Free on-site gate assessment - hinges, posts, and your LiftMaster or Nice gate operator checked before anything is quoted
The assessment is free and the quote is the invoice.
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AfterFast, Reliable Gate Installation Across Burien
A new gate installation in Burien typically runs $1,400 to $4,800 for a standard residential swing gate, and $3,200 to $9,500 for an automated system with operator and safety sensors. We complete most Burien installations within one to two days once materials and permits are confirmed, and we provide a written price before any work starts. Burien’s older homes and airport-noise-driven heavy privacy fencing create conditions that generic gate installers often misread. We know what holds up here because we see it every week. Call (626) 649-4572 for a free estimate.
Why Latch & Post Gate Repair Is Burien’s Preferred Gate Installation Company
We’re a Gate Installation specialist, part of the Cedarwell family of independently owned and operated gate companies, and we’ve been at this since 2009. Our Burien customers tell us the same thing: the crew showed up on time, laid drop cloths on the floor, wrote the price down before touching anything, and took a photo of the clean-up when they finished. That’s the Cedarwell Care Promise and it applies to every single visit. Cody Beckman leads our team, and every technician on a Burien job is background-checked, uniformed, and factory-trained on the brands families actually own.
We answer the phone with a live person around the clock. No voicemail queue, no callback roulette. When a gate drags or an operator fails on a Saturday morning off SW 152nd Street, you get a real person who can schedule gate repair in Burien. Our Burien customers appreciate that more than any marketing line we could write.
Gate Fabrication in Burien
Gate Fabrication in Burien is the process of building a gate from raw steel, wood, or aluminum to fit the exact opening and weight requirements of your property, rather than ordering a mass-produced panel and hoping it works. We fabricate in-house for many Burien jobs because the dimensions and weight specs here are rarely standard.
Heavy Panels, Proper Frames
A double-boarded cedar gate near Sea-Tac’s flight paths can easily exceed 200 pounds. Hanging that on a standard two-hinge residential frame is a failure waiting to happen, and we see the result every winter: stripped top-hinge lag screws, sag, and a gate that drags. When we fabricate, we size the frame, hinge count, and post depth for the actual weight, not a catalog figure. That usually means a steel frame inside a cedar face so the gate looks like the neighborhood but carries like a commercial unit.
Custom Fit for Odd Openings
Older Burien yards often have non-standard post spacing from the original 1960s cedar fencing. Fabrication lets us build to that exact width and height without ripping out usable posts or adding filler panels. A fabricated gate in Burien for a standard 48-inch walk opening runs roughly $900 to $2,200 depending on material and weight. A driveway double gate, fabricated and hung, runs $2,600 to $5,500.
Automatic Gate Installation in Burien
Automatic Gate Installation in Burien means adding a motorized operator, safety sensors, and control hardware to a gate, or installing a complete automated system including the gate panel itself. We install operators from LiftMaster, FAAC, BFT, Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, Elite, and Mighty Mule, and we stock common parts locally so Burien jobs move faster.
Operators on Heavy Gates
An operator pulling a 200-pound sound-mass gate needs more torque than one on a light picket panel. If the operator is undersized, the motor strains, the board overheats, and the gate limps or dies within a few years. We size the operator to the actual measured weight of the gate, with a service factor built in. We also reinforce the mount point so the torque doesn’t crack a single-board post.
Safety That Works, Not Just the Minimum
We install UL 325 compliant photo-eyes and edge sensors on every automated gate, and we test them with the family present. Pets, kids, and delivery drivers all move through the gate path, and the sensors have to actually stop the gate. On legacy retrofits we add photo-eyes even when the old gate never had them, because that’s what a safe installation requires.
Trusted Brands We Service in Burien
We carry parts and service expertise for the brands Burien homeowners actually have. FAAC and BFT operators appear frequently on older gates in the area, and we can usually source boards and remotes without waiting a week. Linear and Viking show up on many mid-century-era retrofits, and our technicians are factory-trained on both. Because we’re a Gate Installation in Burien specialist, we keep the common service parts on our trucks. That means one visit for most jobs, not a diagnosis trip followed by a parts trip.
Common Gate Installation Problems We See in Burien Homes
- Stripped top-hinge lag screws on double-boarded gates. Every week we pull a hinge off a heavy privacy gate and find the lag screws chewed out of the post. The gate looks fine from the street, but the top hinge is barely holding.
- Post lean and heave from saturated glacial clay. Burien’s fall and winter rain saturates the soil, which freezes and thaws unevenly. Posts set in concrete-free footings from the original 1960s installs lean and settle, throwing the gate out of square.
- Salt corrosion on Puget Sound-facing homes. The western edge of Burien gets salt-laden air that rusts hinges, latches, and operator components faster than inland neighborhoods near Renton or Kent. A hinge that lasts 15 years in Tukwila may fail in 7 here.
- Obsolete control boards with no replacement part. Legacy operators from the 1990s and early 2000s often have boards that are no longer manufactured. We can sometimes retrofit a compatible board, but in many cases a new operator is cheaper than chasing a discontinued part.
Pricing for Gate Installation in Burien, WA
A standard pedestrian gate installation in Burien runs $1,400 to $2,600. A double driveway swing gate runs $2,800 to $5,500. Automated versions add $1,800 to $4,200 for operator, photo-eyes, and wiring, depending on gate weight and power access. Posts set in poor original footings add $400 to $900 for re-setting or replacing. If a gate is sagged, we usually recommend through-bolts rather than lag screws, a $150 to $400 upgrade that prevents a repeat failure. We quote the full job in writing before we start, and you approve the number before we touch anything. Call (626) 649-4572 and we’ll give you a free estimate.
We Also Serve Cities Near Burien
From Burien we serve Burien, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, and Vancouver. If you’re not sure whether we cover your block, call us and we’ll check the address right away.
Serving Burien, WA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Burien area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Gate Installation in Burien
The failure is almost never the panel. In Burien, sag usually means the top hinge lag screws have stripped out of the hinge post. The panel sags as the hinge loses its bite. On heavy double-boarded privacy gates over 200 pounds, this is routine; the hinge mount plan was never designed for that weight. We fix it by replacing the lag screws with through-bolts and adding a third hinge when the panel demands it. Call (626) 649-4572 and we’ll confirm what’s actually failing.
We’ll look at the board first. If the original control board is still available and the motor is in fair shape, we can often retrofit new electronics and photo-eyes onto the existing unit. But if the board is obsolete or discontinued, a full replacement is usually cheaper than chasing a used part. We walk you through both options with written numbers before you decide.
Because Burien neighborhoods under Sea-Tac’s flight paths commonly use double-boarded, sound-mass fence panels to dampen aircraft noise. Those panels make gates weigh enough to strip standard residential hinges. Renton and Kent don’t have the same noise corridor, so the failure pattern is mostly absent there. Add Burien’s saturated clay soil and salt air on the western edge, and gates here fail in every predictable way.
Yes. Any automatic gate operator installed today, and any significant retrofit, must have UL 325 compliant external entrapment protection, typically photo-eyes or edge sensors. Legacy gates that predate the requirement often lack them, and that’s a real safety gap, especially with kids and pets. We add them on every retrofit and replacement, priced in the written estimate before work starts.
We can fabricate to existing posts if the posts are sound and deep enough. In Burien, many original posts from the 1950s and 1960s are set shallow or in concrete-free footings, and those need to be re-set or replaced before a new gate will stay square. We’ll tell you which case you have before we build anything. Call (626) 649-4572 and we’ll price it properly.
Written by Cody Beckman, Owner at Latch & Post Gate Repair, serving Burien since 2009.