everything is urgent if you do not.

Turnover work is planned work pretending to be urgent

A lockout customer measures you in minutes. A property manager measures you against a date. The lease on unit 14 starts on the first, the cleaners are in on the 29th, and somewhere in between the lock has to change. If you learn about the job on the 30th, it feels like an emergency. It never was one. The move-out date was known weeks earlier.

That is the whole opportunity. Most of the stress in property management work comes from finding out late. If your process pulls the dates out of the manager early, the same jobs become quiet, batchable, daytime work that fills the gaps between your emergency calls.

It also changes who your customer is. The tenant is not your customer. The leasing agent who calls you is not always the decision maker either. The account is the management company, and the person who decides whether you keep it is often someone in the office who only sees your invoices and hears the complaints.

Set the account up once

Before the first unit, spend twenty minutes building the account properly. It saves that time back on every visit.

One record per property, not per company. A management company with six buildings is six service locations under one customer. Each has its own address, its own access, and often its own owner who gets billed. The customer CRM holds property details and service history per location, so the tech arriving at the Elm Street building sees Elm Street's notes, not the whole company's.

Named contacts and what each can approve. Who can request work, who can approve an upgrade from a rekey to a lock replacement, who receives keys, and who receives invoices. Write the names down. When a maintenance tech you have never met asks you to rekey a different unit while you are on site, you will know whether that request is allowed.

Access. Gate codes, lockbox locations, office hours, where to park, and whether a vacant unit is left open or needs a key from the office. The habits that keep this information usable are covered in property access and gate codes in job notes.

Key system notes. Whether the property is on a master key system, what keyway it uses, how many keys per unit the manager wants, and whether mailbox, storage, or garage locks are part of a standard turnover. Getting this wrong on a mastered property is the most expensive mistake in this line of work, so it belongs on the property record where every tech will see it.

Standing price. Agree a per-door rate for a standard turnover and a short list of priced extras. A manager who knows the cost in advance approves faster and argues less.

Book against the move-out date

Ask every account for one thing: tell us when a notice to vacate comes in, not when the unit is empty. Most managers will send a list at the start of the month if you ask for it. Some will forward each notice. Either works.

Each notice becomes a tentative booking. In practice:

1. Create the job for the day after the expected move-out, tagged with the property and unit.
2. Note the move-in date for the next tenant if there is one. That is your real deadline.
3. Note what else is happening in the unit: cleaning, paint, flooring. You want to arrive after the last trade that needs the old key and before the new tenant.
4. Confirm two days before with the office that the unit is actually vacant.

That last step matters more than it looks. Tenants hold over, move out early, or leave belongings behind. A rekey on a unit that still has someone living in it is a serious problem, so the confirmation is not a courtesy. If you are on the Pro plan, two-way SMS lets the office answer with one word from their phone.

Use a booking template for a standard turnover so the duration and the checklist come with it. The scheduling features let you color-code job types, which makes turnover work easy to tell apart from service calls on a crowded week.

Batch by property, then by day

The economics of turnover work live in the drive. One door at one building is a small ticket with a full trip attached. Four doors at one building is a good morning.

So group before you schedule. At the start of each week, list the vacant units by property and look at their windows. Units at the same property whose windows overlap go on one visit. Properties near each other go on the same day. Month-end is the obvious peak, since most leases turn over then, so hold more daytime capacity in the last week of the month and the first few days of the next.

A worked example, with assumptions: say a standard two-lock turnover takes you thirty minutes on site and the property is a twenty-five minute drive each way. One unit costs you eighty minutes door to door. Four units in one visit cost you about two hours and fifty minutes, which works out to roughly forty-three minutes per unit. You nearly halved your time per door without working any faster. Your own numbers will differ, so time a few visits and run the same sum.

Batching also gives you something to offer. A lower per-door rate for three or more units on one visit rewards the manager for sending you the list early, which is exactly the behavior you want.

How the ways of booking turnover rekeys compare

Most accounts start in the first row because that is how the last locksmith worked. Moving an account to the second or third row is usually just a matter of asking, and it is the single change that makes this work profitable.

Hand keys off with a record

Keys are the product. Where they go after you cut them is the part managers worry about and locksmiths under-document.

Settle the handoff method when you set up the account: delivered to the leasing office, left in a coded lockbox at the unit, or held for pickup. Then record each handoff on the job. Count the keys. Note who received them or which lockbox. Take a photo of the labelled set, and collect a signature when a person takes them. In Tech Mode, which is on the Pro plan, the tech can attach photos and capture a signature on the job from a phone, so the record exists before they leave the parking lot.

Decide what happens to the old keys and pinned-out parts too, and say so in your terms. Label keys by an internal code or the unit number, depending on the manager's preference, and never with the full street address.

The reason for all of this is simple. When a tenant claims they were given two keys instead of three, the manager will ask you. An answer with a timestamp and a photo keeps the account. A shrug does not.

Turn the account into recurring work

Turnovers are the entry point. Once you are the locksmith on file, the same account produces lock repairs, common-area hardware, mailbox locks, re-pins after staff changes, and the occasional eviction lock change (follow the manager's lead on legal process there, and confirm requirements with your local authority).

Some of that can be put on a schedule. A quarterly walk of common-area doors and gates, or a monthly visit to cut and deliver keys, can be set up as recurring appointments so it happens without anyone remembering. The wider pattern for standing commercial work is in commercial accounts and recurring work orders.

Keep the emergency lane separate. When a tenant at one of your properties is locked out at night, that is a lockout call under the account's agreed after-hours terms, and it runs through your normal dispatch process. Do not let planned turnover work get bumped for it, and do not let the account assume after-hours calls come at the turnover rate.

Invoice per property

Managers pass your costs back to building owners. If your invoice lumps three properties together, someone in their office has to split it by hand before they can pay it.

Ask how they want it at setup. Common answers are one invoice per property per visit, or one per property per month with each unit as a line. Include the unit number, the date, what was done, the key count, and their work order or PO number if they use one. GetTimePad generates invoices from completed jobs with line items, which is covered on the invoicing page, so the per-unit detail comes from the job record instead of being retyped.

Payment terms are part of this conversation. Many management companies pay on a monthly cycle. Know the cycle, send invoices before its cutoff, and track what is outstanding by account so a slow payer is visible before it becomes a large balance.

What to watch each month

Three numbers tell you whether an account is healthy. Doors per visit shows whether batching is working. Days between vacancy and rekey shows whether you are hearing about units early enough. Outstanding balance by account shows whether the invoicing format is working for their office.

If doors per visit sits near one, go back to the manager and ask for the vacancy list again. That conversation is worth more than any change to your pricing. The locksmith software page shows how property records, job templates, and recurring visits fit together for a shop that runs both emergency and account work.

Frequently asked questions

How far ahead should a property manager book a turnover rekey?

As soon as the move-out date is known, even if the exact day shifts later. A tentative booking tied to the move-out date lets you group it with other units at the same property, and it is far easier to move a planned visit by a day than to squeeze an unplanned one in between the cleaners and the new tenant.

Should a locksmith batch several units into one visit?

Yes, whenever the units are at the same property or on the same side of town and their vacant windows overlap. One trip that covers four doors costs you one drive and one setup, so you can offer the account a better per-door rate and still earn more per hour than four separate visits would.

How much does GetTimePad cost?

GetTimePad is $79/mo Starter for one staff member, $199/mo Pro for up to five staff, and $499/mo Agency for unlimited staff. Scheduling, recurring appointments, reminders, and the customer CRM start at Starter, while two-way SMS, Tech Mode on mobile, and Stripe payments land at Pro. Annual billing gives you two months free. See /pricing.

Who should receive the new keys after a turnover rekey?

Whoever the property manager named in writing when the account was set up, and nobody else. Record the handoff on the job with the number of keys, the person or lockbox that received them, and a photo or signature, so that a question three weeks later has an answer that does not depend on anyone's memory.

Is a rekey required between tenants?

It depends on the state and sometimes the city, so confirm with your local authority rather than quoting a rule to a client. Many property managers rekey at every turnover as their own policy regardless, and your job is to make that policy easy to follow by scheduling it automatically with each move-out.

How should a locksmith invoice a property management company?

Invoice per property, with each unit as its own line, on the schedule the manager's accounting team asked for. Managers bill costs back to individual owners, so an invoice that mixes three buildings into one total creates work for them, slows your payment, and makes you harder to keep than the next locksmith.