When Mark Lehman founded Power Access Control in 2019, he had no venture capital and no private equity backing. What he did have was a deep frustration with the status quo in the commercial security industry. “I couldn't stand watching clients suffer through delayed service calls, unreturned phone calls, and indifferent customer care,” Lehman said. “In commercial access control, a broken gate or failed entry system isn't just an inconvenience—it's a massive security vulnerability and an operational nightmare for a business.” That frustration drove him to leave a secure job and build his own firm from the ground up.
The early days were defined by grit and long hours. Lehman handled everything from early morning site surveys to late-night wiring and troubleshooting in the Atlanta heat. While competitors poured thousands of dollars into paid advertising, Lehman made a decision that many considered reckless for a startup: Power Access Control would spend zero dollars on advertising. Instead, he staked everything on a simple premise: over-deliver on every contract and let the work speak for itself. “When you don't rely on ad money to feed your business, your work has to be flawless,” Lehman said. “Every project had to be our best billboard.”
Lehman also made a strategic pivot, stepping away from residential work entirely to focus exclusively on high-security, high-throughput commercial infrastructure. That focus led to the launch of Atlanta Turnstiles, a specialized division handling complex turnstile security, optical speed gates, biometric access, and perimeter security integration. Word of the company's uncompromising standards spread through Atlanta's general contracting and facility management circles, and soon the commercial giants came calling.
Today, Power Access Control's client portfolio includes Choate Construction, Tyler Perry Studios, Peachtree-DeKalb Airport (PDK), and Fortune-Johnson. These are not small accounts: securing high-profile media facilities and managing perimeter access control for active aviation operations requires a level of technical expertise and reliability that few firms can match. The company's ability to land such clients without a single paid ad underscores how much weight reputation carries in the commercial security market.
As Power Access Control gears up for 2027, the numbers reflect a meteoric trajectory. What started as a one-man mission in 2019 is now pacing toward $8 million to $10 million in annual revenue. For Lehman, the target is validation of the philosophy that started it all. “We proved that you don't need a slick advertising budget to build a multi-million dollar business,” he said. “You just need to trust the process, treat every customer like your only customer, and never settle for anything less than excellence.”
The implications extend beyond one company's success. In an industry where massive marketing budgets and aggressive paid sales funnels are the norm, Power Access Control's zero-ad-spend model offers a counter-narrative: that operational excellence and customer service can be a more powerful growth engine than any ad campaign. For business owners and entrepreneurs, the story is a reminder that reputation, built project by project, can scale. For the commercial security sector, it signals that clients value responsiveness and reliability over slick marketing—a lesson that could reshape how firms compete. As metro Atlanta's commercial landscape continues its rapid boom, Power Access Control stands as a textbook example of organic, reputation-driven growth. More information is available at https://poweraccesscontrol.com.
