Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Smart Locks for Common House

[Scott Drennan (scottd]

I’m not sure our experience is that helpful for you given your needs, but I can 
say that fobs have gotten much cheaper over the past 5-10 years. I believe we 
paid about $3 per fob when we purchased additional fobs last year. 

Unfortunately I don’t have experience with either of the locks you are 
considering.

On Fri, Oct 24, 2025, at 4:12 PM, Diane Craig via Cohousing-L wrote:
> Good question We have one common house with two doors that are locked 24/7.
> It currently has a keypad lock that runs on batteries, not wifi.  We have
> two other buildings (workshop/garden shed) and will continue to use a
> keypad on those.  We don't use keys at all. The fob/card drawback is you
> have to carry it around (not a big deal) and the cost (a big deal).
> 
> On Thu, Oct 23, 2025 at 5:59 PM Scott Drennan <scottd [at] pobox.com> wrote:
> 
> > We chose fobs/cards instead of cell phone or keypad.
> > The fobs are individually assignable and can be activated and deactivated
> > separately.
> > We wanted something which operates independent of Internet and WiFi
> > access, for improved privacy, security and long-term usability. We have one
> > person who manages activating/deactivating/changing fob permissions, with a
> > backup person for resiliency.
> >
> > How many locks do you have on your Common House? We have a total of 10
> > across 3 buildings, so your needs may be simpler, but I'd still recommend
> > something which is locally controlled. And what do you currently have?
> > Locks with keys?
> >
> > cheers,
> > Scott
> > Treehouse Village Ecohousing
> > Bridgewater, Nova Scotia
> >
> > On Thu, Oct 23, 2025, at 1:16 PM, Diane Craig via Cohousing-L wrote:
> >
> > Gainesville Cohousing is looking to upgrade its common house locks.  We are
> > looking at two that can be opened with a cell phone (Apple or Android),
> > along with a keypad.  We want to be able to change codes more frequently
> > without frustrating the community, assign or remove guest codes to
> > non-members, and lock/unlock the door remotely.
> >
> > The two we are looking at are the *Ultraloq Bolt Fingerprint (with u-tec
> > app)* and the *Schlage Encode Smart Wifi Deadbolt Lock*.
> >
> > Does anyone have experience with either of these products or another smart
> > lock with remote access?
> >
> > If yes, do you have one person who logs into the app to manage the codes or
> > multiple members who can do this?   What are the pros and cons of using
> > these locks in your community?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Diane Craig
> > Gainesville Cohousing
> > Gainesville, FL
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