Driveway Gates in Vancouver
Custom steel and aluminum driveway and lane gates for Vancouver homes and buildings — designed, welded and installed by our own crew from North Vancouver.
Vancouver driveways are rarely generous. Lots are narrow, many are served from a lane rather than the street, and the gate usually has to fit an opening that was never designed with a gate in mind. We build driveway and lane gates to the opening you actually have, fabricate them in our North Vancouver shop, and install them across the city.
Lane gates are a Vancouver problem
Vancouver has an unusually complete lane network, and a large share of the gates we build in the city are lane gates rather than front-drive gates. That changes the design in ways that matter.
A lane gate normally has no setback at all — the gate opens straight into a working lane used by neighbours, delivery vans and garbage trucks. A leaf that swings outward is a hazard and will eventually be hit. That pushes most lane gates toward sliding, cantilever or inward-swinging designs, and it makes the hinge side and the stop detail more important than the styling.
Laneway houses add another layer: the gate often has to serve a garage, a laneway dwelling and a pedestrian route through the same opening. That is usually solved with a vehicle gate plus a separate pedestrian leaf rather than one oversized gate.
Gate types we build in the city
Sliding and cantilever gates. The default where there is no room to swing — lanes, tight side yards and short setbacks.
Swing gates. Single or double, where the drive has depth. Common on the larger lots west of Main and in the older west-side neighbourhoods.
Bi-fold gates. A wide opening with a short approach, where a single swinging leaf would foul the sidewalk or the lane.
Vehicle gate with matched pedestrian gate. Two openings, one design, so the entry reads as one piece of work.
Character homes and matching what is there
A lot of Vancouver housing stock is old, and in the character neighbourhoods a gate that ignores the house looks wrong immediately. On these jobs the work is usually about proportion and picket spacing rather than ornament — matching the rhythm of an existing fence, a porch rail or a set of windows.
We can also work the other way: a deliberately plain, modern gate on a heritage lot, where the point is contrast rather than imitation. Either is fine. What does not work is a stock gate cut down to fit.
Rain, and what it does to a gate
Vancouver is wet for a long stretch of the year, and a driveway gate is outdoors for all of it. Water sitting in the bottom rail, at welds, and inside hollow sections is what eventually kills a steel gate.
We deal with that in the build rather than in the coating alone: sealing or draining hollow sections, dressing welds where water would otherwise pool, and choosing a finish system that suits the exposure. Steel gets hot-dip galvanizing or a proper coating system; aluminum is used where weight or corrosion is the deciding factor; stainless where the detail calls for it.
Automation
Decide on automation before the gate is built. An operator changes the weight on the hinges, how the leaf has to be braced, and where conduit has to run — and in a lane, it also changes where the safety devices and the loop have to sit.
We build the gate, posts and hardware around the operator and coordinate with your automation and electrical trades. We fabricate and install the metalwork; the operator is supplied and commissioned by the automation specialist.
Permits, bylaws and approvals
Height limits, setbacks, sight lines onto a lane and whether a permit is required depend on the property, the zoning and the scope of work. Inside the City of Vancouver those requirements come from the city itself as the authority having jurisdiction, and the Vancouver Building By-law applies rather than the BC Building Code that covers most other municipalities in the region.
We are not going to tell you from a web page what applies at your address. We raise it at the enquiry, tell you what we have seen on comparable openings, and recommend confirming with the city — or getting a professional review — before anything is fabricated.
How the job runs
- We measure the opening on site and look at the approach, the lane or street, and what the posts can fix into.
- You get a written quote against a defined scope: gate, posts, hardware, finish, installation.
- We draw it, confirm details, and fabricate in our own shop.
- We finish it, then install and hang it ourselves.
Repairing an existing gate
A gate that sags, drags or will not latch is often a hinge or post problem rather than a gate problem, and can be repaired — see metal gate repair. Where the frame has corroded through, replacement is usually the better decision, and we will tell you which one we think you are looking at.
Browse the gate design catalogue
If you would rather look than read, the catalogue has thirty-nine designs you can filter by style, material and operation. Corten, Art Deco, slat, picket, solid panel and laser-cut screens are all in there, and every one can be built as a lane gate or a street-facing pair: see the gate design catalogue. Each design carries a model number that comes through with your quote request.
Gates elsewhere in Metro Vancouver
We also build driveway gates in Burnaby and Coquitlam. For gate types, hardware, materials and design detail, start at North Vancouver, West Vancouver and custom metal gates, and see where we work for our full service area.
We also build driveway gates in Surrey, including South Surrey and Cloverdale, where wider frontages often make a sliding gate the better answer.
Get a price on your Vancouver driveway gate
Send the opening width, a photo from the street or lane, and whether the gate needs to slide or can swing. Request a quote or call (778) 805-5333. Budget ranges are in our gate cost guide.