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.
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After
Before
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AfterFast, Reliable Gate Installation Across Van Nuys
A new driveway or pedestrian gate in Van Nuys typically runs $2,800 to $7,500 installed, depending on whether you’re replacing an old swing gate or converting a tight shared driveway to a slide gate. Most jobs take one to three days on site, and we handle everything from the first measurement to the final operator programming. If you’re on Vanowen, Sepulveda, or a side street off Victory and the old gate won’t close right, call (818) 873-5061 and Hal Gatewood will pick up.
We know Van Nuys not from a map but from twenty years of kneeling on slabs that shifted in ’94 and cutting new footings into concrete that hasn’t been level since. That matters when you need a gate that actually works a year from now.
Why Gatewood Fence & Gate Is Van Nuys’s Preferred Gate Installation Company
Hal Gatewood started this shop in 2001 and never left the San Fernando Valley. His name is on the building, his license number is published, and the person who answers the phone at 2 a.m. is a live human being, not a recording. Van Nuys homeowners and apartment managers keep our number because when a gate goes down on a Friday night, they talk to someone who knows what a ‘Northridge lean’ is without having it explained.
Every job carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If a weld cracks, a track settles, or an operator trips within 90 days, one call brings Hal back. No runaround, no “we’ll send someone next week.” It’s stamped on every invoice.
We also do real repair-first work. Most companies want to sell you a whole new gate when a hinge post is just out of plumb. Hal fixes the post, welds the frame on site in your driveway, and leaves your gate working better than it has in years. That philosophy saves Van Nuys homeowners thousands, and it’s why half our work comes from neighbors telling neighbors.
Our Gate Installation Services in Van Nuys
Van Nuys isn’t like Sherman Oaks or Studio City. The lots are tighter, the driveways are shared, and the apartment buildings have gates that were retrofitted in the late ’80s and early ’90s over concrete that hasn’t been stable since 1994. We size every installation to those conditions, not to a brochure photo. Here’s what we do most around here.
Driveway Gate
A Van Nuys driveway gate has to handle two things: the Valley heat that expands steel and the slab underneath that may have settled in ’94. We measure the actual fall of the driveway before we recommend anything. If the slab has a list, we compensate in the post setting so the gate doesn’t bind on day one. Typical driveway gate installs in Van Nuys run $3,200 to $7,500 for steel or wrought iron with an operator, depending on width and access.
Pedestrian Gate
Most Van Nuys pedestrian gates are the side entry to a backyard or the walk gate beside an apartment driveway. These are smaller projects, usually $1,400 to $2,800, but they still need a solid post. We core into existing concrete rather than surface-mounting when we can, because surface mounts on Van Nuys slabs tend to work loose within a couple of years. A pedestrian gate also has to swing cleanly without dragging, which means the post plumb matters more than people expect.
Sliding Gate
This is the gate style that makes the most sense on Van Nuys shared driveways and narrow lots. A sliding gate doesn’t need swing clearance into the street or into your neighbor’s side, so it fits where a swing gate simply won’t. We install a lot of them on the narrow driveways behind the dingbats along Vanowen and Van Nuys Boulevard. A new slide gate with operator runs $4,000 to $8,500 here, and we cut the track into the concrete and level it properly, because a track set on a tilted slab is exactly what burns out motors on the older apartment gates in this neighborhood.
Swing Gate
Single-family homes in the post-war tract sections of Van Nuys often have room for a swing gate, and they’re still a good choice when the driveway is wide enough. The catch here is the Santa Ana wind. Older wrought iron gates with thin hinges snap welds in wind events that coastal cities never feel. We oversize the hinge posts and weld the frame on site, and a new double swing gate in Van Nuys typically runs $5,500 to $9,500 with operators. That’s not cheap, but it’s the difference between a gate that lasts twenty years and one that sags in three.
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 Van Nuys
We’re certified to service and install nine major gate brands, and our Gate Installation team works most often with LiftMaster, DoorKing, and Viking operators around Van Nuys. We keep common parts for those brands stocked locally, which means we’re not waiting on a distributor in another state when your apartment gate loses its limit switch. If you have an Elite or Mighty Mule system, we handle those too. The point is, we don’t push one brand; we match the operator to the gate and the duty cycle. An apartment gate that cycles a hundred times a day needs a different motor than a single-family gate that opens twice.
Common Gate Installation Problems We See in Van Nuys Homes
- The sliding gate runs uphill even though the posts look straight. We see this constantly on older Van Nuys apartment gates. The slab heaved or settled in the Northridge quake, so the track isn’t level. The gate climbs slightly every cycle, the motor overheats, and you get a burned-out operator within a year or two of the “fix” someone else did.
- A weld snapped on a wrought iron swing gate, and the hinge post shifted. Santa Ana winds load up older Van Nuys gates in ways they were never designed for. We re-weld on site and reset the post in a proper footing, because fixing the panel without the post means you’ll fix it again.
- The new gate binds or drifts right after installation. That’s almost always a post sitting on a settled slab. If the installer didn’t check the actual slab fall, the gate looks fine for a week and then starts dragging. We don’t set posts on Van Nuys concrete without checking what that concrete has done since 1994.
- The operator trips its thermal limit on hot afternoons. Van Nuys regularly hits 100°F in summer, fifteen to twenty degrees hotter than the coast. A motor sized for a mild climate will overheat and shut down on an apartment gate that cycles all day. We size operators for Valley heat from the start, because replacing a burned motor in July is twice as painful.
Pricing for Gate Installation in Van Nuys, CA
Here’s what you can expect for gate installation work in Van Nuys. A simple pedestrian gate starts around $1,400. A single driveway swing gate runs $3,200 to $5,500 without an operator, and $4,800 to $7,500 with one. A sliding gate for a shared driveway or apartment entry runs $4,000 to $8,500, depending on gate length and the condition of the concrete we’re cutting into. Double swing gates run $5,500 to $9,500 with operators. These are installed, functioning prices, not “parts only” numbers.
What affects the price? Gate width, the amount of welding, whether we’re cutting into existing concrete or pouring new footings, and the operator’s duty cycle. Apartment gates that cycle a hundred times a day need a commercial-rated operator, and that adds cost. We give you a written price before any work starts, and that price doesn’t change at the door. Everyone’s estimate is free. Call (818) 873-5061 and we’ll come measure.
We Also Serve Cities Near Van Nuys
If you’re in Sherman Oaks, Panorama City, Studio City, or North Hollywood, we handle Gate Installation in Van Nuys and the surrounding Valley, and scheduling is coordinated from our Los Angeles office. Same local knowledge, same 90-Day Done Right Promise. The neighborhoods run together up here, and we work all of them.
Serving Van Nuys, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Van Nuys 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 Van Nuys
The slab under the gate settled or heaved during the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and the track follows that tilt. The posts look plumb by eye, but the gate climbs a fraction of an inch every cycle, which burns out motors and cuts a groove in one end of the track. We level the track and set the posts to the actual slab, not to a bubble level held against a post that’s sitting on shifted concrete. If your gate has the ‘Northridge lean,’ call (818) 873-5061 and we’ll show you exactly what’s happening.
Yes, and that’s exactly the situation a slide gate is built for. On the narrow shared driveways behind the older dingbat apartments on Vanowen Street and elsewhere in Van Nuys, a swing gate would hit the adjacent building or block the walkway. A compact slide gate with a properly leveled track fits where a swing gate can’t. We did one recently on a shared driveway off Vanowen, cutting a new post footing into concrete that had heaved in ’94, setting the track level, and adding a safety photocell so tenants could still walk through during the work.
Van Nuys summers push past 100°F regularly, and that heat expands steel frames and overheats motors. An operator that’s fine in Santa Monica will trip its thermal limit on an apartment gate here within days. We size operators for the Valley’s actual temperature range and duty cycle, and we mount them so they get air flow. That’s not a detail in a brochure; it’s the difference between a gate that works in August and one that doesn’t.
Yes, you do. California requires entrapment protection on automatic gates, and it’s the right thing to have regardless of code. That means photocells, reversing edges, or both, depending on the gate type and the site. A shared apartment driveway with pedestrian traffic needs more protection than a single-family gate that cycles twice a day. We install UL-compliant safety edges and photocells on every automatic gate in Van Nuys, no exceptions, and we’ll show you how to test them.
We stage the work so the driveway never fully closes. On the Vanowen Street building we mentioned earlier, we set up a temporary pedestrian path with safety photocells while we cut out the old footing and set the new track. Tenants walked through the whole time, and the new gate went operational the same day we finished the track. For single-family homes in Van Nuys, we usually remove the old gate in the late afternoon and have the new one swinging or sliding by the next evening. Parking stays available, people get in and out, and the gate goes back into service fast.
Get a Straight Answer and a Straight Price in Van Nuys
If your Van Nuys gate sags, drifts, jams, or just quit, call (818) 873-5061. Talk to Hal or one of his crew. Get a free measurement and a written price that won’t change at the door. We’ve been fixing what other companies wanted to replace since 2001, and every job carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise. You don’t need a national outfit that quotes on the phone and charges at the door. You need a local shop with a name on the building who will look you in the eye. Call (818) 873-5061 today.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Van Nuys since 2001.