Cost of New Garage Door Opener

A house I'm looking to buy has a brand new electric garage door, but they say they have no remote control opener (sounds stupid, right?)  There's no button on the outside to open the door and there is no key/lock to manually lock/open the door.

SO, what would it cost to get a remote control for the door?  Does this require me to put in a whole new system?  If so, how much does that cost?

Thanks for your advice.


I'd have to think that garage door experts could easily reprogram an opener. People lose openers all the time, right?  oh oh


We purchased an additional opener for our garage (a "universal" remote of some sort that was labeled as compatible with our system) and it had instructions on how to program it.


We just looked into this actually. We have the option of replacing the entire thing or nothing... So we stayed with nothing...But that is because our system is very, very old... as in like 40+ years old or something like that. But it works well and we just don't have the funds to do a full replacement right now. If it isn't broken...

Congrats on the new house btw!



pmartinezv said:

We just looked into this actually. We have the option of replacing the entire thing or nothing... So we stayed with nothing...But that is because our system is very, very old... as in like 40+ years old or something like that. But it works well and we just don't have the funds to do a full replacement right now. If it isn't broken...

Congrats on the new house btw!

 Thanks, but it's not my house yet!  We're still haggling on price and every time they get back to me there's something else that's all of a sudden not included -- like the garage door opener.

This is a house that was gutted and everything is new.  So how do you put in a new garage door system and not have a remote?  You can only open the garage door from the inside of the garage.  Makes no sense, but none of this deal makes sense to me!  LOL!

I think I'll investigate the universal remote thingy (thanks, @sac) -- I didn't even know there was such a thing.  Thanks MOLers!


You can buy a universal remote at Home Depot. It comes with programming instructions. 


http://www.homedepot.com/p/Chamberlain-Clicker-Universal-Remote-Control-KLIK1U/100609179 


I just had a new garage door opener installed. It came with only one remote. It cost about $60 to get another.


A new remote is under $75.  Can't imagine that you can't just get a remote. Best of luck with the house!


Take the make and model # to depot or lowes or Jaeger.  They'll be able to match you up fairly cheaply.  I haven't done this in some yrs, Stanley opener was $30.  Off brand 2 door universal remote was $15 at shack.  Evem I was able to program it without a support group.


Just did this search for you:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=universal+garage+door+remote&ia=products


You can definitely get a remote.  I've gone through a garage door learning experience since moving into our house, which came with two garage door openers, but only one remote.  And it's not really detached, so the only way to open it was with the remote (well, it also has keys that we don't have the keys to).

The way it generally works is that you program the opener, and not the remote.  Openers will have a learn button and you press that to put them in learn mode and then press the button on the remote you want to use and it learns to respond to that remote.  The best thing to do is to put the power of Google at your fingertips and find the manual for your opener to learn the programming sequence.

In our case, we have some ANCIENT 70s/80s looking openers that don't have built in receivers and they have basic aftermarket receivers that connect to the leads meant for push button switches.   I opted for an Internet gateway so that we can open the door from our smartphones.  It's very likely that the common universal remotes will work fine.



qrysdonnell said:

I opted for an Internet gateway so that we can open the door from our smartphones.  It's very likely that the common universal remotes will work fine.

 Ohhhhhhhh, now that would be nice!



Apollo_T said:

Just did this search for you:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=universal+garage+door+remote&ia=products

 You're the best, pal-o-mine!  LOL!  Thanks!


Depending on the age of your vehicle, it may have a universal remote button on the ceiling of the car, usually centered just a few inches from the windshield. Otherwise, as others have posted, the universal remote is easily purchased and installed.


Check with the company that makes the opener and the store(s) that sell it. You should be able to order it. Another alternative is eBay, which offers a surprising assortment of remote openers.


If the opener is THAT new, the owners of the home should be able to give a buyer the name of the company that installed it, who would be able to provide a remote that matches perfectly. I really have to wonder why on earth the sellers would not just buy a pair of remotes, since they were putting the house on the market. Kind of a weird oversight.



qrysdonnell said:

I opted for an Internet gateway so that we can open the door from our smartphones. 

I want this!  And, while we are at it, how about if it works on all of my cars also? 


I would also totally love to be able to open the garage door from our cell phones. SO much more convenient!



rowerg said:

Depending on the age of your vehicle, it may have a universal remote button on the ceiling of the car, usually centered just a few inches from the windshield. Otherwise, as others have posted, the universal remote is easily purchased and installed.

 LOL, my car is so old (how old is it???), I think it pre-dates electronic garage door openers.


PeggyC said:

If the opener is THAT new, the owners of the home should be able to give a buyer the name of the company that installed it, who would be able to provide a remote that matches perfectly. I really have to wonder why on earth the sellers would not just buy a pair of remotes, since they were putting the house on the market. Kind of a weird oversight.

 It's a flip.  There are so many little things that my realtor and I said "huh?" about, you wouldn't believe.  He could care less (even though the listing says a garage door opener comes with the house, they think that means a button inside the garage that opens the door.  DUH!)




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