Budgets for access control are rarely just “price per door”. The total you end up paying reflects how your building is put together, what level of assurance you need at each doorway, how the system integrates with fire alarms, CCTV and visitor flows, and how you plan to operate and maintain it for years. This guide explains the cost drivers in plain English so you can forecast accurately, avoid unwelcome surprises, and invest where it actually improves security and compliance.
At ACCL we survey, design and install end-to-end systems across single sites and multi-site estates. If you want a number you can take to procurement, our team can translate the principles below into a scope, bill of materials and phased delivery plan that matches your building and risk profile. (See: Commercial Access Control Installation)
Door condition and hardware. A door that already closes reliably and is correctly hung is cheaper to convert than a warped fire door with a tired closer. Costs rise where you need new ironmongery, reinforced frames, automatic operators for accessibility, or specialist locks. On escape routes, design must deliver reliable release on alarm and relevant faults in line with BS 7273-4:2015+A2:2023, which may add interface modules, monitored relays and formal commissioning tests. Treat that behaviour as a design line item, not an afterthought.
Reader and credential choice. Proximity cards and fobs are familiar and inexpensive to operate at scale; biometrics add assurance but introduce governance work (templates, policy, DPIA) that should be in your plan from day one. Where biometrics are used to identify people, the ICO treats them as special category personal data under UK GDPR, which has implications for lawful basis, transparency, retention and security—time you’ll spend on privacy impact assessment, documentation and training.
Controllers, software and architecture. A single self-contained door is cheaper than a networked, multi-site system with complex schedules and lift control. Whether you adopt on-prem servers or a cloud-managed platform, specify equipment aligned to BS EN 60839-11-1 for system and component performance and deliver the project to a recognised code of practice such as NSI NCP 109; both choices improve reliability and make tenders comparable.
Cabling, power and network. Pulling new containment across finished floors is more labour-intensive than running cables during a refurbishment; PoE can lower installation effort but must be planned against switch budgets and standby requirements. Wireless locks reduce first-fix disruption on internal doors but shift cost into batteries and device health monitoring. The cheapest route is the one engineered for your building fabric and maintenance reality, not the one that simply shortens today’s labour.
Integration and orchestration. If your access system needs to interlock doors, drive barriers, trigger CCTV bookmarks, call lifts or sync with visitor management, budget for I/O modules, software connectors, and test time. The integration itself is not inherently expensive—it’s the specification, test scripts and sign-off that ensure it works every time. (For practical benefits and patterns, see our overview of CCTV–Access Control–Alarm Integration.)
Compliance and documentation. Formal commissioning to standards, O&M manuals, training, and test certificates are part of a professional install. They cost less than a single call-out caused by undocumented behaviour. NSI’s code of practice exists to make these deliverables predictable; use it to frame acceptance criteria in your purchase order.
Most projects fall into a repeatable pattern. A practical way to assemble a budget per door is to break it into seven packages and consider the multipliers that apply to your site:
Treat each package as a knob you can turn: raise assurance where the risk is highest; keep friction low where throughput matters; and avoid spending on features you won’t use.
Specs written against recognised baselines give you apples-to-apples quotes and fewer surprises. BS EN 60839-11-1 defines functionality and performance for electronic access control systems and components; NSI NCP 109 provides a delivery discipline for design, installation, commissioning and maintenance. Bake them into your tender and acceptance criteria, then request evidence of compliance and commissioning records at handover. Your insurer and internal auditors will thank you, and future changes will be easier to cost.
While every site differs, a defendable estimate usually comes from multiplying the seven packages by door count, then adding a project layer for surveys, drawings, RAMS, programme management and training. Perimeter doors, interlocks and escape routes tend to have a higher package mix because of fire interfaces and throughput requirements; internal office doors are lighter; specialist spaces (labs, comms rooms, plant) carry extra assurance and testing. Multi-site estates gain economies in software licensing and standards-based hardware, but allocate time for identity integrations and role modelling so permissions scale cleanly as doors and sites are added.
Where you’re modernising a broader security estate, align programmes so your IP security infrastructure (switching, PoE, VLANs, remote access and monitoring) can serve access control and surveillance consistently. That single architectural view avoids duplicated spend and creates operational simplicity over the lifecycle.
A robust system is cheaper to live with. Include preventive maintenance (reader cleaning, door alignment checks, battery and PSU health tests, firmware and software updates) in your BAU budget, and agree response SLAs that match business risk and hours of operation. If you adopt wireless locks, add battery replacement to your PPM; if you operate biometrics, reserve time for periodic policy and DPIA reviews. None of this is extravagant—just the reality of running a system that guards your people and assets every day.
Our approach is to design the system you actually need, deliver it to a recognised standard, and document it so your facilities and IT teams can run it confidently. If you’re also tightening perimeter control or car-park policy, we can integrate barriers and gates so vehicle access mirrors staff permissions and is logged in the same system. (See: Security Barrier Installation) If touchless journeys or mobile credentials are part of the brief, we’ll set expectations on hardware, user experience and policy so you get the benefits without unintended consequences; our primer on Hands-Free Access Control is a useful starting point.
Have a no-obligation chat with one of our data cabling experts, who can recommend a solution to suit your requirements and budget.