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 Boerne
Gate access control in Boerne means something different than it does down in San Antonio. Most homes here sit on acreage, at the end of long caliche driveways, behind heavy pipe or wrought-iron gates that need to open every time without fail. Boerne’s shallow limestone soil does not forgive a poorly anchored post or an underpowered opener. Gatewood Fence & Gate has been fixing and installing Gate Access Control systems in Boerne since 2001, and we know exactly what the ground does to them here. If your keypad, remote, or phone entry is acting up, call (877) 610-2993. Hal Gatewood’s name is on the shop, and his number rings to a live person, day or night.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Boerne’s Preferred Gate Access Control Company
We are not a franchise rolling a van through Boerne between jobs in four other counties. Since 2001, Gatewood Fence & Gate has been locally owned and owner-operated, and Hal Gatewood’s published address and license number are right there for anyone to look up. That matters when a gate quits at 10 p.m. and you need to know someone will actually answer the phone.
Boerne customers call us because we show up with a truck stocked for limestone country, not a generic service call. We keep Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, and Elite parts on hand for the exact operators people run out here on estate gates and ranch entrances. A live person answers every call, 24/7, which means when the freeze hits and a half-dozen gates around Cordillera Ranch go down the same night, you are not leaving a message into a void. You are talking to someone who knows the roads, knows the rock, and knows the fix.
Every job we do carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. Not “up to” or “in most cases.” Done right, or one call brings Hal back. That is the whole point of buying local.
Our Gate Access Control Services in Boerne
Most Boerne properties fall into two camps: big gated communities where people want keypad entry to look clean at the street, and long rural driveways where nobody wants to get out of the truck. Both need different setups, and we build for what you actually have, not what a catalog says.
Keypad Entry
A keypad on a Boerne gate lives a hard life. Sun, ice, dust, and the occasional whack from a ranch truck bumper. We install and service wired and wireless keypads for single and dual swing gates, and we wire them so the operator and keypad talk to each other properly. One of the most common calls we get is a keypad that lights up but will not release the gate. We trace it. Often the keypad is fine; the limit switch or the operator board is the actual failure. We do not sell you a new keypad when the problem is a relay downstream. We show you the part that failed and replace that.
Remote Control
Long driveways off FM 46 and FM 1621 often mean the house is too far from the gate for a standard remote, especially with metal roofs and Hill Country terrain between the two. We install long-range antenna kits and set up repeaters where needed so you can open the gate from the kitchen, not from the end of the driveway. If you are adding a third car or a new ranch hand’s truck, programming an additional remote is a quick visit. If the remote only works when you are ten feet from the receiver, that is a receiver location problem, and we fix the location.
Phone Entry
Phone entry out here lives or dies by signal and power. In Boerne’s canyons and along the low spots off I-10, cell service is not a guarantee, so we install phone entry panels wired to landline or cellular units with antennas sized for the property. A loop detector buried a few inches deep in caliche will not last, especially with heavy trucks crossing it. We bed detectors properly and set the sensitivity for a 7,000-pound truck, not a sedan. If your phone entry opens the gate only sometimes, the first thing we check is loop depth and the second is the power supply feeding the panel.
Card Reader
Card readers make sense for gated communities, small ranches with hired help, and properties with guest houses. We install and service card and fob systems that log every entry, so you know who came through the gate and when. In Boerne, the killer is our summer sun degrading cheap card reader housings, so we use enclosures built for direct exposure and readers rated for the heat those limestone driveways throw back all afternoon. If your reader is mounted on an east-facing post and the plastic is crazed and chalky after two summers, that is the wrong housing. We replace it with one that will outlast the warranty.
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 Boerne
We are certified to service nine major gate brands, but around Boerne the ones we see most are Viking, DoorKing, and Ghost Controls. Each one has its own failure pattern in this climate. Viking boards do not like heat without ventilation. DoorKing operators are workhorses but need the limit switches checked more often in dusty caliche country. Ghost Controls kits are common on solar ranch gates, and the battery box placement decides whether they survive a Boerne summer. We stock parts locally for these and more, so a repair is not waiting on a ground shipment while your gate is zip-tied open. When the part is in the truck, the gate goes back to work same day.
Common Gate Access Control Problems We See in Boerne Homes
Every town has its own failure mode. Here is what Boerne ground and Boerne weather do to gate access control systems.
- Post heaving from shallow limestone footings. When the post moves, the operator’s rack and pinion or the hinge alignment goes with it. Your keypad still has power, the remote still sends a signal, but the operator strains against the new angle and trips its force limiter. The fix is not a new operator. The fix is the footing under the post.
- Battery failure inside solar gate opener boxes. A black metal box sitting in 100°F sun on an unshaded Boerne driveway cooks the backup battery well before its rated life. A single hard freeze after that, and the remote control is dead. We relocate or ventilate the battery box, and suddenly the system that had been “unreliable” runs for years.
- Loop detectors dislodged in caliche. A properly buried loop is six inches down in stable earth. A loop in caliche-only soil is often an inch or two down because digging deeper by hand is miserable. Ranch trucks and delivery vehicles flex the ground, the wire shifts, and the phone entry system goes intermittent. We saw it repeatedly.
- Improperly programmed force settings on heavy estate gates. A wrought-iron double gate with stone columns weighs a lot, and when the operator fights the wind on a Hill Country ridge, the force setting matters. Calibrated wrong, the gate reverses before it closes or burns the motor trying. We set it for the actual gate, not the manufacturer default.
Pricing for Gate Access Control in Boerne, TX
We quote a firm number before any work starts. You agree to it, we do the work for that number, and there is no surprise invoice at the end.
A keypad repair or replacement in Boerne typically runs $225 to $375. Remote control troubleshooting is usually $150 to $250. Phone entry system installation, including a cellular or landline unit, runs $500 to $1,200 depending on how it is wired and the antenna setup the property requires. A full card reader system with a standalone controller and fobs starts around $900 to $1,500 for estate properties. Solar gate opener retrofits on ranch gates run $1,800 to $4,500 depending on gate size and whether we are adding the opener, the panel, and the battery setup in one go. If you already have a written estimate from another company, bring it to us for a free second opinion. We also take $40 off any repair over $200. Call (877) 610-2993 for an exact figure on your gate.
We Also Serve Cities Near Boerne
Our crews run Boerne to Fair Oaks Ranch, Helotes, Timberwood Park, and Leon Valley, so if your property straddles a county line or you have family just down the road, we cover them too. This page is about Gate Access Control in Boerne, but the same truck and the same live person on the phone also handle work through these surrounding communities. Dispatch and scheduling run from the San Antonio office, and crews serve Boerne locally.
Serving Boerne, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Boerne 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 Boerne
The battery probably is not the problem. Boerne’s freeze-thaw cycle heaves posts set in shallow limestone, and when the post shifts even a quarter inch, the operator’s limit switches or the keypad wiring harness strain and break contact.
Yes, and in many cases that is exactly what we recommend. On long caliche driveways, trenching power from the meter to the gate can cost several times what the opener itself costs. A properly sized solar panel and battery bank, with the battery box mounted in shade or ventilation, will run a 20-foot pipe gate reliably. The catch is that undersized solar kits die young in Boerne summers. We spec the panel to the actual motor draw and our sun load, not the box’s optimistic marketing number.
Yes. Automatic gate operators in Texas, including ranch and farm gates in Boerne, must have entrapment protection, which typically means photo eyes or a reversing mechanism that stops and reverses the gate when it hits an obstruction. Older setups without it can injure people or livestock. We bring every gate we service up to current code, and we can show you exactly what protection your system has and what it is missing.
The gate is not sagging in the middle. The hinge post has shifted, and the gate panel is following it. In Cordillera Ranch and most of Boerne, the post base sits on shallow limestone, and over time the footing cracks and lets the post lean. The lasting fix is core-drilled epoxy anchors through the limestone cap, then re-hanging the gate so it swings true. Weld the panel without resetting the post, and it will drag again in a year.
Nine times out of ten, it is the loop detector or its power feed, not the phone entry module. In caliche soil, the loop wire is often installed too shallow because hand-digging deeper is brutal. Delivery trucks and heavy ranch trucks flex the ground, the wire shifts, and the detector stops seeing the vehicle every time. We trench the loop to proper depth, seal it, and the phone entry works on the first ring, every ring.
Talk to Hal About Your Boerne Gate Access Control
We answer the phone, and it is not a voicemail and not a call center. Hal Gatewood has been working on gates since 2001, and he will give you a straight answer about your keypad, remote, phone entry, or card reader. You will get a written price before work starts, a 90-Day Done Right Promise when we leave, and a phone number that reaches a real person at 2 a.m. Call (877) 610-2993 for a free estimate. The name is on the shop, and the shop is down the road.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Boerne since 2001.