The one part of the fence that moves ten thousand times
Every fence has a gate and the gate is what breaks. It carries its own weight in cantilever off one post, it gets pushed by wind, and it gets used every day. Willard Fence Co. builds welded gates in the shop, sizes the hinge post to the leaf, and installs the operators and safety hardware that go with an automated entry.
Swing or slide
A swing gate needs a level arc to swing through and room to stand open. A driveway that slopes up from the road, or one that is short between the gate and the street, usually means a slide. Cantilever slide gates carry themselves on rollers behind the opening with no track across the drive, which matters where a track would fill with gravel and leaves.
- Single swing to about 14 feet, double swing to 20 and beyond
- Cantilever slide where there is no swing room or the drive slopes
- Rolling gates on a track where the ground is flat and clean
- Matching pedestrian gate so the entry reads as one design
Automation, and the parts nobody thinks about
An operator is the easy part. What makes an automated gate work for years is everything around it: the conduit run before the concrete, the loops in the driveway so the gate does not close on a car, the photo eyes, the manual release for a power outage, and a way for a visitor and for the fire department to get in.
California treats automated gates as machinery with real safety requirements. We install to them.
- Swing and slide operators, solar or line power
- Safety loops, photo eyes, and reversing edges
- Keypads, intercoms, remotes, and phone entry
- Knox box or emergency access where the fire district requires it
- Manual release and a plan for when the power is out
Repair and rehang
A dragging gate is usually not a broken gate. It is a settled post, a worn hinge, or a frame that has racked because it was never diagonally braced. All three are fixable, often for a fraction of a replacement, and we would rather do that than sell you a new gate you did not need.
What we build gates out of
| Iron | Welded steel frame, powder coated, any infill |
|---|---|
| Wood | Steel frame with a wood face, so it cannot rack |
| Chain link | Welded frame, fabric stretched in, drop rod on doubles |
| Farm | Tube gate, 4 to 20 feet |
| Hardware | Ball bearing hinges, adjustable, greasable on heavy leaves |
| Posts | Sized and set for the leaf, always deeper than line posts |
A gate wider than about 12 feet is a double or a slide. A single 16-foot leaf is a lever, and it will find the weakness in whatever is holding it.
What gates run, installed
| Walk gate, chain link or wood | $350 to $1,400 |
|---|---|
| Iron single swing driveway gate | $3,000 to $8,000 |
| Iron double swing or cantilever slide | $5,500 to $14,000 |
| Operator, safety hardware, and entry controls | $2,500 to $6,500 |
| Rehang or repair an existing gate | Priced after a look; often under $500 |
These are typical installed ranges for this part of Northern California, published so you can budget. They are not a quote. What a run actually costs is decided by the site: access, grade, what has to come out first, and how many corners and gates are in it.
Questions we get
Often yes. The questions are whether the frame is rigid enough to be pushed by a machine, whether the posts can carry it, and whether power can get there. We check all three before quoting an operator.
Every operator we install has a manual release so the gate can be opened by hand. Solar operators with a battery ride through outages on their own, which is the reason a lot of rural gates here are solar.
Twelve feet is comfortable for a car and a pickup. Fourteen to sixteen if a trailer, a delivery truck, or a fire engine has to come through. Some fire districts have a minimum; we check yours.
Get an estimate: gates and openers
Roughly how many feet, what is there now, how many gates, and which town. Photos help. Someone will call back to walk the line and put a real number on it.