Swing gate operator installation at a stone-pillar entry

Usually yes, you can keep your gate. It needs to be structurally sound, swing or slide freely by hand, and travel reasonably level. An operator cannot fix a sagging gate or seized hinges. If the gate needs work first, we do that fabrication in-house rather than sending you to a second contractor. We will tell you honestly if the gate itself is past saving.

Four things drive it: gate weight, gate length, how many times a day it cycles, and the site itself, meaning slope, wind load on solid panels, and travel distance. A light residential swing gate needs a very different machine than a 30-foot commercial slider that opens every few minutes. Operators also carry UL 325 usage classes from residential through industrial, and installing the wrong class is the fastest way to burn one out. We measure and count cycles first, then recommend a model.

UL 325 requires monitored entrapment protection in every zone where the gate could trap someone, typically photo eyes across the opening and contact edges on the gate itself. Since 2016, operators must actively monitor those devices; if a sensor fails or is unplugged, the gate stops running in automatic mode. Warning signs and screening to keep hands out of a sliding gate's mesh are part of the standard too. If your gate moves with no sensors on it, get that corrected before anything else.