Automatic Gate Cost: Swing vs. Slide

An automated gate arrives as one number on a quote and prices as two: the gate, and the operator and controls that run it. A rolling gate or a double swing runs $2,100 to $5,000. The automation runs $5,000 to $10,000 and up on top.

What the gate itself costs

The width of the opening drives it. A wider opening takes more steel and makes a heavier leaf, and that is most of the fabrication cost. After that, the type, the material (iron costs more to fabricate than chain link) and the hardware.

We fabricate these in our own shop, in ornamental iron or chain link. The pedestrian gate climbs to the top of its range when ADA calls for a panic bar and self-closing hinges, which is real money next to a plain latch. The full table is on our commercial gates page.

Swing or slide

The opening, the grade and the room around it decide the type.

A swing gate needs clear ground through its whole arc, so nothing can sit in that space. A double swing splits the opening into two leaves and each one carries half the weight, which covers openings up to about 24 feet. A single leaf past that gets a roller wheel under the far end to carry it. On flat ground with room to swing, it is the simpler build.

A sliding gate rolls to one side on a track set in concrete, so it needs room to travel along the fence line instead of room to open through. On a sloped driveway a slide gate usually fits better, because a swing leaf has to clear the rising ground as it opens and a slide gate does not care about the slope.

Both automate, with the operator matched to the type: a swing-arm unit for a swing gate, a pad-mounted unit for a slide gate.

What automation adds

On a gate that is already there, the operator and the controls run $5,000 to $10,000 and up. An operator on your own power with photo eyes and two remotes sits at the bottom. A solar operator with a simple keypad runs $7,000 to $7,700, and a solar operator with smart entry $9,500 to $10,500. What moves it is the operator the gate calls for, how far the power is, and how many ways people get in.

We install Maximum Controls and LiftMaster, and we use both. The controls are the keypad, the card readers, the remotes, the phone app, the vehicle loops, and the fire department hardware. We wire what the site uses, or tie into the access control system you already run.

What a standard install includes

The operator, the photo eyes and edge sensors, and two remotes. We set the concrete pad. Your electrician brings power to the gate, and once it is there our technician mounts and programs the system. Where the panel is far enough that trenching costs more than the operator, the operator runs on solar instead.

We install new operators we can warranty rather than troubleshooting an aging one part by part. And if the gate itself drags, sits off its track, or is bent from a vehicle hit, that is gate repair at $800 to $3,000, and it comes first.

Getting a number

Send the opening width, the gate type you have in mind (or photos of the entrance and we will tell you what fits), and how you want entry and exit to work. We price it from that, and the final quote comes from the full scope.