Property Access & Security
Access control replaces keys you cannot track with credentials you can revoke in seconds. We install the readers, the door hardware, and the wiring behind them — and we get the fire-code behaviour right.
- In business
- 5 years
- Credentials
- Fob, code, or phone
- Fire code
- Egress always maintained
- Retrofit
- Cabling often reusable
What we handle
Pick the job closest to yours for detail on how it works, what affects the cost, and what happens on the day.
What this actually solves
The problem with keys is not that they open doors. It is that you cannot tell who holds one, you cannot take one back without changing the lock, and you have no record of who came in last night.
Access control fixes all three, and in most buildings that administrative benefit matters more day to day than the security one.
- Revoke a lost credential immediately, with no lock change
- See who entered which door and when
- Grant access by schedule, so contractors work only in their window
- Different permissions per door and per person
- Remote unlock for deliveries and visitors
- No keys still circulating after someone leaves
Ask what happens in a fire
Any hardware that holds a door in the path of egress must release on fire alarm and on loss of power, and the door must always open from inside without a credential. This is the detail cheap installations skip, and the one that fails an inspection or traps someone.
How we approach an installation
- 1
Door-by-door survey
Material, frame, swing, fire rating, and whether the door sits in the path of egress. That determines the hardware before any product is chosen.
- 2
Decide who administers it
The most common failure in access control is administrative, not technical. If nobody is clearly responsible for adding and removing users, the system degrades within a year.
- 3
Phased installation
In an occupied building we convert door by door and keep existing access working on the rest, so nobody is locked out mid-project.
- 4
Test, train, document
Fail-safe behaviour and fire alarm release tested at every door, administrators trained, and documentation handed over — usually for the first time.
Replacing an old system
Most systems are not replaced because they broke. They are replaced because parts are no longer made, the software will not run on a supported machine, or credentials can no longer be revoked — which means every fob ever issued still opens the door.
The expensive part of a replacement is rarely the electronics. It is the cable in the walls and the hardware in the doors, and a good retrofit reuses as much of that as it safely can. We survey before quoting, because a proposal that assumes a full rewire when the cabling is fine costs you money for nothing.
Straight answers
The things people ask most before booking. If yours is not here, ask it and a licensed electrician will answer.
- Can access control be retrofitted to existing doors? +
- In most cases yes. Electric strikes fit many existing frames, and surface-mounted mag locks work where a strike will not. Fire-rated doors and unusual frames have restrictions, which is why we survey door by door.
- What happens if the power goes out? +
- That is a deliberate design decision. Fail-safe hardware unlocks on power loss, fail-secure stays locked. Either way, doors in the path of egress must always open from inside, and we specify power supplies with battery backup.
- Do we need to rewire the whole building to upgrade? +
- Usually not. Cable runs, door hardware, and power supplies are often reusable. We survey what exists before quoting rather than assuming a full rewire.
- Fobs, codes, or phones? +
- Most systems support several at once, and mixing is often right. Mobile suits regular staff since nothing is issued and access revokes instantly; fobs suit contractors and visitors; scheduled codes suit deliveries.
- Can we replace an old handset intercom without wiring every unit? +
- Yes, and that is usually the reason to change. Modern video intercoms route calls to residents' phones, so the work concentrates at the entrance instead of running new cable to every apartment.
- Will doors stop working during an upgrade? +
- No. We phase door by door and keep the old system live on doors not yet converted. Main entrances are converted outside peak hours, and new credentials are issued before old ones are retired.
- Can it integrate with cameras and alarms? +
- Usually yes. Linking entry events to camera footage turns a log line into evidence, and tying the intruder alarm to last-out and first-in removes a routine source of false alarms.