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 Snellville
A new gate in Snellville should last 20 years, but the gate itself is only half the job. The post, the footing, and the operator determine whether it stays square through the first Georgia summer. Gatewood Fence & Gate handles Gate Installation from the ground up. We’re local, owner-operated, and the same person who quotes the work is the one standing in your driveway. Call (877) 610-2993 and Hal will answer. No dispatch queue, no national call center.
Snellville’s subdivisions from the 1980s and 1990s are hitting the age where builder-grade gates and operators fail in bunches. Red clay soil, humidity, and 25-year-old hardware all stack up. We know what that looks like from the inside, because we see it every week across ZIP codes 30039 and 30078. That local knowledge changes how we install, and what you’ll pay over time.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Snellville’s Preferred Gate Installation Company
Hal Gatewood started this shop in 2001 and never turned it into a franchise. The name is on the building, the phone is answered by a person, and every job carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. That matters in Snellville, where half the work we get is fixing a gate installed wrong by someone driving an hour in from outside the county. Around here, your gate is what your neighbors see every day, and a sagging panel off the Scenic Highway corridor doesn’t hide.
Our crews serve Snellville directly, coordinated from the Atlanta office. We know the neighborhoods off Centerville Highway and along Webb Gin House Road. We know the HOA entrance gates in 30078 and the long driveways in 30039 that back up to acreage. When you call for a quote, you’ll get an actual number, not a range that widens after the crew arrives. And you’ll get a written price before any work begins, agreed to up front.
Beyond that, we weld on site. If a hinge plate is cracked or a post needs sistering, we fix it in your driveway. Most companies won’t carry a welder on the truck. We do. That’s the difference between a gate that works for decades and one that needs another service call next spring.
Our Gate Installation Services in Snellville
You can explore the full scope on our Gate Installation page. Here’s how the work looks in Snellville specifically.
Driveway Gate
Driveway gates in Snellville run from single-swing ornamental iron panels to double leaf steel gates on automatic openers. If your home sits in one of the older subdivisions off Five Forks Trickum Road, the gate you’re replacing was probably installed in the mid-1990s and sized for a smaller vehicle than what you park now. We set new posts in footings 18 inches wider than what was there and hang the new leaf dead level before the operator touches it.
Pedestrian Gate
Pedestrian gates get ignored until the latch won’t catch or the post leans into the walkway. In Snellville’s red clay, a pedestrian post set with a bag of quick-mix and a prayer will move within two seasons. We set every post past frost line and plumb to a string line before the concrete pours. That’s the old way, and it’s the reason our pedestrian gates still swing true years later.
Sliding Gate
Sliding gates make sense on Snellville lots with steep driveways or limited swing room. The catch is that the track has to stay clean, and Georgia clay doesn’t just wash away, it swells and rolls under the gate. We lay a proper base, pitch the track for drainage, and set the operator bracket so the chain or rack stays in line through a wet winter and a dry June. If your property slopes toward the road, a sliding gate may be the only design that won’t drag.
Swing Gate
In Snellville’s newer developments, swing gates are the most common installation request, and also the most common one we’re called to redo. The post was rarely the problem the first time, but it always is the second time. We dig deeper, pour wider, and put the hinge load on mass, not hope. For double gates, we align both leaves on the exact same plane so the magnet lock and operator aren’t fighting each other from day one.
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 Snellville
We service Viking, Ghost Controls, and DoorKing operators, among others. More important than the brand badge is where the parts come from and who installs them. Our trucks carry the pieces Snellville customers need most often: limit switches, safety photocells, remotes, and hinge hardware that doesn’t rust out by August. If you’ve got an older Elite or FAAC unit on a 25-year-old ornamental iron gate and can’t find parts through a big-box store, call us before you write the gate off. Most of the time we can keep it running and you can keep the look your HOA wants.
Common Gate Installation Problems We See in Snellville Homes
- Post heaving in red clay. Georgia’s expansive soil pushes hinge posts up and out of plumb one to two inches a year in wet seasons. The gate sags, the operator binds, and the fix isn’t a new motor. It’s re-setting the post in a deeper, wider footing, which is where we start.
- Builder-grade operators with no entrapment protection. Snellville’s subdivision boom happened before UL 325 enforcement got serious. Many of those original operators have exposed limit switches that fail in humid summers. We remove them, install current-sensing operators with photocells, and make them code-compliant before anyone gets hurt.
- Missing conduit from original construction. Plenty of 1980s and early 1990s homes in 30039 had manual gates with no electrical run to the gate location. Adding automation later means trenching through lawn or surface-mounting conduit. We lay it out so the run is hidden, protected, and not a tripping hazard.
- Gates sagging at the hinge post, not the panel. A lot of people look at a twisted gate leaf and think the gate is the problem. But a gate sags in the hinge post, not in the middle. Until the post is plumb and the footing is solid, any new gate we hang will do the same thing in three years.
Pricing for Gate Installation in Snellville, GA
You’ll get a written, flat price before any work begins. That’s the only way we do it. A typical single-leaf ornamental iron driveway gate installed in Snellville runs $1,800 to $3,200, including the gate, hardware, posts, and concrete. Adding an automatic operator runs another $1,400 to $2,800 depending on the brand and whether there’s an existing electrical run. A full double-swing driveway gate with automation usually lands between $4,500 and $7,500. Pedestrian gates are the smallest of the jobs: $700 to $1,600 is a fair working range. Security gates with welded frames, taller panels, and access control run higher, and we price each one to the actual panel, not a catalog. The number we quote is the number you pay. Call (877) 610-2993 for a free estimate, and we’ll measure in person. No trip charge inside the county.
We Also Serve Cities Near Snellville
If you’re outside the city line, we still work your area. We regularly install gates in Snellville and its neighbors: Lilburn, Lawrenceville, Stone Mountain, and Mountain Park. Same crew, same owner, same promise. Call and tell us which side of town you’re on.
Serving Snellville, GA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Snellville 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 Snellville
Because the red clay in northeastern Gwinnett County expands and contracts so aggressively that standard 24- to 30-inch footings lose plumb within a few seasons. We set hinge posts 36 to 42 inches deep, with a wider concrete collar that gives the clay room to move without taking the post with it. The extra concrete costs a few hundred dollars now and saves a full rebuild in five years. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll explain exactly what your soil looks like before we quote.
Yes, and it’s one of the most common jobs we do in Snellville’s older HOA communities. The catch is that most 1980s gates have no conduit and no electrical run. We trench a proper line, install a concrete pad for the operator, and add safety photocells plus a loop detector if the HOA requires it. The gate itself usually stays, which keeps your HOA board happy and cuts the cost in half compared to a full replacement. We’ll quote the whole job, including the trench, before any work starts.
Undersized footings for the hinge posts. Builders and even some gate companies use the bare minimum depth and diameter, and within two Georgia seasons the clay has pushed the post an inch out of plumb. The gate binds, the operator burns out, and you’re paying for a repair that should never have been needed. We re-set posts in deeper concrete, and on new installs we build the footing for the soil that’s actually here, not for some soil chart in a manual. That’s what the 90-Day Done Right Promise is for, and it’s in writing.
Yes, and if your operator doesn’t have working entrapment protection, it’s not legal to operate, plain and simple. That means monitored safety photocells, a reversing feature on the operator, and audio or visual alarms on certain installations. Many of the builder-grade units installed in Snellville during the 1990s don’t meet current UL 325 and should be replaced, not repaired. We’ll check yours during the estimate and tell you what’s needed to bring it current. Call (877) 610-2993 and we’ll put eyes on it.
We install more DoorKing and Viking operators in this area than anything else, with Ghost Controls on lighter residential gates. The reason is simple: sealed limit switches and circuit boards that handle moisture better than the budget units that fail after two humid summers. Ice storms like the January 2014 event put a lot of torque through the drive gears, and these units hold up. That said, no operator outruns a post that’s out of plumb. We’ll spec the operator for your gate and your soil, not for a manufacturer’s sales sheet.
Contact Us for Gate Installation in Snellville, GA
The gate you install this year will be the gate you look at every day for the next decade. We’d rather do it once, in red clay and humidity, and not see you again except when you call for something else. If you’re in Snellville, Lilburn, Lawrenceville, Stone Mountain, or Mountain Park, call (877) 610-2993 for a free estimate. We’ll measure, we’ll quote in writing, and we won’t start until the price is agreed to. That’s how Gatewood Fence & Gate has worked since 2001, and it’s the only way Hal knows how to work.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Snellville since the company’s founding in 2001.