What access control actually buys you
The gain is not that a card is more convenient than a key. It is that when someone leaves, you disable them in software in ten seconds — instead of rekeying a building and hoping every copy comes back. Add scheduling, so contractors only have access during their hours, and an audit trail that answers who opened which door and when, and you have something keys cannot provide at any price.
Every access-controlled door has the same five parts: a reader, a controller, a locking device, a request-to-exit device so leaving is always free, and a door position sensor so the system knows whether the door is actually shut. The position sensor is the part most often cut to save money, and it is the one that turns access control from a lock into a security system — without it, nothing tells you the loading door has stood open for forty minutes.
The credential question worth asking now
A large number of GTA buildings still run 125 kHz proximity cards. Those transmit a fixed number with no encryption, and they can be cloned with a handheld device costing less than a good dinner, from a card left on a desk for thirty seconds.
For a low-risk office that may be an acceptable residual risk — but it should be a decision you have made knowingly rather than an assumption. Where the site holds inventory, data, pharmaceuticals or cash, migrating to encrypted smart cards or mobile credentials is worth doing, and multi-technology readers let you do it gradually rather than in a single cutover weekend.
Egress is where access control becomes a code matter
Every access-controlled door still has to let people out. Free mechanical egress from inside, a request-to-exit device where the lock is electric, and release on fire alarm wherever the locking device would otherwise prevent escape.
Doors on required exits carry specific constraints on what locking is permitted at all — a maglock that is fine on an interior glass door is not permitted on a required exit in most occupancies, where an electrified exit device is the correct hardware. This is the part of an access control project that is not an IT exercise, and it is the part we do not delegate.
Access Control — questions
How much does an access control system cost per door?
The realistic range is wide because the door dictates most of it. A simple interior door with an electric strike, a reader and existing power sits at the low end. An exterior door needing a new lock, a weather-rated reader, power run from a distant panel, a door position sensor and a REX device sits at the high end. Software is a per-door or per-site subscription on cloud platforms, or a one-time licence on-premise. We quote per door after a site walk rather than by multiplying a single figure.
Can key fobs be copied?
Older 125 kHz proximity fobs can be cloned easily with inexpensive, widely available equipment. Modern encrypted smart-card credentials use mutual authentication and cannot be cloned by the same methods. If you do not know which type your building runs, it is worth finding out — it is a quick check and it changes your risk picture materially.
Are keypad locks secure?
A good one on the right door is secure against the threats it is designed for. The weakness is procedural rather than mechanical — codes get shared and observed, and there is nothing to collect back from someone who leaves. Multi-code units with individual codes per person address most of that. For a door where you need to know exactly who entered and when, a card or mobile system is the right tool.
Can you repair an old apartment intercom or does the whole building need a new system?
Repair is worth investigating first, and it succeeds more often than people expect. Many faults that present as "the system is dead" are a failed power supply, corroded wiring at the entry panel, or water ingress into the outdoor station — all repairable at a small fraction of replacement cost. Where the panel itself is genuinely obsolete and parts do not exist, telephone entry is usually the least disruptive replacement because it needs no unit wiring.
What happens if the internet goes down?
Doors keep working. Controllers hold the credential database locally and continue to grant and deny access on their own; events are queued and upload when the connection returns. What you lose during the outage is remote management and live monitoring. This is standard across reputable platforms, but confirm it for the specific one you are considering rather than assuming.