In this guide
Access control is priced per door, and the reader on the wall is a small part of what a door costs. Understanding the rest makes quotes comparable.
What a door actually needs
A reader
The visible part, and usually the least expensive element.
A locking device
Electric strike, maglock or electrified lockset, chosen with the door and its hardware.
A controller
Deciding whether the credential is valid. Often serving several doors.
Power
At the door and at the controller, usually with battery backup.
Network
To reach the controller, and sometimes the reader.
Request to exit and monitoring
So the system knows the door opened, and whether it was supposed to.
The reader is the cheapest thing on the door.
Why the door schedule drives the budget
A hollow metal door in a stud wall and a frameless glass door are very different installations. Fire-rated doors have their own requirements. Existing doors may need new hardware before anything electronic can be fitted. This is why a per-door figure quoted without seeing the doors is not meaningful.
Credentials
| Credential | Strengths | Trade-offs |
|---|---|---|
| Card or fob | Simple, familiar, cheap to issue | Shared, lost and lent. Needs a process for collecting them back |
| Mobile | Nothing to issue, instant revocation, convenient | Depends on phones, and on a system that supports it properly |
| PIN | No hardware per user | Shared quickly. Weak on its own |
| Biometric | Tied to a person | Higher cost, and raises questions worth considering before deploying |
Safety is not optional
Locking a door has life-safety implications. Egress requirements, fire alarm interface and local code all govern what is permitted on a given door, and those requirements vary by building and by door.
Any access control design should be reviewed against applicable code with the authority having jurisdiction. This is not an area to take a vendor's word for.
Plan for the second site
Systems that are straightforward at one building can become awkward across several. If growth is plausible, it is worth selecting something that handles multiple sites, consistent credentials and central administration from the start, rather than discovering the limit later.
The administrative side
- Who adds and removes users, and how quickly
- What happens to access when someone leaves, same day
- Which doors unlock on a schedule and which never do
- Who can view door activity
- How a lost credential is reported and revoked
- Who holds the override, and where it is kept
Start with the door schedule
Send the doors you want controlled and we will come back with what each one needs.
Request a security assessment