What to have ready
- The width of the door, single or double
- Whether it's steel, wood or aluminum
- What's failed: spring, cable, opener or track
- Roughly what year the house went up
- Whether the door or opener has ever been replaced
What We Actually Do
We work on garage doors and the hardware that runs them: torsion and extension springs, openers, tracks, rollers, cables, and panels. Most of the houses we get called to in this area were built between 1938 and 1996, with a lot of the stock dating to the 1960s and 70s across the 42 named areas here. That matters for a quote because a door from that era often runs on hardware sizes and mounting styles that newer doors don't use, so what fits a house in a newer subdivision may not fit yours.
A phone description gets you a range, not a number. To give you an actual price we need to know the door's width and height, whether it's steel, wood, or aluminum, what kind of spring system it has, and whether the opener is original or already replaced. None of that is guessable from a driveway photo texted to us, a stripped gear on a chain-drive opener and a burnt-out circuit board on a belt-drive opener cost different money, and they can look identical from the outside.
We don't handle new construction framing or structural garage conversions. If the opening itself needs to be resized or rebuilt, that's a contractor's job before it's ours.
Contacting Us
Call (628) 221-4630 and tell us what the door is doing, or not doing. If you know the age of the house, mention it, homes built in the median 1963 range around here tend to have older torsion hardware that we should plan for ahead of the visit. If a spring has already broken, do not try to force the door open with the opener; that's the fastest way to turn a spring job into a spring-plus-track job.
We're based at 8 Digital Dr, Novato, CA 94949. If you'd rather start with a quote request than a call, use the contact page linked at the bottom of this one: request a quote.
What we can't do over the phone is quote a torsion spring job to the pound-test, or tell you whether a panel is still in production, without seeing the door. Steel panel profiles change by manufacturer and by year, and a door that's been repainted can hide the badge that tells us which one it is.
Who Does the Work
The person who answers the call and the person who shows up to look at your door are working from the same information, no dispatch handoff between different companies, no subcontracted crew you haven't spoken to. We look at the spring size, the track alignment, the opener model, and the panel condition on site, then price the job off what we actually find, not off what was guessed on the phone.
We're straightforward about when a repair isn't worth it. A single cracked panel on an otherwise sound door is a repair. A door where three panels are dented, the torsion tube is bent, and the opener is failing is usually cheaper to replace outright than to patch three separate ways. We'll tell you which situation you're in before we write up a number, not after.
Where We Work
- Black Point-Green Point2 mi
- Lucas Valley-Marinwood3 mi
- Sleepy Hollow6 mi
- Santa Venetia6 mi
- Fairfax7 mi
- San Anselmo7 mi
- Woodacre7 mi
- Ross8 mi
- Nicasio8 mi
- Lagunitas-Forest Knolls9 mi
- Larkspur10 mi
- Kentfield10 mi
- Corte Madera11 mi
- Mill Valley12 mi
- Temelec12 mi
- Bayview14 mi
- Strawberry14 mi
- Stinson Beach14 mi
- Pinole14 mi
- San Pablo14 mi
- Tamalpais-Homestead Valley14 mi
- Point Reyes Station14 mi
- Bolinas14 mi
- Tiburon14 mi
- Hercules15 mi
- Belvedere15 mi
- El Sobrante15 mi
- Sausalito16 mi
- Boyes Hot Springs16 mi
- Penngrove16 mi
- North Coast18 mi
The mild temperate climate through this stretch means we're not dealing with the freeze-thaw cracking or extreme heat warping that pushes garage door failure rates up elsewhere. Most of what we see is wear: springs that have cycled out, rollers worn down from age, and openers from an earlier generation finally giving out. That's a point in your favor when it comes to what a repair costs versus a full replacement.
Before You Ask for a Quote
Can you give me a firm price over the phone?
Not a firm one. We can give you a range based on what you describe, but an accurate quote needs the door's measurements, spring type, and opener model, which usually means someone looking at it in person. Hardware from older homes in this area, especially anything from the 1960s or 70s, varies enough that phone estimates run wide.
Do you work outside Novato itself?
Yes. We cover a wide radius including Black Point-Green Point, Lucas Valley-Marinwood, Fairfax, San Anselmo, Larkspur, Mill Valley, Sausalito, and other nearby areas out to about 18 miles. Mention your location when you call so we can tell you how soon we can get there.
What can't be quoted without a site visit?
Torsion spring sizing, panel matching on an older door, and any job where the opener's internal parts are the suspected problem. Springs are rated by wire size and wind count, panels vary by manufacturer and year, and opener boards fail in ways that look the same from outside but cost differently to fix.
Is a repair always cheaper than replacing the door?
No. A single damaged panel or a worn spring is usually a straightforward repair. But when several panels are dented, the track is bent, and the opener is also failing, replacing the whole door often costs less than fixing each problem separately. We'll tell you which situation applies before quoting.