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
Gate installation in Dallas costs between $2,800 and $11,500 for most residential projects, with automated driveway gates typically landing in the $4,500 to $8,000 range. We install the gate, set the posts deep enough to hold Dallas black clay, weld on site if the frame needs it, and make sure the operator is sized for the weight and span. Call (877) 610-2993 and a live person answers, day or night, not a phone tree.
We have been running gate crews in Dallas long enough to know that the soil here does not sit still. Most of our installs in Oak Cliff, East Dallas, and the grid streets inside the loop involve alley-facing driveways, old posts someone set forty years ago, and black clay that swells after every good rain. That changes how a gate should be built. Hal Gatewood’s name is on every invoice, and the 90-Day Done Right Promise is stamped in writing on every job. If the gate is not right, one call brings him back. That is the whole arrangement.
Key takeaways:
- Free estimates in Dallas, no trip charge inside the county, price quoted and agreed before any work starts.
- On-site welding for custom frames and gate repairs, so the gate stays in your driveway.
- We stock parts and operators for Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, and DoorKing, among nine brands we service.
- 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing, and a live person answers the phone 24/7.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Dallas’s Preferred Gate Installation Company
We are locally owned and owner-operated, and have been since 2001. Not a franchise, not a rotating cast of subcontracted crews. The person who walks your fence line in Dallas and measures for the gate is the same person whose name is on the schedule. Hal answers the phone himself half the time, and when he does not, someone who works in the same shop down the road does. Dispatch and scheduling for Dallas run out of the brand’s Dallas-Fort Worth office, so we are already local to the metro, not flying a van in from somewhere else.
Dallas customers keep calling us back for one reason more than any other: the gate gets installed straight and it stays straight longer than the last one did. We do not stop at bolting a gate to whatever post is already there. We check the post, the pad, the operator sizing, and the way the ground drains around the footing. In Dallas, that last part is not optional. The clay under your fence line heaves and shrinks seasonally. A post set in that soil without accounting for movement will tilt. We set footings that work with the soil, not against it.
Serving local communities for over 29 years, still owner-operated, with a published address and a license number anyone can look up. We stand behind every install with a 90-Day Done Right Promise. If it is not done right, we make it right. Plain, on paper, no fine print.
Our Gate Installation Services in Dallas
Driveway Gate
Most driveway gate installation in Dallas is alley-served, which changes everything. The gate has to clear a tapered concrete pad that was poured before cars got this wide, hold up to black-clay heave, and cycle reliably in summer heat that pushes 105°F. We size the operator for the actual gate weight, not the brochure weight, and we set the hinge post with soil-compensating concrete so the gate does not sag in the first wet season. Typical driveway gate installs in Dallas run $4,500 to $8,000 depending on width, material, and whether you need automation.
Pedestrian Gate
A walk gate beside a driveway or into a back yard off an Oak Cliff alley needs a much simpler operator, but the same soil rules apply. We set a deeper post than the old one and weld the hinges rather than lag-bolting them where the clay movement will work them loose. Pedestrian gate installation in Dallas typically runs $1,200 to $3,400 installed, including a keypad or push-button entry if you want it.
Sliding Gate
Sliding gates make sense on long Dallas driveways where a swing gate would need too much sweep room, especially the wider ranch-style entries south of the city and the longer lots in East Dallas. The failure we see most on slide gates in Dallas is not the gate itself. It is the bottom track buckling because the clay under the concrete pad shifted. We relevel and re-anchor the pad before we hang the gate, because replacing the track without fixing the pad means fixing it again next season. Sliding gate installation in Dallas generally lands between $5,000 and $11,500 with automation.
Swing Gate
Swing gates work well on the older Dallas lots with wide concrete aprons off the rear alley, especially the 1920s to 1950s bungalow blocks in Oak Cliff and East Dallas. The catch is the hinge post. In Dallas black clay, a hinge post set shallow will lean within a year or two and bind the operator. We drill deeper, backfill with material that drains, and weld the hinge assembly if the frame is steel. Swing gate installation in Dallas runs $3,800 to $9,200 for most residential projects. For a double gate, add roughly 40 to 60 percent to the material and operator cost.
If you are not sure which type fits your driveway or alley, call us. We will come out, measure, and give you a written price. Estimates are free, and we do not change the number at the door.
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 install and service nine major gate operator brands, including DoorKing, Viking, Ghost Controls, and Linear. We keep common boards, remotes, and safety edges in stock for Dallas-area homes, so a repair visit does not turn into a week of waiting on a part. For a long ranch gate south of Dallas where running electrical power is not practical, we will typically recommend a higher-torque Viking or DoorKing operator paired with solar, sized correctly for the gate’s weight and span. The operator that works for a light pedestrian gate will burn out early on a heavy farm gate, and we size accordingly.
Common Gate Installation Problems We See in Dallas Homes
- Posts tilting out of plumb from black-clay heave. Dallas sits on the Blackland Prairie’s expansive black-clay soils, which swell after rain and shrink in drought. A post footing set shallow in that clay tilts, the gate sags, and the operator starts grinding against the misalignment. We set deeper footings with soil-compensating concrete on every install.
- Slide-gate tracks buckling off their pad. In the alley-served blocks of Oak Cliff and East Dallas, we consistently find bottom tracks that have separated from the concrete because the clay underneath shifted. The real repair is releveling and re-anchoring the pad, not replacing the track hardware.
- Gate frames warping from Dallas heat. Summer temperatures above 100°F expand steel and aluminum frames, throwing the latch out of line and stressing hinge welds. Then an ice storm comes through and the housing cracks. Hardware adjusted in spring rarely stays adjusted through a full Dallas year, which is why the 90-Day Done Right Promise matters: if the gate drifts in the first heat wave or freeze, we come back and fix it.
- Operators undersized for wide ranch gates. South of Dallas and in the exurban counties, gates get wider and heavier. A residential operator bolted to a 16-foot farm gate will fail early. We size the operator for the actual weight and cycle count, and add solar where mains power is not practical.
Pricing for Gate Installation in Dallas, TX
Gate installation in Dallas breaks down like this: a simple pedestrian gate starts around $1,200 installed. A standard automated driveway gate runs $4,500 to $8,000, depending on width, frame material, and operator. Sliding gates with automation land between $5,000 and $11,500. A solar-powered operator on a long rural or ranch driveway near Dallas adds roughly $800 to $1,600 over a hardwired unit, but often saves that much in trenching and electrical work. The price you are quoted is the price you pay. We write it down before the work starts, and we do not pad it at the door. Standing offers: $40 off any repair over $200, a free second opinion on any written estimate, no trip charge inside the county, and a permanent 10% discount for seniors and veterans. Call (877) 610-2993 for an exact quote. Estimates are free.
We Also Serve Cities Near Dallas
Our Gate Installation team covers the neighborhoods and ZIP codes across Dallas, from Oak Cliff and East Dallas to Uptown and Knox-Henderson, along with the nearby cities of Highland Park, University Park, Richardson, and Irving. If you are anywhere in the Dallas metro, call us. We will come measure. Read more about our local coverage on our Dallas page or call (877) 610-2993.
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
Because the concrete was sitting in expansive black clay. Dallas sits atop the Blackland Prairie’s black-clay soils, which swell dramatically after rain and shrink and crack during drought. That seasonal movement pushes against the below-grade sides of the footing and tilts the post, even when the concrete itself is intact. The fix is a deeper footing with soil-compensating concrete around the post base, not just more concrete in the same shallow hole. Call (877) 610-2993 and we will check your post and quote re-plumbing if it has moved.
Yes. For long driveways and acreage entrances around Dallas, we install solar-powered operators sized for the gate’s weight and cycle frequency. We typically use Viking or DoorKing solar-compatible operators, with enough panel and battery capacity to handle cloudy stretches and daily cycling. Call us at (877) 610-2993 for a free site assessment.
Because the black clay under the alley pad shifted, not because the track itself failed. In Oak Cliff and East Dallas, we consistently find slide-gate bottom tracks that have buckled or separated from their concrete pad due to clay soil shifting seasonally. Replacing the track hardware without releveling and re-anchoring the pad means the new track will buckle again. The real repair is pad work first, track second. Call (877) 610-2993 for a free inspection.
For a wide ranch gate, we recommend a high-torque operator like a Viking or DoorKing unit, sized well above the gate’s actual weight and not at the edge of its rating. A heavy 16 to 20 foot farm gate needs an operator that will not labor against the hinge post. If mains power is not practical, we pair the operator with a properly sized solar array. We quote the full system, including the safety edges and transmitter, before any work starts. Call (877) 610-2993 for an exact recommendation.
Dallas ice storms can crack operator housings, snap weakened hinge welds, and tear the gate’s weather stripping when ice builds up and the operator cycles against it. A newly installed gate should be checked after the first hard freeze, which is exactly the kind of follow-up the 90-Day Done Right Promise covers. If ice damage shows up on a gate we installed, call us and we will make it right. Call (877) 610-2993 for any post-storm gate issues in Dallas.
The Soil Problem Most Gate Companies Skip
No amount of concrete footing compensates fully for Dallas black clay. That is the honest truth. The soil under your gate swells after a heavy rain, then shrinks and cracks during a long dry stretch. A gate post set in that cycle will eventually lean, no matter how well the gate itself was welded. That is why a Dallas gate installation has to be different from a gate installation in, say, the sandy soil east of town. We set post footings below the active soil zone where we can, use soil-compensating concrete, and account for drainage so water does not pool around the post base and make the expansion worse. We have been fixing other companies’ Dallas installs for two decades, and the failure is almost always in the first three feet under the ground, not in the gate.
On an alley-facing driveway in Oak Cliff, our crew installed a Viking swing gate operator on a reclaimed 1920s hinge post that had shifted nearly two inches out of plumb due to black-clay heave. We set a deeper post footing with soil-compensating concrete, re-welded the hinge post, and added a solar gate opener to avoid trenching power across a cracked alley pad. The gate has cycled smoothly through a full wet-dry season since. That is the kind of job that does not show up on a generic gate installation page, because it is not a generic problem. It is a Dallas problem.
If you want a gate installed in Dallas that stays straight through the next rain and the next drought, call us. The name is on the shop, and the shop is down the road. That is the oldest accountability there is.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Dallas with gate installation, repair, and welding since 2001.