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 Austin
Gate installation in Austin comes down to one thing most companies never check: the soil under the posts. West of I-35 you’re drilling limestone and caliche. East of I-35 you’re setting posts in Blackland Prairie clay that swells and shrinks with every rain and drought cycle. Get that wrong and a beautiful new gate sags, drags, and burns out its operator within a season. Hal Gatewood has been welding and setting gates since 2001, and he reads the ground before he reads the tape measure. We serve the entire metro from 73301 out to 78708 and 78725, and a live person answers when you call (877) 610-2993.
Need a straight answer on what this costs? A typical driveway swing gate in Austin runs $1,800-$4,200 installed, depending on width, material, and automation. Sliding gates start around $2,600 and go up from there. We quote the full price up front, in writing, before any work starts. No dispatch fee inside the county. No surprise line items when the crew shows up.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Austin’s Preferred Gate Installation Company
Hal Gatewood’s name is on the shop and on every invoice. He’s been owner-operated since 2001, with a published address and license number anyone can look up. When you call about gate installation in Austin, you’re not reaching a call center in another state. You’re reaching a person who knows that a gate post set in 78702 clay behaves differently than one set in 78703 limestone. That local knowledge is the difference between a gate that works for fifteen years and one that needs a service call every spring.
Our crew has installed gates in Tarrytown bungalow yards, on ranch driveways out near Hornsby Bend, and everywhere between. We show up in the window we promise. When we say the price is the price, we mean it. And every job carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If it’s not done right, one call brings Hal back. No runaround. No “let me check with the office.” You can drive to the shop and look him in the eye if you’d rather. The shop is down the road, and that’s the oldest accountability there is.
- Live person answers, 24/7 - not a voicemail, not a chatbot, not a queue.
- Owner-operated since 2001 - Hal Gatewood’s name is on the work.
- 90-Day Done Right Promise - in writing on every job.
- Upfront pricing - quoted and agreed before any work begins.
- On-site welding - we fix the gate in your driveway, not in a shop across town.
Our Gate Installation Services in Austin
Every gate we install in Austin is spec’d to the actual site. That means checking the soil, the gate span, the power situation, and how the gate gets used day to day. A ranch gate on a long Travis County driveway has different needs than a pedestrian gate on a Hyde Park sidewalk. Here’s what we handle most often in this market.
Driveway Gate Installation in Austin
Driveway gates carry the most load and get the most daily cycles, especially on central Austin properties where tech-boom renovations are retrofitting automation onto 1940s and 1950s homes that never had it. In 78703 and 78704, we’re often working around mature live oak and cedar elm roots protected by the city’s heritage tree ordinance. That means careful post placement and sometimes a sister-post design to spread the load without killing the tree. In 78702, where gentrification-era renovations are adding automated gates to older masonry pillars, we check the existing structure before we hang anything from it. A pillar built in the 1960s wasn’t engineered to carry a modern operator, and bolting hardware to a crumbling column is exactly the kind of sloppy work Hal gets called out to undo.
Pedestrian Gate Installation in Austin
Pedestrian gates seem simple, and that’s why we see so many that fail. The hinge post is the whole job. We set it deep enough and in the right footing for your side of the fault line - deeper in east-side clay, hammer-drilled and anchored in west-side caliche. A pedestrian gate in a front yard off Burnet Road or in a Wells Branch side yard is a different animal than a wide farm gate, and we build it accordingly. Latches, closers, and keypads all get matched to how the gate actually gets used.
Sliding Gate Installation in Austin
Sliding gates shine where a swing gate can’t work: short setbacks, steep driveways, or openings that cross a sidewalk line. Austin’s terrain runs from flat east-side prairie to rocky west-side slopes, and a sliding gate that works on one can fight you on the other if the base track isn’t graded right. We install cantilever and track-style sliders, sized to the opening and to the gate material. On long ranch driveways where a swing gate would need too much room, a slider is often the right call.
Swing Gate Installation in Austin
Swing gates are still the most common style around Austin, and they fail in predictable ways here. Clay heave tilts the hinge post. The wrong operator gets bolted on and burns out within a year. The panel sags because nobody fixed the post, only the hinge. We build swing gates from the posts up, on both single and double configurations. On a ranch driveway near 78708, we installed a twin-leaf swing gate across a 24-foot opening with FAAC operators running off a solar gate opener because the pasture had no mains power anywhere near the gate. Our crew set the hinge posts in hand-dug holes through caliche, then paired the operators with safety photocells and a wireless keypad entry, and tied in a loop detector on the inside so the gate opens for our client’s livestock trailer without anyone leaving the cab. That’s how the whole thing is supposed to work.
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 Austin
We’re certified to service nine major gate brands, and the ones we spec most often in Austin are FAAC, BFT, and Linear. FAAC operators are our go-to for heavy double swing gates and solar applications because they handle wide spans without complaint. BFT shows up a lot on newer automated systems around central Austin. Linear has strong options for pedestrian gates and access control. Because we’re local and service what we install, we stock common parts in our Austin shop instead of ordering them from a warehouse two states away. That means faster repairs when something finally wears out - and everything wears out eventually, especially in 100-degree heat.
Common Gate Installation Problems We See in Austin Homes
- Heaved hinge posts from Blackland Prairie clay. East of I-35, the soil expands when it rains and contracts in drought. One full wet-to-dry cycle can tilt a post enough to make the gate drag, and a dragging gate kills an operator in months. We set east-side posts deeper and use footings sized for clay movement, not just gate weight.
- Shallow footings in west-side caliche. Out-of-town installers treat caliche like solid rock and quit drilling early. It’s not the same. A shallow hole in caliche holds until the first wide gate comes off its hinges or a big wind hits. We hammer-drill to proper depth and anchor accordingly.
- Frozen control boards from ice events. February 2021’s Winter Storm Uri knocked out automatic operators all over Travis County because they were specced for Sun Belt heat, not sustained freezing. When we spec an operator in Austin now, it has to handle both ends of the thermometer. We also recommend weather shielding on the control board as standard practice.
- Operators undersized for the gate. A double swing gate on a ranch driveway needs more torque than a single residential gate. Put an operator sized for a pedestrian gate on a 20-foot farm gate and you’ll replace it within a year. We size operators to the actual span, weight, and duty cycle of the gate we’re installing.
Pricing for Gate Installation in Austin, TX
Here are the real numbers for this market, not a phone quote that changes when the crew shows up.
| Service | Typical Austin Price Range |
|---|---|
| Single swing driveway gate, manual | $1,800 - $3,200 |
| Single swing driveway gate, automated | $3,000 - $4,800 |
| Double swing gate (wide driveway or ranch entrance) | $3,800 - $7,500 |
| Sliding gate, automated | $2,600 - $6,000 |
| Pedestrian gate, manual | $650 - $1,400 |
| Solar power package for remote gate operators | $1,200 - $2,800 |
What moves the price is the gate width, the material, whether you’re automating it, and what the footing has to go through. East-side clay sometimes needs deeper concrete. West-side caliche sometimes needs hammer-drilling. Both cost time, and we build that into the quote before we start - never after.
We offer $40 off any repair over $200, no trip charge inside the county, and a free second opinion on any written estimate. Seniors and veterans get a permanent 10% discount. Every quote is free and every price is agreed before work starts. Call (877) 610-2993 for an exact number on your gate.
We Also Serve Cities Near Austin
Our Gate Installation crew works throughout the metro and the rural edges of Travis County. We’re out in Austin daily, and we regularly run jobs in Hornsby Bend, Wells Branch, Anderson Mill, and Jollyville. If your driveway is gravel and long, you’re our kind of customer. If you’re inside the county, there’s no trip charge - no matter how far out you live.
Serving Austin, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Austin 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 Austin
For a double gate east of I-35, we set posts 36 to 42 inches deep with a wider concrete footing than a typical residential install, because the Blackland Prairie clay in that corridor expands and contracts enough to tilt a shallow footing within a single season. The exact depth depends on the gate width and whether it’s automated, but anything under 30 inches in that soil is asking for a return trip. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll walk your site and give you the number for your specific gate.
Yes, solar gate openers handle wide farm gates well in Travis County when they’re sized right and paired with a battery bank. We just installed a twin-leaf swing gate across a 24-foot opening near 78708 running entirely off a solar package with FAAC operators, and it cycles daily without issue. The key is matching the panel and battery capacity to the operator’s draw and how many cycles per day you expect. Call (877) 610-2993 for a free site visit and we’ll spec the solar package to your gate instead of guessing.
Keypad entry works for people, but a loop detector is what lets the gate open automatically for vehicles approaching or exiting - and on a rural property where you’re driving a livestock trailer or coming home with a load, you don’t want to stop, roll down the window, and punch a code every time. We recommend both on ranch gates: keypad for access control, loop detector for hands-free operation. The detector pays for itself in convenience within a week. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll price both options.
Automatic gates in Austin need photo-eyes or edge sensors because they’re required by the same UL 325 safety standards that apply nationwide - a gate that reverses on contact or detects an obstruction is a gate that doesn’t crush a person or a car. They also protect the operator from burning itself out on a gate that hits an obstacle. We install safety photocells and edge sensors as standard on every automated gate we put in, not as an add-on line item. Call (877) 610-2993 for a free estimate that includes them.
Usually not from the pillar itself, because those old limestone columns rarely have the internal reinforcing a modern sliding gate needs to bolt onto safely. What we can do is set a dedicated steel post beside the pillar and keep the limestone as a visual feature rather than a load-bearing one. It preserves the bungalow look without asking a 70-year-old rock column to do a job it was never built for. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll come look at the pillar and tell you exactly what it can and can’t carry.
Think you need a new gate installed in Austin? Call (877) 610-2993 for a free, no-pressure estimate. Hal Gatewood and his crew will come out, look at your site, and give you a written price that won’t change when the work starts. That’s the way it should be.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Austin since 2001.