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 Installation Across North Hollywood
Gate installation in North Hollywood usually means one of two jobs: a driveway gate that has to hold back the worst of Valley heat and Santa Ana wind, or an apartment pedestrian gate that cycles hundreds of times a day and has to keep working. We’re Gatewood Fence & Gate, and we’ve been welding, setting posts, and hanging gates since 2001. Hal Gatewood owns the shop, picks up the phone himself, and has seen enough sloppy NoHo installs to know exactly what fails first. If you need a gate that stays square, opens every time, and doesn’t cost you a second visit, call (760) 361-6706 for a free estimate. We quote the price before any work starts, and we stand behind every job with our 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is North Hollywood’s Preferred Gate Installation Company
North Hollywood has a particular kind of gate problem: the housing stock is old enough that a lot of the ironwork predates modern operator standards, but the weather is brutal enough that cheap fixes don’t survive a single summer. We know the difference between a gate that sags because the hinge post was set in a 2-foot footing in 1985 and a gate that sags because a Santa Ana bent the panel. That matters when you’re deciding between repair and replacement.
Our customers in North Hollywood call us because the estimate we give is the price we charge. No trip charge inside the county. No upselling a new motor when a capacitor swap fixes it. Hal’s name is on the shop and on every invoice, and he means what the 90-Day Done Right Promise says: if it’s not done right, we make it right. One call brings him back, no runaround. We answer the phone with a live person 24 hours a day, and the person who shows up at your gate is background-checked and uniformed, not a subcontractor we’ve never met.
Our Gate Installation Services in North Hollywood
Driveway Gate Installation
A driveway gate in North Hollywood has to do more than open and close. It has to hold a 14-foot steel panel square through years of 110-degree afternoons and the occasional 50-mph wind gust. We set hinge posts in footings deep enough for the soil and the panel weight, install operators sized for the actual gate mass, and add entrapment protection that meets UL 325. Most driveway gate installations in North Hollywood run on Mighty Mule or LiftMaster operators we stock locally and service ourselves. We also plan for the long driveway: solar power, battery banks, and underground loop detectors when trenching isn’t practical.
Pedestrian Gate Installation
Pedestrian gates on North Hollywood apartment buildings are workhorses. Tenants, delivery drivers, strollers, bikes. We install high-cycle operators built for that kind of abuse, not the residential-grade motor a handyman might bolt on. On Magnolia and Lankershim, we regularly replace first-generation DoorKing telephone entry systems that have no remaining parts support, pairing a new gate operator with modern call-box wiring. The goal is a gate that cycles 300 times a day without burning a circuit board by August.
Sliding Gate Installation
Sliding gates are the right answer for many North Hollywood properties, especially where the driveway slopes toward the street or a swing gate would block the sidewalk. But a slide gate is only as good as its track, its rollers, and its motor. When the Santa Anas funnel through the Valley, a lightweight aluminum panel can get shoved off its bottom track, and once that happens once, it happens again. We install cantilever-style slide gates where the grade allows, or heavier V-track systems with wind-rated panels. Either way, the gate stays on its rollers through the next wind event.
Swing Gate Installation
Swing gates dominate the older neighborhoods of North Hollywood, where postwar ranch homes had wrought iron panels retrofitted onto masonry walls during the 1980s. The problem is usually the post, not the panel. We replace undersized posts with properly set steel, re-hang the existing gate where the ironwork is still solid, and add operators that won’t rip a weak hinge or crack a footing. For property owners who want a double swing gate on a ranch or long driveway, we size the operator to the combined panel weight and wind load, not just the brochure number.
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 North Hollywood
We’re certified to service nine major gate brands, and for North Hollywood customers that means we keep common parts on the truck: LiftMaster boards and remotes, FAAC hydraulic arms, BFT control cards, Mighty Mule solar panels and batteries. When your apartment gate goes down on a Sunday, you don’t want to wait a week for a control board to ship from a warehouse in Texas. We carry what NoHo properties actually use. If we don’t have a part, we tell you honestly and get it fast, not after three follow-up calls.
Common Gate Installation Problems We See in North Hollywood Homes
- Heat-dome capacitor failure. North Hollywood regularly hits 105 to 112 degrees in summer, 12 to 15 degrees hotter than Santa Monica. Residential-grade gate motors rated for coastal temperatures cook their capacitors and boards by late July. We install operators rated for sustained Valley heat, and we mount them where airflow actually reaches them.
- Santa Ana wind damage. When the winds funnel through the Sepulveda Pass and into the Valley, lightweight aluminum gates get bent, sliding gates jump their bottom rollers, and hinge welds crack on swing gates. We see a predictable repair spike every fall, and we build new installations to survive the next one.
- Undersized post footings from the 1980s. The gate retrofit boom happened 35 to 40 years ago, and many of those posts went into footings better suited to a mailbox than a 400-pound steel gate. Once the post cracks, the gate sags and the operator strains. We dig out the old footing, set a proper steel post, and re-hang the gate so it actually closes on its own.
- Obsolete DoorKing telephone entry systems. A surprising number of North Hollywood apartment buildings still run first- or second-generation DoorKing call boxes from the 1980s and 1990s. When the gate operator fails, owners often discover the entry system parts are discontinued. That turns a simple gate replacement into a full access-control upgrade, and we’re one of the few companies in the area that handles both sides of the job.
Pricing for Gate Installation in North Hollywood, CA
Gate installation prices in North Hollywood depend on what you’re hanging and what’s holding it up. A single swing driveway gate with a standard LiftMaster or FAAC operator typically runs $2,800 to $4,600. A double swing gate for a wide driveway runs $4,200 to $7,500, with the steel panels being the biggest variable. Pedestrian gate installations for apartment buildings run $1,800 to $3,400 for the gate and hardware, plus operator and access control wiring if we’re replacing an old DoorKing system. Sliding gate installations run $3,500 to $6,800 depending on panel weight and whether we’re building new track. Solar add-ons for gates with no nearby power run $900 to $2,200 including the panel, charge controller, and battery bank. Every estimate is free, in writing, and agreed before any work starts. Call (760) 361-6706 for an exact quote on your gate.
We Also Serve Cities Near North Hollywood
Our crews work across the San Fernando Valley. If you’re in Van Nuys, Sun Valley, Sherman Oaks, or Panorama City and need Gate Installation, we’ll give you the same honest estimate and same written promise. We know all of these neighborhoods in North Hollywood and the surrounding Valley, and we’re on the road there most days.
Serving North Hollywood, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the North Hollywood 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 Installation in North Hollywood
It depends on which DoorKing generation you have, but in many cases the answer is no, and we’ll tell you that before quoting the job. First- and second-generation DoorKing systems from the 1980s and early 1990s have discontinued control boards and proprietary wiring that won’t talk to a modern operator. We can often keep the physical call-box housings and wire in a modern access-control board behind them, which preserves the look while giving you something that actually works. Call (760) 361-6706 and Hal will walk you through what your system likely has and whether we can save it.
Most of the time we can rebuild it, and that’s usually the better move. The gate jumps the track because the rollers are worn, the track has shifted, or the panel is too light for the wind load it sees in the Valley. We replace the rollers, re-anchor or re-pour the track, and often add wind-rated panel reinforcement. If the existing panel is too far gone, we’ll quote a new sliding gate installation and tell you plainly which one makes more sense for your property.
Yes, and we do it regularly for long-driveway properties in North Hollywood where trenching power would mean tearing up 200 feet of concrete or asphalt. We installed a solar-powered double swing gate on a ranch off Vineland Avenue with this exact problem: two 14-foot steel panels, a Ghost Controls solar operator, a 100-amp-hour battery bank, a loop detector, and safety photocells to handle the owner’s horse trailer. The system cycles reliably through Valley heat waves with no monthly electrical cost. We’ll size the panel and battery bank to your gate’s actual weight and daily cycle count, not a one-size-fits-all chart.
You need a high-cycle commercial operator, not a residential one. North Hollywood’s summer heat pushes undersized motors past their thermal limits, and a pedestrian gate that cycles 300 times a day will kill a residential-grade board by August. We install operators rated for continuous duty, with thermal protection built in, and we’ll wire the access control so tenants aren’t fighting the gate. For buildings along Lankershim and Magnolia, this is one of the most common jobs we do.
Usually yes, and we’d rather do that than throw away good ironwork. The gate sagging tells us the hinge post is failing, not the panel. We remove the old post, pour a proper footing sized for the panel weight, set a new steel post, and re-hang the existing gate. Then we mount a modern operator and add safety edges and photocells. The gate ends up square, the operator works, and you keep the character of the original wrought iron. Call (760) 361-6706 for a free estimate, and Hal will look at your gate before recommending anything.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving North Hollywood since 2001.