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After
Before
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Before
AfterFast, Reliable Gate Access Control Across Arlington
Gate access control repair and installation across Arlington typically runs $165-$680 depending on whether you need a keypad wired to an existing HOA gate operator or a full video intercom retrofit on an ornamental swing gate. We arrive in Arlington most days from the Dallas-Fort Worth metro office, usually same-day for a gate that won’t open at all. If your gate is stuck, call (817) 241-4067 and a live person answers. Not a voicemail tree, not an answering service in another state. Someone who knows Arlington’s Blackland Prairie clay and the HOA game around here.
Hal Gatewood has been fixing gates since 2001, and this page is written so you know what you’re dealing with before you pick up the phone. Arlington’s soil shifts. Your gate shifts with it. The questions below cover what that means for keypads, card readers, phone entry, and remote receivers – and what this work actually costs here, not in Dallas, not in Fort Worth.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Arlington’s Preferred Gate Access Control Company
Most of our Arlington work comes from HOA communities off Matlock Road, Cooper Street, and the sprawling subdivision belts east of Highway 360. Property managers call us because we coordinate the approval paperwork before anything gets wired, and because we show up in the window we promised. Homeowners call us for the same reason, plus one more: they’ve already had someone else out here who replaced a keypad and called it fixed, and six months later the gate is sagging again because nobody touched the post in the clay.
The Gate Access Control side of our work isn’t a side hustle attached to a fence company that happens to have a van. It’s what we do every week across Arlington, and it’s backed by the same 90-Day Done Right Promise we put in writing on every invoice. If it’s not done right, one call brings us back. Hal answers his phone. His name is on the shop, and the shop is down the road – that’s the oldest accountability there is.
On top of that, we’re state-licensed, insured and bonded, and we service nine major gate brands, which means we’re not guessing at your HOA’s existing operator. We’ve seen what Arlington’s June-through-August heat does to a LiftMaster control board. We stock parts locally so we’re not telling you “three weeks out” while your gate sits open at 2 a.m.
Our Gate Access Control Services in Arlington
Keypad Entry
A wired keypad on an Arlington HOA gate usually runs $180-$320 for the unit and install, assuming the existing operator has an open input for it. The bigger cost driver here is when the gate post itself has shifted in clay and the strike or maglock won’t line up. We fix the post first. A keypad on a gate that won’t latch is just a keypad with extra steps.
We program unique entry codes for residents and guest codes for vendors, then walk your property manager through revoking a code when a tenant moves out. That’s a real thing Arlington HOA boards deal with constantly.
Remote Control
Adding or programming gate remotes in Arlington costs $45-$120 per remote depending on the frequency and whether it’s a clicker or a visor transmitter. If you live near AT&T Stadium, you’re cycling that gate so often on game days that you’ll burn through remote batteries and receiver modules faster than anyone in Mansfield or Kennedale. We keep extras on the truck.
For gated communities, we program individual user codes so the HOA knows who’s coming and going. For single-family driveway gates, we program remotes to your existing opener and delete lost ones so a misplaced clicker doesn’t become a security problem.
Phone Entry
Phone entry is the older cousin to a Ring-style video intercom, and a lot of Arlington HOAs still run it because it’s paid for and it works. A phone entry repair is usually $140-$250 for a new relay, a damaged phone line, or a weather-sealed box that’s given up after a decade of Texas sun. We’ll match the existing system so the HOA doesn’t have to re-issue instructions to 200 residents.
If the community wants to move to app-based or cellular entry, we quote that separately and we’ll tell you honestly if what you have is fine to keep running for another few years. We don’t sell replacements just because a newer box exists.
Card Reader
Card readers, prox readers, and RFID units are the default for Arlington apartment complexes and gated condo communities. A card reader replacement or a misaligned antenna runs $200-$400 installed, and the hidden cost is again the post. If the pedestal the reader sits on has heaved, the card will scan but the gate won’t move because the reader’s signal wire has pulled loose at the splice.
We hardwire and weatherproof. The Texas heat kills card readers that aren’t sealed properly, and hail takes out the cheap plastic housings every spring. We replace with metal-housed readers that survive Arlington’s storm season.
Video Intercom
Video intercom is the upgrade we’re installing most often in Arlington now, especially in east Arlington HOAs where gate call boxes are 15 years old and the audio quality is shot. A basic video intercom with a mobile app runs $450-$900 installed for a single-entry system. Multi-entry or camera-tied systems with gate-release capability run higher depending on how far the gate is from the house.
We’re happy to quote a video intercom that ties into your existing gate operator, but we won’t sell you a monthly cloud subscription unless you want the recorded history. A local-only system works fine for most single-family gates and doesn’t add a recurring bill.
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 Arlington
We’re certified to service nine major gate brands, and around Arlington the ones we see most on HOA entries and driveway gates are FAAC, BFT, and Linear. We stock common Linear entry keypads and FAAC control boards locally, so a gate operator that dies on a Thursday isn’t waiting on a part that ships from somewhere else while the gate is locked open. If we don’t have your part in the truck, we usually have it by the next morning. We also carry hardware for Viking operators, which pop up frequently on south Arlington’s newer gated lots.
The brand matters less than the install. A premium BFT operator wired sloppily will fail before a budget Linear unit that’s wired right – and wired right is the only way we do it.
Common Gate Access Control Problems We See in Arlington Homes
- Expansive clay shifting gate posts out of alignment: Arlington sits on Blackland Prairie clay, and when it rains in spring the soil swells, and when June hits 100°F the soil shrinks and cracks. Your gate post moves with it. The keypad and card reader strike plates go out of alignment, and the gate won’t latch or lock. This is not a one-time fix – in Arlington it’s a seasonal rhythm.
- Game-day operator wear near the Entertainment District: Gated communities and parking entries near AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field cycle their gates hundreds of times on event days. Those open/close cycles wear out limit switches, loop detectors, and drive belts years ahead of schedule. We’ve replaced operators that looked brand new on the outside and were mechanically dead inside.
- Hail and ice storm damage to gate arms and drives: Arlington’s spring hailstorms bend automated gate arms, and the occasional ice storm has done worse to rack-and-pinion drives. If your remote controls stopped working after a storm, the receiver is usually fine – the mechanical drive behind it is bent or seized.
- Rotting 4×4 posts under wood privacy gates: Much of Arlington’s housing stock is 1970s-early 2000s tract homes. Original wood gate posts were set directly in clay and are now rotting below grade. A gate access system can’t hold alignment on a post that’s disintegrating, which is why we replace the post and set it in gravel backfill before we touch a keypad or reader.
Pricing for Gate Access Control in Arlington, TX
Here’s what the work actually runs in Arlington, based on what we quote and invoice:
- Keypad unit and install tied to existing operator: $180-$320
- Single remote added or programmed: $45-$120
- Phone entry relay repair or weather box replacement: $140-$250
- Card reader replacement (metal-housed, weatherproofed): $200-$400
- Video intercom with mobile app, single entry: $450-$900
- Full gate post reset and realignment in Arlington clay (before any access hardware): $350-$700
What changes the price is the state of the gate post and whether we’re wiring new access control onto a gate that’s square and true or one that’s heaved two inches out of plumb. We quote the job before we start, and that’s the price. No trip charge inside the county. If you have a written estimate from another company, we’ll give you a second opinion on it free. And it’s $40 off any repair over $200, plus a permanent 10% discount for seniors and veterans. Call (817) 241-4067 for your quote.
We Also Serve Cities Near Arlington
We run crews out of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro office into Gate Access Control in Arlington and the cities around it – Mansfield, Kennedale, Grand Prairie, and Fort Worth. If you’re in one of those and dealing with the same clay-shift gate problems, or an HOA gate that won’t stop faulting, we’ll come out and look at it. Same phone, same live person on the other end: (817) 241-4067.
Serving Arlington, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Arlington 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 Arlington
Yes, most Arlington HOA-governed communities require architectural or board approval before you change a gate style, height, finish, or the access control hardware mounted on it. We handle that coordination with your management company – we’ll fill out the paperwork, get on the meeting agenda if needed, and get written sign-off before we install anything. The approval usually covers the finish and mounting style of a keypad or video intercom, and whether it’s visible from the street. We won’t put you in a position where the HOA sends a compliance notice because we skipped a step.
Arlington sits on Blackland Prairie expansive clay that swells when it rains in spring and shrinks and cracks when summer hits over 100°F. If your gate post was set directly in that clay – and most original 1970s-1990s posts were – it’s going to heave, lean, and sink year after year. This doesn’t happen the same way in Fort Worth or Grand Prairie because the soil profiles differ. Around Arlington, gate realignment is not a one-time fix; it’s a maintenance item. That’s why we have HOAs in south Arlington on a twice-yearly sag correction schedule. When we reset a post, we dig past the clay, use proper gravel backfill, and set deeper footings so the post isn’t riding the shrink-swell cycle so hard.
Yes. We service FAAC, BFT, Linear, Viking, DoorKing, LiftMaster, and more, so we can wire a new keypad to the operator your HOA already has. We don’t make you buy a new operator just because the keypad died or the community wants fresh codes. We’ll match the voltage, the relay input, and the mounting so the new keypad talks to the old board. In east Arlington especially, where a lot of communities have 15-year-old operators that still run fine mechanically, this is the most common job we do – replace the brain, keep the gate.
Event-day traffic near the Entertainment District – around AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field – puts hundreds of extra open/close cycles on automated gates every time the Cowboys or Rangers play. That means limit switches, loop detectors, and drive components wear out years ahead of what the manufacturer’s cycle life would predict. We’ve pulled operators out of those communities that looked brand new and were mechanically stripped inside. If your gate is cycling constantly on game days, you want us checking the limit and the loop at least once a year, not waiting for it to die at 11 p.m. on a Sunday.
Probably not, and around Arlington this comes up every time an HOA wants to replace a keypad and we find the photocells have been wired around or taped over for years. Modern automatic gates need functioning safety photocells that reverse the gate if a car or a kid is in the path. The old ones fail in Texas sun and dust, and every few years we find one that’s been bypassed by someone who didn’t want to pay for the part. That’s a code violation and a real liability. If your gate has no working photocells, we won’t add access control to it until the safety edges and photocells are correct. We’ll quote that separately and explain exactly what’s required. When a gate closes on a vehicle or a person, the access control isn’t the problem – the missing safety reverse is. Call (817) 241-4067 for an exact quote – estimates are free.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Arlington with gate access control and gate repair since 2001.