A door hardware schedule is the document within a set of construction drawings that specifies every mechanical and electronic component for every door in a building. It lives under CSI MasterFormat Section 08 71 00 and ties together locks, hinges, closers, seals, and access control devices so procurement, installation, and inspection all reference one authoritative list. Get it wrong and you order the wrong products, fail inspections, and spend the rest of the job writing change orders.
How the Schedule Is Organized
The document is built around two linked ideas: individual door openings and hardware sets. Every door on the floor plans gets a unique door number. Doors that share identical hardware requirements are grouped under the same hardware set number. Ten identical offices with the same lockset, hinges, and closer point to a single hardware set rather than repeating the same specification ten times. That grouping is what keeps a schedule for a 300-door hospital from becoming unmanageable.
A well-structured schedule includes columns for the door number, hardware set number, hardware type, quantity, manufacturer, catalog number, finish code, and a remarks column for special conditions. The remarks column matters more than most people expect. It captures the exceptions that don’t fit neatly into standardized fields: hold-open requirements, automatic operators, lead-lined doors, acoustic ratings, or notes pointing to the security specification.
The hardware schedule works alongside a separate door schedule that records each opening’s width, height, thickness, door material, frame material, frame type, fire rating, and whether the opening is a single door or a pair. Hardware consultants rely on every one of those fields. A 4-foot-wide opening listed without clarification could be a single wide door or a pair of narrow 2-foot doors, and the hardware for each is completely different.
What You Need Before Drafting Hardware Sets
Before a single hardware set can be written, whoever is preparing the schedule needs physical data pulled from floor plans, door elevations, and the project specifications. The four fundamentals are handing, thickness, material, and weight.
Handing tells you whether a door swings left or right and whether it pushes or pulls, which sets the orientation of locksets, exit devices, and closers. Order the wrong hand and the hardware arrives configured for the wrong side. Thickness matters because commercial doors are typically 1-3/4 inches, though some applications use 1-3/8-inch slabs, and locksets and hinges are machined for specific thicknesses. Material governs fasteners and prep dimensions: wood, hollow metal, and aluminum-framed glass doors use entirely different hardware families. Weight drives hinge selection.
Hinge Sizing by Door Weight
Hinge selection follows a progression tied to door weight. Doors under 60 pounds use 3.5-inch hinges, two per opening. A 120-to-150-pound door needs three 4.5-inch hinges. Doors exceeding 180 pounds move to 5-inch or 6-inch hinges with three or more per opening. Doors over 200 pounds or taller than 84 inches typically require a fourth hinge. Jamb width constrains the equation too. Residential-scale jambs at 4.5 to 5 inches wide accommodate hinges up to about 4.5 inches; commercial jambs at 5.5 to 6 inches handle the larger sizes. For outswing exterior doors, hinges should be specified with non-removable pins (NRP) so the pins can’t be pulled from the outside to lift the door off.
Seals for Rated and Exterior Openings
When a door carries a Sound Transmission Class (STC) rating, the schedule must include the sealing components that make that rating achievable. An STC-rated door without proper perimeter gasketing and an automatic door bottom is just an expensive slab. List the seal kit as a line item within the hardware set, specifying the manufacturer and model tested with the door’s rated assembly. Weather seals on exterior openings follow the same logic, with air and moisture infiltration driving the specification instead of sound.
Fire-Rated Openings
Fire-rated openings face the most scrutiny and carry the steepest consequences when the schedule is wrong. NFPA 80 governs fire doors and requires that every component of a fire-rated opening be tested, listed, and labeled by an approved testing organization.1National Fire Protection Association. Fire Doors and NFPA 80 FAQs Unlisted hardware cannot be substituted on a fire door even if the product looks identical to the listed version.
Fire doors must be self-closing and positive-latching. Every fire-rated opening in the schedule needs a closer and a latchset that holds the door in the closed position. Blocking or wedging a fire door open violates the standard unless the door has a listed hold-open device tied to the fire alarm system. The door’s fire protection rating depends on the rating of the wall assembly it sits in, and NFPA 101 provides tables mapping wall ratings to required door ratings.1National Fire Protection Association. Fire Doors and NFPA 80 FAQs
Inspectors check fire-rated openings against 13 verification items during NFPA 80 inspections, from visible labels to operational tests confirming the door closes and latches under its own power. A missing closer, a non-latching lock, or an unlisted hinge will fail that inspection. The hardware schedule is the document inspectors reference, so an error in the schedule propagates directly into a failed inspection and a delayed certificate of occupancy.
ADA Requirements That Shape Hardware Choices
The Americans with Disabilities Act sets hardware requirements that affect nearly every door in a commercial building. All hardware on accessible routes must be operable with one hand, without tight grasping, pinching, or twisting of the wrist, and must require no more than 5 pounds of force to operate.2U.S. Access Board. Guide to the ADA Accessibility Standards That effectively rules out round doorknobs on accessible openings and makes lever handles the default in commercial schedules.
Hardware must be mounted between 34 and 48 inches above the finished floor. The 5-pound maximum opening force applies to interior swinging doors but not to fire doors, which are allowed whatever minimum force the fire code requires, or to exterior hinged doors, which have no specified maximum.2U.S. Access Board. Guide to the ADA Accessibility Standards The International Building Code’s accessibility chapter is written to meet or exceed ADA requirements, so compliance with IBC Chapter 11 generally satisfies federal accessibility law.3International Code Council. 2021 International Building Code – Chapter 11 Accessibility
The practical impact on a schedule is significant. Closers must be adjustable to keep opening force within the limit. Lever trim on exit devices must meet the one-hand, no-twist requirement. Thresholds can’t exceed half an inch in height. These are the details that get missed when the schedule is drafted by someone unfamiliar with accessibility standards.
Finish Codes and Abbreviations
Hardware schedules rely on standardized codes rather than subjective descriptions because “silver” means different things to different people. The ANSI/BHMA A156.18 standard assigns numeric codes to specific finishes so every manufacturer, supplier, and installer references the same thing.4Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association. A156.18 – 2020 Materials and Finishes Two of the most common commercial finishes are 626 (satin chromium plated, formerly US26D) and 630 (satin stainless steel, formerly US32D). Numeric codes eliminate the ambiguity of writing “brushed silver” or “matte chrome.”
Beyond finishes, the schedule uses shorthand for swing direction and materials. LH, RH, LHR, and RHR stand for Left Hand, Right Hand, Left Hand Reverse, and Right Hand Reverse, describing swing and hinge side for ordering exit devices and closers configured correctly. HM, WD, AL, FRP, and GL identify Hollow Metal, Wood, Aluminum, Fiberglass Reinforced Polymer, and Glass door and frame materials. NRP flags a non-removable pin hinge. Anyone reading the document needs to know the vocabulary, which is why most schedules include a legend.
Keying
The keying schedule is a separate but tightly linked document that defines which keys open which doors. Its abbreviations include KD (keyed different, each lock unique), KA (keyed alike, a group sharing one key), and MK (master keyed, individual keys work their own locks and a master opens all of them).
Master keying follows a hierarchy. A two-level system has change keys and a master. A three-level system (grand master keying) ties multiple master groups under a grand master. Four-level systems add a great grand master at the top. Most buildings don’t need more than four levels, but a university campus or hospital system might.
The hardware schedule must specify what type of cylinder each lockset uses, because that choice locks you into a keying platform. Conventional cylinders require partial disassembly of the lock to rekey. Small Format Interchangeable Cores (SFIC) use a standardized figure-eight shape and can be swapped in seconds with a special control key, which makes them far more practical for buildings where turnover or lost keys make rekeying frequent. The two systems cannot be cross-keyed, so the decision has to be made early and applied consistently.
Keying conferences between the hardware consultant, the owner, and the security team should happen before cylinders are ordered. The conference establishes the hierarchy, expansion plans, key control procedures, and delivery logistics. Permanent cylinders should not be ordered until the owner approves the final keying schedule.
Electrified Hardware and Access Control
Electrified hardware adds a layer of complexity that catches many project teams off guard. Access control components span two specification sections: door hardware in Division 08 and electronic security systems in Division 28. The dividing line is whether the device is “intelligent” and communicates with a broader access control system. An electric strike that buzzes open on a signal is Division 08 hardware. An integrated card-reader lockset that reports to a central server belongs in Division 28.
When a component sits in Division 28, the Division 08 schedule must carry a cross-reference note so installers and suppliers know the item exists but is detailed elsewhere. Without that coordination, components get specified twice or omitted entirely. A riser diagram showing wiring runs for every electrified opening helps electrical engineers and the security integrator stay aligned.
Fail-Safe Versus Fail-Secure
Every electrified lock falls into one of two categories. Fail-safe locks unlock when power is lost, prioritizing egress. Fail-secure locks stay locked when power is lost, prioritizing security. The IBC requires that electrically locked egress doors unlock automatically on loss of power and that the hardware allow immediate release with one-hand operation.5International Code Council. Door Hardware Release of Electrically Locked Egress Doors Electromagnetic locks are inherently fail-safe. Electric latch retraction devices are inherently fail-secure, unlocking only when powered.
Fire-rated doors with electric strikes must use fail-secure strikes, because fail-safe strikes don’t provide the positive latching NFPA 80 requires. Stairwell reentry doors typically use fail-safe electrified trim so the stair-side lever unlocks automatically when power drops during a fire alarm. A fail-safe device specified where a fail-secure one is required will either violate fire code or compromise security, so the schedule has to make the distinction explicit for every electrified opening.
Power Transfer Devices
Getting electricity from the frame to a swinging door slab requires a power transfer device, and the schedule needs to specify which. Surface-mounted door loops (armored cords) are the cheapest and easiest to retrofit but are visible and can be vandalized. Concealed power transfers are mortised into the door and frame, making them tamper-resistant and approved for fire-rated openings. Electric hinges route wiring through the hinge knuckle and fit into standard hinge preparations. Wireless power transfers use radio frequency to bridge the gap without a physical connection, which suits retrofits where drilling into existing doors is impractical.
Who Prepares the Schedule
On smaller projects, the architect may draft the schedule directly. On complex commercial or institutional buildings, the work is typically handled by an Architectural Hardware Consultant (AHC) certified through the Door and Hardware Institute. The AHC credential validates expertise in product application, code integration, and specification writing across fire, life safety, accessibility, and security requirements.6Door and Hardware Institute. Architectural Hardware Consultant (AHC)
Hardware distributors also employ consultants who prepare schedules as part of the bidding process. The distributor’s version becomes the submittal, a more detailed expansion of the architect’s schedule that includes product data sheets, catalog cuts, and wiring diagrams for electrified hardware. The design team reviews the submittal for compliance with the specifications and applicable codes before approving it for procurement.
How the Schedule Gets Used
Once approved, the schedule becomes part of the contract documents that govern procurement and installation. The hardware supplier uses it to manufacture, assemble, and ship packaged hardware sets to the site, typically with each set boxed and labeled by door number.
During final inspection, inspectors walk the building with the schedule in hand. Each door is checked to verify that the correct lockset, closer, hinges, and seals are present and functioning. Fire-rated openings get particular attention: visible labels, proper latching, self-closing operation. Discrepancies between installed hardware and the approved schedule delay the certificate of occupancy until corrections are made.
The schedule remains useful after construction ends. Facility managers reference it for maintenance, warranty claims, and future renovations. When a closer fails five years later, the schedule identifies the exact manufacturer, model, and finish for the replacement. When a tenant improvement requires rekeying a floor, the keying schedule shows which cylinders are affected and how they sit in the master key hierarchy. Keeping the schedule current is one of the simplest things an owner can do to hold down long-term maintenance costs.