Automatic Gates

Automatic gates are gates with a motor on them, so the leaf opens from a remote, a keypad, an intercom or a sensor instead of someone getting out of the car. In New Zealand they go on lifestyle-block entrances where the road is fast and the driveway is long, on suburban front boundaries, at the head of a shared right of way, and across the entrance to a commercial yard where a truck needs in before anyone has arrived to open up. The buyer is usually somebody who uses the entrance several times a day, or somebody who wants the property closed without having to think about it.

Two quite different jobs go by this name, and it is worth saying which one you are after before anything else. The first is a new gate designed from the start to be motorised, where the leaf, the posts, the hardware and the operator are specified together. The second is putting an opener onto a gate that is already hanging, which depends on how that gate was built and what is holding it up. We do both. If what you actually need is a part, a controller or a remote for a system already installed, that sits with gate access systems instead.

What the automation is made of

An automated gate is a set of parts that have to suit each other:

• The operator. A ram or articulated arm for a swing gate, a rack and pinion or underground unit for a slider. Its duty cycle and power have to match the weight of the leaf and how often the gate cycles in a day.
• The power supply. Mains from the house or shed, or solar. Our gates are solar powered as well, which saves you energy costs and takes a trench out of the job on a long driveway.
• Safety devices. Photo eyes, safety edges and force limits so the gate stops when something is in the way. Not an accessory. A powered leaf carries real mass.
• The way you open it. Remotes, keypads, intercoms, loop detectors, free exit sensors, and a manual release for a power cut.
• The lock. Electric locks and magnetic locks hold a leaf shut against wind, which matters more on the plains than most people expect.

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From the first look to a gate that opens itself

Design begins on your driveway. We’ll come out and take a look at the site and discuss ideas with you about the best solution for your situation, which on an automated gate means the fall across the opening, the leaf weight the design implies, where the power is coming from, how much sun a solar panel would actually get, and where a safety beam can be mounted.

Manufacture covers the leaf, the frame, the posts and the mounting for the operator, built to those measurements in the workshop. A gate meant for a motor is not a manual gate with an arm bolted on afterwards. The post sizes, hinge selection and frame stiffness all change.

Installation is footings, gate, operator, wiring, safety devices and setup, then the part people remember: someone showing you the manual release, the remotes and what the gate does when the power goes off.

What an automatic gate costs

Pricing is on quote. Every figure that gets quoted publicly belongs to somebody else’s driveway, and the honest version is that the same gate width can produce very different numbers depending on what is underneath it.

How much does an automatic gate cost in New Zealand?

It is quoted per site. The drivers are the opening width, the leaf weight and material, swing or slide, the operator’s size and duty cycle, whether power has to be run to the gate or a solar setup will do, the access hardware you want, and the ground the posts are going into.

What is the average cost of an automatic gate?

An average would be misleading. A single light aluminium leaf on a level suburban driveway and a heavy timber pair on a rural entrance with a fall are the same line item and nothing like the same job.

How much does a motorised gate cost compared with a manual one?

The gap is the operator, the power supply, the safety devices and the wiring, not the gate itself. That is why automating later usually costs more than building for it now: the leaf and posts have to be right first, and conduit under a finished driveway is a much bigger job than conduit under a bare one.

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Do I need planning permission to install electric gates?

The gate itself is usually the question rather than the motor. Height and how close the gate sits to the boundary or the road can bring in your district plan, and a gate that opens over a footpath or the road corridor needs to be discussed with the council before it is built. Rules differ between Christchurch City, Selwyn, Waimakariri, Ashburton, Hurunui and Timaru, so check with your own council early. We build to whatever the answer is.

Talk it through on site

The part worth taking seriously is that automation is only ever as good as the gate under it. A motor sized to a leaf, posts footed for the load, and safety devices set properly will run for years with a wash and an occasional adjustment. The same motor on a leaf that was never meant to move by itself will keep telling you so, one fault at a time.

Phone us on 027 424 0600 or email info@groupone.co.nz, 7am to 3pm Monday to Friday. Group One New Zealand, Unit 1, 37 Foremans Road, Islington, Christchurch 8042. NZBN 9429053752833.

Call 027 424 0600 to Request a Free Quote