Access control · Greater Manchester
Stop rekeying. Start revoking.
Get a price in 2 minutes
Tell us how many doors and how many people. We ring you back with a price.
- From £280 per door
- Revoke a fob in 10 seconds
- Audit trail
- Fire alarm interlocked
- 12-month warranty
A key is a permission you can't take back. Someone leaves, you ask for the key, they hand you a key, and you have no idea whether it's the only one. A fob is a permission you can delete from a laptop in ten seconds, and the door tells you when they last used it.
That's the whole argument. Everything else is detail.
The four types, honestly
Keypad
£280-450 per door. Cheapest. One code, everyone knows it, nobody changes it, the cleaner told her mate. Fine for a store cupboard. Not for a front door.
Proximity fob
£350-600 per door. One fob per person, revoked individually, logged. This is what most offices and blocks should have and it's the sweet spot.
Door entry / intercom
£600-1,400+. Fobs plus a handset or app so residents let visitors in. Standard for blocks of flats. Cost scales with the number of flats.
Networked / cloud
£700+ per door, plus a subscription. Manage multiple sites from one browser. Worth it above roughly ten doors. Below that you're paying for software you'll open twice a year.
The legal bit nobody mentions until it fails
An access control door is a fire escape. That is not negotiable and it is where cheap installs get dangerous.
- Green break-glass or emergency release, inside, every time
- Fail-safe on escape routes: power cut = door opens
- Interlocked to the fire alarm: alarm sounds = door releases
- Free exit without a fob, a code, or a thought
A maglock that stays locked in a power cut on an escape route is not a security feature. It is a fire risk, it will fail an inspection, and it is the reason we won't fit fail-secure hardware on a route people have to run down.
What it costs
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Keypad, standalone, per door | £280-450 |
| Proximity fob reader, per door | £350-600 |
| Maglock + break-glass + PSU, per door | £320-550 |
| Door entry with handsets, per flat | £120-260 |
| Additional fobs | £5-12 |
| Fire alarm interlock | £90-180 |
| Repair an existing system | £65-150 |
| Survey and quote | free |
When a master key beats this
We would rather tell you than sell you. If you have four doors and three people, access control is overkill, a master key system costs a fifth as much and does the job. Access control earns its money when people churn: HMOs, offices with staff turnover, blocks with tenants moving in and out.
The tipping point is roughly: are you rekeying more than twice a year? Yes, fobs. No, keys.
Where we cover
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Questions people actually ask
How much does access control cost per door in Manchester?
A standalone keypad is £280 to £450 per door. A proximity fob reader is £350 to £600. A maglock with break-glass and power supply is £320 to £550. Door entry for a block of flats works out at £120 to £260 per flat. Networked or cloud systems start around £700 per door plus an ongoing subscription. Additional fobs are £5 to £12 each. The survey and quote are free, and the price is fixed before we start.
Is a keypad or a fob system better?
A fob, almost always. A keypad has one code that everybody knows, nobody ever changes, and which walks out of the building in someone's head the day they leave. There is no way to revoke one person's access and no record of who came in. A fob is issued per person, deleted per person in about ten seconds, and logged. Keypads are fine on a store cupboard or a bin store. They are not a serious answer for a door that matters.
What happens to an access control door in a power cut?
It depends entirely on how it was specified, which is why this matters. On a fire escape route the hardware must be fail-safe: no power means the door unlocks, every time. That is a legal requirement, not a preference. On a non-escape door, fail-secure is allowed, meaning it stays locked. We will not fit fail-secure hardware on an escape route, and if you find a system that locks people in during a power cut, it is not a security feature, it is a fire risk that will fail an inspection.
Do I need to link access control to the fire alarm?
On any door that forms part of an escape route, yes. When the fire alarm sounds, the door has to release automatically, without anyone needing a fob, a code or a decision. That interlock costs £90 to £180 and it is not optional on those doors. There also has to be a green emergency break-glass release on the inside. Free exit is the rule: nobody should ever need a credential to get out of a building.
Should I get access control or a master key system?
Ask yourself how often you rekey. If it is more than twice a year, access control pays for itself, because deleting a fob costs nothing and rekeying a door costs £45 to £75 every time. If you have four doors and three people who never change, access control is overkill and a master key system does the same job for a fifth of the price. HMOs, offices with turnover and blocks with tenants coming and going are the cases where fobs win outright.
Can you fix or extend the access control system we already have?
Usually. Adding doors and readers to an existing system is normally straightforward if it is a mainstream make. Repairs run £65 to £150 depending on whether it is a reader, a lock, a power supply or the controller. What we cannot always do is extend a proprietary system that was installed by a company who deliberately locked it down, which is worth knowing before you sign a contract with anyone. We will survey it and tell you honestly whether extending or replacing is cheaper.