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 North Dallas
A new driveway gate in North Dallas typically runs $2,800 to $9,500 installed, depending on whether you need a single swing gate, a double gate with an operator, or a sliding gate on a track. Most of our North Dallas installs are scheduled within one to two weeks, and we quote the full job in writing before any material gets ordered. Hal Gatewood has been putting gates in the ground since 2001, and the clay soil under North Dallas is not the same as the sandy ground a few miles east. Call (936) 296-2568 and we’ll come measure your driveway, walk the post locations, and give you a written price that will not change at the door.
North Dallas sits on Blackland Prairie clay, and that single fact shapes how every gate should be installed here. The soil swells several inches in wet winters and shrinks hard in summer drought, which heaves posts out of plumb and throws automated gates out of alignment season after season. We build for that movement from day one. Deeper post footings, proper concrete cure time, and conduit run before the operator ever gets mounted. That’s the difference between a gate that stays square for twenty years and one that binds within twelve months.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is North Dallas’s Preferred Gate Installation Company
We are a local, owner-operated shop, and Hal’s name is on the invoices. That matters in North Dallas because the houses here are not interchangeable, and neither are the gate installs. A Prestonwood double swing gate on a wide driveway with stone columns is a different animal than a single pedestrian gate off a Preston Hollow side yard. We have worked both, many times over. North Dallas homeowners tend to research before they call, which we respect. We come out, look at the actual site, and tell you what’s actually needed.
Calls are answered by a live person, 24/7. Not a voicemail, not a call center. When you call (936) 296-2568, you get a real person, and often Hal himself if it’s during the day. For North Dallas, our crews are already working the Bent Tree, Prestonwood, and Northwood Hills corridors most weeks, so scheduling a measure and estimate is usually quick. We offer free second opinions on any written estimate you have from another company, and if you’re in the county, there’s no trip charge to come look. Hal treats North Dallas like a neighbor, because it is one.
Every job we do in North Dallas carries our 90-Day Done Right Promise, stamped in writing. If something isn’t right after we finish, one call brings us back. No runaround, no arguing about whose fault it is. That promise is not a marketing line. It’s how Hal has kept his name good for over 29 years, with a published address and a license number anyone can look up.
Our Gate Installation Services in North Dallas
We install the gate you actually need for your driveway, your side yard, and the way your house sits. Gate Installation is our core work, and in North Dallas that usually means one of the following.
Driveway Gate Installation
Most North Dallas driveway gate work we do is either adding automation to an existing ornamental iron gate, or replacing a gate and operator together. The long driveways in neighborhoods like Bent Tree and Northwood Hills mean the operator needs proper power run from the house, which builders frequently skipped. We handle the electrical, the conduit, the safety sensors, and the gate itself. A single automated driveway gate in North Dallas typically runs $3,200 to $7,800, installed, with the operator and safety edges included.
Swing Gate Installation
Swing gates are the most common style in North Dallas because most driveways here have enough setback for a leaf to open inward over grass or a turnaround. But swing gates on clay soil need posts set deeper than the minimum: we dig below the active clay zone, pour reinforced footings, and brace for seasonal heave. If your existing gate came with the house and has started dragging on the ground in July, the post has moved. Gate Installation in North Dallas done properly starts with the post, not the panel.
Sliding Gate Installation
Sliding gates make sense on tighter lots or where a driveway slopes up from the street at an angle. North Dallas has plenty of both. A sliding gate needs a solid track, a properly set rack, and a level concrete run. On clay soil, that track can shift seasonally, so we set the track base deeper and check the rack and pinion alignment for the full travel before we bolt the operator on. A new sliding gate with automation in North Dallas typically starts around $4,000 and can go up to $9,500 for a long, heavy-duty run with a loop detector and keypad.
Pedestrian Gate Installation
Pedestrian gates off the side yard or back alley get neglected until the hinges pull loose or the latch stops catching. In North Dallas, we see a lot of pedestrian gates hung on the same post as a driveway gate, sharing the load. That’s a recipe for a sag within two years. We spec separate posts or a welded steel frame so the pedestrian gate opens smooth and stays square. A new pedestrian gate with frame and hardware in North Dallas typically runs $800 to $2,200, depending on whether you want automation.
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 North Dallas
We are certified to service nine major gate brands, including FAAC, BFT, Linear, and Viking, along with LiftMaster, Elite, DoorKing, Ghost Controls, and Mighty Mule. That matters in North Dallas because so many of the automated gates here were installed years ago with FAAC or Viking operators. When one of those goes down, you don’t need a sales pitch for a full replacement. You need a tech who can open the case, test the board, and tell you honestly whether it’s a $300 part or a lost cause. We stock common Gate Parts & Welding in North Dallas locally and can usually have a homeowner’s operator running again the same visit.
Common Gate Installation Problems We See in North Dallas Homes
The failures we fix in North Dallas fall into a few patterns. The list below is not generic; it’s what we actually see when we pull up to these driveways.
- Builder-grade operators underperforming from day one. Newer North Dallas subdivisions often came with a gate operator that was chosen by cost, not by the gate’s weight or the climate. The power and conduit runs were also never put in during construction, so homeowners inherit jerry-rigged wiring that fails within a few years.
- Posts heaving with the seasons. The Blackland Prairie clay swells and shrinks, and gate posts move. In neighborhoods like Prestonwood and Bent Tree, we routinely find hinge posts two to four inches out of plumb, which throws the limit switches and safety sensors out of spec. The operator is fine; the post assembly is not.
- Automation added to a gate that was never built for it. A manual ornamental gate installed twenty years ago often lacks proper footings for clay soil. Add an operator without addressing the post, and the gate sags and misaligns within a year. We correct the footing before we hang any electronics.
- Slide gate tracks that bind after storms. Spring and fall straight-line winds in North Dallas knock gates around and can bend slide-gate tracks enough to bind the carriage. We re-level the track, check the rack alignment, and make sure the gate runs true before the operator takes any torque.
Pricing for Gate Installation in North Dallas, TX
Here’s where North Dallas pricing actually lands, based on the jobs we quote in this area every month. A single swing gate with automation typically runs $3,200 to $5,800. A double swing gate with full automation and safety edges runs $5,500 to $9,500. Sliding gates start around $4,000 and can reach $9,000 for a long commercial-grade run. Pedestrian gates run $800 to $2,200. The main cost drivers are the gate’s width and weight, the operator brand, whether new posts and footings are needed, and the length of the power run from the house to the gate. Every job is quoted in writing before work starts, and that price is the price. No change orders sprung after we open the ground. Call (936) 296-2568 for a free estimate, and remember we offer $40 off any installation or repair over $200, plus a permanent 10% discount for seniors and veterans.
We Also Serve Cities Near North Dallas
Gatewood Fence & Gate works all around North Dallas and the surrounding communities. If you’re in University Park, Dallas proper, Plano, or Irving, we cover those areas too. The same crew, the same written pricing, and the same 90-Day Done Right Promise apply no matter which driveway we’re standing in. Dispatch and scheduling are coordinated from our Dallas-Fort Worth office, and crews serve North Dallas locally.
Serving North Dallas, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the North 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 North Dallas
The Blackland Prairie clay under your posts swells with winter moisture and shrinks in summer heat. That seasonal movement heaves gate posts out of plumb, which changes the gate’s swing arc and throws the operator’s limit settings off. In North Dallas we see this constantly, especially on gates installed by builders who set posts only 24 to 30 inches deep, above the active clay zone. The fix is not just re-aligning the hinges; it’s resetting the posts in deeper, reinforced footings that reach below the swell-shrink line. Call (936) 296-2568 if your gate has started dragging or binding, and we’ll tell you honestly whether it needs a full reset or just a Gate Repair - North Dallas adjustment.
Yes, and this is one of the most common installs we do in Prestonwood. The catch is that many of these gates were installed manual decades ago, with hinge posts that lack proper footings for clay soil. Before we mount an operator, we check the post plumb, hinge wear, and gate weight. If the post has moved, we re-plumb and re-foot it first, because automating a gate on a shifting post burns out operators and shears bolts within a year. We run conduit for the safety photocells, keypad, and power, and we quote the whole job in writing before any work starts.
In most Far North Dallas sliding gate installs, yes. A loop detector lets the gate stay open when a vehicle is sitting on the driveway over the sensor loop, and it prevents the gate from closing on a car that’s still entering. Without it, a sliding gate will close on a vehicle sooner or later, and the safety edge alone is a backup, not a primary control. We typically install a free-exit loop and a safety loop as part of the sliding gate package, and we adjust the hold-open delay to match your driveway length and approach speed.
Usually, yes, and that’s the job we’d rather do. Hal’s whole approach is to repair what can be repaired instead of swapping in new materials you don’t need. A sagging gate is almost always a post problem, not a panel problem. We can cut the gate free, re-set the hinge posts in new concrete with deeper footings, weld new hinges if the old ones are wallowed out, and rehang the same gate. That fixes the root cause and typically costs less than half of a full replacement. We’ll tell you straight if the gate itself is too far gone, but in North Dallas we save far more gates than we replace.
For North Dallas, we steer most homeowners toward a heavy-duty, continuous-use rated operator from FAAC, BFT, Viking, or Linear, sized for the gate’s actual weight and swing arc, not the bare minimum. The operators that survive here are the ones with a duty cycle that handles 100-degree-plus summers when the gate steel expands and every bearing runs hot. For hydraulic operators, the February 2021 Uri freeze showed us which models handle a North Texas cold snap and which ones seize. We match the operator to the gate, the climate, and the way you actually use the driveway, and we stand behind the install with our 90-Day Done Right Promise. Call (936) 296-2568 and we’ll walk you through the options, no pressure.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, locally owned and serving North Dallas and the surrounding communities since 2001.