Gate post 1 Car 0......
Why should powered gates be so expensive?.... Almost every new customer asks this very question. The simple answer is 'Engineered to last' regardless of each individual system's style, design and customer requirement.
From the very basic, to the very complex; without adequate engineering being designed throughout the entire installation, it simply will not last. The first little incident is likely to cause system failure, often without notice.
Some accidents will happen, but the consequences do not always need to be disastrous and when they are, serious injury should be avoided where possible.
Some acidents are from natural causes and these too could be accounted for, within the original design of the whole installation. From the landscaping, civil & ground works, building & fabrication, throughout the installation of the gates, fitting of the automation and all the consequential items needed (such as communications, lighting, mail, surveillance, etc.) Every aspect needs to be engineered to work with each other, in the environment it is located and to withstand daily uses & abuses from weather and man.
Even the small things need to be fully fit-for-purpose. Items such as cabling that often is unseen and can limit the estimated life of any installation down to as little as seven years! These unseen parts are the easyest to cut corners on and many customers end up with what they thought was a great bargin, being nothing but trouble.
The problem is that so many issues with poorly designed and installed #powered-gates only start to become obvious, weeks if not months after the installation was commisioned.
A good sign of the better installers is thier commitment toward after sales service and long term system maintenance. Every installation requires a schedule of maintenance and this accompanies some level of servicing agreement. It can be good for new owners to investigate what that means and gain evidence of the installers commitment, with proven results, before placing an order. Even cheap systems cost plenty of money!
Since 1988 gate-a-mation has been striving for even better #system-design and safer gates for all.