FAAC Welding & Fabrication Nationwide | Gatewood Fence & Gate

FAAC Welding & Fabrication: The West Hollywood Owner’s Guide

If your FAAC gate has a cracked hinge, a torn post mount, or a weld that let go, we fix it on site in West Hollywood, usually the same day you call. A typical FAAC welding and fabrication job runs $225 to $600 installed, depending on whether we’re repairing cast steel, reinforcing a post, or fabricating a new bracket from scratch. Call (323) 677-4063 and we’ll give you a firm number before any work starts.

Call (323) 677-4063

Most owners in West Hollywood discover the problem the hard way. The gate starts dragging on one corner. Then it binds when the opener cycles. Then one morning it won’t move at all and you’re late for work, staring at a hinge that’s been cracked for six months and finally sheared through. FAAC gates are built well, but the metal around the hardware takes a beating from the hillside grade changes and the hot-cold cycling up in the canyons. When the steel fails, the part itself often isn’t the only thing that needs attention.

Which FAAC Models This Applies To

We work on the full FAAC lineup: the swing-arm 400, 412, 415, and 770 series, plus the 391 and S418 sliding operators. The welding and fabrication side usually comes down to three things: hinge plates, post caps, and the mounting brackets that hold the operator to the gate or the post. We’re an independent shop, not affiliated with FAAC, which means we’ll tell you honestly when an OEM part is worth the money and when a well-made equivalent does the same job.

Check the silver tag on the operator housing before you call. The model number and the input voltage are stamped right on it. That tells us which bracket geometry you have, because FAAC changed hole spacing between the 400 series and the 412/415 line. A bracket fabricated for a 400 won’t line up on a 415. We’ve seen West Hollywood owners buy a “universal” bracket online and spend a Saturday afternoon drilling out holes, only to have the gate bind under load. Cast steel FAAC brackets should be bought as genuine OEM parts when possible. For hinge plates and post reinforcements, a custom fabrication job in our shop often outlasts the original.

Signs Your FAAC Welding & Fabrication Is Failing

• The gate sags or scrapes on one side. This is almost always the hinge side, not the latch side. A gate sags in the hinge post, not in the middle, and that’s where we start. The weld or the post itself has started to give.
• You hear a pop or groan as the gate opens. That’s steel flexing around a crack. The metal is moving every cycle, and each cycle widens the crack a little more.
• The operator strains and the motor box gets hot. The mechanics are fighting a bracket or hinge that’s out of alignment. The strain shows up first at the mounts, not inside the gearbox.
• Visible rust trails or hairline cracks near the welds. In West Hollywood, we get marine layer moisture at night and hard sun during the day. That cycle works cracks open over five to ten years, especially on powder-coated steel that was scratched during the original install.
• The gate closes fine but won’t open, or vice versa. The operator’s fine. The geometry’s shifted because a mount has moved. Fix the panel without the post and you’ll fix it twice.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

Here’s what FAAC welding and fabrication work typically runs in West Hollywood:

• Hinge replacement or repair (single gate): $225 to $375
• Post cap fabrication and install: $180 to $300
• Operator bracket fabrication (custom): $250 to $450
• Full post replacement with new hinge plates (double gate): $450 to $600
• Rust remediation, grinding, and re-weld per hinge: $150 to $275

The range comes down to steel thickness, access to the post, and whether concrete work is involved. We quote the full price before any work begins, and that number doesn’t change at the door. Every weld and fabrication job carries our 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If it’s not holding right, one call brings Hal Gatewood back, no runaround. There’s no trip charge inside the county, and if you have a written estimate from someone else, we’ll give you a free second opinion.

DIY or Call Us?

Here’s the honest line. You can safely check the hinge bolts with a wrench. You can inspect the welds. That’s about it. Welding a cracked hinge or fabricating a bracket on a gate that weighs several hundred pounds is not a Saturday project. The moment you cut into stressed steel, the gate can shift under its own weight, and a gate that shifts wrong will take a finger off or worse. High-tension points on a swinging gate are unforgiving.

We fix the gate in your driveway. We don’t haul it to a shop, and we don’t swap parts that don’t need swapping. Hal learned the metal side at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College down on Washington Boulevard, and he’s been welding FAAC gates in West Hollywood since 2001. He’ll tell you what it’s doing wrong and what it actually needs. Call (323) 677-4063 and a live person answers, day or night.

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