Skip to content
Hillcrest Lock & Key SpecialistsRequest a visit
Open 24/7(226) 641-0178Call now
Person holding a rectangular door-hardware housing at a table with additional metal assemblies beside a glass entrance. — Access Control Installation, Norfolk County

Plan ahead Commercial · Norfolk County

Access Control Installation

Another employee left and the keys never came back. You changed the locks again, cut copies for everyone who stayed, and paid for a job that repeats itself the next time someone quits, taking a working key out the door with them.

Call now · open 24/7(226) 641-0178

Request a visit

In plain words

The installation is not finished when the last door is wired; it is finished once the business can run the system without the locksmith standing there. That means an administrator account handed over with full control, a walkthrough of adding and revoking credentials, pulling an entry log, and changing a schedule for a holiday or an event. Beyond that point, whether the installer keeps any support or maintenance access is a setting the business chooses at handover rather than something assumed either way, and every routine change to who can enter is the business's own decision.

Sound familiar?

The team has grown past the point where one shared key still makes sense. New hires need a way in before a manager arrives, and the current setup cannot tell one person's entry from another's.

How the visit goes

Access Control Installation · Norfolk County

How the visit goes

Hands lining up a steel deadbolt with the round bore in a white door above a knob, an open tool bag below.
  1. 1

    Sorting out a shared entrance

    In a multi-tenant building, the survey has to account for doors that are not fully any one tenant's to control: a shared lobby, a parking garage entrance, a rooftop or mechanical room a landlord manages separately. The locksmith works out with the property manager and each tenant which credentials belong on which controller, so a tenant's staff can reach their own suite without gaining access to another business's space or to areas the landlord keeps under its own control, and so a departing tenant's credentials can be removed without touching anyone else's.

  2. 2

    Fitting an electric strike

    Where the frame allows it, an electric strike replaces the fixed keeper the latch normally strikes against, so the door keeps its existing latch and lockset and simply releases the strike plate when a valid credential is presented. The locksmith mortises the frame to fit the strike body, runs a low-voltage cable within the frame or jamb back to the controller, and sets the strike to hold the door secure until the controller sends a release signal. Because the latch itself never changes, the door still closes and locks normally by hand at any time, credential or no credential.

  3. 3

    What to do when a card or fob goes missing

    A lost card or fob is handled by switching it off in the software rather than replacing a lock. The credential stops working as soon as it is disabled, whoever lost it is issued a new one, and every other door in the building keeps running exactly as it did before. There is no locksmith call needed for this, no rekeying, and no gap where a door sits unsecured while a replacement is arranged. Reporting a lost credential without delay, rather than holding onto the news, is the one habit that keeps this advantage working the way it was intended.

In the van

  • Electric strikes
  • Low-voltage cable
  • Fire alarm interface relay
  • Access control panel
  • Door position switches

What affects the quote

  1. 1

    Room left for future doors

    Sizing the controller and power supply with some spare capacity for a door or two added later costs a little more at installation but avoids a second controller purchase when the building later adds an opening.

  2. 2

    Electric strike or magnetic lock

    An electric strike works with the door's existing latch and generally needs less additional hardware than a magnetic lock, which also calls for a request-to-exit device and, on an exit door, a fire alarm tie-in.

  3. 3

    Condition of the existing hardware

    A working mechanical lock that can stay in place as the override is a simpler starting point than an old, failing keypad system that has to be removed before new hardware goes on in its place.

Same fees day, night or weekend.

Have it ready

Before you call · 0 / 3

(226) 641-0178

Access Control Installation: questions

Advice · (226) 641-0178

Can access control go on a fire exit or a required exit door?

Yes, with extra care taken specifically because it is an exit. A magnetic lock on an exit door is paired with a request-to-exit device and wired into the fire alarm system so it releases automatically the instant an alarm activates, and the door is confirmed to open with one motion from the inside at all times. An electric strike on an exit door generally needs no additional egress hardware.

How do you decide where the readers and door hardware physically go?

A short walk-through maps which doors get used most, where wiring can run cleanly, and where a reader sits at a comfortable reach for everyone, including anyone using a wheelchair or a cart. Door swing and nearby glass affect where a strike or a magnetic lock sits, and mounting height gets checked against the existing door hardware so nothing interferes with the handle or closer. That walk-through happens before ordering hardware so the layout matches the building rather than the other way around.

Can different doors run on different schedules?

Yes, and this is one of the more useful parts of the system. A front office can unlock for regular business hours, a stockroom can allow only two credentials at any hour, and a loading dock can release only during a set delivery window. Schedules are set per door and per access level in the controller, and can be changed at any time without touching the hardware itself.

Haldimand-Norfolk, Ontario

Norfolk County information

Town
Norfolk County, Haldimand-Norfolk, Ontario
In business
22 years
Hours
Open 24/7 · nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
Visits
On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.

What the census means at the door

62%

Older homes. About 62% of homes in Norfolk County were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.

Where most homes were built decades ago, doors often still carry their original mortise locks and brass knobs. That hardware can usually be cleaned, re-sprung and kept in service, with a modern deadbolt added above it for strength without losing the look.

83%

Mostly houses. Single-detached houses make up about 83% of homes in Norfolk County (2021 Census).

In areas of single houses, the door nobody watches is the side or back entry. It often has the weakest lock on the property. Fitting a proper deadbolt and a reinforced strike there is a modest job that closes the obvious gap.

Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population

Open Norfolk County in Google Maps

Open 24/7

Request a visit

Another employee left and the keys never came back.

Call now · open 24/7(226) 641-0178
  • On-site assessment preferred
  • Same fees day, night or weekend
  • 22 years in business