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 Access Control Across Southlake
Gate access control in Southlake means keypads, remotes, phone entry, card readers, and video intercoms wired to heavy ornamental driveway gates, and the work is rarely simple out here. We’re in Southlake weekly, working on estates where a 14-foot powder-coated swing gate hangs on a Viking operator and has to be dialed in to the half-inch or it binds on you. If your keypad has stopped talking to your board, or you want a video intercom added to a custom Carillon gate without it looking bolted-on, call (903) 829-4499 and you’ll get a live person, not a menu.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Southlake’s Preferred Gate Access Control Company
Hal Gatewood has run this shop since 2001, and the name is on the building and on every invoice. We’re not a franchise rolling through Southlake on a route. When you call about a Viking swing operator that quit responding to its remote, the person who answers actually knows what a Viking swing operator is. Our crews have repaired enough gates in Timarron, Carillon, and Vaquero to know which builders ran conduit too shallow, which master-planned communities spec’d LiftMaster LA500 operators on gates that outweigh them, and which ornamental fabricators welded corners that crack after a hard freeze. That local knowledge doesn’t come from a training manual. It comes from fixing the same gates year after year and being reachable when a board stops working the weekend before a family event.
Every job is quoted before we start, in writing, and it stays that way. If something’s not right after we leave, the 90-Day Done Right Promise means one call brings us back, no runaround. Southlake customers call us because their neighbor told them to, and that’s the reputation we’ve spent two decades earning. Dispatch and scheduling are coordinated from our Dallas-Fort Worth office, and our crews serve Southlake locally.
Our Gate Access Control Services in Southlake
Keypad Entry
Keypad entry in Southlake gets more demanding than most people expect. These are not the $30 battery boxes from a big-box store. On a custom ornamental gate in a neighborhood like Timarron, the keypad often ties into a Viking or Elite control board with a hardwired underground run, and when it fails, you’re not just swapping batteries. We trace the wiring, test the board, and repair what’s actually failed. A typical keypad entry repair in Southlake runs $180 to $420 depending on whether we’re replacing a standalone wireless unit or troubleshooting a hardwired system run through conduit under the driveway.
Remote Control
Remote controls stop working for predictable reasons, but on Southlake’s heavy swing gates, the remote is often blamed for a problem it didn’t cause. If the gate moved fine yesterday and today your remote does nothing, the first thing we check is whether the operator threw a fault code because the gate shifted out of alignment on black-clay soil. We reprogram remotes, replace receivers, and when the remote itself has died, we match the frequency and coding to your existing operator. Expect $120 to $300 for remote control repair or replacement in Southlake.
Phone Entry
Phone entry systems let you buzz a guest in from your cell phone, and in Southlake they’re common on long driveways where you can’t see the street from the house. We install and repair cellular and landline entry systems that tie into your existing operator, whether it’s a LiftMaster LA500 on a slide gate or a FAAC on a swing. These systems have to survive direct Texas sun and the occasional hail storm, so we mount them properly and weather-seal the connections. Phone entry installation in Southlake typically lands between $450 and $1,200 depending on the system and wiring run.
Card Reader
Card readers in Southlake show up on estate gates where a homeowner wants to give a landscaper, nanny, or pool company access without handing out remotes. We install proximity and RFID readers that tie into your existing access control board, and we set up credentials so you can add and remove cards yourself. If an HOA-style reader is required to match the gate’s finish, we handle that too. Card reader installation in Southlake generally runs $350 to $950.
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 Southlake
We’re certified to service nine major gate operator brands, and in Southlake the ones we see most are Viking, Elite, and DoorKing, with LiftMaster LA500 operators common on the heavier slide gates. Because we stock parts and weld on site, we’re not waiting on a warehouse to ship a control board while your gate sits stuck open. The same brand knowledge applies whether we’re adding a video intercom to a DoorKing slide operator in Grapevine or rebuilding a Viking swing gate in Southlake. If you’re not sure what brand is running your gate, take a picture of the operator cover and text it over. We’ll know what it is.
Common Gate Access Control Problems We See in Southlake Homes
- Seasonal post shift from black-clay soil. Southlake sits on expansive clay that swells after heavy rain and shrinks in drought. A swing gate that worked in June can bind in August because the hinge post moved a quarter-inch. Our fix starts at the post, not the keypad.
- Operators dying at the 10-to-20-year mark. Southlake’s building boom peaked in the late 1990s through the 2010s, and gate operators on many of those homes are aging out simultaneously. Intermittent failures, gates freezing mid-arc, and remotes that work only from ten feet away are the early signs.
- Freeze-damaged welds and rack-and-pinion jumps. The February 2021 deep freeze cracked welds on ornamental steel gates that sat in sub-freezing temperatures for days. Now those hairline cracks let slide gates jump the rack when the operator cycles, which trips the safety and locks the gate open.
- Photocell misalignment from post movement. When the gate post shifts even slightly, the swing arc changes and the gate no longer lines up with the safety photocell. The operator reads that as an obstruction, refuses to close, and the homeowner thinks the remote is dead. It isn’t. The post is.
Pricing for Gate Access Control in Southlake, TX
Here are honest ranges for what we see in Southlake. Keypad entry repair: $180 to $420. Remote replacement or reprogramming: $120 to $300. Phone entry system installation: $450 to $1,200. Card reader installation: $350 to $950. Video intercom addition to an existing gate: $600 to $2,200 depending on the gate style and whether we’re running new wire or trenching under a driveway. Smart access upgrades that tie your gate to an app run $400 to $1,400. What moves you within a range is mostly the age of your operator, the length of the wiring run, and whether your HOA requires us to match a custom finish. Every price is quoted and agreed in writing before any work starts, and the quoted price is the price. Call (903) 829-4499 for a free estimate.
We Also Serve Cities Near Southlake
Beyond Southlake, our crews regularly work in Colleyville, Grapevine, Flower Mound, and Bedford. The gate styles and soil conditions are similar, and we bring the same on-site welding and repair-first approach to every job. Whether you’re looking for Gate Access Control on a new build or fixing an operator that’s been acting up on an existing one, the phone number is the same and a live person answers it.
Serving Southlake, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Southlake 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 Access Control in Southlake
Because the black-clay soil under your gate posts expands when it gets wet and shrinks when it dries, moving the post out of plumb seasonally. A swing gate hangs at the hinge post, so even a small shift there throws the entire swing arc off and the gate starts missing the latch or striking the photocell. The real fix is a deeper, better-anchored footing for the post so it stops moving. Call (903) 829-4499 and we’ll take a look at whether the post needs resetting before you keep rebalancing the gate twice a year.
Yes, and that question comes up constantly in Southlake. We mount video intercoms in the gate’s existing framing or in a small matching bollard beside the drive, not bolted onto the face of custom ornamental ironwork. On high-end gates in Vaquero and Carillon we’ve matched the intercom housing to the gate’s powder coat so it reads as part of the original install. Expect $600 to $2,200 depending on how far we have to run wire and what the HOA will approve. Call (903) 829-4499 for a free on-site look.
If the operator itself is still cycling reliably, start with a smart access module so you can open and monitor the gate from your phone, plus a wired keypad and a video intercom so you can see who’s at the drive before you open. That’s usually $400 to $1,400 total. If the LA500 is already faulting intermittently, the smarter money is replacing it with an operator sized for a heavy ornamental gate before the board dies completely. Call (903) 829-4499 and we’ll run through what your existing operator is worth repairing.
That freeze held Southlake below freezing for days, and the ornamental steel on heavy driveway gates contracted and expanded in ways it typically doesn’t. The two most common failures we see are hairline cracks in welds that let the gate rack jump its track, and control boards that shorted from condensation built up during the thaw. Neither is a quick fix, and both are worth addressing before the next hard freeze. Call (903) 829-4499 and we’ll inspect the gate and the operator, then quote you a written price before we touch anything.
In Southlake, HOA architectural review boards mean an exact-match panel is usually a custom fabrication job, not an off-the-shelf part. Expect the approval process and fabrication to add one to three weeks on top of the repair itself, and plan for the board to want drawings or photos before they’ll sign off. We’ve handled enough of these in Timarron and elsewhere in Southlake to know the paperwork, and we’ll handle the design submittal as part of the job. Call (903) 829-4499 and we’ll walk you through what your specific HOA typically requires.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Southlake and the surrounding area since 2001.