Frequently asked questions
The questions we're asked most, whoever's asking. If something's specific to a particular job, you'll find it answered on the page for that job, and each answer below links to it.
Cost
What drives the price of an automated gate?
Eight things drive the price, and the width of the opening moves it most. Wider means heavier, and heavier means more motor. Then the material and style, since aluminium, timber cladding, steel and traditional wrought iron are all different amounts of work. Whether it swings or slides, which the ground usually decides rather than you. The motor type: underground, ram, articulated arm, or sliding motor and rack. Groundworks, meaning digging, ducting, drainage and putting the drive back, which is the part most people haven't allowed for. How far the power supply is from the gate and what it has to cross. Whether a machine can get onto the site or it's all done by hand. And what you'd like to open it with, from a pair of remotes up to a video intercom answered on your phone.
We don't publish prices, because every gate is made to fit and the ground it goes into changes the job more than the gate does. The site survey is free, so it's an easy first step, and your quote comes from what's actually there.
What drives the cost of a service visit?
Mainly how many systems are on your site and whether you're on a contract with us. How far apart the systems are and what's on them matter too. Contract customers get lower call-out charges and discounts on parts and additional services as part of the arrangement.
How much does it cost to service an electric gate?
It depends on what you've got, so we price each one properly rather than publish a figure. A single gate at a house and a bank of gates on a distribution site aren't the same visit, and we'd only be guessing. Ring the office, tell us what you've got, and we'll price it for you. There are no prices anywhere on this site, and that's deliberate rather than evasive.
What things are
What are bollards?
Bollards are short posts set into the ground to stop vehicles going where they shouldn't. They come in four broad types: fixed, which stay put; removable, which lift out of a socket; telescopic, which you raise and lower by hand and which stay in the ground; and rising or automatic, which drop into the ground under power and come back up on a fob or a keypad. On a private drive they're usually the simplest way to stop other people parking. On a commercial site they protect entrances, buildings, plant and pedestrian areas.
What is access control?
Access control is anything that decides whether a gate, barrier or door opens for the person standing in front of it. For us that means intercoms and video entry panels, keypads, fobs and proximity readers, app and remote control, and turnstiles. The real benefit isn't the hardware: it's that you can give and take away access person by person, which a shared code can't do.
What styles of aluminium gate can I choose from?
Our aluminium gates come in 34 styles across nine families: fully boarded for privacy, open boarded to let the light through, open top, louvre, and gates finished with Perspex panels, stainless steel details or Gris Silver strips. Each one is made to your opening in the colour you choose, and it can be a swing, sliding or bi-folding gate.
How we work
What happens after I enquire?
A real person on our team reads it. New work goes to our sales team at sales@mrgates.co.uk and faults go straight to the service desk at service@mrgates.co.uk, depending on what you've told us. For new work, we'll arrange a free site survey. For a fault, we work out what's likely wrong from your description, so the engineer arrives with the right parts more often than not.
What does the free site survey involve?
One of our team comes out to your site and works out how the job would actually be done, free and with no obligation. We measure the opening, look at the ground and its fall, check where the nearest power supply is, and look at the piers, posts or existing structure. If we think the work isn't worth doing, we'll tell you.
Who turns up?
Our own engineers. They're directly employed, along with the rest of our core workforce, rather than subcontracted.
What is a documented job report?
It's a written record of every visit: what the engineer found, what was done, and what the system still needs. You get one every time, so you always know where your gate stands. It's what a facilities manager, managing agent, insurer or assessor asks for when they want to know a gate is being looked after, and a verbal assurance doesn't answer that question.
Where we work
Which areas do you cover?
We cover Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and London from our base in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. That includes Hemel Hempstead, Watford, St Albans, Luton, Milton Keynes, Bedford, Aylesbury, Amersham and Barnet, and the towns around them: Tring, Chesham, Rickmansworth, Stevenage, Hertford, Borehamwood and Potters Bar among others. Commercial and framework work takes us further afield.
To be honest, work at people's homes doesn't always travel as far as our commercial work does. If you're on the edge of our area, just ring and ask rather than assuming either way. We're happy to help.
About us, and what's covered
Who is Mr Gates, and how does it relate to MG Group?
Mr Gates and MG Group are one company trading under two brands. Mr Gates is a trading brand of Mr Gates Fabrication Specialists Ltd, company number 06883838, founded in 2009 and based in Berkhamsted, and MG Group is the same legal entity under a second brand: the same workshop and the same accreditations. Mr Gates covers gates, barriers, bollards, access control, fencing, railings and all the servicing. MG Group covers architectural and structural metalwork.
Do you offer a warranty?
Yes: two year parts and labour on systems held under a service contract with us. The service contract is the condition, not the small print, which is why we always say it in the same sentence. You'll find what that covers in practice alongside the maintenance plans on gate servicing and repairs.
What insurance do you carry?
We carry 8 million pounds public liability and 8 million pounds products liability.
What accreditations do you hold?
We hold four: Constructionline Gold, dhf full membership, SSIP via Once For All, and Factory Production Control. Constructionline Gold is registration 00322439, assessed against the Common Assessment Standard. Our dhf full membership is company number 1268. Factory Production Control is to BS EN 1090-1 and BS EN 1090-2 at EXC2, certificate 2273-CPR-4271. Each one is listed with its number and its expiry date so you can check it for yourself.