Commercial gate questions, answered straight

No. We are a commercial gate contractor — industrial yards, warehouses, multifamily, municipal, and secured sites. Keeping to commercial work is why we can carry the certifications, the insurance, and the parts stock this work needs.

Nothing. We measure the opening, shoot the grade, check side room and overhead clearance, and go through traffic and credentials with you. You get a written scope you can put out to bid, whether or not you use us.

Four things decide it: side room beside the opening, the grade of the drive, overhead clearance, and traffic. Cantilever where there is run-back, swing where there is level arc, vertical pivot where there is neither, barrier where the job is throughput.

UL 325 is the standard covering powered gate operators and their entrapment protection. ASTM F2200 covers the gate itself. If your gate is automated, both apply, and after an incident they are the first thing asked about.

It may not be, even if it was on the day it went in. Photo eyes drift out of alignment, safety edges get clipped by delivery trucks, and sensors get disabled when they nuisance-trip. We inspect and report in writing.

On three numbers taken at the survey: the weight of the leaf, the cycles per day, and the wind exposure of the site. An operator specified to hit a price rather than carry the leaf is the most common cause of failure we are called to.

That should be a deliberate decision, not a default. Battery backup keeps it running for a defined number of cycles; fail-safe configuration releases the gate to open. We ask which you want.

It must, and how depends on your local department. Knox box, strobe detection, or a dedicated input are the usual options. We confirm with your fire department before the scope is finalised.

Yes, any commercial make. Tell us the manufacturer and rough age of the operator when you call so we can bring likely parts on the first visit.

Most run one to three days on site once materials arrive, plus footing cure time. Lead time on the gate and operator is usually the longer part, and we give you both figures in the written scope.

Regularly. We can work to an issued specification or write the gate and access-control scope at design stage, which avoids the clashes that appear when a gate is specified without a site survey.

Eastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire, from our yard at 418 South St., Tewksbury, including Lowell, Andover, Chelmsford, Billerica, Haverhill, Nashua, and Salem.