Summary

A driveway gate is one of the simplest-sounding jobs in the trade and one of the easiest to under-quote, because the visible product — the gate itself — is a small part of the total cost. The two items that actually determine profitability are the posts and their foundations (which carry a genuinely heavy cantilevered load once a gate is hung and swinging), and the ironmongery, which needs to be specified to the gate's actual weight rather than picked for looks. Get either wrong and the callback is a sagging or dragging gate within months, not years.

The other pricing decision customers often don't realise they're making is timber versus metal, and off-the-shelf versus bespoke fabrication. A standard softwood five-bar or ledged-and-braced gate from stock is a materially cheaper and faster job than a bespoke hardwood or wrought-iron gate made to measure — both are "driveway gates" to the customer, but they sit at very different points on the price scale, and establishing which one is actually wanted (and shown in any reference photo) is the first step in scoping the job accurately.

This guide covers manual driveway gates only. If the customer wants automation — a motor, remote control, keypad or intercom entry — that's a distinct job with its own safety compliance regime under the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008, covered fully in electric gate installation pricing guide. It's worth flagging automation as a future option even on a manual gate job, since laying a ducted electrical route to the gate posts at installation stage is inexpensive compared with trenching a finished driveway later if the customer decides to automate down the line.

Key Facts

Quick Reference Table

Spending too long on quotes? squote turns a 2-minute voice recording into a professional quote.

Try squote free →
Gate specification Typical width Quoted price range (supply + fit) Labour time
Softwood single-leaf gate, off-the-shelf 2.7–3.6m £700–£1,300 0.5–1 day
Hardwood single-leaf gate, off-the-shelf or made-to-measure 2.7–3.6m £1,100–£2,000 1 day
Softwood double-leaf gate 3.6–5m combined £1,000–£1,800 1–1.5 days
Hardwood double-leaf gate 3.6–5m combined £1,600–£2,800 1.5 days
Galvanised/powder-coated steel single-leaf gate 2.7–3.6m £900–£1,800 0.5–1 day
Bespoke fabricated metal double-leaf gate (mild steel/wrought iron) 3.6–5m combined £1,800–£4,000+ 1.5–2.5 days
Aluminium gate (single or double leaf) 2.7–5m £1,400–£3,200 1–1.5 days
Timber gate post, concrete-set (per post) — £120–£250 Included in labour
Brick/block masonry pier (per pier, built + rendered) — £450–£900 1–2 days per pier
Steel gate post, concrete-set (per post) — £150–£320 Included in labour
Cable duct for future automation (per run) 10–25m £120–£280 0.5 day, add-on

Detailed Guidance

Establishing gate type and material before quoting

Never quote a driveway gate from a verbal description or a vague reference photo without confirming three things: the material (timber, metal, or aluminium), whether it's off-the-shelf or bespoke, and the exact opening width. A customer who says "a wooden farm-style gate like next door's" might mean a £700 stock softwood gate or a £2,000 made-to-measure hardwood one — the visual difference between a budget and premium version of the same broad style is often subtle in a photo but significant in materials cost and joinery quality.

Posts and foundations — the item most likely to be under-quoted

Driveway gate posts carry a substantially heavier load than a garden gate post, both from the greater weight of a wider or heavier gate and from the leverage of a longer leaf swinging on a cantilever. Timber or steel hinge posts for a driveway gate should be oversized relative to a standard fence post and set to a proper foundation depth in a wide concrete collar — see gate hanging and hardware for hinge post sizing by gate weight, and fence post installation depth for the underlying one-third-rule depth calculation that applies to gate posts as much as fence posts. Masonry piers are a different pricing category again — built, cured, and rendered or faced to match existing brickwork, they take considerably longer and cost more than a timber or steel post, but are often specified where the driveway entrance is a visible feature of the property.

Ironmongery — sized to the gate, not chosen for looks

Heavy-duty hook-and-band hinges are the standard fitting for driveway gates of any real weight, allowing the gate to be lifted off the posts for maintenance without unbolting the hinge. Always size hinges to the manufacturer's weight rating for the specific gate being hung, not to "the biggest one in stock" — an undersized hinge is the most common cause of an early sag on a driveway gate, and the diagnosis-and-fix process for a sagging gate is covered fully in gate hanging and hardware. Double-leaf gates additionally need a drop bolt and ground socket to secure the standing leaf, positioned and concrete-set before any driveway resurfacing goes down.

Planning and highway considerations

Most single driveway gates fall within Permitted Development and don't need planning permission, provided the height stays within the GPDO thresholds (2m generally, reducing to 1m adjacent to a highway) and the property isn't in a Conservation Area, AONB, National Park, or subject to an Article 4 Direction removing those rights — see planning permission fences walls for the full framework, which applies equally to gates and fences. The point specific to driveway gates that's easy to miss is the direction of swing: a gate hung to open outward, close to a public footway or carriageway, can obstruct pedestrians or encroach onto the highway when open — always check the swing direction against the site layout and, where there's any doubt, design the gate to open inward or set it back from the boundary far enough that an outward swing clears the footway entirely.

Automation — flag it even when it's not wanted yet

Even where a customer is clear they only want a manual gate now, it's worth raising automation as a future option, since the cost of laying a cable duct beneath the driveway at installation stage is modest compared to trenching a finished block-paved or tarmac surface later purely to add a motor. If the customer is open to it, price a duct run as an inexpensive add-on line; if they later decide to automate, see electric gate installation pricing guide for the full automated gate pricing, safety compliance package (BS EN 12453, Declaration of Conformity), and electrical run costing — none of which apply to a manual gate installation.

Pricing structure and margin

Worked example — hardwood double-leaf driveway gate, timber posts, standard site:

Note that £1,670 is the tradesperson's cost to deliver the job — materials plus labour cost — and £2,506 is the price quoted to the customer once markup, margin and VAT are added. Keep these two figures distinct on the working quote sheet even if only the final inc.-VAT figure is shown to the customer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a manual driveway gate need planning permission?

Usually not — most single driveway gates fall within Permitted Development under the GPDO, provided the height stays within the relevant threshold (2m generally, 1m adjacent to a highway) and the property isn't in a Conservation Area, National Park, AONB, or subject to an Article 4 Direction. Always check the specific site, since heritage designations and highway-adjacent sites are the two most common exceptions that remove or restrict these rights.

Can I motorise a manual gate I've already fitted?

In most cases, yes — provided the gate and its hinge posts are structurally suitable for the additional load and cyclical stress of a motor, which isn't always the case with a lightweight budget gate on undersized posts. If motorisation is a realistic future possibility, it's worth specifying slightly heavier-duty posts and ball-bearing hinges (rather than basic strap hinges) at the manual installation stage, and laying a cable duct — see electric gate installation pricing guide for the full requirements once automation is added.

What's the real cost difference between timber posts and masonry piers?

Masonry piers typically cost three to five times more than an equivalent timber or steel post once building, curing time, and a rendered or faced finish are accounted for — they're a small blockwork job in their own right, not just "a bigger hole with more concrete." Piers are usually chosen for appearance (to match an existing wall or boundary treatment) rather than structural necessity, since a properly sized and founded timber or steel post is entirely adequate to carry a driveway gate's load.

Why has the customer's new gate started sagging after a few months?

The three most common causes are the same as for any hung gate: the hinge post moving in the ground (undersized foundation for the gate's actual weight and leverage), the hinges being undersized for the gate, or frame racking from a missing diagonal brace on a timber gate. See gate hanging and hardware for the full diagnostic sequence before assuming a replacement part is needed.

Regulations & Standards