Gate Entry for Apartment Buildings: Getting It Right
Multi-unit access has different problems from a single home, and most of them are about people rather than hardware.
The propped-open problem
Every building has one. A gate that is slow, awkward or unreliable gets propped, and a propped gate is no gate at all.
Reliability is the security feature. Everything else follows from residents not being tempted to defeat it.
Directory intercoms
A directory system lets visitors call any unit and lets residents release the gate from inside. It removes the need for anyone to hand out codes.
On a North Hollywood building with regular turnover this is what keeps access under control.
Deliveries
Delivery drivers are the pressure point. A dedicated delivery code that can be changed, or an app that issues temporary access, works better than pretending it will not happen.
The alternative is a code everybody in the neighbourhood eventually knows.
Duty cycle
A gate serving twenty units cycles many times a day. Residential-rated equipment on that duty fails, and it fails at the worst time.
Specifying for the actual traffic is the difference between a five-year system and a fifteen-year one.
Emergency access
Fire service access and a manual release that works in a power cut are not optional and are worth confirming rather than assuming.
We check both as part of any commercial or multi-unit handover.
Free written quotes. We come out, look at it properly and tell you what it needs.
See Gate Contractor North Hollywood