Grow Your Garage Door Business With Gate Services

Not strictly for gated communities anymore, an increasing number of homeowners in cities, suburbs and rural areas are looking to modify and further secure their properties with gates and fences. Meanwhile, commercial-facility owners continue to see the safety and security benefits of adding gates to their properties.

With a sluggish economy and oversaturated housing market, many homeowners are investing in their homes in hopes of elevating value and aesthetics, while also bringing an added level of convenience, safety and security to their properties. Expanding a garage-door business to include installation and service of automated-gate operators and access systems is an ideal way for dealers to capitalize on this emerging trend and, in turn, increase profit margins.

This is not only true for residential applications: There is also room to grow within the commercial-gate access business. This is especially true since there is a wide range of price points and models to help dealers customize services and apply them to any setting.

For example, Pompano Beach, Fla.-based Broten Garage Door Sales has been providing the highest quality residential and commercial garage doors and openers for more than 50 years. This company saw the value of adding gates and gate-operating systems to its list of services and acted. In fact, after this venture proved successful, the family-owned and -operated company even updated its name to Broten Garage Door & Gate as a way for customers to associate it not only with garage-door opening systems, but with gate-access systems, as well.

“As a garage-door and -opener dealer, expanding into gates and gate-access systems was a natural next step for us since we are already experts in the access business,” says Kriste LaMay, president. “While the transformation didn’t happen overnight, our industry knowledge and access to high-quality gate operators was beneficial, resulting in an added sales opportunity with our existing customer base.”

The Basics on Gates and Operators

Whether your customer base is homeowners; gated communities; multihousing units; or commercial, industrial or manufacturing facilities, there is a gate-access system designed for the job.

The majority of gates fall into three categories: swing gates, slide gates and barrier arms. Single- or double-swinging gates are ideal for residential and public-access applications; in commercial and high-security applications, sliding gates are more common. Barrier-arm gates are no longer used only in parking applications, but for traffic control as well. In fact, barrier gates are becoming common for use in combination with slide or swing gates in gated communities, even to control traffic flow at car washes.

Each type of gate requires a specific type of gate operator with a particular rating, from light duty to continuous heavy duty. Similar to specifying a residential garage-door opener or commercial-door operator, the size and weight of the gate, along with the maximum number of times the gate needs to open and close per hour, determine the necessary duty rating. It is important to recommend the proper type of system since installing the wrong gate operator can result in a malfunctioning or insecure system.

To make the transition from garage door to gate installation services even easier, many manufacturers provide hands-on installation and maintenance training, installation manuals and plenty of accessible information on their operators. Choosing a single manufacturer that provides operators, safety devices and access systems will ensure that all your components work together seamlessly.

Quick Reference Point:

Gate operator cycles per hour:

Swing- and Slide-Gate Operators
Light Traffic: 10 cycles per hour
Normal Traffic: 20–30 cycles per hour
High Traffic: More than 30 cycles per hour

Barrier Gate Operators
Normal Traffic: 25 cycles per hour
High Traffic: 100 cycles per hour
Commercial Parking: 250–300 cycles per hour

You Want Wireless With That?

Wireless access products, such as gate-access panels for multiple installations and self-contained keypads for a single gate entry, add depth to a dealer’s product offerings and provide an additional opportunity to increase growth and profitability. By offering gate customers features such as wireless access, dealers have the opportunity to create customized access and communication systems using minimal amounts of power.

Whether geared toward single family, multi-unit residential or commercial applications, without the physical limitation of wire, wireless gate-access products can be installed just about anywhere, providing unique solutions for each customer’s needs. Plus, by avoiding considerable labor and material expenses typically associated with hardwired systems, the dealer has newfound freedom during the design and installation of the wireless access system. This also provides seamless coordination with the installation team, making it faster and less costly than a wire-based system.

Get Certified and Get Started

There are training programs in place for those looking to be certified in gate operators and access systems thanks to a collaborative effort involving committee members from the American Fence Association (AFA), DASMA, National Ornamental and Miscellaneous Metals Association (NOMMA), IDA and the Institute of Door Dealer Education and Accreditation (IDEA). Their efforts resulted in the industry’s first Gate Operator Field Training School in 2007.

Now held annually, the Gate Operator Installer Certification Program provides industry professionals with valuable information and affords students the opportunity to interact with everyone, from those just getting into the industry to professionals with 30 years of experience. The curriculum covers UL 325, ASTM F2200, Electrical I & II, Installation I & II, vehicle detectors, types of operators, accessories and safety.

Ken Roehl was named vice president of marketing for Chamberlain Professional Products in October 1998. Prior to that, Roehl held a number of positions within Chamberlain, including western regional sales manager and national accounts sales manager. He has held elected offices in the Far Western Garage Door Association and IDA and has served as president of DASMA. For more information on Chamberlain Professional Products, visit www.liftmaster.com, or call 800.528.6563.