Business Security: What Type of Lock Is Right for Your Business?
Not every door needs the same lock. Some just need a good traditional deadbolt from a locksmith — others need a fully managed access control system. Here's how to tell which is which, and where smart access fits in once you're past the basics.
Start With the Basics: Standard Mechanical Locks
Not every door on a site needs smart access. Storerooms, internal offices, and low-traffic doors are often better served by a good traditional lock — a deadbolt, mortice lock, or commercial-grade cylinder — fitted and keyed properly by a licensed locksmith. It's simpler, cheaper, and there's nothing to configure or maintain.
For that kind of work, we point clients to Fort Knox Locks in Engadine, run by Martin Matheson — a trusted local locksmith for standard lock installation, rekeying, and hardware repairs. Ph. 0418 686 800 Email: fortknoxlocks@bigpond.com.au. Getting the mechanical basics right from someone who does it properly is the right starting point before deciding whether any doors on your site need to go further into electronic access.
Where standard locks usually fall short is anywhere you need to know who came through a door and when, or where you want to remove keys from the equation entirely. That's where electric and magnetic locking — and the systems that control them — come in.
Electric Locks
Electric locks (often called electric strikes) replace or modify a standard door strike so it can be released remotely — by a keypad, card reader, or app — rather than needing a physical key. The mechanical latch stays in place; the electronics just control whether it can release.
- Controlled entry: Suits offices, server rooms, or any space where only certain people should get in.
- Integrates cleanly: Works well with card readers, PIN pads, and mobile credentials.
- Configurable failure mode: Most can be set fail-secure (stays locked in a power outage) — important for high-security areas where you don't want a blackout to open the door.
- Low visual footprint: Sits inside the door frame, so it doesn't change how the door looks.
Magnetic Locks
Magnetic locks (maglocks) work differently — an electromagnet mounted on the frame holds an armature plate on the door shut, with no moving mechanical parts. Holding force is typically rated in the hundreds of kilograms, so they're built for doors that take a lot of daily traffic.
- High holding strength: Well suited to heavy doors or high-traffic entries.
- Simple, durable installation: Fewer moving parts means less to wear out over time.
- Fail-safe by nature: Maglocks release when power is cut — the right underlying behaviour for a fire exit, since it allows the door to open automatically once wired into a compliant fire trip interface (see Fire & Egress Compliance below).
- Built for volume: A common choice for retail entrances and shared building lobbies.
Fire & Egress Compliance
Because maglocks rely on continuous power to stay locked, Australian building regulation treats them differently to mechanical locks and electric strikes when a door sits on a required exit path.
Under the National Construction Code (NCC), any door in an exit path must be readily openable without a key. If the door has a permanent free-handle exit, that requirement is already met — no fire interface is needed. But where there's no free-handle exit — typically the case with maglocks on glass doors, retail entries and shared lobbies — the door must automatically unlock the moment a sprinkler, smoke detector, or other fire detection system activates. This automatic release is called a fire trip, and it's implemented with a relay wired directly into the building's fire indicator panel — the relay cuts power to the lock the instant an alarm triggers, which is exactly why maglocks have to be fail-safe by design.
Break-glass isn't a substitute
A break-glass emergency release is good practice and commonly installed alongside a fire trip, but it isn't a substitute for one. Under the NCC, break-glass units don't satisfy the "readily openable" or automatic fire-system-interface requirement on their own — a door with a break-glass unit still needs a proper, automatic fire trip.
Wiring matters as much as the lock
One detail that trips up cheaper installs: the fire trip relay has to interrupt the positive side of the lock's power circuit, not the negative or common side. If the negative side is cut instead, a damaged cable touching an earthed door frame or fixing screw can bypass the fire trip entirely — the lock can stay powered and locked during an actual fire, with the fault invisible until it's tested, or until it matters.
This is one more reason the lock type is only half the job. The fire interface wiring is what actually determines whether a maglock installation is compliant, and it needs to be designed and installed properly by a licensed provider — not assumed as a default feature of the hardware.
Building Fire Services Providers
Where a site calls for a maglock, we work with the building fire services providers — such as ASAP Fire, based in Ingleburn — to integrate and test the fire trip control board interface as part of the install, confirming the relay correctly drops power to the lock when the fire indicator panel activates, not just that the hardware is wired in. Having worked with ASAP Fire on past projects, we've found them professional and reliable. You can reach them on 02 4606 3554, at info@asapfire.com.au, or via asapfire.com.au.
Requirements summarised here are general guidance only and current as of publication. Always confirm exit door compliance for your specific building against the current NCC and with a licensed fire/security certifier before installation.
Quick Lock Comparison
Mechanical Lock
- Simple and reliable
- No electrical power required
- Lowest installation cost
- Minimal maintenance
- Traditional key access
Internal offices
Storerooms
Utility rooms
Electric Strike
- Remote unlocking
- Audit trail
- Mobile credentials
- Fail-secure operation
- Access control integration
Server rooms
Restricted offices
Warehouse access
Retail shopfronts
Magnetic Lock
- Very high holding force
- Heavy traffic entrances
- Fail-safe operation*
- Excellent durability
- Simple maintenance
Reception entries
Retail stores
Shared building access
*Requires a compliant fire trip interface on required exit doors — see Fire & Egress Compliance.
Feature Comparison
Most commercial buildings benefit from a combination of lock types. The table below highlights the strengths of each option.
| Feature | Mechanical | Electric Strike | Magnetic Lock |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical Key | ✔ | Optional | Optional |
| Remote Unlock | — | ✔ | ✔ |
| Mobile Credentials | — | ✔ | ✔ |
| Audit Trail | — | ✔ | ✔ |
| Temporary Access | — | ✔ | ✔ |
| Fail Secure | ✔ | ✔ | — |
| Fail Safe | — | Optional | ✔* |
| Typical Application | Internal Rooms | Controlled Areas | Main Entrances |
*Requires a fire trip relay interfaced to the building's fire indicator panel — see Fire & Egress Compliance. Not automatic by default; must be correctly designed and wired into the installation.
The short version: electric locks suit controlled, lower-traffic access points where fail-secure matters; magnetic locks suit high-traffic or emergency-egress doors where fail-safe matters, provided the fire trip interface is correctly designed and tested. Most commercial sites end up using a mix of both, not just one or the other.
Where UniFi Access Fits In
The lock type is only half the decision — the other half is what controls it. This is where we lean heavily on the UniFi Access ecosystem, because it's one of the few platforms that manages electric and magnetic locks through the same system, rather than forcing you into separate hardware and separate apps for each.
One platform, either lock type
A UniFi Access Hub can drive both fail-secure electric strikes and fail-safe maglocks from the same controller, so a building doesn't need two disconnected access systems just because it has two different lock types across different doors.
Credentials that match how people actually enter
UniFi Access supports mobile unlock via the app, NFC and RFID cards, and PIN-based entry — so staff can use whatever's most convenient, while you keep one central log of who came through which door and when.
Access and cameras, in one view
Because UniFi Access sits in the same ecosystem as UniFi Protect, access events and camera footage live in one interface. If a door opens at 2am, you're not cross-referencing two separate systems to work out who it was.
Built-in fail-safe handling
Fire alarm integration releases mag-locked doors automatically during an emergency. Where a maglock is required, we coordinate with a specialised fire services provider to design, integrate, and test that interface — the compliance requirement isn't something bolted on as an afterthought, it's built into the install from the start.
Security Designed Around Your Business
Every organisation operates differently. A warehouse has different security requirements to a medical practice, while a retail store differs again from a manufacturing facility.
Rather than recommending a single product for every door, Bilby Fusion assesses how your building is actually used before recommending the most appropriate combination of mechanical hardware, electric strikes, magnetic locks and access control technology.
As part of our Business Security services, we design, install and configure UniFi Access systems across Sydney, the Illawarra and Newcastle.
Our Security Design Process
Site Assessment
Review each doorway, traffic flow and operational requirements.
Risk Review
Identify where mechanical locks, electric strikes or maglocks provide the greatest value.
System Design
Design a complete access control solution tailored to your building.
Installation
Professional installation and configuration of hardware and UniFi Access.
Training
Train administrators to manage users, credentials and reporting.
Support
Ongoing maintenance, expansion and technical support as your business grows.
Not sure which lock type suits your site?
Book a free consultation and we'll walk your building with you — door by door — and recommend what actually fits.
Request a consultationProduction Note: Editorial & Technology Note: This article is conceptualised, directed, and curated by the Bilby Fusion team. Core content is generated using an advanced multi-model AI workflow, with final fact-checking, structural alignment, and editorial synthesis strictly performed by a human author.
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