How much does a custom driveway gate cost?

Published third-party ranges are wide because custom means custom. A 2026 guide from Custom Driveway Gates puts custom gates at roughly $700 to $12,000, LatestCost puts custom wrought iron at $1,000 to $10,000, and HomeGuide puts a wrought iron gate on a single-car drive at $4,000 to $6,000 installed with a swing opener and keypad. Those are third-party market figures, not our prices and not a quote.

Why do custom gate quotes vary so much?

Because they are pricing different objects. Width, infill, ornamental detail, material, footing depth and whether the gate is automatic each move the number independently. A quote is only comparable to another quote when both list what the gate weighs and what goes in the ground.

Is a custom gate more expensive than a stock gate?

Usually yes on the gate itself. The comparison gets closer when the opening is unusual, because a stock gate that does not fit the drive still needs the site work, the posts and the operator, and it may need modifying on top of that.

Does an ornamental design cost more than a plain one?

It does, and the reason is hours at the bench rather than material. EOIW's pricing guide puts custom ornamental ironwork at $85 to $130 per linear foot. Scrollwork and custom panels are handwork, and handwork is time.

Should the gate or the operator be chosen first?

The gate, but the operator has to be specified during the design rather than after it. Operators are rated by leaf weight, length and daily cycles. A gate designed without a target weight is a gate that may not have an operator rated to move it.

Do you give free estimates on custom gate work?

Yes. The estimate is free, and it starts with the opening rather than the drawing — width, slope, and whether the gate needs to be automatic. Those three answers shape the design more than anything else.

Automatic Gate Repair Plano › Custom Driveway Gate Cost

Custom Driveway Gate Cost

Published ranges for a custom driveway gate run from a few hundred dollars to well past ten thousand. That is not vagueness. It is what happens when the word custom is doing all the work.

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What the published figures actually say

Every number below comes from third-party market research, named beside the figure. They are national and regional market ranges. They are not our prices and they are not a quote. What they are good for is telling you whether the quote in your hand sits somewhere sane.

Custom gates, broad market range: $700 – $12,000 — Custom Driveway Gates 2026 guide
Custom wrought iron gate, typical spread: $1,000 – $10,000 — LatestCost 2026
Wrought iron gate, single-car drive, installed with swing opener and keypad: $4,000 – $6,000 — HomeGuide 2026
Wrought iron swing gate 10 ft or wider, installed and automated: $6,500 – $9,000 — HomeGuide 2026
Intricate scrollwork or oversized custom designs: $5,000 – $12,000+ — LatestCost 2026
Custom ornamental ironwork, fabricated: $85 – $130 per linear foot — EOIW pricing guide
Adding cameras, intercom, keypad or an operator: adds $1,000 – $6,500 — HomeGuide 2026
Fabrication labor: $60 – $120 per hour — LatestCost 2026

Read those rows together and the pattern is obvious. The spread is not a disagreement between sources. It is the same sources pricing gates that have almost nothing in common except a driveway.

What actually moves the number

Six decisions carry most of the cost on a custom gate. Almost all of them get made before anything is welded, which is why the design conversation and the price conversation are the same conversation.

Weight, which is the number the quote is really built on

A custom gate is priced on what the finished leaf weighs far more than on how it looks. Weight sets the hinges, the posts, the footing depth, and the operator. Two gates that look nearly identical in a drawing can be a thousand dollars apart because one is solid infill and the other is open pickets.

Width, and whether it stays a single leaf

Every foot of width multiplies the load on the hinge post. Past a certain width the honest answer is two shorter leaves rather than one long one, which means a second hinge set and often a second operator. That is a real jump in the quote and it is a structural decision, not an upsell.

How much of the design is handwork

Straight pickets and simple frames are fast. Scrollwork, custom panels, and ornamental detail are hours at the bench, and published ornamental ironwork rates run $85 to $130 per linear foot according to EOIW's pricing guide. Detail is where a custom gate stops being comparable to a catalog gate.

Material, weighed rather than admired

Iron, steel, aluminum, and wood each behave differently once they are hanging. Aluminum is light and forgiving on hardware. Wood is the heaviest common choice once it is wet, and it moves with the weather. The material question is really a weight question wearing a nicer coat.

What goes in the ground

Posts and footings are the least interesting line on any custom gate quote and the easiest place to save money badly. North Texas clay swells and shrinks through the year, and it moves what is buried in it. A gate that will still hang square in year ten is mostly a footing decision made at the start.

Whether it is automatic, and when that gets decided

Operators are rated by leaf weight, leaf length, and cycles per day. Designing the gate first and shopping for an operator afterward is how gates end up paired with a drive unit that was never rated to move them. HomeGuide puts automation and entry hardware at $1,000 to $6,500 on top of the gate itself.

The part of the quote nobody compares

Custom gate quotes get compared on the drawing and the price. They almost never get compared on the hardware, and the hardware is where the difference between a gate that lasts and a gate that sags is decided.

We repair gates for a living. The ones we get called back to soonest are rarely failing because of a bad part. A leaf was too long for its hinges. A post was set shallow in soil that moves. A solid privacy panel was hung on an operator sized for open pickets, and the operator has been fighting wind load ever since. Every one of those was a decision made at the drawing stage, and every one of them was cheaper at the drawing stage than it is now.

That perspective has a limit worth stating. It biases us toward heavier hardware than a quote strictly needs, and heavier hardware costs more up front. If your gate is a light aluminum leaf on a flat, sheltered drive, some of that caution is money you do not need to spend. Ask which parts of a quote are structural and which are margin for conditions you may not have.

Designing one from scratch means design, fabrication and installation. Call {phone} with the width, the slope, and whether it needs to be automatic.

Five questions that make custom quotes comparable

Custom quotes are hard to line up because no two describe the same object. These five answers put them on the same page.

What does the finished leaf weigh, and what are the hinges and posts rated for?
Is this quoted as a single leaf or a double, and why?
How deep are the footings going, and does that account for clay?
Is the operator specified now, or picked after the gate is built?
What is fabrication and what is site work, listed separately?

A builder who can answer all five quickly has already thought about the gate as a machine. One who cannot has priced a drawing.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a custom driveway gate cost?: Published third-party ranges are wide because custom means custom. A 2026 guide from Custom Driveway Gates puts custom gates at roughly $700 to $12,000, LatestCost puts custom wrought iron at $1,000 to $10,000, and HomeGuide puts a wrought iron gate on a single-car drive at $4,000 to $6,000 installed with a swing opener and keypad. Those are third-party market figures, not our prices and not a quote.
Why do custom gate quotes vary so much?: Because they are pricing different objects. Width, infill, ornamental detail, material, footing depth and whether the gate is automatic each move the number independently. A quote is only comparable to another quote when both list what the gate weighs and what goes in the ground.
Is a custom gate more expensive than a stock gate?: Usually yes on the gate itself. The comparison gets closer when the opening is unusual, because a stock gate that does not fit the drive still needs the site work, the posts and the operator, and it may need modifying on top of that.
Does an ornamental design cost more than a plain one?: It does, and the reason is hours at the bench rather than material. EOIW's pricing guide puts custom ornamental ironwork at $85 to $130 per linear foot. Scrollwork and custom panels are handwork, and handwork is time.
Should the gate or the operator be chosen first?: The gate, but the operator has to be specified during the design rather than after it. Operators are rated by leaf weight, length and daily cycles. A gate designed without a target weight is a gate that may not have an operator rated to move it.
Do you give free estimates on custom gate work?: Yes. The estimate is free, and it starts with the opening rather than the drawing — width, slope, and whether the gate needs to be automatic. Those three answers shape the design more than anything else.

Getting a real number for your opening

Market ranges tell you the shape of the market. They cannot tell you what your driveway costs, because your driveway has a width, a slope, and soil under it. Those three things settle most of the design before anyone talks about scrollwork.

The estimate is free. Call {phone} and describe the opening.

A custom gate is priced from the opening it has to fit, not from a catalogue.

Same-day service

Gate down today?

We're usually out the same day. The estimate is free, and you'll know what it needs and what it costs before we start.

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