One trench, one pour, one gate
Driveway and Gate Installation in Arlington, TX
The usual order goes: new driveway, then a gate quote, then somebody with a core drill making holes in concrete that is three weeks old and a trench across it to pull a wire to the opener. It works. You just pay for the same square yard twice, and the patch never matches the pour.
Booked together, the post footings, the sleeves and the conduit go in while the forms are still up. The concrete crew leaves everything the gate needs already in the ground, the shop builds the leaf to the real opening, and the drive gets poured once. Per-product gate pricing and styles live on CJM Metals; slab detail and finishes on CJM Concrete.
What goes in before the concrete does
Post footings, dug and poured to the layout the gate actually needs — a swing gate’s hinge post carries the whole leaf hanging off one side, so it is not the same hole as a fence post. The posts go in plumb and get checked twice, because a hinge post that leans a degree shows up as a gate that swings open on its own.
Sleeves under the drive. Power for the operator, the run for a safety loop, a spare for whatever gets added later — all of it in a pipe under the concrete before the pour, not sawn into it after. Our concrete work page says the same thing from the other side: tell us the steel is coming and the sleeves and anchor bolts get set while the forms are still up.
It is the cheapest ten minutes of the whole job. Cutting a new driveway open a month later to pull one wire costs more than the sleeve, and leaves a line across it forever.
Swing or slide decides how the concrete gets poured
A slide gate needs a clear, level run of ground alongside the opening for the leaf to travel into — so the drive, or the ground beside it, has to be flat and clear for roughly the width of the opening again. If that room does not exist, the answer is a swing gate and it is better to know before the forms go up.
A swing gate needs the ground under its arc to fall away from the leaf, not rise into it. A driveway is sloped for drainage; get that slope backwards under a swing gate and the leaf grounds out halfway open. On a new pour we set the finish level with the gate’s ground clearance in mind. On an existing drive that is sometimes the thing that decides which gate you can have.
Both of those get measured at the walk-through with a tape, not guessed at from a photo.
The operator, and where our electrical stops
We wire a gate opener: power run to the operator through the sleeve, the loop, the remotes and the keypad set up and working before we leave. That is the one electrical thing this company touches.
Anything past it — a new circuit from your panel, a service change, anything a licensed electrician should be putting their name on — is not ours, and we will say so at the walk-through rather than at the end. That line is the same one drawn on about and in do you work as a subcontractor.
If the run from the house is long or the panel is full, get the electrician looked at first. Their trench and ours are the same trench, and doing it in one dig is worth a phone call.
The approach, the city and the fence line
The drive approach — the piece that crosses the sidewalk and the city right-of-way — is the part that belongs to the city rather than to you. In Arlington, cutting or replacing it is permitted work, sometimes with an inspection before and after the pour. Replacing the flatwork behind the sidewalk is usually a different story. Licensed and insured goes through it.
Gate and fence rules vary more than people expect between one city and the next, and a homeowners’ association can add a layer on top of whatever the city says. We confirm both during the free walk-through with the city that actually has jurisdiction, and the written estimate says which permits the job needs and who is pulling them.
What we will not do is quote a permit answer over the phone for a city we have not looked at your address in. A price built on a guess about the right-of-way is a price that changes later.
— What we offer
Posts set with the pour
Hinge and latch footings dug to the gate layout and set plumb before the forms come off.
Sleeves and conduit first
Operator power and loop runs go under the drive, never through a saw cut afterwards.
Gate built to the opening
Swing or slide, sized to the leaf, fabricated in the shop while the concrete takes strength.
Opener wired and working
Operator, loop, remotes and keypad set up and tested — the one electrical thing we do.
— Our work
Finished work.
Project photos on request.
We’re photographing recent work for this page. In the meantime, we’ll gladly send photos of jobs like yours.
Call(214) 603-9142
Common questions
- Can you add a gate to a driveway I already have?
- Yes, and most gates we hang are on existing drives. The posts go into their own footings beside the concrete wherever there is room. Getting power across to the operator then means either a saw cut and a patch or a bore under the slab — we price both and let you pick.
- Swing or slide?
- Room decides it. A slide gate needs a clear run beside the opening for the leaf; a swing gate needs the ground to fall away under its arc rather than rise into it. We measure both at the walk-through before anything is quoted.
- Who pulls the permit for the approach?
- Whatever the city requires goes in the written estimate with a name against it. The approach across the sidewalk is city right-of-way and is usually permitted work; the flatwork behind it often is not. We confirm your address with your city, not with a rule of thumb.Full answer
CUSTOMER REVIEWS
In our customers’ words.
Driveway with a gate on the end of it?
Tell us the width of the opening, whether there is room to slide, and whether you want an opener. One walk-through covers the concrete and the steel.
What helps us prepare your quote
- List the trades your project needs: concrete, metal fabrication and/or industrial insulation.
- Send the job location, photos or plans, and the order in which the work needs to happen.
- Use one request for the combined scope. For a single trade, its CJM website has the detailed service and design options.
— Start your project
Tell us what you need built.
Tell us the basics. We’ll confirm the scope and whether a site visit is needed, then provide a written estimate.
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