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.
Farm & ranch
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AfterFast, Reliable Gate Installation Across Arlington
Gate installation in Arlington typically runs $1,400 to $6,800 depending on whether we’re hanging a single pedestrian gate or retrofitting a full double driveway system with automation. Most Arlington installs involving legacy HOA operators are scheduled within three to five business days once materials land, and we quote the full price before a single post hole is dug. If you’re in Arlington and you’re staring at a gate that sags, binds, or won’t hold a signal, call (903) 829-4499 and you’ll get a live person who knows the difference between a hinge-post problem and a board problem. Hal Gatewood has been owner-operated since 2001, and the name on the invoice is the guy who stands behind the work.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Arlington’s Preferred Gate Installation Company
Arlington gates are its own animal. The housing stock here, built out heavily between 1970 and 2005, leans hard on wrought-iron driveway gates and ornamental double gates as standard curb appeal. That means we’re not showing up to bolt a prefab panel onto fresh posts. We’re usually correcting decades of black-clay heave, rewiring boards that predate modern safety code, and matching existing ironwork so the HOA never has a reason to call a meeting. Hal has seen the same failure patterns repeat across Arlington subdivisions for nearly a quarter century, and he will tell you straight when a panel is worth saving and when you’re throwing good money after a gate that was hung wrong in 1992.
We work across the whole city, from the older neighborhoods near Pantego and Dalworthington Gardens to the gated sections around Viridian and the HOA communities near Parks at Arlington. Dispatch for Arlington jobs runs through our Dallas-Fort Worth metro office, which keeps us close enough to show up when we say we will. Our customers in Arlington have called us back for second and third properties, which matters more to us than a five-star screenshot. We also carry a 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing on every job. If it’s not right, we make it right, no fine-print qualifiers.
Our Gate Installation Services in Arlington
Driveway Gate Installation
A driveway gate in Arlington is rarely a blank-slate project. Most homes built in the 1980s and 1990s already had some kind of iron gate at the curb, even if it’s been rusted open for years. We handle full tear-outs and fresh installs, but we also do a lot of structural rebuilds where the panel is fine and the posts are the problem. We set driveway gate posts deeper than code minimums because Arlington’s black clay will eject a shallow post like a bad tooth. You get a written price before we start, and you get the same crew from first dig to final weld.
Pedestrian Gate Installation
Pedestrian gates flank a lot of Arlington’s front entries, especially on homes where the driveway gate swings wide and the walk gate swings narrow. These smaller gates get neglected, which means the latch post heaves and the gate starts dragging the concrete. We install and rebuild pedestrian gates that match the existing driveway iron, so the whole front of the property reads as one piece instead of a patch job. If the old opener on a pedestrian gate was never rated for freeze cycles, we swap in new LiftMaster or FAAC gear with proper weather sealing.
Sliding Gate Installation
Sliding gates are common on Arlington lots where a swing gate would dump into the street or block the sidewalk. The big killer here is thermal binding. When it’s 104°F and the sun has been on the iron since noon, that gate grows, and if the track wasn’t set with enough travel, it fights the motor every opening. We install slide gates with the correct gap and roller alignment, and we re-bed the foundation so Arlington’s shrink-swell clay doesn’t rack the rail out of parallel. New installs include modern UL 325 entrapment protection, which older Arlington slide operators often never had.
Swing Gate Installation
Swing gates are the most common style across Arlington’s HOA communities and older custom homes. The problem with a swing gate here is always the same: the hinge post moves, then the gate sags, then the latch side drags, then someone cranks the hinge bolts and strips the threads. We don’t just hang a new panel and hope. We set or rebuild the posts, weld or plate the hinge points, and hang the gate with enough clearance to survive a soaking spring and a dry August without binding. If you’re replacing a double swing gate at an HOA entrance, we match panel style and height to the existing streetscape so the architectural review board has nothing to flag.
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 Arlington
We’re certified to work on nine major gate brands, but the three we see the most in Arlington are LiftMaster, Viking, and DoorKing. Those old Viking slide operators from the 1990s are still hanging on in subdivisions across the city, and DoorKing boards pop up on shared HOA driveway gates everywhere north of I-20. We keep common LiftMaster and FAAC parts stocked and on the truck, which means fewer second trips and less time leaving your gate dead. BFT electronics show up on a lot of the newer Arlington installs, and we service those as well. When a board fails and the manufacturer no longer supports it, we’ll tell you that up front and show you what a current-equivalent retrofit looks like in real dollars.
Common Gate Installation Problems We See in Arlington Homes
- Black-clay heave has racked the gate frame. Arlington sits on expansive clay that swells in wet months and shrinks in drought. Every cycle moves the posts a little more, until the hinge weld cracks and the gate sags past the point of adjustment. A new panel hung on the old posts buys you maybe a year.
- HOA gates with obsolete control boards. Communities built around Viridian and Dalworthington Gardens often have shared gates running Viking or DoorKing boards that predate modern UL 325 entrapment protection. When those fail, the HOA usually can’t approve a repair until safety photocells and current loop detectors are added.
- Summer heat is cooking the automation. Arlington summers routinely clear 105°F, and gate operators mounted in unvented steel boxes bake. Circuit boards drift, UV-cracked wiring shorts, and motors burn out fighting heat-swollen iron gates. We install operators with proper thermal tolerances and ventilation for North Texas conditions.
- Winter freeze damage that catches homeowners off guard. After Winter Storm Uri, we saw cracked hydraulic actuators and dead keypads across half the HOA gates in Arlington. It doesn’t freeze here often enough for anyone to winterize, so when it does, everything electronic goes at once. We stock cold-weather kits year-round because experience says we’ll need them in a single awful week every couple of winters.
Pricing for Gate Installation in Arlington, TX
A basic single pedestrian gate install in Arlington runs $1,400 to $3,200, including post setting and hardware. A single driveway swing gate with a new operator comes in between $2,800 and $6,800, depending on width, iron weight, and whether we’re reusing existing posts or setting new ones. Double driveway gates, the standard at HOA entrances, run $5,500 to $12,000+ when you factor in matched panels, dual operators, safety edges, and loop detectors. Sliding gate installations in Arlington are typically $4,500 to $10,500, and the foundation is the expensive part. If your gate can be repaired instead of replaced, Hal will tell you that and give you a number that makes repair the obvious choice. We don’t charge a trip fee inside the county, and every quote is set before work begins and honored as written.
We Also Serve Cities Near Arlington
Gatewood Fence & Gate keeps a regular schedule through Mansfield, Kennedale, Cedar Hill, and Grand Prairie, which means Gate Installation and repair are never more than a short drive away. If you’re on the Arlington edge and you’re not sure whose service map you fall on, call us and ask. If we can’t get to you, we’ll tell you honestly instead of selling you a promise. You can also see the full scope of what we do across the metro at our Gate Installation in Arlington hub page.
Serving Arlington, TX - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Arlington 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 Arlington
Yes, in most cases we can retrofit a current-model Viking swing gate operator with UL 325-compliant photocells and a new loop detector without tearing out the whole system. Sometimes the old Viking board will accept the new external sensors directly; other times the cleanest fix is a new operator head that bolts into the existing footprint. We handle this constantly in Arlington’s older HOA communities, and we write the work order so the architectural review board can see exactly what was done and why it meets current entrapment-protection code. Call (903) 829-4499 and we’ll give you a retrofit price based on the operator model on your gate.
That’s thermal expansion. Arlington’s summer heat takes a black iron gate up a couple hundred degrees in direct sun, and the metal grows enough to bind against the latch post or the frame. If your gate was hung tight years ago, when the posts were still straight and the iron was cool, it now has no room to grow. We fix it by re-hanging the gate with a wider latch gap, setting the hinges on fresh post hardware, and in bad cases re-bedding the post that has drifted. It’s a common Arlington summer problem, and the fix is structural, not a can of lubricant.
We pour the slide gate foundation as a continuous beam, usually 12 to 18 inches deep depending on the run, with rebar that ties the whole length together so the clay can’t lift one end faster than the other. Then we set the track on adjustable rail brackets that let us correct minor drift before it becomes a binding problem. In Arlington’s soil, a slide gate set on a shallow pad or patio blocks will heave inside two seasons. We also leave the V-wheels with enough vertical travel to absorb the small movements that no foundation fully prevents.
Often yes. A sagging double gate is usually a post problem, not a panel problem. The wrought-iron panels from a 1980s or 1990s Arlington build are frequently heavier and better made than what you’d buy off the shelf today. We can rebuild the hinge posts, add mid-rail reinforcement if the frame has racked, and re-hang the existing panels with new continuous hinges. If the panels themselves are cracked or rusted through at the weld points, replacement may be cheaper than band-aid welding. Hal will put eyes on it and give you a straight answer with numbers for both paths. Call (903) 829-4499 to schedule a look.
There’s no freeze-proof gate operator, but there are freeze-tolerant ones. The operators that died across Arlington after Uri were mostly older hydraulic and DC units with exposed components that cracked at 5°F. We recommend modern LiftMaster or FAAC electromechanical operators with sealed gearboxes and built-in cold-start logic, paired with heated keypad enclosures where the HOA uses entry panels. Since Uri, we’ve also stocked extra Viking and LiftMaster cold-weather kits year-round, because Arlington’s freezes are rare enough that nobody winterizes, then devastating when they hit. Call (903) 829-4499 and we can assess what’s on your entrance now and what a retrofit would cost.
Call Gatewood Fence & Gate for Gate Installation in Arlington
If you’re in Arlington and your gate is sagging, binding, or running on a board from the Clinton administration, call (903) 829-4499. We’ll answer live, ask the right questions, and give you a free estimate with a real number. Hal Gatewood has been at this since 2001, and the gate in front of your house is not a side project. Free second opinions on written estimates, no trip charge inside the county, and a 10% discount for seniors and veterans, every job, no haggling. We work on your schedule, show up when we say, and leave the gate hung so it doesn’t fight you for the next thirty years.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Arlington since 2001.