FAAC Welding & Fabrication Nationwide

FAAC Welding & Fabrication: The San Francisco Owner’s Guide

We weld and fabricate FAAC gate components in San Francisco, and most jobs fall between $280 and $650 installed depending on what’s cracked, bent, or rusted through. Our trucks carry welding rigs, so we can usually handle a broken FAAC gate bracket, hinge mount, or arm the same day you call. A quick note on who we are: Latch and Post Gate Repair San Francisco is an independent local gate specialist, part of the Cedarwell family, not affiliated with FAAC. We work on their equipment because San Francisco homes have a lot of it.

Call (628) 227-2771

Most owners find us after a gate stops closing all the way, the operator arm pulls loose from the gate, or a hinge ear snaps at the weld. You’ll know it when you see it: the gate sags on one corner, the motor strains, and the metal that used to hold everything square now has a spider crack running through it. Cody Beckman has welded more FAAC mounting plates, swing-arm brackets, and gate frame repairs than he can count, and the first thing he’ll tell you is that a clean diagnosis beats a quick patch.

Which FAAC Models This Applies To

FAAC swing gate operators like the 400, 402, 412, 415, 750, 770, and S418 series all bolt to the gate through welded or fabricated brackets. That’s where most failures happen. The operator itself might be fine, but the steel mount beneath it has cracked at the weld, or the gate’s own frame has fatigued where the hinge ears attach. On sliding gates, the FAAC 741, 844, and 884 series rely on welded rack mounts and guide brackets that take a beating from San Francisco’s damp air and constant motion.

The way to identify what you need is to look for two things: a model number on the operator’s side cover, and the physical spacing of the mounting holes on the bracket or plate. FAAC changed bolt patterns between some generations, and a bracket from a 400 series won’t always match a 770. We carry OEM FAAC brackets where they matter most, and we also use quality aftermarket steel that a local fabricator can cut and weld on-site. For parts that don’t carry load, aftermarket is often fine. For anything under spring tension or holding the operator’s torque, we recommend OEM or heavier-gauge fabricated steel, and we’ll show you why before we touch it.

Signs Your FAAC Welding & Fabrication Is Failing

• Gate sags at the free end. The hinge ears or weld points at the post are stretching or cracking. You’ll see a diagonal gap at the top hinge when the gate is closed, and the latch won’t line up like it used to.
• Operator arm thumps or rattles mid-travel. The welded pivot bracket has worked loose or cracked. The motor keeps pushing, but the gate isn’t receiving the force evenly anymore.
• Fresh rust streaks running from a weld joint. San Francisco’s fog and salt air get into the moisture gaps around old welds. Rust staining from a seam means water is inside the joint and the steel is losing section thickness.
• Gate slams at the close limit. The mechanical stop pad or its welded mount has cracked off. The FAAC operator’s limit switch still thinks it’s doing the job, but the physical stop that catches the gate is gone.
• High-pitched squeal or grind when the gate moves. Often a bent or broken mounting plate rubbing against the operator’s drive shaft. It starts as a noise, then becomes a binding point that burns out the motor if ignored through a few more cycles.

We see the fog-related rust pattern most often on properties within a few blocks of Ocean Beach, the Presidio, and the Sunset’s outer avenues. Metal near the coast just ages differently, and a weld that would last twenty years in the Mission might need attention in twelve out near the water.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

In San Francisco, plan on these ranges for FAAC-related welding and fabrication:

• Weld repair of a cracked gate hinge or bracket: $280 to $420
• Fabrication and installation of a new steel mounting plate for a FAAC operator arm: $350 to $550
• Reinforcement welding on a sagging gate frame corner: $400 to $650
• Custom bracket fabrication for unusual post or column configurations: $450 to $750

Every quote includes a written price before work starts. No exceptions. You’ll see the parts cost, the labor, and the total, and nothing gets added after the fact. The work is covered by our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the weld fails or the fabrication doesn’t hold up within a year, we come back and make it right at no charge. That’s a promise Cody puts behind every job his crew finishes in San Francisco.

DIY or Call Us?

If your FAAC gate has a cracked weld, do not try to fix it with a home welder unless you’re genuinely experienced. A gate under motor force holds a lot of stored energy, and a failed weld on a moving gate can send a heavy steel panel into a car, a fence, or worse. One bad bead on a hinge ear can fail without warning. This isn’t a gate-company scare line, it’s just how loaded metal behaves.

What you can safely do is assess and photograph: note where the crack is, whether it’s growing, and whether the gate still travels straight. Send those photos to our team or describe what you see over the phone. We’ll give you an honest read on whether it needs welding now or can wait a few weeks. For anything involving an operator arm, a loaded hinge, or a gate that’s already sagging, call (628) 227-2771 and let us put eyes on it. Cody’s crew will explain what they found before they weld anything.

FAQs

Call Latch and Post Gate Repair San Francisco

If your FAAC gate has a cracked weld, a loose operator mount, or a hinge that’s giving up, call us at (628) 227-2771 for a free estimate. A live person answers, day or night. We’ll give you a written price before any work begins, lay drop cloths and wear shoe covers if we need to step inside, and send a photo of the clean-up before we leave. Quiet tools if the kids are napping. Straight answers if you’re standing there watching. A gate that opens quietly and closes all the way is one of those things you stop noticing, and that’s exactly the point.

Written by Cody Beckman, Owner, Latch and Post Gate Repair San Francisco at Latch and Post Gate Repair San Francisco, serving San Francisco and nearby areas.