Planned work, not an emergency — which also makes it cheaper.
Changing a lock in Munich
Almost every job people call a lock change is a cylinder change: the part your key goes into, held in place by one screw. The lock body inside the door normally stays where it is.
The skill is not in the fitting, which takes minutes. It is in measuring the cylinder so it sits flush — and in telling you honestly which level of protection your door actually warrants.
When it is worth doing
Five good reasons and one that usually is not. We would rather talk you out of the last one than take the money.
You have moved in
The most sensible reason there is. You have no way of knowing how many keys the previous tenant cut over the years, or who still has one. In a rented flat, ask the Hausverwaltung first: if the door belongs to a master key system, you cannot simply swap the cylinder.
A key has been lost and can be linked to your address
Lost with a wallet, an ID card or anything showing where you live. Then the key is a usable key rather than a piece of metal, and changing the cylinder is the proportionate response.
A relationship or a flatshare has ended
Keys handed back are not the same as keys accounted for. This is one of the most common reasons people call, and there is nothing unusual about it.
The cylinder is worn
Stiff to turn, key catching, occasionally needing to be jiggled. That is a cylinder near the end of its life, and replacing it before it strands you is cheaper than the call-out afterwards.
Upgrading security
A modern cylinder with anti-drill and anti-pull protection is a genuine improvement over a twenty-year-old one — but only if the door and fitting are up to it. A high-grade cylinder behind an ordinary escutcheon can still be gripped and snapped.
A key was lost with nothing linking it to you
Dropped somewhere with no address, no fob, no wallet. The practical risk is low, and we will say so rather than sell you a cylinder. If it would let you sleep, that is a reason too — but it should be your reason, not our sales pitch.
How we work
Foto folgt
Wie Zylinderwechsel — dasselbe Motiv, englischer Alt-Text
- 1
Measuring, which is the part that matters
A cylinder is measured from the fixing screw outwards, and the two halves are often different lengths. It should sit almost flush with the escutcheon on the outside. Too short and the key does not turn cleanly; too long and it protrudes far enough to be gripped with a tool and snapped off. Most badly fitted cylinders in Munich fail on this one measurement.
- 2
Choosing the right level
A cylinder for an internal door does not need what a front door needs. For a front door we would normally propose anti-drill pins and anti-pull protection as a minimum. Patent protection — where blanks are restricted and copies require a card — matters where you care who can cut a key, which is most flats.
- 3
The change itself
One screw in the door edge, the old cylinder out, the new one in, the screw back. On a standard door it is minutes. The time goes into measuring and choosing, not into fitting.
- 4
Keys and the security card
You get the full set of keys, and with a patented cylinder a Sicherungskarte — a security card. Keep it somewhere other than with the keys. It is what lets you order additional keys later, and it is also what stops anyone else doing so.
- 5
If it is part of a master key system
Then the cylinder has to be ordered against the existing locking plan, and that runs through whoever administers the system — usually the Hausverwaltung. Fitting a standalone cylinder would leave your key unable to open the building entrance.
What will it cost?
A planned cylinder change is labour plus the part. If you are locked out as well, the opening is priced as its own case — use the calculator for that.
Your price
—
Included
- Travel to your address
- Labour on site
- 19 % VAT
- No time metering — we do not bill started quarter-hours
When this price does not apply
- Security locks of a higher resistance class
- Multi-point locking (several bolts at once)
- Security bars or additional locking devices
- Technically difficult opening: jammed or warped door, broken bolt
- Replacement parts such as cylinder, mortise lock or escutcheon
- A situation that turns out to differ from what was described
In these cases our technician quotes the price before starting work, in writing. If you decline, there is no charge.
Full price list
Door has latched shut
| When | Zone 1 — Munich base zone | Zone 2 — Munich outer postal zone | Zone 3 — Munich district |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon–Fri 8 am – 5 pm | €55 | €59.90 | €55 |
| Mon–Fri 5 pm – 10 pm | €80 | €85 | €80 |
| Mon–Fri 10 pm – 8 am | €95 | €99 | €95 |
| Saturday 8 am – 10 pm | €80 | €85 | €80 |
| Saturday 10 pm – 8 am | €95 | €99 | €95 |
| Sunday | €95 | €99 | €95 |
| Public holiday | €95 | €99 | €95 |
Door is locked
| When | Zone 1 — Munich base zone | Zone 2 — Munich outer postal zone | Zone 3 — Munich district |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any time, any day | €140 | €150 | €140 |
Cylinder, if one is needed
| Cylinder, standard quality | €25 |
|---|---|
| ABUS cylinder, good quality | €45 |
| Fitting | €5 |
All figures are final prices including 19 % VAT. In Munich zones 1 and 2, travel is already included. In zone 3, the surrounding district, it is added at €1.50 for every kilometre of the journey from our premises to your door — the whole route, not merely the part outside Munich — up to 50 km. There is no time metering.
Questions we are asked most
Is a lock change the same as changing the cylinder?
In practice, almost always. When people say they want the lock changed, what actually gets replaced is the cylinder — the part the key goes into, held by a single screw. The lock body inside the door usually stays, because it is not what determines who can open the door. Replacing the whole lock body is a different, larger job and is only needed when the mechanism itself has failed.
I have just moved into a rented flat. Can I change the lock?
Usually yes, and it is a reasonable thing to do — but ask the Hausverwaltung first, for two reasons. If the door is part of a master key system, a standalone cylinder will not work with the building entrance. And when you eventually move out, you will normally have to restore the original cylinder, so keep it rather than throwing it away.
What is a Sicherungskarte?
The security card supplied with a patented cylinder. It proves you are entitled to have keys cut, and without it a locksmith will not cut one for that cylinder — which is the entire point. Keep it somewhere separate from the keys themselves. If you are moving into a flat with a patented cylinder, ask whether the card exists and who holds it; if nobody knows, you have no way to order keys and no way to know who else can.
How much security do I actually need?
For a flat entrance door, a cylinder with anti-drill and anti-pull protection covers the realistic risks. Beyond that, the weak point stops being the cylinder: a protective escutcheon that stops the cylinder being gripped, and the strength of the door and frame, matter more than a further upgrade of the cylinder itself. Anyone selling you the most expensive cylinder without looking at the fitting is selling a part rather than solving a problem.
Can you do this without an emergency call-out?
Yes — and it is cheaper that way. A cylinder change is planned work, so it does not need to happen at two in the morning at night rates. Call during business hours and we arrange a time.
Improving door security more broadly · If a key has been lost
Want it done at a normal hour?
Call during business hours and we arrange a time. Planned work costs less than an emergency call-out for the same job.