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 Plano
Gate installation in Plano, TX typically runs $1,800-$6,500 for a single driveway gate with automation, and most jobs take one to three days once the gate and operator arrive. We schedule free on-site estimates across Plano within 24-48 hours of your call, and we quote the price in writing before any work starts. If you’re on the west side near Willow Bend or up around the Legacy corridor, we know the HOA submission process well enough to help you avoid a rejection letter.
Hal Gatewood has been at this since 2001, and the shop number is (936) 296-2568. A real person answers, day or night. That matters when your gate is stuck open and your dog has figured it out.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Plano’s Preferred Gate Installation Company
We’re not a franchise rolling through town with a national jingle. Gatewood Fence & Gate is owner-operated, and Hal’s name is on the shop and on every invoice. Plano homeowners call us because they want someone they can find again if something isn’t right. And we put that in writing: every installation carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise. If it’s not done right, one call brings us back. No runaround, no fine print.
Plano’s HOA requirements are stricter than most of the Dallas area. Architectural review boards in neighborhoods like Willow Bend and along Legacy Drive routinely reject replacement gates that don’t match the original wrought-iron profile or powder-coat color. We’ve been through enough of those submissions to know what photographs, spec sheets, and material callouts the boards want to see. That alone saves Plano customers weeks of back-and-forth.
We also work where you live. Dispatch for Plano jobs is coordinated from our Dallas-Fort Worth office, and the crew we send knows the streets, the soil, and the subdivision quirks. When you call for an estimate, we ask which neighborhood you’re in because it actually changes how we plan the job. A gate on the west side near Carpenter Park might need a different post-footing depth than one in the older central neighborhoods, and we’d rather plan for that before we dig.
Every person who shows up is background-checked and uniformed, and certified across nine major gate brands. You’ll know the name of the person in your driveway, and they’ll know yours.
Our Gate Installation Services in Plano
Driveway Gate
A driveway gate in Plano does two jobs: it keeps cars where you want them and it tells the rest of the street that someone pays attention. Most driveway gate installations we do in Plano are automatic slide or swing gates on existing concrete drives. If the drive was poured before the gate was ever planned, we usually have to run conduit either under the slab or along the edge. That’s the part generic installers skip, and it’s the part that fails first. For a full breakdown of what Gate Installation involves from site check to final walkthrough, we walk every customer through the same list.
Pedestrian Gate
Side-yard pedestrian gates are everywhere in Plano’s 1980s and 1990s master-planned neighborhoods, and most of them were installed as decorative afterthoughts. A pedestrian gate that sags or drags on the latch side usually has a post problem, not a panel problem. We set posts deeper than the original, weld hinges to plate steel, and size the gate for how it actually gets used, not how it looked in a brochure.
Sliding Gate
Slide gates are the most common driveway gate style we install in Plano, and for good reason: they don’t need room to swing into the drive, which matters on the tighter side setbacks many HOA lots in Plano have. The critical work on a slide gate installation is the track and the post footing. Plano’s black clay soil moves more than most people realize, and a slide gate on a marginal footing will bind within two seasons. We pour deeper than code minimums because we’ve pulled too many posts that were buried shallow by the original builder.
Swing Gate
Swing gates suit wider front setbacks and estate-style lots on the west side of Plano. A double swing gate with dual operators has to be synchronized or the leaves will fight each other, and that’s a detail a surprising number of installs miss. We fabricate the hinge posts and the gate frame as one assembly when we can, so the geometry stays true from day one. On HOA properties we match the existing ironwork profile, down to the finial style if the board cares, and in Willow Bend they usually do.
Double Gate
Double driveway gates combine every complication: two panels, two operators, shared geometry, and twice the chance for the HOA to take a second look. We measure the actual opening, not the old gate, because posts shift. In Plano on expansive clay, a half-inch of heave at one post means a double gate stops latching clean. We set both posts in the same pour and shim the leaves to the final post positions, which is the opposite of how builder-installed gates were done.
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 Plano
We’re certified to work on LiftMaster, FAAC, BFT, Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, Elite, and Mighty Mule equipment. If you already have a Linear operator and you don’t want to replace the whole system just because the gate is tired, we can usually keep the operator and build the new gate around it. Plano knows Ghost Controls and DoorKing well, especially in the HOA communities where those brands were specified by the original developer. We keep common boards, remotes, and safety edges in stock locally so a Plano job doesn’t stall for a week waiting on a part from California.
Common Gate Installation Problems We See in Plano Homes
- Builder-grade operators on 25-40 year old gates. Plano’s late-80s and early-90s subdivisions shipped with entry-level operators that were never meant to push iron gates this long. The operator fails, then the gate starts binding, and the real cause is usually a tilted post underneath.
- Expansive clay soil heaving posts out of plumb. Plano’s black clay shrinks in multi-month droughts and swells hard after spring rain. That cyclical movement is why a gate that latched fine in April might drag on the keeper by August. We saw it recently in a Willow Bend community: a builder-grade LiftMaster slide gate operator kept faulting on a 12-foot rack-and-pinion gate, and the original post footing had heaved half an inch. We re-set the hinge post in a deeper pour, re-squared the rack, installed a new LiftMaster operator with a UL 325 safety photocell, and matched the wrought-iron powder-coat to pass the HOA review on the first try.
- No conduit run during original construction. Plano homes built during the boom were rarely future-proofed for automatic gates. Concrete that wasn’t cut then is concrete we now have to work around. That means core-drilling or directional boring through the drive, which is specialized work and exactly the kind of thing homeowners don’t want to discover mid-install.
- HOA architectural review rejections. Boards in Plano’s stricter communities, especially on the west side, will not accept an off-the-shelf panel that doesn’t match the neighborhood’s original wrought-iron look. We fabricate and powder-coat to match original profiles so the approval process moves instead of stalling.
Pricing for Gate Installation in Plano, TX
For a single swing driveway gate with one automatic operator, Plano customers typically pay $2,200-$4,800 depending on width, material, and whether new conduit or a new power run is needed. A slide gate on a rack-and-pinion track usually lands between $3,500 and $6,500, with the higher end reflecting deeper footings and longer track work. Pedestrian gates with manual hardware run $600-$1,800. A double driveway gate with dual operators starts around $5,500.
What moves the price in Plano, specifically: whether the HOA requires custom fabrication to match original ironwork, whether the existing concrete has conduit or needs boring, and how much post depth the soil demands. The quote we give includes all of it. You’ll agree to the number before we dig. We also knock $40 off any repair over $200, and seniors and veterans get 10% off, every job, no questions.
We Also Serve Cities Near Plano
Got a gate in Richardson or a fence line in Addison? Our crews are on those roads all week. We handle gate work in Coppell and across Dallas too, and we’re as familiar with their permitting quirks as we are with Plano’s. Hal’s shop serves the whole metro, but Gate Installation in Plano is the work we know the deepest, and it’s the city where our HOA experience gets the most use.
Serving Plano, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Plano 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 Plano
Plano’s master-planned communities, especially those developed in the 1980s and 1990s, wrote architectural standards into their original covenants that Dallas neighborhoods rarely adopted. Those standards cover gate style, finish, height, and hardware. We prepare the submittal package with drawings, material specs, and color chips, and we’ve passed enough Plano reviews to know what the boards actually flag. If you’ve already been rejected, call (936) 296-2568 and bring us the letter. We’ll tell you what it would take to fix it, for free.
It’s the single biggest factor in how a Plano gate ages. Black clay expands when wet and cracks when dry, so a post set to minimum depth will move within a few seasons. In sandier soil, you can get away with a standard footing. In Plano we pour deeper, use a wider bell, and sometimes add a helical anchor on the hinge side. That’s not an upsell; it’s the difference between a gate that latches in 2035 and one that doesn’t. We quote post depth based on where in Plano you are, because the soil isn’t identical from Parker Road down to Legacy.
Usually, yes. The two constraints are power and the HOA. If the original 1990s install didn’t include conduit under the drive, we core-bore or directional-drill to run power cleanly rather than surface-mounting conduit that the HOA will hate and your lawn mower will find. The operator itself usually needs to be specified to match the gate’s weight and travel, and we can keep the existing ornamental gate rather than replacing it. The cost for adding automation to a manual gate in Plano typically runs $1,400-$3,200, depending on the power run and operator. Call (936) 296-2568 and we’ll measure it and give you a written number.
Because the panel is straight but the ground under it isn’t anymore. Plano’s clay soil dries out hard in summer, and the post holding the rack shifts just enough to pull the rack out of true. The gate then fights the operator every time it runs, which is why the motor burns out faster than it should. The fix is not to shim the gate. The fix is to re-set the post deeper and re-square the rack, and that’s work we do on Plano slide gates more than anything else. Most of those repairs run $600-$1,500 depending on the post and the operator’s condition.
Some do, but many boards on the west side won’t approve a visible solar panel on the gate or adjacent post. If there’s no hardwired power at the gate, we can often place a remote solar array or use a low-voltage DC operator with the panel tucked where the architectural review won’t flag it. Before you buy any solar kit online, check your HOA’s rules, or call us and we’ll read them with you. It’s easier to plan around a restriction than to uninstall a rejection.
Get Your Plano Gate Installed Right the First Time
You won’t get a call center, and you won’t get a quote that changes at your door. You’ll get Hal or one of his crew, a written price, and a 90-Day Done Right Promise with his name on it. If you’re in Plano and the gate is leaning, stuck, or still just a sketch on graph paper, call (936) 296-2568. Estimates are free, and someone picks up.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Plano and the surrounding Dallas-Fort Worth metro since 2001.