Access control
Card readers, keypads, electric strikes, maglocks and the door work that makes them function. Quoted after we have seen the doors — never from a form.
Why there is no price on this page
Every other page on this site has published prices, because we can stand behind them. This one does not, and the reason is worth saying plainly rather than hiding behind “call for a quote”.
Access control pricing is driven by things nobody can tell you over the phone: how many openings, what hardware is on them now, whether the doors are timber, hollow metal or glass, whether there is power and a network drop at each one, how much of the frame has to be cut, and what the egress requirements are. Two buildings with the same door count can differ by a factor of three. A published number would be wrong for almost everyone reading it.
So this is a conversation and a site visit, and then a real quote you can hold us to.
The part most people get wrong
Access control gets sold as software. It is mostly carpentry, metalwork and electricity.
The reader on the wall is the easy bit. What actually decides whether a system works for ten years is the opening — whether the strike is cut into the frame properly, whether the door closes square, whether the hardware is fail-safe or fail-secure, and whether the whole thing still lets people out in a fire. That is locksmith work, and it is the part that gets rushed.
It is also why access control companies subcontract this to us. They want to run wire and commission software. We would rather cut the frame. That has been a quietly good working relationship for years and if you are an integrator reading this, it is an open invitation.
One thing worth knowing about who is allowed to do this work. New Jersey defines locksmithing to include electronic security systems, and defines electronic security systems to include access control. It sits squarely inside the licence we already hold — Locksmith Business License Number 34LX00020300. The regulation attaches one condition to it: a licensed locksmith providing electronic security work has to keep a 24-hour emergency line answered and respond within 24 hours. We already run 24/7, so that is not a promise we had to make for this page.
What we do
- Electric strikes — surface mounted or recessed, including the frame metalwork, tabs and cutting
- Magnetic locks, with the mounting, brackets and egress hardware they require
- Electrified locksets, exit devices and hinges — power transfer through the door, done properly
- Keypads, card readers and controllers — supplied, fitted and commissioned
- Request-to-exit devices, door position switches and door contacts
- Egress compliance on the opening — making sure the door that just got secured is still a door people can get out of
- Taking over somebody else's system, where it is serviceable
- Hybrid designs — access control on the doors that need it, keys on the ones that do not
Where access control is worth it — and where it is not
We are properly licensed for this work and we will tell you which of your doors genuinely need it and which are perfectly well served by a good key. Most buildings need it on two or three openings, not on all of them, and the quotes that put a reader on every door are the expensive ones.
Access that changes from a screen rather than from a pin kit is where a good part of this trade is heading — the ability to remove one person's access at 5pm on a Friday without re-keying a building is worth real money to whoever manages it.
How it starts
- Tell us roughly what you have. Number of doors, type of building, what you are trying to control and why. A phone call or an email is fine, and photographs help enormously.
- We come and look. Every opening, the power situation, the network situation, the egress requirements. That visit is the $250 door and hardware evaluation and it applies against the work if you proceed.
- You get a written quote per opening — hardware, labour and any frame work itemised, so you can stage it across doors or across budget years if you want to.
Credentials and terms
- · New Jersey Locksmith Business License 34LX00020300
- · D-U-N-S 103036769
- · Bonded and fully insured through State Farm — commercial general liability and commercial automobile liability. Certificate of insurance provided on request, naming your entity as additional insured where required.
- · Purchase orders accepted. Your PO number appears on the invoice.
- · Unit numbers, door numbers and location references are recorded on every line of every invoice, so your records reconcile to ours.
- · NET 15 terms after two completed jobs. First job is card on delivery — after that we know each other. Card on file and pay-on-completion are also fine.
- · Itemised invoices with before-and-after photographs on every job.
- · 24/7 dispatch. We are not a Monday-to-Friday, eight-to-four operation.
Access control questions
How much does an access control system cost?
There is no honest published number for this, and any site that gives you one is quoting a different job from yours. The price is driven by how many doors, what is already on them, whether the doors are wood, metal or glass, whether there is power and network at each opening, and how much frame metalwork is involved. We quote it after seeing the doors, not before.
Why is this not bookable online like your other services?
Because we would be guessing, and you would be paying for the guess. Everything else on this site has a published price because we can stand behind it. Access control genuinely cannot be priced from a form, so it starts with a conversation and a site visit instead.
Should I be doing access control or master keying?
Depends on the door. Access control wins when access changes often — staff turnover, contractors, tenants — because you revoke someone from a screen instead of rekeying cylinders. Master keying wins when access is stable, when there is no power or network at the opening, and when you do not want a subscription. Most buildings should have both, in different places. We will tell you which is which rather than selling you one of them for every door.
Do you install the whole system or just the door hardware?
Both, depending on what you need. We do the openings — electric strikes, maglocks, electrified hardware, request-to-exit, door position switches, and the frame metalwork that goes with them — and we can take on the controllers and readers as well. If you already have an integrator running the software and the wire, we are very happy to be the people who do the doors.
Are you licensed for this work?
Yes, under the licence we already hold. New Jersey defines locksmithing services to include electronic security systems, and defines electronic security systems to include access control. Locksmith Business License Number 34LX00020300.
How long does it take?
Longer than a lock change, and we will be straight with you about that. A single opening with power already at the door can be a day. A multi-door system with frame modifications, new cabling and a controller is a project with a schedule, and it gets one.
What happens if the power goes out?
That is one of the first questions we ask on site, and it is the question most access control quotes skip. Fail-safe hardware unlocks on power loss, fail-secure stays locked. Which one belongs on a given door depends on egress code, what is behind the door, and what your fire plan says. Getting this wrong is the most common serious mistake we see on systems somebody else installed.
Can you take over a system somebody else installed?
Often, yes. Bring us in to look at it. If it is a common platform and the documentation exists we can usually service and extend it. If it is proprietary and abandoned, we will tell you that honestly rather than billing you to find out slowly.