My gate is stuck open. How fast can someone come out?
Tell us that when you call, because it changes the priority. A gate stuck open means the property you gated is unsecured until it is fixed, and we treat it that way. Most calls placed before 2pm get same-day service.
The motor hums but the gate doesn't move. Is the motor dead?
Almost certainly not. A hum means the motor is powered and trying to turn, so the fault is usually mechanical or a single component — a sheared drive gear, a chain that has jumped its sprocket, or a failed start capacitor. Those are repairs, not replacements. A genuinely dead motor is silent.
Why does my gate open but refuse to close?
That pattern almost always points at a safety input rather than the gate. Most operators are designed to refuse to close — while still allowing opening — when a photo eye or a buried loop reports something under the gate. A damaged loop or a fogged photo eye produces exactly this symptom, and both are far cheaper than anything involving the operator.
Do you work on gates and operators you didn't install?
Yes — most of our work is on equipment somebody else installed, often years ago. We service the major operator brands. Where a unit is genuinely obsolete and boards are no longer made, we say so plainly and price both options rather than quietly steering you to the bigger job.
Should I repair my gate operator or replace it?
It depends on what failed. A capacitor, gear kit, limit switch or single board on an otherwise sound operator is worth repairing and usually far cheaper. Replacement starts making sense when the gearbox itself is worn, when the unit has been submerged, when it predates current entrapment-protection standards, or when you are on the third repair in a year.
How does my gate open when the power is out?
Every operator has a manual release that disconnects the motor so the gate can be moved by hand — know where yours is and make sure you can reach it from the side you would be stuck on. A battery backup will keep the gate running normally for a number of cycles, which on this coast matters: outages after a named storm are measured in days.
Why do gate posts keep going out of plumb in Houston?
Shrink-swell clay. It expands when saturated and contracts when it dries, and Houston delivers both extremes in the same year. That cycle walks a post a fraction out of vertical at a time until a swing gate starts dragging. The lasting fix is a correctly sized footing, not re-hanging the gate on a post that will move again.
Are automatic gates required to have safety sensors?
Automatic gate operators are covered by entrapment-protection standards (UL 325), and any current operator is built around them — photo eyes or edge sensors plus inherent force sensing. If your gate has none, adding them is not an upsell: the operator's own listing assumes they are there, and a gate is the heaviest powered thing on most properties, moving where cars and children are.
