Frequently asked questions
The questions that come up whoever is asking. Anything specific to a particular job is 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, roughly in the order they move the number. The width of the opening, because wider means heavier and heavier means more motor. The material and style, since aluminium, timber cladding, steel and traditional wrought iron work 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, which is digging, ducting, drainage and putting the drive back, and is the part most people have not 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 whether it is all by hand. And what you want to open it with, from a pair of remotes up to a video intercom answered on your phone.
We do not publish prices, because a gate is made to fit and the ground it goes into changes the job more than the gate does. The site survey is free and the quote comes from what is actually there.
What drives the cost of a service visit?
How many systems are on the site, how far apart they are, what is on them, and whether you are on a contract. 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?
We do not publish a figure, and we would be guessing if we did: a single gate at a house and a bank of gates on a distribution site are not the same visit. Ring the office, tell us what you have got, and we will price it properly. There are no prices anywhere on this site, which is deliberate rather than evasive.
What things are
What are bollards?
Short posts set into the ground to stop vehicles going somewhere. They come in four broad types: fixed, which stay put; removable, which lift out of a socket; telescopic, which are raised and lowered by hand and 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 are 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?
Anything that decides whether the gate, barrier or door opens for the person standing in front of it. In our world that means intercoms and video entry panels, keypads, fobs and proximity readers, app and remote control, and turnstiles. The point of it is not the hardware, it is that credentials can be given and taken away individually, which a shared code cannot do.
How we work
What happens after I enquire?
A person 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, routed on what you told us. For new work we arrange a free site survey. For a fault we work out what is likely wrong from your description so the engineer arrives with the right parts more often than not.
What does the free site survey involve?
Someone comes to the site, measures the opening, looks at the ground and its fall, checks where the nearest power supply is, looks at the piers, posts or existing structure, and works out how the job would actually be done. It is free and there is no obligation at the end of it. If we think the work is not worth doing, we will tell you.
Who turns up?
Our own engineers. Our engineers and core workforce are directly employed rather than subcontracted.
What is a documented job report?
A written record of every visit: what the engineer found, what was done, and what the system still needs. You get one every time. It is what a facilities manager, a managing agent, an insurer or an assessor asks for when they want to know a gate is being looked after, and a verbal assurance is not an answer to that question.
Where we work
Which areas do you cover?
We are based in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, and we work across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and London. 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.
One honest caveat: work at people's homes does not always travel as far as our commercial work does. If you are on the edge of our area, ring and ask rather than assuming either way.
About us, and what is covered
Who is Mr Gates, and how does it relate to MG Group?
Mr Gates is a trading brand of Mr Gates Fabrication Specialists Ltd, company number 06883838, founded in 2009 and based in Berkhamsted. MG Group is the same legal entity under a second brand: the same company, the same workshop, 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 rather than the small print, which is why we always say it in the same sentence. What that covers in practice is set out with the maintenance plans on gate servicing and repairs.
What insurance do you carry?
8 million pounds public liability and 8 million pounds products liability.
What accreditations do you hold?
Constructionline Gold, registration 00322439, assessed against the Common Assessment Standard. dhf full membership, company number 1268. SSIP via Once For All. Factory Production Control 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.