Rollingwood · West Lake Hills · Sunset Valley · Shady Hollow
Metal Gates in Lakeway, Flat-Topped the Way the City Requires
Austin Metal Gates fabricates metal gates in Lakeway, TX, and is a specialist Travis County ironwork shop, specializing in flat-topped automatic driveway gates, estate entries on masonry columns and wrought iron fencing with a continuous top rail. We offer iron railings for decks and pool aprons and solar operators for long drives.
- Free on-site measure
- Shop drawings you approve
- Operators set up to UL 325
- One written price
Gates and ironwork in Lakeway
Our team provides keypads, intercoms and fire department key switches, delivering safe, handsome entries for homes and code-ready access for both residential and commercial projects. Every gate is drawn to scale and approved by you, then cut and welded in our own shop before it is powder coated.
From setting a key switch where responders can reach it to a full estate entry with columns, operator and intercom, our team handles every detail. Serving Lakeway, Volente and Steiner Ranch, we build to the current city code and pull the permit with you.
Why Austin Metal Gates
How We Work
No stock panels cut down to fit, and no handoffs. The crew that measures your opening builds and installs the gate.
Lakeway Wrote the Flat Top Into Its Code
Lakeway sits beside Lake Travis about 16 miles west of Austin, with Hurst Creek running through it to the lake and Ranch to Market Road 620 carrying traffic through town. It began as a resort on a 2,700 acre ranch owned by oilman Jack Josey, the hotel opened on July 12, 1963, and property owners voted to incorporate in June 1974. It is also known for its wandering deer, and the deer are the reason gate design is different here.
The City of Lakeway's Safe Fencing page explains it: when deer leap ornamental metal fences they can be impaled on spikes or open pickets. In 2019 Lakeway passed an ordinance banning new spiked and open picket fencing, and all fencing, metal and wooden, must now have a continuous flat top. The page adds that people, and children in particular, are hurt on these fences too.
The rule is codified in Section 24.02.442: all fences, including wood, wrought iron and ornamental fencing, shall be continuous flat-topped without spikes or sharp points.
- For a new gate: the pickets stop under a continuous top rail. No spear points, no finials above the rail, no open picket ends.
- For the fence beside it: the same flat top runs the whole line, so gate and fence read as one piece.
- For decoration: scrollwork and pattern go inside the frame, below the rail, where the code leaves room for them.
Every design is checked against the current code at quote time.
Permits, Police Codes and the ESD 6 Key Switch
Lakeway requires a building permit for any new fence or screening structure, and for any repair that changes the location, design or specifications of an existing one. A new driveway gate in a new fence line is a permitted job, and we prepare the drawings the application needs.
Coded gates carry an extra duty. The same section says that for fenced developments or projects with keyed or coded access through a gate, the developer or owner shall provide keys or codes to the city police department and a key switch for the Travis County ESD #6 Fire Department.
- Police: the gate code or key goes to the city police department, and as the owner you provide it.
- Fire: a key switch is mounted where ESD 6 crews can reach it from the approach, wired to open the gate.
- Safety devices: the operator is listed to UL 325 and set up with photo eyes and loops sized to your drive.
We build the key switch into the plan from the start, so an automatic gate is never finished and then found to be missing it.
Columns, Footings and a Fence Finished on Both Sides
Lakeway's code reaches past the top rail into the structure of an entry. Masonry supporting columns must be rock, brick or stucco, at least fourteen by fourteen inches, at least as tall as the approved fence and no more than six inches taller. They sit on steel reinforced concrete footings placed into virgin soil or solid bearing, at least two inches larger than the column on every side and at least eight inches deep.
- Materials: yard fences are wood, wrought iron, masonry or pre-cast concrete.
- Height: up to six feet is approved administratively; up to eight feet needs the code official.
- Finish: every fence run is finished on both sides, with pickets on both sides of the stringers.
- Placement: no fence goes in the street setback outside the listed exceptions, and at least one end of a yard fence ties back to the house.
- Golf course lots: wood is banned where it would be visible from a golf course, which makes iron the natural choice.
- Taller masonry: a masonry wall four feet or taller needs plans signed and sealed by a registered engineer or architect.
A welded steel panel with the same face on both sides meets the finished-both-sides rule without a second layer of pickets, which is one reason ornamental steel suits Lakeway.
Railings Where Lakeway's Code Asks for Them
The same code has a safety railing rule that can apply on a sloping lot. Walkways, driveways, retaining walls, pool aprons and other accessible areas more than thirty inches but less than six feet above grade need safety railings, or planting dense enough to do the same job. Steps or walkways on slopes over fifteen percent need safety railing too.
A floodplain lot has one more condition: safety railing installed within the floodplain must be metal, and may have to be removed during flooding. We design those railings with removable sections and bolted connections so they can come out and go back in.
Iron railings on a pool apron or a raised drive are fabricated in our shop to match the gate and fence, with the same flat top and finish.
Matching an Older Spiked Run to a New Gate
The city's Safe Fencing page notes that miles of spiked and open-picket fencing built before the ban still stand. When a new gate goes into a line like that, owners often want the old run to match it. The same page lists ways to make an existing metal fence safe:
- Weld a matching rail along the backs of the pickets or spikes to create a flat top.
- Cut the spikes off flush with the existing top rail.
- Replace the panels with flat-topped panels and keep sound posts in place.
- Fit coyote rollers along the top of the fence.
The first and third are fabrication, and we quote them alongside the new gate so the whole line leaves our shop in one finish.
What Drives the Cost of a Lakeway Gate or Fence
A price is never posted, because Lakeway jobs vary in ways only the site shows. The drivers:
- Opening width and leaf count, and swing, slide or cantilever for the slope of your drive.
- Material and gauge: steel, aluminum or ornamental iron, and picket and frame size.
- Finish: galvanizing under powder coat, finished on both faces as the code requires.
- Masonry columns at the code's minimum size, on reinforced footings cut into Hill Country limestone.
- Operator and power: trenching or solar, and the duty cycle.
- Access control: keypad, intercom and the ESD 6 key switch.
- Safety devices: photo eyes, loops and edges.
- Permits and any sealed plans for tall masonry.
- Matching work on an older spiked run.
The site measure is free, and the work carries a written warranty.
The process
From Site Visit to a Gate That Runs
Four steps, and nothing is fabricated until you have signed off on the drawings and the price.
Free site visit
We measure the opening, the slope and where power can reach, and talk through style, automation and access.
Drawings and a written price
You get scaled drawings for your approval and for any HOA or city review, with one written price.
Fabricated in our shop
Steel is cut and welded to the approved drawings, then galvanized, powder coated or both.
Installed and tested
Columns and posts set, gate hung, operator set up to UL 325 and every safety device tested with you.
Gates, Fences and Ironwork We Build
Questions
Lakeway: Gate and Fence Questions
Can I have spear points on an iron gate in Lakeway?
No. Since 2019 Lakeway has required every new fence, including wrought iron and ornamental, to be continuous flat-topped without spikes or sharp points. We put the decoration inside the frame instead.
Do I need a permit for a new gate and fence?
Yes. The city requires a building permit for any new fence or screening structure, and for repairs that change its location, design or specifications. We prepare the drawings for the application.
What does the fire department need for a coded gate?
The city code requires the owner of a keyed or coded gate to give keys or codes to the police department and provide a key switch for the Travis County ESD #6 Fire Department. We include the key switch in the build.
How big do gate columns have to be?
Masonry columns must be at least fourteen by fourteen inches, at least as tall as the fence and no more than six inches taller, on steel reinforced concrete footings.
My drive slopes toward the lake. Swing or slide?
A swing gate needs clear, fairly level ground across its arc. On a steep drive a slide or cantilever gate usually works better. We measure the grade and draw the option that fits.
What drives the cost?
Opening width, gate type, material and gauge, finish, columns and footings, the operator and power, access control, safety devices and permits. We walk through each at the free measure.
What happens if the power goes out?
Operators can carry battery backup or a manual release, and solar operators run from their own battery, so the gate still opens.
Is the work covered by a warranty?
Yes, every job carries a written warranty.
Talk to us about a gate in Lakeway
Free on-site measure across Austin and the west side. We call you back to set a time.
Calls only, we do not receive text messages.