Paxton Net2 Cost and Installation: Real Prices Per Door

What the £695 first door includes (and excludes)

• Included in a proper quote: Net2 Plus controller, reader (proximity/keypad per spec), exit button or RTE, lock hardware (standard maglock/strike), PSU with battery backup, cabling within normal runs, software setup, commissioning and training
• Door-by-door variance drivers: lock choice (basic maglock vs motorised multi-point — £100–£400 swing), door material (glass/aluminium doors need specific hardware), cabling routes (ceiling voids vs surface trunking vs trenching to gates), and fire-release interfacing where escape routes are involved (the fail-safe engineering from our locks guides — non-negotiable, occasionally under-quoted)
• Excluded traps to watch: door closer remediation (access control exposes bad closers), making-good, networking beyond the local segment, and DESFire credential upgrades (specify encrypted from day one — pennies now, migration money later)

Multi-door and estate pricing shape

Scaling economics: controllers handle doors in pairs/quads, PSUs share, and cabling mobilises once — so doors two-through-six typically land £500–£800 each against the first door's £695+, with gates, barriers and intercom-integrated entrances pricing individually (gate hardware dominates those). A typical small office (front door + server room + rear exit): £1,700–£2,500 installed. A 10-door multi-tenant building: £5,000–£8,000 plus any intercom works. Fobs/cards: £3–£8 encrypted; software: Net2 Lite free (covers most), Pro features for larger estates — no per-door licences, which is the 5-year cost argument Net2 wins against cloud rivals (model it per the platform guide).

Running costs and lifecycle honesty

Net2's operating budget is gloriously dull: no licences, fob top-ups as staff churn, annual maintenance recommended (£150–£400/yr small systems — covering controllers, PSU batteries ~4-yearly, lock wear, release testing including the fire interface, and database backups), and component lifespans of 10–15 years on controllers with locks wearing per traffic. Failure modes to budget around: PSU batteries (the silent one — test at service), maglock armature wear on slamming doors (closer adjustment is the cheap fix — the closers guide applies to access doors too), and reader weathering on exposed entrances (£100–£200 swaps). Migration paths protect the investment: Net2 estates upgrade to Paxton10 reusing most hardware — buying Net2 today isn't a dead end, which is precisely why it remains the UK benchmark.