Electric front gates for home

[famoussas]

Hello,

I'm looking to put some electric front gates on my property, ideally oak. Looking for the full works including lighting and intercom. There'll need to be some ground work done beforehand such as levelling and repathing etc. I've had a few quotes and some of them are more then I expected, a lot more. I am happy to pay for quality but want to make sure I am not being ripped off.

The quote in question roughly breaks down to:

Gates: £8.5k
Ground work & Labour: £5k
Automation & Electronics: £5K

Don't get me wrong these are gates of a decent size, but that is a lot of money. Would appreciate the views of others who have had similar experience.

Thanks.

[m4ckg]

I hope for 5k for the electrics and automation that the motors are the ones that are fitted into the ground and not those nasty ones that attach to the gates. When you say automation are the able to be opened and closed with the Internet or from a mobile phone ?

Edited by m4ckg on Wednesday 12th January 00:06

[famoussas]

m4ckg said:

I hope for 5k for the electrics and automation that the motors are the ones that are fitted into the ground and not those nasty ones that attatch to the gates. When you say automation are the able to be opened and closed with the internet or from a mobile phone ?

I would also hope so - I think it is: "electro-hydraulic domestic ram controls". The gates can be opened via text, phone call or by typing the code in at the gate.

[phib]

You are being had !!

I assume that is a gate company quoting ?

Having exactly the same thing done at the moment also in the south east,

Gates : bespoke design oak gates 6ft tall at the sides 6'6 in the middle for an 11ft opening ( will post a pic later) including metal work and 10 inch 10ft gate posts £ £2500

Automation : sub 180 kit ( will post link later) £ £1500. 4 remotes, handsfree receiver etc etc electric gate shop

Fitting : 2 days work from builder (2 people) £800 and 1 day electrician £ 300


All in all circa 5k

Phib

[Lord Flathead]

This depends on the weight and size of the doors. By using Oak, you will need the heaviest actuator available, they normally go to around 850kg's. The type you want is 'electro-hydraulic'. For lesser doors the normal motor type will suffice but for doors that are large and oak you should always use hydraulic. These units are about twice times the cost, a pair trade at £1000. £18k for the whole install does sound steep; did you have any bespoke drainage requirements under the actuators, and was it a long cable run back to the house?

Edited for price typo! (£28k)

Thanks Ced

Edited by Lord Flathead on Wednesday 12th January 09:55

[CedGTV]

£18.5K, LF.

Still steep though.

[Manks]

famoussas said:

Hello,

I'm looking to put some electric front gates on my property, ideally oak. Looking for the full works including lighting and intercom. There'll need to be some ground work done beforehand such as levelling and repathing etc. I've had a few quotes and some of them are more then I expected, a lot more. I am happy to pay for quality but want to make sure I am not being ripped off.

The quote in question roughly breaks down to:

Gates: £8.5k
Ground work & Labour: £5k
Automation & Electronics: £5K

Don't get me wrong these are gates of a decent size, but that is a lot of money. Would appreciate the views of others who have had similar experience.

Thanks.

Sounds expensive.

I had the same problem when I wanted electric gates fitting. It seems to be one of those businesses where everyone still expects huge margins.

In the end I bought the gates from a local gate manufacturer and got his local fitter to swing them, the automation from this lot: http://www.easygates.co.uk/ and the tradesmen that were doing other stuff for me at the time dug in the ducting, fitted the automation and made it work.

I paid a small fraction of what you have been quoted.

My father in law had gates fitted about the same time and paid a local firm to do the whole job. He paid thousands and they are not very good.

[sparkythecat]

Lord Flathead said:

This depends on the weight and size of the doors. By using Oak, you will need the heaviest actuator available, they normally go to around 850kg's. The type you want is 'electro-hydraulic'. For lesser doors the normal motor type will suffice but for doors that are large and oak you should always use hydraulic. T

I'm intrigued by this answer. I'd have thought that even a heavy driveway gate properly balanced and hung on quality hinges could be easily pushed open by a small child. Why the need for such heavy duty machinery ?

[famoussas]

Thanks for the replies,

Yes it is a fairly large gating company who have given this quote.

Lord Flathead said:

This depends on the weight and size of the doors. By using Oak, you will need the heaviest actuator available, they normally go to around 850kg's. The type you want is 'electro-hydraulic'. For lesser doors the normal motor type will suffice but for doors that are large and oak you should always use hydraulic. These units are about twice times the cost, a pair trade at £1000. £18k for the whole install does sound steep; did you have any bespoke drainage requirements under the actuators, and was it a long cable run back to the house?

Edited for price typo! (£28k)

Thanks Ced

Edited by Lord Flathead on Wednesday 12th January 09:55

They've quoted for electro hydraulic, but no bespoke drainage, and long cable to the house which is about 30m from the gate.

I just want one company to do the whole job, I am not really interested in subbing out various jobs as I don't have the time to organise or manage it. Although I'm aware that the companies offering it all cost more. Any one have any other company suggestions? I think I will be giving this company a miss.

[Lord Flathead]

sparkythecat said:

Lord Flathead said:

This depends on the weight and size of the doors. By using Oak, you will need the heaviest actuator available, they normally go to around 850kg's. The type you want is 'electro-hydraulic'. For lesser doors the normal motor type will suffice but for doors that are large and oak you should always use hydraulic. T

I'm intrigued by this answer. I'd have thought that even a heavy driveway gate properly balanced and hung on quality hinges could be easily pushed open by a small child. Why the need for such heavy duty machinery ?

It's not the weight hanging on the bracket that is the main problem although these need to be beefier, it's the force of the wind blowing against the heavy oak that is the problem. The gearboxes develop back-lash then fail prematurely.

famoussas said:

Thanks for the replies,

Yes it is a fairly large gating company who have given this quote.

Lord Flathead said:

This depends on the weight and size of the doors. By using Oak, you will need the heaviest actuator available, they normally go to around 850kg's. The type you want is 'electro-hydraulic'. For lesser doors the normal motor type will suffice but for doors that are large and oak you should always use hydraulic. These units are about twice times the cost, a pair trade at £1000. £18k for the whole install does sound steep; did you have any bespoke drainage requirements under the actuators, and was it a long cable run back to the house?

Edited for price typo! (£28k)

Thanks Ced

Edited by Lord Flathead on Wednesday 12th January 09:55

They've quoted for electro hydraulic, but no bespoke drainage, and long cable to the house which is about 30m from the gate.

I just want one company to do the whole job, I am not really interested in subbing out various jobs as I don't have the time to organise or manage it. Although I'm aware that the companies offering it all cost more. Any one have any other company suggestions? I think I will be giving this company a miss.

Sorry I cannot recommend anyone, and I'm flat out at the moment but if you need any help just drop me a line via PM.

[anonymous-user]

famoussas said:

I think it is: "electro-hydraulic domestic ram controls".

This is NOT an in-ground motor. It's an arm.

[RedLeicester]

You're in the SE, so any quote is going to be ridiculous compared to the Evil Wilds north of the M25, but that does sound rather ridiculous. We have a single sliding gate, custom made with a dipped galvanised steel frame and oak boards, 6ft 6 by 14ft, relevant motor and access systems and a 250m cable run back to the house. All done locally and installed for £8k. The gate was about half of that, the elecrics about a quarter, and the rest labour.

As LF says, with big swinging gates you have to assume wind pressure or snow on the ground or whatever will compromise the ease of opening, hence why the motors have to be so hefty. Also they're rotating the gates from the least efficient position in terms of physics, so have to work a whole lot harder - think of pulling on the end of a door to open it, and then try and envisage standing under the door by the hinge and holding a pole and trying to rotate it - doesn't matter how well the door/gate is hung, it's deeply inefficient.

Gate motors seem to have come a long way since our first set of gates elsewhere, and personally whilst the in-ground motors are tidy, I've always preferred swinging arms - they're much cheaper, and if one does go pop, they're quick and simple to replace without having to whip off the whole gate and get digging again...

[phib]

I was quoted in all in 16k - 30k for 11ft oak gates in Surrey most were 25k ish, hence why I had mine made ( by a timber company) and fitted by builder / Sparky. 3 days work and saved about 20k.

Like these but european oak.

[NiceCupOfTea]

It seems very expensive to me. We had some gates made and fitted by a local company (SE). They're 7 or 8 feet, non motorised, and softwood so that affects the cost obviously, but ours were about £1k fitted.

[Slagathore]

What are they mounting the gates to?

Does that price inlude them building up a stone/block/brick pier at either end?

[dave_s13]

Slagathore said:

What are they mounting the gates to?

Does that price inlude them building up a stone/block/brick pier at either end?

Aye. OP mentions groundwork, repathing etc.

That stuff aint cheap and if they are digging out to relay your drive and form piers to hang the gates off I can see how that might cost 5k.

Still, 18k for a pair of gates.... feck me. I'd be prepared to get out of the car and open them myself for that. Even in the rain!

[famoussas]

Slagathore said:

What are they mounting the gates to?

Does that price inlude them building up a stone/block/brick pier at either end?

Mounted on posts to be cemented 1m in to the ground. Where the ground work costs come in is the gate needs to be receded 1.5m back from the road, the whole entrance needs to be levelled extensively and then re cobbled to match to entrance, I'm afraid the labour cost is probably fairly accurate.

[sjn2004]

famoussas said:

Hello,

I'm looking to put some electric front gates on my property, ideally oak. Looking for the full works including lighting and intercom. There'll need to be some ground work done beforehand such as levelling and repathing etc. I've had a few quotes and some of them are more then I expected, a lot more. I am happy to pay for quality but want to make sure I am not being ripped off.

The quote in question roughly breaks down to:

Gates: £8.5k
Ground work & Labour: £5k
Automation & Electronics: £5K

Don't get me wrong these are gates of a decent size, but that is a lot of money. Would appreciate the views of others who have had similar experience.

Thanks.

Next time you get a quote hide all your expensive cars.

[famoussas]

Thanks for the invaluable advise. Fortunately the expensive car tend to be kept hidden in the secure double garage. In other news we decided to go for the double gates quoted despite the cost... sometimes convenience is worth paying for.

[Driller]

sjn2004 said:

Next time you get a quote hide all your expensive cars.

Ha, ha that's the first thing I thought of when I read the first post. Are we paranoid?

Famoussas would you mind mentioning the make of gate opening device and door entry. I'm also in the same market and the "opening by text message" sounds interesting.