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.
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AfterFast, Reliable Gate Motor & Opener Across Burbank
When a gate motor quits in Burbank, it’s rarely at a convenient time. It’s Monday morning with a car stuck in the driveway, or midnight with the gate half-open over a sidewalk on Verdugo Avenue. Most gate opener failures we see in Burbank fall into two categories: an old control board that finally gave out after years of valley heat, or a motor that burned out from fighting a gate that was never hung right in the first place. Our Gate Motor & Opener crew covers every Burbank neighborhood, from the flats south of the 134 to the Rancho Equestrian District, and a live person answers when you call (323) 677-4063.
We repair first and replace only when it’s the cheaper answer over the next five years. That’s not a slogan, it’s how Hal Gatewood has run this shop since 2001.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Burbank’s Preferred Gate Motor & Opener Company
Burbank is a working town. It has studio lots where a gate cycles two hundred times a day next to 1950s ranch houses where a gate might open twice a week. That’s a different kind of market than Glendale or North Hollywood, and it rewards a contractor who services both ends of it. We do. Hal grew up turning wrenches in this valley, and he’s been running Gate Motor & Opener in Burbank jobs personally since before LiftMaster switched from chain-drive residential units to belt drives. If you want a second opinion on a written estimate from another company, we’ll give it free. If we do the work and it’s not right, the 90-Day Done Right Promise means one call brings us back.
Our Burbank customers tend to stay with us for years because the paperwork matches the price we quoted on the phone. We don’t show up and “discover” extra charges. The price is agreed before the first tool comes off the truck. Every job, every time.
We also answer the phone at 2 a.m. with a live person. That matters when your gate is stuck open and you need Gate Access Control in Burbank right away, especially if you live three blocks from Warner Bros. with film equipment parked in the driveway.
Our Gate Motor & Opener Services in Burbank
Motor Installation
Gate Installation - Burbank pricing for a new gate motor typically runs $850-$1,800 installed for a residential swing gate operator, depending on the gate’s weight and whether we’re pulling new low-voltage wire from the house. On wide Rancho slide gates, a full operator with rack and safety edges lands between $2,400 and $4,500. We quote the number before we start, and we don’t change it at the end. Hal walks every install himself, checking the post embedment, hinge alignment, and the gate’s center of gravity before anything gets bolted down.
Motor Repair
Most Burbank Gate Repair jobs for motors run $180-$420 in parts and labor. That covers failed capacitors, stripped gearboxes, burned-out limit switches, and frozen bearings. The trick is diagnosing whether the motor failed on its own or was killed by a gate that binds. If the gate drags on a settling post, a new motor will die the same way in eighteen months. We find the root cause first. That’s why our repair calls often start with Hal putting his weight on the gate and watching it move.
Linear Motor
Linear arm operators are common on Burbank’s older post-WWII ranch homes, where a swing gate is hung off a stucco corner and there’s no room for a buried or ram-mounted operator. A new linear arm runs $700-$1,400 installed. These units need clean pivot points and a hinge post that hasn’t pulled out of plumb. In Burbank’s dry heat and clay soils, we often see posts that have walked outward over decades, and slapping a new arm on a spalled post just transfers that failure to the gearcase.
Slide Motor
Slide gates are the Rancho Equestrian District’s signature. We install and repair slide operators on those wide horse-property entrances constantly, from Light Commercial FAAC and BFT units to residential chain-drive Mighty Mule setups. Slide motor work in Burbank runs $1,200-$3,800 depending on duty cycle and whether the rack is steel or nylon. Burbank’s Santa Ana winds push these big gates sideways every fall, and a gate that racks out of square will chew through gearboxes. We check the track, the rack spacing, and the end stops on every slide-gate service call.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Burbank
We carry parts for the three opener brands most common on Burbank gates: LiftMaster, Mighty Mule, and FAAC. That matters because waiting a week on a specialty control board while your gate is dead isn’t acceptable. We stock replacement boards, photocells, remotes, and limit switches for legacy LiftMaster and DoorKing units in our LA shop, and we bring them to Burbank the same day the call comes in. If you’ve got a Mighty Mule that stopped reversing, or a FAAC with a firmware fault, we’ve likely seen three of them this month. Hal doesn’t guess at part numbers; he’s been reading these boards since Windows 98.
Common Gate Motor & Opener Problems We See in Burbank Homes
- Obsolete control boards on pre-UL 325 operators. Many Burbank gates installed before 2001 still run the original LiftMaster or DoorKing boards. After twenty-plus San Fernando Valley summers at 100°F, the solder joints crack and thermal cycling kills the board. These can often be retrofitted with a modern board and safety photocells for $400-$700, far less than a full operator swap.
- Santa Ana wind damage on slide gates. When wind funnels through the Verdugo passes, it hits Rancho slide gates broadside. The gate racks, the rack-and-pinion misaligns, and the motor strains against a bind until the gearbox strips. We schedule slide-gate tension and alignment checks before the worst wind months for exactly this reason.
- UV and dry-heat degradation on wood-and-steel gates. Rancho Equestrian gates that combine steel frames with timber in-fill split their wood rails within a few seasons of Burbank’s dry heat. The gate sags, drags, and overloads the operator until it seizes. Replacing the timber and re-hanging the gate costs a fraction of a new motor, and done right it buys another decade.
- Dead battery backups after grid interruptions. Burbank Water and Power has had its share of heat-wave dropouts, and a gate that runs on battery backup needs those batteries actually tested. We replace and test backup cells on residential and apartment operators across Burbank, because a dead backup in a power failure means a gate that won’t move at all.
Pricing for Gate Motor & Opener in Burbank, CA
Here’s what we actually charge in Burbank, not what a national lead-gen site says the “typical” rate is. A residential swing-gate operator replacement runs $850-$1,800. A slide-gate operator with new rack and safety edges runs $2,400-$4,500. Control board retrofits land at $400-$700. Battery backup replacement is $180-$350 per unit. Repair-only calls fall in the $180-$420 range for most failures. If the gate needs re-welding or a new post footing, that’s additional and quoted separately before we touch it. Remember: $40 off any repair over $200, no trip charge inside the county, and a permanent 10% discount for seniors and veterans. Call (323) 677-4063 for a free estimate, and the number we give you is the number on the invoice.
We Also Serve Cities Near Burbank
We take Gate Motor & Opener calls all across the northeast Valley. That includes Burbank and the surrounding communities of North Hollywood, Studio City, Van Nuys, and West Hollywood. If you’re five minutes outside Burbank proper, we still show up with the same parts and the same warranty.
Serving Burbank, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Burbank 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 Burbank
Yes, and it’s almost always the same story: an older operator installed before UL 325 required entrapment protection in 2001. Burbank’s pre-war and post-WWII housing stock still has a lot of these legacy units running, especially in the flat grid south of the 134. The fix is usually a retrofit board with current-sensing reversal or a photocell pair, which runs $400-$700. Don’t run that gate until it’s fixed; a non-reversing operator is a serious safety hazard. Call (323) 677-4063 and we’ll get a retrofitted board in the same week.
Because the Santa Anas rack the gate and the track out of alignment just enough that the rack-and-pinion engagement goes tight on one side. The motor fights the bind, the gearbox whines, and eventually it strips. This is the single most common slide-gate failure we see in Burbank’s horse district each year. The fix is re-squaring the gate on its track and re-shimming the rack to factory spacing, about $220-$380. Catch it early and you skip the $1,000+ gearbox replacement later.
Often, yes. Burbank’s older ranch homes south of the 134 have solid steel or iron gates that are worth keeping, even when the original opener is long obsolete. If the hinge post is still structurally sound and hasn’t pulled more than a half-inch out of plumb, we can install a modern linear-arm or ram-style operator with full UL 325 safety compliance and leave the gate alone. A retrofit like that typically runs $850-$1,400. If the post is spalled or leaning, we’ll tell you straight, because bolting a new operator to a bad post is throwing money away.
Two likely culprits specific to where you are. First, Burbank’s summer heat shortens sealed lead-acid battery life dramatically, often to two years or less in direct-sun enclosures. Second, many Rancho properties have mature trees that shade the solar panel after 4 p.m., cutting the charge time below what the opener’s standby draw needs. We test the panel output and the battery under load, replace the failed component, and usually the system starts holding a charge again. Battery replacement runs $180-$350.
It depends on the building’s classification and whether the replacement involves new conduit, new power runs, or changes to fire-lane access. Many straightforward operator swaps in Burbank don’t require a building permit, but commercial and multi-family properties near studio campuses often trigger additional review. We handle the coordination with the City of Burbank building department and Fire Marshal on every commercial job we take, and we’ll tell you up front if your apartment property needs paperwork. For a specific answer on your building, call and we’ll check the parcel details.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Burbank since 2001.
If your gate motor is dead, grinding, or won’t reverse, don’t wait for it to fail completely on a studio-adjacent street at 11 p.m. Call (323) 677-4063 now for a free estimate and a straight answer. Hal or his crew will answer. The name is on the shop, and the shop is down the road.