Frequently Asked Questions - Gate Repair in Highland Park, TX
Straight answers to the questions Highland Park homeowners ask us most about gate repair. If yours isn't here, call (325) 666-5301 and ask us directly.
Pricing & Cost FAQs
Most gate repairs in Highland Park run between $150 and $900 depending on what failed. A stuck wheel or misaligned sensor sits at the low end. A bent steel frame, failed operator motor, or hinge post that needs resetting in concrete lands at the high end. We give you a written price before any work starts, and that number doesn't change unless you approve a change order in writing. Call (325) 666-5301 with what the gate is doing and we'll tell you what it likely is before we ever roll a truck.
No. Estimates are free. We come out, look at the gate, listen to what it's doing, and hand you a written price. You decide. No pressure, no "today only" pricing, no games. Hal Gatewood has been doing it that way since this location opened, and it's how he'd want to be treated if it were his driveway.
The price tracks what actually failed. A limit switch is a quick fix. A gate that's sagging because the hinge post is rotting underground means digging, new concrete, and re-hanging the gate. A motor that burned out because somebody bypassed a safety sensor is more expensive than the motor alone would suggest, because we insist on wiring the safety edge back properly. The honest variable is labor and materials against the actual failure, not a markup game. We quote what it takes to fix it right, not half of it.
Replacing a gate opener motor in Highland Park typically falls between $400 and $1,200 depending on the brand and whether the control board and wiring are still sound. BFT and Viking motors are common in this area, and parts availability for those brands is generally good, which keeps the job timely. We'll quote the motor, the labor, and any wiring or safety sensor work in one line-item price before we start.
We can, but we'd rather see it first. You tell us the gate won't open and we can tell you the three most likely causes. You send us a photo and we can get closer. The free visit is where the quote gets firm, in writing, before any work begins. That protects you from the bait-and-switch phone quote that so many homeowners in Highland Park have already been burned by.
Service & Process FAQs
Most repairs are done in one visit, usually two to four hours on site. Welding a cracked frame joint, swapping a motor, or replacing safety sensors is a same-visit job. A hinge post that needs to be dug out and reset in concrete may require arriving early and giving the concrete time to set before re-hanging the gate, so that job can stretch across an afternoon. We tell you the real timeline in the written estimate.
We weld and repair on-site. Hal's whole reason for building gates in his own shop and running a local branch here is that a gate shouldn't disappear for two weeks while a shop somewhere else gets around to it. We bring the welder, the tools, and the parts to your driveway. If a panel has to come off for a repair, it's coming off your frame, not leaving your property.
A repair visit includes diagnosing the failure, quoting the fix in writing, doing the mechanical or electrical work, and testing the gate through full open and close cycles before we leave. We check the hinges, the wheels, the chain or belt if there is one, the safety edge, and the operator. If we find something small that's about to fail, we'll tell you and quote it separately. We don't pile on surprise work at the end.
We work on all of them. Steel driveway gates, aluminum pedestrian gates, ornamental garden gates, sliding gates, swing gates that hang by hinges, security gates across shop entrances. If it swings or slides and it's misbehaving, we'll look at it. The common thread in Highland Park is steel and aluminum frames with operators on the big ones, and we know both the metal and the motor side of the job.
Yes. A gate sags in the hinge post, not in the middle. When a gate drags, the post has usually shifted, the hinges have worn, or the frame has cracked. Fix the panel without the post and you'll fix it twice. We find the real cause, correct the post or the hinge geometry, and re-hang the gate so it clears the ground and moves freely again.
Brands & Parts FAQs
We service BFT, Linear, Viking, and Ghost Controls openers, along with most other major brands you'd find on a Highland Park driveway. The brand matters less than the failure point, but some operators have known weak links in the control board, and knowing the brand gets us to the fix faster. We keep common wear parts on the truck for the brands we see most, and everything else is a day away from our supplier.
Original manufacturer parts when they're available and make sense, quality aftermarket when they're equal and priced better. For BFT and Viking operators, we use OEM boards and motors because those systems are sensitive to voltage behavior and an off-brand board can burn out. For a hinge or a wheel, we'll spec American-made steel components that meet or exceed the original. You'll see exactly what you're paying for, brand and all, in the quote.
Usually, yes. Hal repairs what other companies want to replace. An older operator with a dead capacitor or a worn limit switch is often fixable with a $40 part and an hour of time. If the motor itself is burned or the board is fried beyond repair, we'll tell you straight and quote a replacement. But we never lead with replacement. We lead with what the gate actually needs.
We carry the common wear items on the truck: sensors, limit switches, capacitors, hinge sets, wheels, and assorted hardware. For bigger items like complete operator motors and control boards, we get them from suppliers in the Dallas area, usually within a day. We're not a warehouse, but we're also not ordering everything across the country and making you wait a week. The local supply chain in the DFW metro is deep, and we use it.
Licensing & Insurance FAQs
Yes. Every pro working under the Gatewood name is required to hold the license and insurance the State of Texas requires for this work. We carry liability coverage and we're bonded. You can ask to see the paperwork when we arrive, and nobody on our team will blink. Hal publishes his name and stands behind the work, which is the point of the whole operation.
A live coordinator answers and connects you with the local team. You're not leaving a message with a machine and hoping. During our hours, Mon through Fri 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM and weekends 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM, there's a person on the line who knows the business and can help you schedule. When you call (325) 666-5301, you get an answer, not an automated maze.
We're a local branch with a local team, and every pro working under our name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. That's the standard, and it's non-negotiable. We hire in this area, we work in this area, and the people on your job are people we know and hold accountable to our name. You're getting the team the brand sends, not a rotating cast of whoever's available.
Emergency & Response FAQs
We plan repairs by schedule, and our hours run Mon through Fri 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM and weekends 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM. When you call, we'll get you on the schedule as fast as those hours and the workload allow. A gate stuck open is a security issue and we treat it with urgency. Call (325) 666-5301 and tell us what happened. We'll figure out the real timeline, not an optimistic one.
Call us and then don't force the gate. A gate that's partially off its track or hanging on one hinge is under stress in ways that can turn a hinge repair into a column replacement if you keep running the opener. Secure the area if you can, disengage the operator if it's safe to reach, and let us look at it. Show me the gate closing on its own and I'll show you where it's failing, Hal says, and that failure needs eyes on it before it gets worse.
We work the hours posted, Mon through Fri 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM and weekends 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and we prioritize gates that are stuck open or creating a safety problem. An emergency to us is a gate that won't close on a home with kids or dogs, or a gate blocking a driveway. Tell us what's happening when you call and we'll prioritize honestly. We don't inflate the price because you're in a bind.
Warranty & Guarantees FAQs
Ninety days in writing on every fences and gates job. If something fails in that window and it's on work we did or parts we installed, one call brings us back to fix it. That's the Gatewood guarantee, and it's stamped on every job we do. We don't hand you a warranty card and hope you lose it. We stand on it.
Yes. The ninety-day written warranty covers our labor and the parts we installed. If a part fails through no fault of yours, we replace it and we don't charge you to come back out. If your cousin backed into the gate, that's a new repair and we'll quote it fairly. The warranty protects you from our mistakes and bad parts, and we take that seriously.
Call us anyway. We'd rather keep you for twenty years than win one big ticket, and a repair that fails just outside the warranty window deserves a conversation. We'll look at it, tell you honestly what happened, and if it's something we should have caught the first time, we'll make it right. The name is on the shop, and the shop is down the road. We're not going anywhere.
Written quotes are fixed quotes. The price we put in writing is the price you pay unless you change the scope of the work, and then you'll approve the change in writing before we do it. No surprises on the invoice, no "we discovered something" upcharge after the fact. The first thing a homeowner in Highland Park asks is whether we're actually local, and the second thing they're worried about is whether the invoice will match the quote. Both concerns get straight answers from us.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Highland Park since 2001.
Still Have Questions?
We are happy to help. Call us - same-day and after-hours emergency service available.
(325) 666-5301