Access Control in Oakland

Access control swaps keys for credentials you can revoke from a laptop: a fob for a Downtown office, a keypad on a gym's staff door, a phone credential for tenants in a new Temescal mid-rise, a reader on the pedestrian gate of a West Oakland studio complex, a mailroom door in a building near Lake Merritt BART. Estuary Lock & Key installs systems from a single keypad to networked readers with audit trails.

The visit begins by counting doors and looking at each one's hardware and nearest power. The tech recommends an electric strike or a maglock per door, a controller sized to the count, and a credential type your staff will actually carry. Readers, strikes, request-to-exit sensors and wiring go in together with the software, and you leave with the first users programmed and a login to add or remove people yourself. A mechanical override stays on at least one door for power failures.

Access control is quoted per project because door count, controller and credential type set the price. The written quote separates each door, its hardware, the controller, the credentials and labor. The $89 site survey is applied toward the job. After approval the figure holds; a surprise such as an old door needing new prep is priced and approved before the work continues, never billed afterward.

Call with the door count and the kind of building. A survey is booked and the tech's details arrive by text. The quote follows the walk-through. Installation is scheduled, the system is tested door by door with a credential in hand, and the handover covers adding, removing and scheduling users. Receipt itemized per door, paid by card or tap.