Free on-site gate assessment - hinges, posts, and your LiftMaster or Nice gate operator checked before anything is quoted
The assessment is free and the quote is the invoice.
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AfterFast, Reliable Gate Installation Across Dallas
A new driveway gate in Dallas typically runs $2,800-$6,500 installed, and a heavy custom iron swing gate on an acreage entrance will land closer to $7,000-$12,000 once you factor the operator, post footings, and power run. We’re Gatewood Fence & Gate, and we’ve been setting gates on Dallas’s Blackland Prairie clay since 2001. Hal Gatewood’s name is on the shop and on every invoice, and we answer the phone with a live person around the clock. Call (325) 936-1371 and you’ll get a straight answer, a free estimate, and a written price before any work starts.
Dallas isn’t like other cities for gate work. The soil moves. The summers hit 105°F. And a lot of the acreage east and south of the city still runs on long driveways where pulling mains power to the entrance costs more than the gate itself. We build for that. Deep footings, solar operators sized for Texas sun and Texas shade, and posts that stay plumb when the clay swells and shrinks. If you’re off a rural road in southeast Dallas County or on a Preston Hollow estate, the approach changes, and we know the difference.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Dallas’s Preferred Gate Installation Company
We’re not a national outfit and we don’t run a call center. Hal Gatewood founded this company in 2001 and he still works jobs himself. When you call, a live person answers. When someone shows up at your gate, they’re background-checked, uniformed, and trained on nine major brands: LiftMaster, FAAC, BFT, Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, Elite, and Mighty Mule. The person who shows up knows Dallas soil, Dallas heat, and Dallas building patterns, because we work them every week.
Dallas homeowners have told us the same story for years: a big company quotes one price on the phone, sends a sub out from another county, and the gate sags or the operator burns out within eighteen months. Then nobody returns the call. We built our reputation doing the opposite. Every job carries our 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If it’s not done right, one call brings Hal back, no runaround. We also offer a free second opinion on any written estimate, no trip charge inside the county, $40 off any repair over $200, and a permanent 10% discount for seniors and veterans. The name is on the shop, and the shop is down the road. That’s the oldest accountability there is.
Our Gate Installation Services in Dallas
Driveway Gate Installation
Most Dallas driveway gates fall into two camps: ranch-style tubular steel on acreage lots and custom ornamental iron in neighborhoods like Lake Highlands and North Dallas. For rural and acreage entrances, we size the gate for the opening, then size the operator for the gate, not the other way around. A 16-foot farm gate on a long driveway off a county road needs a heavier operator than a 12-foot suburban gate, and undersizing it means you’ll be replacing a burnt motor within two years. Our Gate Installation team handles the full job: posts, panel, hinges, operator, safety edges, and the power run, whether that’s mains electric or solar.
Pedestrian Gate Installation
A separate walk gate next to a big driveway gate saves wear on the operator and gives you a way in when the power’s out or the motor’s down. We install pedestrian gates in everything from 1950s ranch homes in Oak Cliff to dense Uptown townhome entrances where space is tight. Dallas clay doesn’t care how small the gate is; a shallow footing will still heave it out of plumb. We dig below the active clay zone every time.
Sliding Gate Installation
Sliding gates make sense on Dallas properties where a swing gate would eat half the driveway arc, or where the driveway slopes and a swing gate would drag. They also do well on commercial-style entrances in East Dallas condo communities and gated developments along Preston Road. The catch in Dallas is the track. Rack-and-pinion slide gates bind when clay shifts the track out of alignment, and we’ve fixed enough of those to know that a concrete track bed poured on undisturbed soil beats a shallow pour every time.
Swing Gate Installation
Swing gates remain the most common style across Dallas, and the biggest failure we see is at the hinge post. A gate sags in the hinge post, not in the middle, and that’s where we start. On Blackland Prairie clay, the hinge post wants to tilt within two years if the footing sits too shallow. Our standard is a deep footing with rebar, set below the clay’s active movement zone, and a heavy-duty post sized for the panel weight, not just the opening width. Fix the panel without the post and you’ll fix it twice.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Dallas
We’re certified to install and service nine major gate operator brands, and for Dallas customers we most often recommend LiftMaster for heavy residential swing and slide gates, Ghost Controls for solar-powered rural entrances where mains power is impractical, and Elite for long-span slide gates on sloping driveways. We keep common parts and operator kits stocked for faster turnaround in Dallas, and we don’t push one brand across every job. The gate, the opening, the driveway slope, and the shade pattern on your property decide what we recommend. That’s what “repair-first, replace only what’s needed” means.
Common Gate Installation Problems We See in Dallas Homes
- Gate posts tilting within two years. Footings poured too shallow for Blackland Prairie clay movement. The soil swells after heavy rain and shrinks during drought, and the post goes with it. We dig below the active zone and stabilize the base so the gate stays plumb through a full wet-dry cycle.
- Undersized operators after a custom gate upgrade. In North Dallas gated communities along Preston Road and Midway, homeowners frequently replace builder-grade gates with much heavier custom wrought-iron panels without upgrading the operator. The motor burns out in two to three years. We size the operator for the new panel weight before it goes on the post.
- Wood gate panels warping in 105°F summers. Dallas heat warps wood panels without a steel anti-sag kit, and metal frames thermally expand and bind against posts. We install anti-sag bracing and set clearance with the summer expansion in mind, not a mild spring day.
- Solar operators failing in shaded areas. If post oaks shade your gate’s solar panel for half the day, the battery bank won’t recover, and a cloudy winter week will leave the gate dead. We size panels and battery banks for actual shade conditions on your property, not a textbook sunny field.
Pricing for Gate Installation in Dallas, TX
A standard single swing gate with a basic operator in Dallas runs $2,800-$4,500. A double swing gate for a wider driveway entrance lands at $4,500-$7,500. A heavy custom iron driveway gate on an acreage lot with a solar operator and deep clay-soil footings will run $7,000-$12,000 depending on span, panel weight, and power run distance. Slide gates add $1,500-$3,000 for the track and foundation work. These are Dallas market numbers, not national averages. We quote the price up front, in writing, before any work starts, and that price doesn’t change when the job reaches the gate. Estimates are free. Call (325) 936-1371 and we’ll come measure and give you a number you can hold us to.
We Also Serve Cities Near Dallas
Our Dallas crews serve the whole metro. If you’re in Irving, Duncanville, Addison, or Richardson, we’ll come set your gate with the same deep footings, the same written warranty, and the same live person on the phone. Dispatch and scheduling are coordinated from our Dallas-Fort Worth office, and we keep crews in Dallas daily.
Serving Dallas, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Dallas area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Gate Installation in Dallas
For a swing gate on Dallas’s Blackland Prairie clay, we typically dig footings 36-48 inches deep, which gets below the active shrink-swell zone. Depth depends on the gate weight and the specific soil composition on your lot, but anything shallower than 30 inches is asking for a tilted hinge post within two years. We’ll know more once we dig a test hole on your property. Call (325) 936-1371 and we’ll come look at your soil, not guess from across town.
Yes, and we do it often. Long rural driveways in southeast Dallas County and the surrounding acreage areas frequently have no practical mains power at the entrance, and running conduit hundreds of feet costs more than a quality solar setup. We recently set a 16-foot farm-style swing gate on a driveway off a rural road in southeast Dallas, pairing a Ghost Controls solar kit with a deep post footing below the clay’s active zone. The key is sizing the panel and battery bank for actual shade, not a sunny-day spec. We’ll take a shade reading on site before quoting.
Yes. This is one of the most common calls we get in North Dallas gated communities, especially along Preston Road and Midway. The builder put in an operator sized for a lightweight aluminum panel, then the new owner hung a heavy wrought-iron gate on the same motor. We swap the operator for one rated for the actual panel weight, and we check the hinge post footing at the same time, because a heavier gate loads the post more too. Show me the gate closing on its own and I’ll show you where it’s failing. Estimates are free, and the operator upgrade price is locked in writing before we start.
All automatic gate installations in Dallas must comply with UL 325 safety standards, which require a minimum of two entrapment protection devices: typically photo eyes across the gate path plus a reversing edge or inherent obstruction sensing in the operator. We install safety edges, photo eyes, and warning signage as standard on every automatic gate, and we test the full system before we leave. This is not an add-on line item; it’s part of a code-compliant install.
Yes. Slide gates work well on sloping driveways where a swing gate would drag or need a massive arc, and we install them across North Dallas and the Preston Road corridor regularly. The foundation is the critical part: we pour a concrete track bed on undisturbed soil and set the track with enough adjustment to handle clay movement over time. If the track shifts, the gate binds. We’d rather pour it right once than come back to realign it every summer.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Dallas since 2001.