Electric locks for commercial office building?

[Matthew Hollister]

I just closed on a big commercial office building with a few businesses inside. Does anyone have any advice for switching from manual locks to electric locks? I will not be at the building everyday to lock it up and I was wondering if anyone on here had experience with automatic locks that are on a timer? Should I get a key card set up? Are there any systems out there I can run remotely from my phone? Any suggestions and ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[Christian Carson]

The key card setup is standard these days. 

We have installed systems on three different buildings, using both the DIY method and hiring a security company to install a Bosch system. For frequent usage and a lot of doors and users, it's worth it to go with the professionally installed system - it might set you back about $1,500-2,500 per door, and will integrate with your security system and fire panel. However, for a few doors and low usage, it might be worth it to go with the DIY method if you can do it in-house. You can buy access control kits on Amazon (seller name "mengqi-control") - the documentation is absolutely awful but once you figure it out, it functions as designed. I have had three of these boxes in one building for about three years without any failures, although I am the only one who knows how to program it.