A metal gate only solves half the problem. The other half is deciding who gets through it, how quickly, and what happens when the person at the keypad no longer works for you. That decision sits between two very different jobs: a keypad entry system, which is one device and one set of codes, and a full access control system, which is a controller, credentials, a user database and a record of every open. Both bolt onto the same gate operator. What separates them is how much administration you want to do afterwards, and how badly you need to know who came in at 2am.
A keypad entry system installation is the shorter job. A weather-rated keypad goes on a pedestal or wall near the driver's window, low-voltage wire runs back to the operator, and the keypad closes a dry contact to trigger the open. Some units hold a single code, others hold dozens with separate codes per user, which is worth paying for — it is the only way to cancel one person's access without changing everyone's. Keypads suit a small yard, a contractor's lot, a two-unit property, anywhere the list of people is short and stable. Their weakness is that codes travel. Keys wear shiny, people pass the number along, and nobody can tell you afterwards who opened the gate.
An access control system installation changes the architecture. A controller is mounted in a weatherproof enclosure near the operator or inside the nearest building, readers go at each entry point, and the credentials — fobs, cards, phone-based Bluetooth, or long-range tags for trucks that never stop rolling — are issued and revoked from software. You get time schedules, so a cleaning crew's fob works Tuesday morning and not Saturday night, and you get an event log. On a Vernon industrial site with round-the-clock truck traffic and multiple drivers from multiple carriers, that log is usually the reason the system exists. Many of these setups also fold in a telephone or video intercom so deliveries can call a cell phone, which matters more now that landlines have largely gone from older buildings in Huntington Park, Maywood and Bell.
Most of the labour is power and pathway, not the device on the post. The gate operator needs line voltage, the controller and readers need low voltage, and the two cannot share a conduit. If power is coming from a panel on the far side of a driveway, someone is cutting and patching asphalt or concrete, or boring under it. That trench is frequently the single largest line item, and it is the first thing to ask about when you compare quotes — a bid that looks cheap may have assumed power is already at the gate.
Pedestal placement is its own decision. Set a keypad too far from the driveway and drivers open their doors; set it too close to the gate's swing or the sidewalk and you have created a hazard. Yards that take semis often need two reader heights, car window and truck cab, or a long-range reader instead. Never let anyone mount a keypad or reader on a moving gate leaf — the flexing wire fails, usually in the rainy months. Safety devices are part of the same job, not an upgrade: photo eyes across the opening, safety edges on the leading edge, free-exit loops or a request-to-exit sensor so the gate does not strand a vehicle. A battery backup matters in older Boyle Heights and Maywood buildings where outages leave residents locked in or out, and the manual release should be somewhere a person can actually reach in the dark. Emergency responder access needs to be set up deliberately rather than assumed.
Ask who holds the administrator account and whether you can add and delete users yourself, or have to call someone each time. Ask whether the system carries a monthly or cellular fee and who is billed. Ask whether your existing operator is rated for the weight and cycle count your gate sees, because a controller cannot fix an undersized motor. Confirm that enclosures are rated for outdoor mounting and that conduit, not exposed cable, carries every run — surface-run wire on a street-facing gate gets cut, deliberately or not. Finally, ask what happens on day one after a power loss and on day one after an employee leaves. Those two answers tell you more about the system than the spec sheet will.