What commercial access has to handle
The requirement that separates commercial from residential is not the number of doors. It is churn. People join, leave, change roles, lose credentials, and need temporary access, continuously.
A system that makes those changes easy gets maintained. One that requires calling a contractor to add a user quietly stops being used, and doors start getting propped instead.
- Add and revoke users in seconds, without a site visit
- Different permissions per door, per person, per schedule
- Contractor and visitor access limited to specific windows
- Complete audit log of who entered where and when
- Doors alarmed when propped or forced
- Lockdown capability across the site where required
Multi-tenant and shared buildings
Shared buildings add a layer: separating common areas from tenant areas, and letting each tenant manage their own space without touching anyone else's.
Get that split wrong and either the managing agent becomes the bottleneck for every user change, or tenants end up with access they should not have.
How we structure it
- Building entry and common areas managed by the agent or owner
- Tenant suites managed by each tenant, within their own scope
- Shared facilities scheduled by permission rather than by key
- Per-tenant audit logs, visible to that tenant only
- Clean handover at lease end, with credentials revoked in bulk
- One entry system rather than a different lock per tenancy
Decide who administers before you buy
The most common failure in multi-tenant access is administrative, not technical. If nobody has clearly been made responsible for adding and removing users, the system degrades within a year regardless of how good the hardware is.
Fire code and egress
This is where commercial access most often goes wrong, and where the consequences are most serious. Locking hardware in the path of egress is governed by fire and building code.
Doors must be openable from the inside without a credential, and hardware that holds a door shut must release on fire alarm activation and on loss of power. We wire and test those interfaces as part of the installation, and the work is inspected.
- Free egress from the inside, always, without a credential
- Mag locks released by the fire alarm system
- Release on loss of power where code requires it
- Request-to-exit devices correctly positioned and configured
- Delayed egress only where specifically permitted
- Fire alarm interface tested at commissioning and after changes
How a commercial deployment runs
- 1
Door schedule and survey
We document every door in scope: type, frame, fire rating, egress path, and existing hardware. This is what turns a vague brief into a comparable quote.
- 2
Design and administration model
Reader placement, controller and network design, and crucially who administers what. We agree the permission structure before installing anything.
- 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
Commission, test, and train
Fail-safe behaviour and fire alarm release tested at every door, permission groups configured, administrators trained, and documentation handed over.
Integration with what else is on site
Access control is more useful when it is not isolated. Tying it to cameras and to the alarm system means an event produces evidence rather than just a log line.
- Camera footage linked to entry events at the same door
- Intercom for visitor and delivery entry
- Intruder alarm arming tied to last-out and first-in
- Lighting triggered by entry in out-of-hours periods
- Elevator floor restriction in multi-tenant buildings
- Gate and barrier control for yards and parking
Sites we work on
- Multi-tenant office buildings and business parks
- Warehouses, distribution facilities, and yards
- Retail units and small shopping centres
- Restaurants and hospitality, including back-of-house separation
- Managed residential buildings and condominium associations
- Mixed-use buildings with commercial and residential entrances
Related access systems services
Jobs we're often asked about alongside this one.
Frequently asked questions
- How many doors does a system need to be worth it? +
- Even one, where staff turnover means keys circulate. The controller and software are largely a fixed cost, so the per-door price drops as you add doors. Most sites start with entrances and expand internally later.
- Can tenants manage their own users? +
- Yes, and in multi-tenant buildings they should. We structure permissions so the agent controls building entry and common areas while each tenant manages their own suite, with separate audit logs.
- What does fire code require? +
- Doors in the path of egress must open from inside without a credential, and hardware holding a door shut must release on fire alarm and, where required, on loss of power. We wire and test those interfaces, and the work is inspected.
- Can you install without closing the building? +
- Yes. In occupied buildings we convert door by door and keep existing access working on the remainder. Main entrances are usually converted outside business hours.
- Can we see who accessed a door and when? +
- Yes. Every credential presentation is logged with door, credential, and timestamp, and doors can alarm when propped or forced. In shared buildings, per-tenant logs can be scoped so each tenant sees only their own.
- Can it integrate with our cameras and alarm? +
- 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.