Building a metal gate yourself or having a locksmith make one

What welding outdoors actually requires

A MIG welder is the realistic choice for box section, but it needs a steady 230 V supply and, ideally, shelter from wind. Even a light breeze blows the shielding gas away from the weld pool and leaves porous, weak joints that look fine and fail later. Working in a garage with the door half open is usually better than working in the open garden.

Box section wants clean, square cuts and a jig or at least a reliable way to hold two pieces at a true right angle while you tack them. Without that, small angle errors in each corner add up, and a gate that looked square on the ground turns out twisted once it is upright.

You also need practice on scrap first. A weld that looks solid from above can be a thin skin over an unfused joint underneath, and a gate takes repeated slamming, wind load and its own weight hanging off two hinge points, so a joint that would be fine on a shelf bracket is not necessarily fine here.

Where the material costs usually go wrong

Box section is sold by length, and gates rarely use whole lengths cleanly, so offcuts and waste are normal and worth pricing in from the start rather than discovering afterwards. Galvanised section costs more than plain steel but saves you the priming and painting step, and for anything staying outside it is usually the better buy despite the higher shelf price.

Hinges, a drop bolt, and a latch or lock are where people underspend. A budget hinge rated for a light gate will wear loose within a year on a heavier frame, and the gate starts to droop at the latch side long before the steel itself is a problem.

Add up cutting discs, welding wire or rods, primer, paint, and a hire fee if you do not own a welder, and the total often sits closer to a fair share of what a workshop would charge for materials alone, before your own time is counted at all.

Where a home-built gate commonly goes wrong

The most common failure is not the welding itself but the frame going out of square before a single weld is struck, because nothing held the corners true while tacking. The second is hanging it on posts that were not plumb or not solid enough, so the whole gate racks sideways within weeks regardless of how good the welds are.

Underestimating weight is the third. A wide gate in heavier box section is genuinely heavy, and posts set in ground that was not compacted properly, or hinges undersized for the load, both show up as sag rather than sudden failure, which makes the cause harder to trace after the fact.

Corrosion is the quiet one. A weld ground back and left bare, or a cut edge that never got primed, rusts from the inside of the joint outwards, and by the time it is visible the repair is a cut-out-and-reweld rather than a touch-up.

• Check every corner with a square before and after tacking, not just at the end
• Set posts in a solid footing and let it cure before hanging any weight
• Grind welds back and prime bare steel the same day, not the same week
• Size hinges and bolts for the actual weight of the finished gate, not a guess
• Test the swing and latch before final painting, while adjustment is still easy

When doing it yourself makes sense, and when it does not

A simple single-leaf gate for a side path, where appearance is not critical and you already have or can borrow suitable equipment, is a reasonable DIY project if you are honest about practising the welds first. The cost saving is real, and the skill required is learnable.

A double-leaf driveway gate, anything with automation planned for later, or a gate that has to match an existing fence line precisely, is a different order of job. Getting the geometry, the post loading and the hardware right the first time matters more, and mistakes are expensive to undo once concrete has set.

If you are unsure which category your gate falls into, our welding service, from 55 € per hour, covers everything from a quick repair weld on an existing gate to building one from scratch, and is worth a call before you buy steel you might not use.

What a made-to-measure gate costs and what is included

For a straightforward gate we give a fixed quote after seeing the opening and discussing the design, and steel structures generally start from 250 € per job, which is the figure you pay regardless of how the job runs on the day. That quote covers accurate measurement, material matched to the opening, square welded joints, priming, and hinges and hardware sized correctly for the gate's actual weight.

It also covers fitting: posts checked for plumb and strength, correct hanging height, and a latch that closes properly on the first try rather than needing persistent adjustment. Our own work carries a 24-month guarantee, which covers workmanship, not wear from years of use or hardware you supply yourself.

If the gate is part of a wider fence that also needs attention, our fence repair and installation service, from 45 € per hour, can be quoted alongside it, so posts, panels and gate are sorted in one visit rather than three separate problems.