About Bexley Gate Services
Billy Dean owns Bexley Gate Services, which he started in 2016. He has handled gate jobs of nearly every size in Columbus, from tightening a loose hinge and replacing a worn latch to setting posts and hanging long driveway gates with automatic openers. Some calls are done in a short visit, while others take several days.
The way the company works has changed since it started. Early on, most jobs began with a drive out to look at the problem. Now customers often send photos and measurements first, so he arrives with the right hardware and makes fewer return trips. He also keeps closer notes on each gate, which makes repeat repairs quicker for customers who call back.
The Gate Work We Take On
Most days go to driveway gate repair, sliding gate repair, gate opener replacement and new automatic gate installation, with keypad, intercom and access control work alongside. In practice the jobs overlap: a repair can turn up a worn-out operator, and a new opener usually brings a keypad or a set of remotes with it.
Repair Calls and Opener Swaps
A gate repair might be a leaf that sags at the latch end, a slide gate that has jumped its V-track, rollers worn flat, or a hinge, latch, post or weld that has given out. The cause often sits away from the symptom: a gate that drags may be hanging from a post that has moved. An opener gets replaced when it wears out, when its parts are no longer made, or when it predates the monitored photo eyes and edge sensors that current UL 325 operators require.
New Automatic Gates
A new gate installation starts at the footings: posts set below the frost line, then the gate hung or set on its track, then the operator, sized to the gate’s weight and length, with its photo eyes and controls. We build and hang swing gates in wrought iron, aluminum and wood. Iron is the heaviest and needs its paint kept up against rust, aluminum is light and will not rust, and wood looks warm but moves with the weather and needs the most upkeep.
Keypads, Intercoms and Readers
Access control is the part of a gate people touch every day: a keypad at the end of a drive, an intercom or call box at an HOA entrance, card or fob readers at an apartment lot. Most of the work is wiring and programming. Every device has to suit the operator it talks to, and the codes, remotes and user lists have to let in the people who belong there and nobody else.
Homeowners, HOAs and Businesses
Our customers are homeowners in Columbus, Dublin, Westerville and Grandview Heights, plus HOA entrances, apartment communities and commercial lots that need a gate working every morning. The gates look alike; the duty does not. A driveway gate may open a handful of times a day, while an apartment entrance cycles from the first commute to the last delivery. Commercial gates like that call for a heavier-duty operator, stronger hinges or rollers, and access control built for many users rather than one family. HOA entrances add a board to answer to and a long list of residents who all need working codes.
Keeping a Moving Gate Safe
An automatic gate moves hundreds of pounds on its own, and the danger is entrapment: a person, a pet or a car caught between the gate and a post, a wall or the ground. UL 325, the safety standard for gate operators, deals with it in layers: an operator that reverses when it meets an obstruction, photo eyes that stop the gate when the beam is broken, and edge sensors that reverse it on contact.
A gate also has to behave when the power fails, which is what the manual release and the battery backup are for. Every one of those devices is tested before a job is called finished, with the full set of checks under How We Work.