Gate installation.

Every gate is a weight hanging off one side of a post, and the wider the gate the harder it pulls. Most sagging gates are not bad gates — they are gates hung on a post that was set for fence and not for leverage. A gate post wants to be bigger, deeper and better braced than the run it sits in.

A drive gate that is narrow enough to be awkward gets clipped, and a gate that has been clipped never hangs right again. Measure for the vehicle that actually uses it, including the trailer, before settling on a width.

We fit gates to wood, chain-link and ornamental fencing so the gate reads as part of the fence rather than as something bolted on afterwards.

The most common regret on a drive gate is width, and it is the one thing that cannot be adjusted afterwards without moving a post. People measure for the vehicle they drive every day and then discover the gate is tight for a trailer, a mower, a delivery truck or a contractor who needs to get a machine into the back yard. A gate that is slightly too narrow gets clipped, and a gate that has been clipped never hangs true again. Walk it through in your head with the widest thing that will ever need to pass, then add room for the fact that nobody lines up perfectly on a first attempt. Extra width costs very little at the start.