If there is living space above the garage — true for most SF row houses — a belt-drive or wall-mounted jackshaft opener is worth the difference; chain drives transmit vibration straight into the floor above. Jackshaft units also free up ceiling room in low-headroom garages, which the west side has plenty of.
Repairs make sense for gears, capacitors, sensors, remotes, and travel-limit issues on units under about 12 years old. Past that age — or if the unit lacks safety reversal and rolling-code remotes, standard since the mid-90s — replacement is usually the better spend, and modern units add battery backup and phone control.
Units with battery backup do — and since 2019 California requires battery backup on new opener installations, everything we install includes it. The battery is good for dozens of cycles during an outage and recharges automatically when power returns.
Model-selection guides for the brands we put on San Francisco garages:
Opener-related services below — remotes, keypads, safety sensors, and the opener itself. Upfront pricing on every job; ranges in the cost guide.