Per-door and per-camera hours you can defend
Door hardware, frame type, power path and code requirements decide the labor — not the device count. DarkBird encodes those conditions and recalibrates from what your crews actually logged.
Where security / access control estimates go wrong
A door is never just a door
Hollow metal, aluminum storefront and frameless glass are three different jobs with the same line item. Core drilling for power can double a single opening.
Retrofits are priced like new construction
Takeovers depend on undocumented existing hardware and cabling. The survey findings rarely make it back into the estimating model.
Programming scales with the org chart, not the door count
Schedules, access levels, holidays and partitions take two hours for a small office and days for a campus. Device count says nothing about it.
Your workspace starts configured
Pick Security / Access Control at signup and DarkBird seeds the setup below — categories, a delivery phase set, resources with rates, and units of measure. All of it editable. Install Card hours are bracketed by quantity, so a card prices per door, per camera, per panel.
Security Delivery
- Site Survey & Design
- Rough-In & Cabling
- Device Installation
- Configuration & Integration
- Commissioning & Training
Resources
- Security Specialist
- Lead Technician
- Cabling Technician
Categories & units
- Access Control
- Video Surveillance
- Structured Cabling
- Units: Each, Hour, Foot, Door
How this work gets estimated
Per-unit labor patterns and field gotchas for the systems this trade installs.
Access Control
Door hardware types, controller programming, credential types (card, mobile, biometric), locking mechanisms, and per-door labor norms.
Intrusion & Alarm
Panel types, zone counts, sensor types (motion, glass break, door/window), monitoring setup, UL listing requirements, and per-zone labor.
Structured Cabling
Cat6/6A per-drop hours, fiber pulls, patch panel termination, cable certification, conduit work, and ceiling/wall type effort multipliers.
Video Surveillance
Camera types (dome, bullet, PTZ, multi-sensor), NVR vs. cloud VMS, storage sizing, analytics deployment, and per-camera labor norms.
Questions security / access control teams ask
Can hours differ by quantity?
That is the core of an Install Card. Each task carries hours across quantity brackets, so doors 1–10 can cost more per unit than doors 11–50 — which is how the work actually behaves.
Can we adjust for a specific manufacturer?
Yes. Calibration supports manufacturer-level overrides on top of the card multiplier, so a line that consistently runs long with one vendor can be corrected without distorting the card.
Does it know about code requirements?
DarkBird carries platform knowledge on egress, fire-alarm interface and related constraints, and you can add your own playbooks. It informs scoping questions and estimates — it is not a code-compliance tool and does not replace the AHJ.
Estimate from your numbers, not averages
45-day free trial with full Pro access — no credit card. Your workspace arrives set up for security / access control.