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 Wellesley
Gate installation in Wellesley comes down to one question most of the time: can your existing pillars, posts, and ironwork be brought back to plumb and fitted with a modern operator, or has frost heave and sixty years of New England weather finally won? We have been answering that question honestly since 2001, including plenty of Mondays spent straightening granite pillars on Cliff Road and Washington Street. If you call (877) 610-2993, you get Hal Gatewood or one of his crew, not a call queue. We show up when we say we will, measure the actual opening with a level and a tape, and give you a written price before any work begins.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Wellesley’s Preferred Gate Installation Company
Wellesley homeowners tend to do their homework. They walk the neighborhood, ask who did the ironwork on the house two doors down, and then they call us because our name is on the shop and the shop is down the road. Hal Gatewood has been owner-operated since 2001, and the person who answers the phone at 2 a.m. is the same person whose name is stamped on every invoice. That is the oldest accountability there is.
We work all over Wellesley, from the estates off Cliff Road to the newer builds near the Natick line. The work is different here than in Needham or Weston. Wellesley’s gates tend to be older, heavier, and mounted on granite or brick pillars that move every winter. A national outfit that has never worked a Wellesley freeze-thaw cycle will quote you a new gate when all you needed was a post reset and a hinge rehang. That is not how we operate. We fix what can be fixed, and we tell you plainly when replacement is the cheaper answer.
Our Gate Installation Services in Wellesley
Driveway Gate Installation
A new driveway gate in Wellesley typically runs $4,800 to $9,500 depending on the width, material, and whether you want automation from day one. The driveway on a Wellesley estate often slopes, which means the post footings need to go below the frost line or you’ll be calling us back every March. We pour footings at 48 inches minimum in this town because the clay holds water and the frost goes deep. We install the gate, set the posts, hang the leaves, and run the operator wiring so the whole thing works on a keypad or intercom the first time.
Pedestrian Gate Installation
Pedestrian gates in Wellesley are usually the companion to a larger driveway gate, and they get more use than anything else on the property. The mail carrier, the landscapers, the kids walking to school near Hunnewell Elementary. A solid steel or aluminum pedestrian gate with a keypad entry runs $1,600 to $3,200 installed. We match the finish and style to the existing driveway gate or fence so the property looks cohesive, not pieced together.
Sliding Gate Installation
Sliding gates make sense on Wellesley driveways that climb or that have no room for a swing leaf to arc. They need a level track and a solid cantilever base, and on clay-heavy soil that means concrete work or helical piers. A new automated sliding gate runs $5,000 to $11,000 here. We service Ghost Controls and Linear sliding operators regularly, and we keep common parts in the truck so a Wellesley job doesn’t stall while we wait on a warehouse.
Swing Gate Installation
This is the bread and butter in Wellesley. Most of the town’s older estates have single or double swing gates mounted on granite piers, and replacing that gate while saving the pier is a skill. We have welded brackets, fabricated hinge plates on site, and rehung gates that some other companies said were scrap. A new double swing gate with automation runs $6,500 to $14,000 in Wellesley, and the majority of that cost is the operator, the safety equipment, and the labor to get the posts dead plumb on soil that doesn’t want to cooperate.
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 Wellesley
We are certified to service nine major gate brands, and around Wellesley we see a lot of Linear, DoorKing, and Ghost Controls operators on the newer installs, plus plenty of older LiftMaster and FAAC units on the legacy estates. Because we stock parts for these brands locally, a Wellesley homeowner with a dead control board isn’t waiting a week for a module to ship. We keep common racks, pinions, control boards, and safety photocells in the truck, and when we don’t have it, a live person calls you with a date it will arrive. No guesswork.
Common Gate Installation Problems We See in Wellesley Homes
- Frost-heaved pillar foundations: Wellesley’s clay-rich glacial soils hold water, freeze hard in January, and push granite post footings out of plumb. The gate binds, the operator strains, and the rack and pinion strips. We reset and pour new footings below frost line.
- Pre-UL 325 safety gaps: Many Wellesley gates hung before 2000 lack safety photocells and edge sensors. When we install or retrofit, we bring the gate up to current entrapment-protection code, which matters for liability and for keeping kids and pets safe.
- Obsolete control boards on 1980s and 1990s operators: DoorKing and FAAC boards from that era go dead and no replacement part exists. We can often retrofit modern boards into the same housing, saving the motor and the gate itself.
- Period ironwork that has outlived its hinges: The gate itself might be sound, but the hinge pins and posts have worn oblong. We weld, machine, and rehang so the original iron stays where it belongs, not in a scrap pile.
Pricing for Gate Installation in Wellesley, MA
Here are honest numbers for Wellesley specifically, based on what we have quoted and billed on real jobs in 02482 over the last few years. A standard pedestrian gate runs $1,600 to $3,200. A single driveway swing gate with automation runs $5,500 to $9,500. A double swing gate on granite pillars runs $6,500 to $14,000. A sliding gate on a prepared concrete base runs $5,000 to $11,000. Those ranges cover material, footings below frost line, operator, safety edges and photocells, keypad or intercom, and the labor to set everything plumb. You get the exact price in writing before we start, and that price is the price. We also honor $40 off any repair over $200, no trip charge inside the county, and a permanent 10% discount for seniors and veterans.
When the question is whether to retrofit or replace, we will tell you which is cheaper over ten years, not just today. That is part of why our Gate Installation team gets called back by the same Wellesley families year after year.
We Also Serve Cities Near Wellesley
Our crew covers the towns around Wellesley that share the same clay soil, the same old estate stock, and the same freeze-thaw annoyances. If you’re in Needham, Natick, Weston, or Cochituate, we work there every week. But if you live in Wellesley proper, from the Cliff Estates to the neighborhoods off Central Street, this page is written for you. Learn more about our work in the area on our Gate Installation in Wellesley page.
Serving Wellesley, MA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Wellesley 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 Wellesley
Yes, in most cases the ironwork is fine and the problem is the hinge post, which has shifted out of plumb from decades of Wellesley freeze-thaw cycles. We reset the post or pillar, pour a new footing below the frost line, and rehang the original gate so it swings true. The ironwork on a 1930s Wellesley gate is often far better steel than anything made today, so replacing it would be a downgrade and we will tell you that plainly.
If your operator was installed before roughly 2001 and lacks photocells or edge sensors at the pinch points, it does not meet current UL 325 entrapment-protection requirements. We check this during every Wellesley installation or service call and can retrofit sensors onto most legacy operators. It’s a safety issue, not a formality, especially on a property where kids or landscapers pass through daily. Call (877) 610-2993 to have us inspect yours.
Very common. Wellesley sits on clay-dense glacial till that holds water, freezes, and heaves, and the granite pillars on older estate gates are heavy enough to tilt visibly when the soil around them expands. March and April are our busiest months for post realignment in Wellesley because that’s when the heave finishes its cycle. We lift or reset the pillar, re-pour the footing at depth, and rehang the gate so the operator isn’t fighting a cockeyed post all season.
Yes. Most Wellesley homeowners want exactly this, period-appropriate ironwork with a keypad, intercom, and remote access that does not look like a plastic box bolted to a brick pillar. We hide the operator in an in-ground or pillar-mounted housing, run the wiring cleanly, and match the keypad trim to the existing metal. Many of these retrofits use a Linear or DoorKing control board that fits the original housing.
Retrofitting is nearly always cheaper, usually $1,800 to $4,500 versus $6,500 to $14,000 for a full replacement, and in Wellesley you often have a handsome original gate worth keeping. When the operator is truly obsolete and the board is dead, we can often install a new control board and safety sensors inside the old housing for a fraction of replacement cost. At (877) 610-2993 we will give you both numbers, straight up, and let you decide.
Call Gatewood Fence & Gate for Your Wellesley Gate Installation
If you have a sagging estate gate on Cliff Road, a granite pillar that shifted on Washington Street, or a dead operator on a 1960s swing gate anywhere in 02482, call (877) 610-2993. You will talk to a live person, 24/7. We will come to Wellesley, measure the opening, check the soil and the operator, and hand you a written quote before any work starts. Every job carries our 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. The name is on the shop, and the shop is down the road. That is how we have done it since 2001.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Wellesley since 2001.