Free Guide Reveals How To Get Your Garage Door Fixed Properly, At A Fair Price, Without Getting Ripped Off

Dear Homeowner,

Your garage door broke. Maybe a loud bang in the night and now the door won't lift, or the opener just hums and nothing moves, and the car is stuck inside and you need to be somewhere in an hour.

That's the exact moment most people pick a garage door company. Fast, stressed, off the first ad they see. And that's the moment it's easiest to get taken.

Let me be straight with you before you read any further. I own a garage door company. I'm Matt Kuehlhorn, and my family runs Kooler Garage Doors here in Grand Junction and Montrose. So read this knowing who wrote it. I wrote it anyway because I'd rather you hire anyone the right way than hire us the wrong way.

Here's what to ask, and what to watch for.

7 Questions To Ask Before You Let A Company In Your Home

1. One: Will you give me the price in writing before any work starts?

   Not after. Before. A real company looks at your door, tells you what it found, and hands you the number. If the price only shows up on the invoice, you never had a price.

2. Two: Can I see your prices before you come out?

   Plenty of companies won't tell you anything until a truck is in your driveway. Ask if they publish their prices anywhere. If they say every job is different and leave it there, ask for a range. A company that can't give you any range at all is planning to decide your price once they're standing in your garage.

3. Three: Who exactly is coming to my home, and are they background-checked?

   You're opening your house to this person. Ask if it's their own employee or a subcontractor they found this week, and ask if that person has been background-checked. It's a fair question. Any good company will answer it without blinking.

4. Four: Are you bonded and insured, and can I see it?

   Colorado has no state license for garage door companies, so "licensed" tells you less than it sounds like. Ask about insurance instead. Springs hold a lot of force and if someone gets hurt or something gets damaged in your garage, you want to know whose insurance covers it - and it shouldn't be yours.

5. Five: What's the cycle rating on the springs, and are you replacing both?

   Springs are rated by how many times the door can open and close before they wear out. The standard spring is rated around 10,000 cycles, and better ones go to 25,000 and 50,000. Ask the number, and get it in writing before you say yes. And if your door has two springs, ask them to replace both, and I'll explain why below.

6. Six: What's the warranty, in writing, and how long does it last?

   "We stand behind our work" isn't a warranty. Ask what's covered, parts and labor, and for how long, and ask to see it on paper before you pay.

7. Seven: Will you check the door's balance and test the safety reverse before you're done?

   A garage door that's out of balance wears out the opener and the springs. A door that doesn't reverse when it hits something can hurt a kid or a pet. A good tech checks both and shows you. Ask them to.

The 5 Spring And Opener Rip-Offs To Watch For

1. 1. The phone price that grows in your driveway.

   You call around and someone quotes you a low number for a spring. The tech shows up and suddenly it's three times that, and there's a list of "required" parts you've never heard of. Ask why the price changed, ask them to show you each part, and get it in writing before anyone touches the door. Options you choose are fine. Parts they say you must have, that they can't show you, are the problem. If they can't show you, don't sign.

2. 2. One spring when you have two.

   If your door has two springs and only one broke, someone will offer to replace just the one, and it sounds like they're saving you money. They're not. Both springs have run the same number of cycles and the other one is close behind. Replace one today and you're likely making a second call soon - and paying for a second trip.

3. 3. The "lifetime" spring with no number on it.

   Watch for "lifetime springs" or "heavy duty" with no cycle rating behind it. A spring is rated in cycles. If nobody will put the rating in writing, you don't know what you bought. A lifetime warranty on labor or on an opener motor can be real. A "lifetime spring" with no cycle number behind it is a slogan. Ask for the cycle rating and the warranty terms, both in writing.

4. 4. A new opener to fix a door problem.

   An opener that strains, stalls or quits is often telling you the door is heavy or out of balance - usually the springs. Put a new opener on a heavy door and you've paid for a new opener that'll wear out early on the same bad door. Before anyone sells you an opener, ask them to disconnect it and check how the door lifts by hand.

5. 5. "While I was in there."

   You agree to a spring job and the bill comes back with rollers, cables and hinges you never said yes to. Extra parts can be legitimate. Old doors need things. But you should see each one, hear why, and say yes before the work starts, not find it on the invoice.

What I'd Do If I Were You

Keep this guide by the phone. When you call any company, us or anyone else, ask the seven questions. A good company will be glad you asked. A company that gets short with you just answered the most important question of all.

Here's how we answer them at Kooler. We publish our prices on our website, so you can read them before anyone shows up. Before any work starts, your Kraftsman runs what we call the Door Score - a check of the springs, the balance, the opener, the safety sensors and the reverse - and you see what it found and your options in writing. Before we'd ever sell you an opener, we check how your door lifts and balances, so you're not buying an opener to cover a door problem. Everyone we send to your home is background-checked. We're bonded and insured. When one of two springs breaks, we replace both, every time, and the cycle rating is printed on your options sheet before you say yes. After a spring job the door is rebalanced and load-tested, and on every job we re-test the safety reverse before we leave. Our guarantee on our own work doesn't expire, and each spring package carries its own parts warranty, from 15 months up to 10 years.

Okay, so what's the downside? We can't fix everything, but we'll tell you up front what we can do. And because we do the job the thorough way, we're not for everybody. If all you want is the cheapest spring you can find, there are plenty of companies that can help you. But if you want your door fixed properly, here's where we'd like to start.

Whoever you call, ask the seven questions.

We Got You.

Matt Kuehlhorn
Owner, Kooler Garage Doors, Grand Junction, Colorado

P.S. If your door is loud, slow, or you've been putting off a strange noise, now is the time to have someone look at it, before it breaks on a morning you need to leave.

P.P.S. Every spring we touch gets a free K Kap - our own patent pending safety cap over the dangerous end of the spring. No charge, no line item.