Residential electric gates, railings and repairs
A gate across the drive, automating the gate you have already got, or getting one fixed when it stops working. We make them in our own workshop in Berkhamsted, fit them ourselves, and come back out when they need us.
Free site survey. Any make. You do not need a contract to get a repair.
What are you trying to sort out?
A new gate for the drive
Made to fit the opening you have, in timber, aluminium, steel or traditional wrought iron, and automated so you do not get out of the car. We measure, draw it, make it and fit it.
Automating the gate you have already got
If the gate is sound, it can usually be automated without replacing it. We check the frame, the hinges, the piers and the ground first, and tell you honestly if it is not worth doing.
A gate that has stopped working
Any make, any age, and it does not matter who fitted it. No contract needed. If the gate is unsafe or your car is stuck behind it, ring the emergency line on 07391 668114. Not sure what make you have got? Have a look at the makes we work on, and ring us anyway if yours is not there.
And two quieter ones
Railings across the front of the house or either side of the drive
A post or bollard to stop other people parking on your drive
Gates, railings and access at home
Is an electric gate safe with children and pets around?
A properly set up gate stops when something is in its path. That happens because of the devices fitted to it, not because of the gate: photocells across the opening that stop it if the beam is broken, safety edges that stop it on contact, a closing force that has been measured rather than guessed, and a manual release so it can be opened by hand in a power cut.
On the legal position, accurately. HSE's guidance on powered gates says that health and safety law does not apply to owners of powered gates at privately owned homes, but that it is strongly recommended they are checked regularly. So this is not a legal duty on you in the way it is on a business, and we are not going to pretend otherwise to sell you a service contract. It is still a heavy machine on your drive, and the standards exist because powered gates have killed children.
But the duty does not disappear, it sits with us. The same HSE guidance says that those designing and manufacturing powered gates must comply with the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008, and that where a gate is assembled from components the installer becomes the manufacturer in law, with a technical file to compile, a written Declaration of Conformity to issue and full user instructions to hand over. We make the gate and we fit it, so on your drive that duty is ours, and it is the same duty whether the gate is going on a business park or in front of your house.
Source: HSE, Powered gates: legal responsibilities.
We commission new gates with the closing forces measured, and we will measure an existing gate for you whoever installed it. If you are getting quotes from anybody else, ask them who the responsible person is for your gate and ask to see the Declaration of Conformity and the user instructions. It is a fair question and the answer tells you a lot.
What actually decides what a gate costs
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. What we can do is tell you what moves the number, so you can judge a quote from anybody:
The size of the opening
Wider means heavier, and heavier means a bigger motor and heavier hinges or a heavier track.
The material and the style
Aluminium, timber cladding, steel and traditional wrought iron work are all different amounts of work.
Whether it swings or slides
And what the ground behind or beside the opening will allow.
The motor type
Underground, ram, articulated arm or a sliding motor and rack, decided by the gate rather than by preference.
Groundworks
Digging, ducting, drainage and reinstating the drive is often the part people have not budgeted for.
The power supply
How far the nearest supply is from the gate, and what it has to cross to get there.
Access to the site
Whether a machine can get in, or whether it is all by hand.
What you want to open it with
A pair of remotes is one thing, a video intercom answered on your phone is another.
Somebody comes and looks before anybody quotes
The site survey is free and there is no obligation at the end of it. Someone comes out, measures the opening, checks the fall of the ground and where the power is, looks at the piers or the posts, and tells you what the job actually needs. If we think you would be wasting your money, we will say so.
The warranty: two year parts and labour on systems held under a service contract with us. The service contract is the condition, and we would rather say that plainly here than in small print later.
The site survey is free
We measure the opening, the ground and the power supply before anybody quotes.
Do you come out to my house?
We are based in Berkhamsted and work across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and London.
One honest caveat. Work at people's homes does not always travel as far as our commercial work does, because a single gate at a house cannot carry the same travelling time as a site full of them. If you are on the edge of our area, ring and ask rather than assuming either way, and we will tell you straight.
Recent work for homeowners
