Free on-site gate assessment - hinges, posts, and your LiftMaster or Nice gate operator checked before anything is quoted
The assessment is free and the quote is the invoice.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterFast, Reliable Gate Motor & Opener Across Los Angeles
A gate motor and opener in Los Angeles usually costs between $850 and $2,400 to replace, and most repairs run $185 to $540 depending on what actually failed. We’re Gatewood Fence & Gate, and we’ve been fixing gates across this city long enough to know that the real question isn’t the motor. It’s whether the post it’s mounted to is still plumb after the last quake. Call (951) 749-5734 and a real person answers. That person will know what a Benedict Canyon voltage drop problem sounds like before you finish describing it.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Los Angeles’s Preferred Gate Motor & Opener Company
Hal Gatewood started this shop in 2001, and his name is still on the door. That matters in a city where gate work too often gets handed to a rotating cast of subcontractors nobody will ever see again. Our Gate Motor & Opener crew has worked gates from Hancock Park to Studio City, and we don’t haul your gate off to some yard in the Valley. We fix it where it hangs, with on-site welding and parts that actually match the hardware you already have.
Los Angeles homeowners call us because the person who shows up is background-checked, uniformed, and trained on nine major brands including LiftMaster, FAAC, BFT, Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, Elite, and Mighty Mule. Hal has been known to drive back out to a hillside property in Laurel Canyon at 10 p.m. because a gate wouldn’t close and a dog was loose. That’s not a marketing line. That’s how an owner-operated shop works when the owner lives in the same city as the customer.
Every job we do in Los Angeles carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If it’s not right, one call brings Hal back. No runaround, no “that’s not covered.” The name is on the shop, and the shop is down the road. That’s the oldest accountability there is.
Our Gate Motor & Opener Services in Los Angeles
Motor Installation
A new gate motor installation in Los Angeles runs $1,100 to $2,400 for a typical residential swing gate, and heavy custom gates in Bel Air or the Hollywood Hills often land higher because the operator has to be sized for a panel that weighs 400 pounds or more. We don’t sell you a bigger motor than the gate needs just to pad the invoice. Hal will tell you straight: fix the post without the motor first, and you might not need a new operator at all.
Motor Repair
Most gate motor repairs in Los Angeles fall between $185 and $540. That covers failed capacitors, stripped rack and pinion gears, burned control boards, and limit switches that drifted out of adjustment. We carry parts in our Los Angeles service vehicles so we’re not waiting on a warehouse in another state. Show me the gate closing on its own and I’ll show you where it’s failing. Usually it’s a $12 capacitor, not a $1,200 motor.
Linear Motor
Linear-brand operators are common on mid-century Los Angeles homes, particularly retrofit slide gates in the San Fernando Valley installed back in the 1970s and 80s. We service Linear motors across Reseda, Van Nuys, and Chatsworth, and we stock Linear parts locally. The most common Linear failure we see in Los Angeles is a stripped drive gear caused by a gate that’s been grinding on a corroded track for years. Fix the track, replace the gear, and the motor has another decade in it.
Slide Motor
Slide gate motors in Los Angeles take a beating from airborne grit, UV-cooked rubber drive wheels, and the constant stop-start cycles of gates that serve multiple vehicles a day. On hillside properties, slide gates are often the only option where there isn’t room for a swing arc. We install and repair slide motors from Ghost Controls and DoorKing, and we handle the V-groove wheels, galvanized track, and chain drive hardware that a flatland tech would tell you to replace entirely. We weld, we machine, and we keep the gate in your driveway.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
- 3
A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
- 4
You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Los Angeles
We’re certified to service nine major gate operator brands, and around Los Angeles we end up working on Linear, Viking, and Ghost Controls more than most. That’s the local mix, driven by what hillside builders specified in the 90s and early 2000s. We stock replacement parts for these brands in our Los Angeles vehicles, which means we’re not calling a distributor and hoping for next-day freight while your gate sits open. If we don’t have the board on the truck, we’ll tell you when it arrives, not promise a window we can’t hit.
Common Gate Motor & Opener Problems We See in Los Angeles Homes
- Earthquake-driven hinge post drift. Los Angeles gets several minor-to-moderate quakes a year, and hillside gates in places like Hollywood Hills and Laurel Canyon sit on posts that shift a hair each time. A post that’s just two degrees out of plumb makes the operator work twice as hard and burns out boards and gearboxes years early.
- Voltage drop on long hillside runs. When the operator sits 150 to 300 feet down the driveway from the house panel, the wiring run itself eats voltage. We see operators that test fine at the motor but fail intermittently under load because the wiring is undersized for the distance. That’s a Los Angeles hillside problem, not a gate problem.
- Salt-air control board corrosion. In Venice, Marina del Rey, Pacific Palisades, and Malibu, the marine air gets into operator housings and corrodes PCBs and terminal blocks in two or three years. The same board in Sherman Oaks might last eight. We seal replacement boards and relocate ground-level housings where we can.
- Rodent-chewed conduit on canyon properties. Hillside estates in Benedict Canyon and Topanga run access-control wiring through conduit that rodents love to nest in. Chewed insulation causes intermittent shorts that look like a failing operator. We trace the run, repair the wiring, and sleeve the conduit so it doesn’t happen again next season.
Pricing for Gate Motor & Opener in Los Angeles, CA
Here are real Los Angeles numbers, not national averages. A slide gate motor replacement runs $900 to $1,900. A swing gate operator runs $1,100 to $2,400 installed, with heavy custom gates at the top of that range. Repairs: $185 to $540 for most component-level fixes. A battery backup install runs $350 to $700. Intercom integration starts around $450 and goes up with the length of the wire run. Every price is quoted and agreed before any work starts, and you get $40 off any repair over $200. Seniors and veterans get 10% off, permanently. No trip charge inside the county. Call (951) 749-5734 for a number that won’t change at the door.
We Also Serve Cities Near Los Angeles
Gatewood Fence & Gate covers Los Angeles and the surrounding area, including West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Studio City. If your gate is acting up and you’re anywhere in the basin or up in the canyons, call (951) 749-5734. Hal will tell you straight what it needs and what it doesn’t.
Serving Los Angeles, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Los Angeles area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Gate Motor & Opener in Los Angeles
Los Angeles experiences several minor-to-moderate earthquakes each year, and hillside posts set in decomposed granite or shallow fill shift incrementally with each event. Even a two-degree drift out of plumb throws a heavy gate’s weight onto the hinge side of the operator, causing overtorque alarms, stripped gears, and premature board failure. Flatland cities don’t see this because their ground doesn’t move. We realign the post, not just the gate leaf, because fixing the panel without the post means you’ll fix it twice. Call (951) 749-5734 and we’ll check the post first thing.
On Los Angeles hillside properties, the intercom and access-control wiring often runs 150 to 300 feet from the house down to the street gate, and voltage drop over that distance is the usual culprit. The intercom powers up but can’t sustain a clear signal or drops out under load, especially on old Cat3 or 18/2 wire that was never sized for the run. Rodent damage inside the conduit compounds it. We test the line, measure the drop, and run new properly-sized wire or add a local power supply at the gate. Call us for an exact diagnosis, estimates are free.
Yes, and we do it often on gates that weigh 300 to 500 pounds in places like Bel Air and the Hollywood Hills. A battery backup install in Los Angeles runs $350 to $700, and for heavy gates, we size the battery capacity to handle the operator’s inrush current under full load, not just steady-state draw. That’s the difference between a backup that holds for a few cycles and one that actually runs the gate through a full open-and-close during a utility outage. Call (951) 749-5734 and we’ll spec it for your gate, not a generic chart.
Salt-laden marine air from the Pacific carries chloride ions that deposit on exposed copper traces and solder joints inside operator housings, accelerating electrolytic corrosion dramatically. A control board in Venice or Pacific Palisades lasts two to four years on average, while the same board in Los Feliz or Sherman Oaks might run eight or more. We seal replacement boards with conformal coating and relocate ground-level housings above grade where we can. It won’t stop the salt entirely, but it buys the board several extra years. Call us for a free second opinion on any written estimate you’ve received.
A slide gate retrofit on a 1960s or 70s tract home in Reseda, Van Nuys, or Chatsworth usually means pulling out the old V-groove wheels, cutting out the corroded galvanized track, and setting a new steel track in a properly cored and anchored concrete footer. Most of those original installs never had a real footer under the track, which is why the gate grinds and the motor strains. Then we mount a new operator, typically Linear or Ghost Controls, wire it to a properly-sized circuit, and set the limit switches for the gate’s actual travel, not the old worn path. Budget $1,300 to $2,600 for a full slide gate retrofit in Los Angeles, depending on track length and operator size. Call (951) 749-5734 for a written quote before any work starts.
If your gate won’t close and you’re anywhere in Los Angeles proper, call (951) 749-5734. A live person answers any hour, and we schedule emergency repair calls the same day when a gate is stuck open, stuck closed, or leaving the property unsecured. We serve the whole basin, from the canyons up in Topanga and Laurel Canyon to the flats in the Valley and the coastal neighborhoods west of the 405. Tell the person on the phone what the gate is doing. Hal will tell you if it can wait until morning or if someone needs to be there tonight.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Los Angeles since 2001.