What does a business access control system actually do?
A key says one thing: whoever holds it can open the door. An electronic access control system says more. It decides who can open which door, and it can change that decision in seconds without anyone cutting a key or swapping a cylinder. That is the real reason businesses move to keypad access control, a card access system, or key fob access control.
The trigger is usually ordinary. An employee leaves and nobody can say how many copies of the back-door key are floating around. A shop adds a stockroom that only two people should enter. An office has grown from four people to fourteen and the key ring is a mess. A manager wants to know who opened the building on Saturday. In each case a credential-based entry system replaces guesswork with a list you control.
We install the full range: keypad and PIN readers, proximity card readers, fob readers, electric strikes, magnetic locks, controllers, power supplies, and the request-to-exit hardware that makes a door safe to leave through. We also repair and upgrade systems someone else installed, which is a bigger part of this work than most people expect.
Which hardware fits which door: keypads, card readers, strikes, and maglocks
Access control has two halves. The reader is what a person touches, and the lock is what actually holds the door. Mixing and matching them correctly is most of the craft.
On the reader side, the choice comes down to how your people will carry and use their credential.
- Keypad readers: a PIN on the door itself. Good for small teams, back doors, and storage rooms. The tradeoff is that PINs get shared, so they work best when the group is small and you change codes when people leave.
- Card and fob readers: each person gets a credential tied to their name. You can disable a lost card without touching anyone else's. This is the usual choice for employee access control with more than a handful of people.
- Combination readers: card plus PIN on sensitive doors, so a found card alone does not open anything.
- Electric strikes: replace the strike plate in the door frame so the latch releases electrically. They keep your existing latch and door, which makes them a common retrofit for wood, hollow metal, and some aluminum storefront doors.
- Magnetic locks: an electromagnet on the frame holds a plate on the door. They suit doors where a strike will not fit, such as certain glass doors, but they need careful life-safety design.
Locked out or need a locksmith now?
We answer around the clock, every day of the year.
Call (213) 577-1366How do we install access control, step by step?
Every install starts with the doors, not the product catalog. Here is how a typical job runs from first call to a working system.
- Call and describe the situation. Tell us how many doors, what kind of doors, and who needs to get through them. Phones are answered 24 hours a day, so this can happen whenever the problem shows up.
- Walk the doors. We look at the door material, the frame, the existing hardware, where power is available, and how people leave the building. Door and frame condition decide a lot, and we would rather find a problem on the walk-through than halfway through the job.
- Choose the lock type per door. Some doors get an electric strike, some a maglock, some keep their mechanical lock and add a reader for convenience. Not every door in a building needs the same answer.
- Plan the wiring and power. Readers, locks, and controllers need clean runs and a proper power supply. For doors that must stay secure during a power cut, we discuss battery backup and what the lock does when power drops.
- Install hardware and test every door. We mount readers, install strikes or maglocks, connect the controller, and check the exit side of each door, because a door that locks well but traps people is not finished.
- Enroll credentials and set schedules. We set up cards, fobs, or codes, decide who gets access to which doors and when, and show whoever manages the system how to add and remove people.
- Hand over and stay reachable. You keep our number, and David oversees the work so the same company that installed it answers when you have questions later.
Electric strike or magnetic lock: which is right for your door?
This is the question we answer most, and the honest answer is that it depends on the door and on how the door must behave in an emergency.
An electric strike works with a latch, so the door stays physically latched when closed. It is often the more economical route when the door and frame are in decent shape, and it generally keeps the door's normal mechanical function. A strike can be fail-secure, meaning it stays locked if power is lost, or fail-safe, meaning it unlocks if power is lost. Which one is correct depends on whether the door is an exit path and what your building requires.
A magnetic lock holds with magnetic force and has no moving latch, so it can suit doors that cannot take a strike. It is fail-safe by nature: cut the power and it releases. That feature is useful for life safety, but it also means the door is only as secure as its power supply. Maglocks used on doors people exit through need a way for those people to leave freely, such as a request-to-exit device, and they typically need to release when the fire alarm activates.
Fire and building codes govern exit doors, and your building department or fire authority may have a say on specific doors. We design with free egress in mind first, then security. If a door is a legally required exit, we will tell you plainly if a plan you had in mind will not work there. For doors with panic hardware already in place, see our panic bar installation page, because the two systems need to work together.
Locked out or need a locksmith now?
We answer around the clock, every day of the year.
Call (213) 577-1366What affects the cost of access control installation?
We do not quote numbers on a web page, because two businesses asking for access control can be asking for very different projects. Here is what moves the cost, so you can judge any quote you receive, ours included.
Door count is the first factor, but door type matters as much. A solid wood door with a good frame is simpler than an aluminum storefront door, and a glass door often needs different hardware. Frame condition affects whether a strike installs cleanly or the frame needs work first.
Wiring is the next big variable. Running low-voltage cable through finished walls, across a ceiling, or to an exterior door takes more labor than a short run in an open utility space. Distance between the door and the controller or power supply adds to it.
Then comes the system itself: standalone readers that manage themselves at each door versus a networked controller managing several doors from one place, the number of users, whether you want schedules and an entry log, and whether you want battery backup. Weather-rated outdoor readers cost more than interior ones, and that applies in a hot, sunny, windy setting.
Finally, repairs and upgrades depend on what is already in the wall. Reusing good wiring and a sound controller is the lighter-cost option. Replacing an obsolete reader that uses a card format nobody supports anymore can mean touching more of the system. We will tell you what is worth keeping.
Why call Wilshire Lock & Key for access control?
Access control sits where mechanical locksmithing meets electrical work, and a lot of companies only do one half well. We have been working on locks since 1987, so we know the door and frame hardware that your readers and strikes depend on, and we install the electronics around it.
We run a storefront at 10740 Wilshire Blvd in Westwood plus mobile service vans, so the person who plans your system is the same company that shows up to service it. There is no dispatch middleman passing your job along to a stranger. David, the owner and lead technician, oversees the work.
We also answer the phone around the clock at (213) 577-1366. Access control problems tend to show up at bad moments: a reader dead at opening time, a door stuck unlocked after hours, a terminated employee whose card still works. We would rather you reach someone at once than wait for a callback.
One more piece of advice that applies to any locksmith you hire: California requires locksmith companies to hold a BSIS LCO license. Ask for the license number from anyone you are considering, and check it. A reputable company will not mind the question.
Locked out or need a locksmith now?
We answer around the clock, every day of the year.
Call (213) 577-1366Access control for Granada Hills businesses and properties
Granada Hills is mostly 1950s and 60s single-story ranch tracts, and its commercial life runs along a handful of corridors rather than one dense downtown. That shapes how access control actually gets used here.
In Old Granada Village, the Chatsworth Street business district, storefronts are the usual picture: street-facing doors, a back or stock door, and often a small office or storeroom inside that only certain people should enter. A keypad or card reader on the interior stockroom door, with an electric strike on the existing latch, is a typical way to give owners control without changing the look of the front. If a storefront door needs mechanical work first, our storefront lock repair page covers that side.
The Devonshire Street, Zelzah Avenue, and San Fernando Mission Boulevard corridors are where multifamily housing and mixed commercial properties tend to cluster, since multifamily housing here is limited and sits near the main boulevards. Small offices and buildings along those corridors, within ZIP code 91344, often want a front-door reader for staff and a separate code for cleaners or vendors, with a log of who came in.
Around Knollwood Country Club, larger lots mean longer perimeters and gates. Wind-stressed gates and sun-exposed south-facing doors see the most seasonal hardware wear in the north Valley foothills, and the hot summers and gusty Santa Ana winds in fall are hard on outdoor electronics. For anything outside, we choose weather-rated readers, mount them out of the worst sun where possible, and plan for the gate to keep closing properly. If a gate is already misbehaving, start with our gate lock repair page before adding electronics to a gate that does not latch.
In Balboa Highlands, the Historic Preservation Overlay Zone of mid-century modern Eichler homes, owners often want low-profile hardware that respects the original design. That mostly applies to residences, so for those homes we point people to smart lock installation instead, but a home-based business there can still use a discreet reader. We are also about 23 miles from our Westwood base, and our mobile vans cover the Granada Hills foothills, including North Granada Hills above the 118 and the O'Melveny Park and Bee Canyon foothill areas, so you do not need to come to us.
Already have a system that is failing or outdated?
A large share of our access control calls are not new installs. They are repair and upgrade jobs on systems that worked for years and now have problems.
Common situations include readers that read cards intermittently, strikes that buzz but will not release, maglocks that fail to hold, controllers nobody has the admin password for, and systems whose original installer is gone. Sometimes the fix is a single part. Sometimes the right move is an access control upgrade that keeps the good wiring and replaces an obsolete reader or controller.
We start by finding out which part is actually failing before recommending a replacement. If the door itself is the issue, such as a dropped door that makes the strike misalign, no reader swap will help, and we will say so.
If you manage several doors and want one master plan for keys and credentials together, see our master key systems page, which pairs well with electronic control on the doors that matter most. For broader business security needs beyond access control, our commercial locksmith page covers the rest.
Locked out or need a locksmith now?
We answer around the clock, every day of the year.
Call (213) 577-1366Managing credentials after the install
A system is only as secure as the habits around it. A few practices make the difference between an access control system that protects your business and one that only looks like it does.
Remove access the day someone leaves. This is the main advantage of credential-based entry, and it only helps if someone does it. Decide who manages the system and make sure that person has the admin login.
Do not share PINs casually. If a code is used by many people, it effectively belongs to no one. For anything sensitive, assign individual credentials.
Set schedules where it makes sense. Cleaners who come at night do not need access at noon, and staff who work weekdays do not need weekend entry.
Keep a mechanical override. Power fails and electronics fail. We usually leave a keyed way in for the owner on important doors, and we plan what each door does when power drops.
If you are locked out of your own business because of a failed reader or lost credentials, our business lockout service handles the emergency first, and we can sort out the electronics afterward.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between keypad access control and a card access system?
A keypad uses a PIN entered at the door, so it needs no credential to carry but codes can be shared. A card or fob system gives each person their own credential, so you can disable one person without affecting anyone else and, with the right controller, see who used which door. Small teams often start with keypads, and growing teams usually move to cards or fobs.
Can you add access control to a door I already have?
Usually yes. Many doors can keep their existing latch and take an electric strike in the frame, and a reader mounts on the wall beside the door. We check the door material, frame condition, and wiring path first. Some doors, especially certain glass doors, need a different approach such as a maglock, and we will tell you which applies.
Is a magnetic lock safe to use on an exit door?
It can be, but only when designed for free exit. A maglock releases when power is cut, and exit doors need a request-to-exit device so people can leave without a credential. Fire and building codes govern required exits, so we plan egress first and may recommend a different lock type if a maglock is not suitable for a given door.
What happens to my doors if the power goes out?
It depends on how each lock is set up. Fail-safe locks unlock when power is lost, and fail-secure locks stay locked. Which one is right depends on whether the door is an exit and how much you need it to stay secure. We choose per door and can add battery backup where it makes sense, plus a keyed override for the owner.
Do I have to replace my whole system to upgrade it?
Often not. If the wiring and controller are sound, we can sometimes replace only the readers or add doors to what you have. Replacement of the controller becomes necessary when it is obsolete, unsupported, or locked behind a password nobody has. We look at what is failing before recommending anything, because keeping good parts is usually the more economical route.
How do I get a quote for multi-door access control?
Call (213) 577-1366 and tell us how many doors you have, what they are made of, and who needs access to what. We usually need to see the doors to quote accurately, since door type, frame condition, and wiring distance drive the cost. We do not give numbers over the web because those details change the answer.
Do you handle outdoor gates and exterior doors in the Granada Hills foothills?
Yes. Outdoor installs need weather-rated readers and hardware that can handle hot sun and fall wind. For gates, the gate itself has to close and latch properly first, so we often check the mechanical side as part of the work. If a gate already has problems, our mobile locksmith service can come to the property to look at it.
Should I ask about licensing before hiring someone for access control?
Yes, with any locksmith. California requires locksmith companies to hold a BSIS LCO license, and you should ask for the license number and check it before work begins. It is a fair question, and a reputable company will answer it plainly.
More locksmith help in Granada Hills
Access Control Installation near Granada Hills
Reviewed by David, Owner & Lead Technician, Wilshire Lock & Key — in the locksmith trade since 1987.
Last updated 2026-10-11.