A gate is the one part of your fence you touch every single day, so it is worth getting right. Choose well and it swings true, matches the fence and locks with a satisfying click for years. Choose badly and you get a gate that sags, drags on the ground, clashes with the fence or rattles loose within a season. The good news is that picking the right fence gate comes down to a few simple decisions: its job, its match to the fence, its width, and the hardware that holds it all together. Here is how to choose a gate for your fence and get it right the first time.
Start With The Gate’s Job
Before anything else, decide what the gate is actually for, because its purpose narrows every other choice immediately. A front garden gate is mostly about looks and a welcoming entrance for guests, so style leads. A side or backyard gate is all about function, privacy and keeping pets and kids secure, so a solid, lockable design wins. A driveway gate has to let vehicles through and often anchors the security of the whole property. Knowing the primary job first means you choose the right gate for how you will actually use it, not just the one that looks nice in a photo.
Matching Your Gate To Your Fence
A gate should feel like part of the fence, not something bolted on afterwards, and matching the two is what makes a fence line look considered. The easiest path is the same material and colour as your fence: a Colorbond gate in the same shade for a Colorbond fence, aluminium slats to match a slat fence, or timber to suit a timber boundary. Beyond a straight match, the gate should complement the fence’s style, whether clean and modern or classic and traditional. Material has to suit Perth too: Colorbond matches most boundaries and is fire resistant, powder-coated aluminium is low maintenance and ideal near the coast, tubular steel or wrought iron brings security and a classic look, and timber suits traditional homes but needs sealing against our UV. Match the gate to the fence and the weather, and it will look and last the part.
Getting The Width Right: Pedestrian Vs Driveway
Width is where a lot of gates go wrong, so measure for how you actually move through the opening. For a walk-through gate, a pedestrian gate width of around 900 to 1200 millimetres suits everyday foot traffic and still fits a wheelbarrow, a bin or a mower. For a driveway, a single gate usually runs 3 to 4.5 metres, while a double gate splits a wide opening into two leaves of roughly 2.4 to 3 metres each. The golden rule is to size for the widest thing you will ever wheel through, a trailer, a boat or a caravan, because a gate that is too narrow becomes a daily frustration. Leave about 10 millimetres of clearance each side for the hardware and, with timber, for seasonal swelling, so the gate never binds or scrapes.
Swing Or Slide?
How the gate opens matters as much as how wide it is. A swing gate is the classic choice for an open yard with flat, clear ground, but check the slope, because a swing gate will drag on rising ground or gravel if the fall runs against it. A sliding gate is the answer for tight spaces or a sloped driveway, gliding sideways instead of swinging into an obstruction. For most walk-through gates a simple swing is perfect, while driveways on tricky blocks often suit sliding. If in doubt, we will look at your ground and access and point you to the right one.
Hinges, Latches And Hardware
Here is the part people underestimate, and the part that decides whether a gate lasts: the hardware. A gate is a heavy thing used constantly, so quality hinges and a solid latch are not the place to save money. Heavy gates need strong, heavy-duty hinges and, just as importantly, strong gate posts set in solid footings, because most sagging gates come down to a weak post, not a weak gate. Choose rust-resistant, powder-coated or galvanised hardware so nothing seizes or stains, especially near the coast. If it is a pool gate, it must be self-closing and self-latching by law, with the latch at least 1.5 metres high and the gate swinging away from the pool. Get the hinges, latch and posts right and the gate simply works, every day, for years.
Build It Automation-Ready
Even if you want a manual gate today, it pays to build it automation-ready, because retrofitting a motor later is far easier when the bones are right. That means setting stronger gate posts in bigger footings to carry the weight of an opener, framing the gate square and solid so a motor can drive it smoothly, and running a power conduit to the gate while the ground is already open. It costs very little to plan for now and saves a dig-up and rebuild later. So if there is any chance you will automate the gate down the track, tell us at the start, and we will set everything up so adding a motor is a simple upgrade rather than a whole new job.
Our Recent Gate Work In Perth
A gate finishes a fence and carries its own hardware load, so it pays to have it built properly. Some recent gate projects:
Surfmist Slat Gates With A Laser-Cut Panel: We built custom Surfmist aluminium slat double gates alongside a laser-cut feature panel in a Core Ten finish, pairing modern security with sculptural style in a tight carport opening.
Heavy-Duty Double Swing Gate, 9 Metres Wide: For a full perimeter we hung a heavy-duty double garrison swing gate spanning nine metres, matched to a pedestrian gate, on posts set deep enough to carry the weight without sagging.
Matching Front, Carport And Side Gates: This job needed several gates at once, a welded front entry gate, Colorbond carport gates and a Night Sky side gate, all colour-matched to the slat boundary so the whole entrance reads as one design.
Frequently Asked Questions
The gate questions Perth homeowners ask us most:
Get A Gate That Works As Good As It Looks
The right gate is the one built for its job, matched to your fence, sized for how you move through it, and hung on quality hardware and solid posts. Nail those and you get a gate that swings true, looks like it belongs and lasts for years, with the option to automate it whenever you like. Whether you need a simple pedestrian gate, a grand double driveway gate or something built ready for a motor, we design and install gates that match your fence and your needs. Get in touch today for expert advice and a free, no-obligation quote, and let us build you a gate that works as good as it looks.
With years of hands-on experience in the fencing industry, Niels founded FencrGatr with a mission to deliver premium fencing solutions backed by exceptional service across Perth.
