Answer Your Gate From Anywhere
A cloud video intercom like DoorBird turns your driveway gate into something you control from your pocket. A visitor presses the call button, your phone rings, and you get live video and two-way audio before you decide anything. Buzz in a delivery, let the dog walker through, or ignore a stranger entirely, from the kitchen or from a beach in Mexico. Every call and every open is logged, so you always know who came and went.
- Live video and two-way talk on your phone, wherever you are
- Open the gate with a tap, no keypad code to hand out
- Motion alerts and a searchable log of visitors and opens
- Works alongside your existing keypads, fobs, and remotes
Multi-Tenant Systems for Apartments, HOAs & Commercial Sites
For gated communities, apartment buildings, and commercial yards, we install telephone entry and cloud directory systems: DoorKing and Linear panels, and ButterflyMX-class smartphone platforms. Tenants answer video calls on their own phones and open the gate from the app; managers add and remove residents from a web portal in minutes, with no truck roll and no reprogramming visit. Guests scroll a directory or scan a code, deliveries get time-limited PINs, and every entry is stamped to a name. Move-outs stop being a security problem: you revoke access with a click.
- Tenant directories sized from a fourplex to hundreds of units
- Self-serve management portal for move-ins, move-outs, and vendors
- Temporary PINs and virtual keys for deliveries and contractors
- Full audit trail for HOA boards and property managers
How the Install Actually Happens
We start with a site visit: where visitors stop, where power and internet live, and what your gate operator can accept. Most systems tie into your existing operator (LiftMaster, Nice/Apollo, FAAC, Viking, DoorKing, HySecurity) through a simple relay, so a working gate rarely needs replacing. We run the wiring cleanly, mount the station at car-window height on a pedestal or pilaster, seal it against Northwest rain, then set up the app on your phone and test calls with you before we leave. Most residential installs are done in a day.
Repairs, Dead Panels & Landline Conversions
Already have a system that's failing? We service all the common brands (DoorKing, Linear, Viking, LiftMaster, EMX, DoorBird, ButterflyMX) and we're honest about repair versus replace. The usual failures are corroded boards, dead call buttons, tired power supplies, and water past a gasket that gave up. Northwest rain eventually finds any panel that isn't sealed right. If the intercom died but the gate still runs, that's usually a one-visit fix, not a new system. And if the panel is fine but it was built to dial a landline that no longer exists, a cellular conversion, not a whole new system, is usually the fix.
Upgrading Telephone Entry as Copper Phone Lines Retire
For decades, gated communities and apartment buildings ran on telephone entry: a visitor pressed a button, the panel dialed a resident over a copper phone line, and a key press opened the gate. That copper is going away. Carriers across the country are retiring traditional landline service, and where it still works it tends to get more expensive every year. The result is a wave of older DoorKing, Linear, and similar panels around Portland and Vancouver that are one carrier notice away from going silent, even though the panel hardware itself is often perfectly sound. There are two upgrade paths. A cellular adapter keeps a good panel in service: it dials residents over the cell network instead of a landline, same buttons, same directory. Or we retire the box along with the copper and install a cloud video intercom on your existing pedestal, conduit, and wiring. Tenants answer on their phones, managers update the directory from a browser, and the system never depends on a phone line again.
- Cellular adapters that keep sound DoorKing and Linear panels dialing
- Full swaps to cloud video entry, reusing your pedestal, conduit, and wiring
- Tenant directories managed from a browser, with no reprogramming visit
- One less phone bill attached to the gate
Frequently asked questions
Will a video intercom work with my existing gate opener?
Almost always, yes. Intercoms trigger the gate through a dry-contact relay, and every mainstream operator (LiftMaster, DoorKing, Nice/Apollo, FAAC, Viking, Linear, HySecurity) has an input for exactly that. It wires in the same place a keypad would, so your remotes and existing entry devices keep working alongside it. The main question we check on-site is whether the operator's control board is healthy enough to be worth keeping.
Do you have to trench wire out to my gate?
Not always. If your gate already has conduit for the operator or a keypad, we can usually pull a network or low-voltage line through it. Where there's no path, options include a buried run, a point-to-point wireless bridge back to the house, or a cellular unit that needs only power at the gate. Wired PoE is the most reliable for video, so we quote that first when the distance is reasonable.
What happens when the power or internet goes out?
The gate itself follows its own rules: most residential operators have battery backup and a manual release, so you're never locked in. A cloud intercom needs internet to ring your phone, which is why we keep a keypad or fob reader as a local backup that works with no connection at all. For sites where uptime matters, we add a small UPS on the intercom and network gear so short outages pass unnoticed.
My old telephone entry box used a landline. Can it be saved?
Usually, and this is a common call: carriers are phasing out the copper lines those DoorKing and Linear panels were built on. If the panel is otherwise sound, we install a cellular adapter so it dials phones over 4G instead of a landline. If it's corroded or the board is failing, replacing it with a cloud unit often costs less than chasing repairs, and your tenants get video and app entry in the bargain.
What drives the cost of a video entry system?
Four things, mostly: the wiring path (existing conduit is cheap, new trenching is not), video versus audio-only hardware, the number of units or tenants the system has to manage, and whether the platform carries a monthly cloud fee. Some systems, like DoorBird, work with little or no ongoing fee; multi-tenant platforms like ButterflyMX typically run on a per-unit subscription that buys the management portal and support. We lay out both the install price and any recurring cost before you commit. No surprises on the first invoice or the twelfth.
How do tenants and guests get in on a multi-tenant system?
Tenants answer video calls in the app and tap to open, or use a PIN or fob at the panel. Guests find the resident in the on-screen directory and press call; deliveries can get time-limited codes that expire on their own. Managers control all of it from a web portal, without anyone visiting the panel: add a tenant at move-in, revoke them at move-out, and pull an entry log any time.
Where we do this work
Across the Portland metro from our Tualatin HQ and across Clark County from our Vancouver hub. See every city we serve, or jump straight to Portland, Beaverton, Tigard, Vancouver, or Camas.