The Architect’s Hidden Challenge: Coordinating Door Hardware

When it comes to building design, doors are among the most problematic coordination items. To those outside the industry, this might sound puzzling—after all, aren’t doors just doors? However, in modern architecture, a door can serve as a sophisticated technology platform, requiring coordination across multiple members of the design team.

The Critical Role of Security and Door Hardware

Architects work closely with clients to select doors that not only meet the aesthetic and functional needs of a building but also integrate seamlessly into its operations. Many doors now require advanced security controls or monitoring devices. Proper coordination of these features requires open communication between several key players, including:

• Architect
• Door hardware specifier
• Electrical engineer
• Security consultant
• Fire code consultant

Each door and its components must be carefully outlined in the door schedule and aligned with Division 8 specifications. This approach ensures accurate bidding and execution, reducing the risk of unexpected change orders and potential complications.

Take, for example, a typical hospital. With potentially thousands of doors—many of them equipped with security controls—it’s critical that every door is correctly specified. What may seem like a straightforward selection process actually involves several decisions, including:

• Door type (e.g., metal, pivot, glass)
• Door hardware
• Door preparation
• Electric locking mechanisms
• Hinges
• Automatic operators
• Keying

Each door must meet various criteria for design, fire ratings, accessibility, and sound or sight separation. These decisions require input from every team member involved, with their expertise guiding the selection of the appropriate door for each application.

Acknowledging the complexity of developing door hardware schedules and specifications, TEECOM's security design experts have compiled a set of best practices drawn from decades of experience. These guidelines offer a structured process and checklist to ensure a thoroughly coordinated bid package. We encourage architects to share this document with their door hardware specifier and have a security design consultant conduct a secondary review of the door schedule prior to finalization.

How to use the Best Practices Checklist:

During Schematic Design or Design Development Phase:

• The design team reviews the door coordination memorandum.
• The architect defines who is going to develop the door schedule.
• If the architect is using a door hardware consultant, the memo and any future door schedules are shared with them.

During Construction Documents Phase:

• Prior to 50% CDs, the architect issues a door schedule listing the floor, the door, the type, and the door number.
• The architect sends this schedule to their door hardware scheduler.
• At the same time, the security consultant sends the security floor plan drawings to the door consultant so they can see which doors have electronic security controls and use this information to write their Division 8 specifications.
• After the door hardware consultant completes their specifications and any comments they have to the door schedule, they share those specifications with the security consultant.
• The security consultant reviews the specifications and provides comments; e.g. maybe they’re missing an electronic through-wire hinge on a given door hardware group.
• Those comments go back to the door hardware consultant, who updates the specifications.
• The security consultant reconciles the updated specifications with the floor plans and provides drawings and specifications back to the architect as a completely coordinated bid package.

In most cases, if door hardware is electrified and requires an alarm contact, we recommend that it be incorporated in the factory. If it’s done in the field it can ruin the door fire rating. This involves some lead time that should be built into the schedule.

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TEECOM Can Help

Understanding that coordinating door hardware is no simple task, TEECOM’s security design experts have developed a set of best practices based on years of experience. These guidelines offer a structured process and checklist to help deliver a fully coordinated bid package. To learn more about how TEECOM can help, contact us.

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