Who to hire for a garage door remote that stopped working

What to do before anyone arrives

1. 1Change the battery. Remote batteries fail gradually and the symptom is needing to stand closer before it stops working entirely.
2. 2Test the wall button. If that works and the remote does not, it is the remote or the pairing; if neither works, it is the opener.
3. 3Find the opener's make, model and the learn button — most units re-pair in under a minute and the procedure is usually printed on the unit.
4. 4Check whether anything new nearby could be interfering — LED lighting and some electronics are documented sources of interference at the frequencies these use.

What to ask when you book

• Is this the remote, the receiver, or interference?
• Is a replacement remote available for this opener, or is a universal one required?
• If the opener is old, what is the security of its coding? Older fixed-code systems can be captured and replayed.

What changes the price

No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.

• Remote replacement versus receiver repair versus a new opener.
• Whether the opener is old enough that parts are unavailable.

What you can do yourself

Is this licensed work?

Not licensed work, beyond the electrical connection of the opener itself.

There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.

• NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
• VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
• QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
• WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
• SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
• TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
• ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
• NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers

Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.

Common questions

Who should I hire for a garage door remote that stopped working

Often nobody — change the battery and re-pair the remote following the opener's manual first, because that resolves most of these. If the wall button also fails, or the opener has forgotten every remote, it is the opener's receiver and that is a garage door technician's job.

Why does my remote only work up close?

Nearly always a weak battery, and it is worth trying that before anything else. If a fresh battery does not restore the range, the next candidates are radio interference from new electronics nearby and a degraded aerial wire on the opener, which is usually a short length of wire hanging from the unit and is easily damaged.

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