I see customers waste an insane amount of money every year. I go on several service calls each week that are totally unnecessary where in the back of my head I’m thinking “you could have fixed this yourself in two minutes and saved $150”.
I also see tons of easily avoidable damage that was caused by negligence and/or shoddy installations. This can range from a couple hundred dollars all the way up to many thousands for a new door(s).
And I hear the same story over and over about outrageously high prices and what, in my opinion, amounts to a scam that is run by some of the largest companies in the garage door industry. Tens of thousands of homeowners across America pay double what they should, especially for repairs and garage door openers, because they called a national company (lots more on these guys later) instead of a trustworthy local outfit. I’ll show you how to find a company that will take good care of you..
Top Ways People Waste Money on Garage Doors
Here are the top ways people waste money on their garage doors:
- Garage door panels damaged by improperly installed garage door openers — this is the BIG one! Any garage door that is being used regularly will eventually have a broken spring. When that happens (or some other part breaks, or the door gets caught on something), your garage door opener has the potential to destroy your door if it doesn’t feel that there is a problem and turn off. I see this several times a month. Your garage door opener could be a ticking time bomb waiting to cost you thousands of dollars. Here’s how to tell.
- Not knowing how to troubleshoot problems with safety sensors. Every garage door opener manufactured since 1993 has come equipped with infrared safety sensors. If your garage door won’t close there is a 90% chance that they are the source of the problem — obstructions, misalignment, broken wiring, sunlight interference, or defective sensors. They are usually easy to fix. My safety sensor guide will save you time, money, and frustration.
- Paying a professional to program remote controls and keypads. You will pay a service charge plus a steep markup for parts and accessories that you can easily order online and install yourself.
- Programming remote controls
- Programming keypads
- Programming built in vehicle remotes
- Damage caused by negligence on the part of the homeowner, usually in the form of leaving random stuff like garden tools or bicycles where they can get caught up in the garage door. Vehicle strikes are common, too. Combine this with a garage door opener that isn’t installed properly and you have the recipe for disaster – damage that could lead to a whole new door, or maybe multiple new doors (more on that below).
- Falling victim to one of the many upsells and scams that the garage door industry is famous for – this is the business model of several huge, nation-wide companies. They spend a fortune on advertising and offer discount service charges in order to get their salesman in your garage.
- Hiring an unqualified hack masquerading as a garage door professional. Thanks to online advertising models that the major internet search engines use, this is a huge problem across the entire home services industry.
Important: many of the most common garage door models are no longer in production, and there may not be a current model with a matching design. Contrary to popular belief, garage door panels are not universal – you cannot just replace a damaged panel with one from a different manufacturer or even a different model from the same manufacturer.
This means that something that seems relatively minor, for example a top panel that got cracked by a garage door opener that wasn’t adjusted properly, may result in replacement of all of your garage doors…unless you want to live with mismatched doors on the front of your house. If you have two or three garage doors, it could easily end up costing you between $5,000 and $10,000 dollars. This is why it is critical that you know how to tell if your garage door and opener were installed properly.
