Rollingwood · West Lake Hills · Sunset Valley · Barton Creek
Metal Gates in Shady Hollow, Drawn for Your Section's ACC
Austin Metal Gates designs and builds metal gates in Shady Hollow, TX, and is a trusted Travis County metal fabricator specializing in automatic driveway gates, iron picket fencing and pool enclosures with self-latching gates. We offer estate entries on masonry columns and solar operators for drives with no power nearby.
- Free on-site measure
- Shop drawings you approve
- Operators set up to UL 325
- One written price
Gates and ironwork in Shady Hollow
Our team provides gate access control with keypads and intercoms, delivering secure, handsome entries for homes and hard-wearing steel for both residential and commercial projects. We measure the opening and the grade ourselves, draw the job for your section's review, and weld every frame in our own shop before it goes to powder coat.
From a latch set at the right height on a pool enclosure to a full automatic entry with columns, loops and a keypad, our team handles every detail. Serving Shady Hollow, Sunset Valley, Lost Creek and West Lake Hills, we build what your section's rules allow and nothing that will be sent back.
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.
Shady Hollow Answers to Its Section, Not to a City Hall
Shady Hollow is a census-designated place in southwestern Travis County, about ten miles southwest of downtown Austin. Development began in 1972 on 600 acres, and it grew one section at a time. That history is the first thing that shapes a gate or fence job here.
The Shady Hollow HOA says it plainly: an Architectural Improvement Permit, based on the requirements of your section, must be obtained before you begin, and no exterior change may be made without the prior approval of the Architectural Control Committee. The covenants grew section by section too. There are eleven recorded sections, each similar but different, and the HOA notes that Section 1's restrictions are substantially different from the rest.
So the first question at a Shady Hollow measure is not what style you like. It is which section your lot sits in, because that decides what the committee will read your drawing against. We ask for your deed restrictions, or look them up with you, before a design is drawn.
Part of the area was annexed into Austin city limits before 2010, so a few addresses may also answer to a city permit. Which rules apply to your lot is confirmed against the current covenants and codes at quote time, never assumed.
The Estates of Shady Hollow: Picket Iron and No Chain Link
The Estates of Shady Hollow runs its own ACC, and its guidance is clear about fencing. Fences require ACC approval. Picket type fencing is the minimum standard within the Estates, and no chain link perimeter fencing is allowed.
That standard suits ornamental steel well. A picket fence in powder coated steel, often sold as wrought iron though modern pieces are mild steel, meets the picket floor, stays open to the view and does not rot. The application asks for the property and fence lines on a plat plus the height and materials, which is exactly what our shop drawing already shows.
- Replacement: the Estates ACC says a fence replaced with identical materials and dimensions needs no approval. Change the material, the height or the line, and it does.
- Timing: the committee normally meets once a month in the evening. An application in two or more days before the meeting is reviewed there, with a mailed response two to seven days after.
- Incomplete packets: the ACC warns that missing information delays a decision, so we send a complete drawing the first time.
We plan fabrication around that monthly rhythm, so your steel is not sitting finished while a packet waits for the next meeting.
Pool Enclosures Where Every Gate Must Latch Itself
A pool changes the gate conversation in Shady Hollow. The Estates of Shady Hollow requires a pool application to show the safety and security fencing and to state that all gates will have self-closing latches. It adds that the latches are the homeowner's responsibility, not the contractor's, which means you sign for them. We still build them in from the start.
A pool gate we fabricate is hung on self-closing hinges and fitted with a latch that catches on its own swing, so the gate shuts behind a child without anyone remembering to pull it. Picket spacing, bottom clearance and latch height are set against the pool barrier code that applies to your address, and the Estates also asks that a pool application confirm compliance with Austin and Travis County codes.
Steel pool fencing also answers the picket minimum and the chain link ban in one move, which is why it is the usual choice where a pool goes into an Estates lot.
Driveway Gates, Trailer Enclosures and the SB 711 Setback
A 2025 state law, SB 711, changed Property Code 202.023 for every Texas property owners association from September 1 that year. An HOA may no longer prohibit a perimeter fence, but it may still regulate the fence's type and material, and it may require a driveway gate to sit at least 10 feet back from the right-of-way where the drive meets a laned roadway. For a Shady Hollow driveway gate, that setback is drawn into the plan before the committee sees it.
The covenants add a second gate job that is easy to miss. Shady Hollow allows boats, trailers, trucks and RVs to be kept on a lot only if enclosed by a privacy fence. An enclosure like that needs an opening wide enough to back a trailer through, and a steel frame with solid infill panels and a swing or rolling gate does it without the sag a long wooden gate develops.
- Swing or slide: the choice turns on the room behind the opening and the slope of the drive, both measured on site.
- Operators: automatic gates are set up with an operator listed to UL 325, with photo eyes and loops placed for your drive.
- Fire access: the Austin Fire Department has provided fire protection here since July 2016, and how responders open a coded gate is settled at quote time.
What Drives the Cost of a Gate or Fence in Shady Hollow
We do not publish a price, because two Shady Hollow jobs rarely share the same scope. These are the things that move the number, and each one is measured or confirmed at the free site visit:
- Opening width and leaf count. A trailer opening needs more steel and a stiffer frame than a walk gate.
- Swing, slide or cantilever. The room beside the drive and its slope decide which works, and each carries different hardware.
- Material and gauge. Steel, aluminum and ornamental iron, and the thickness of the pickets and frame.
- Finish. Hot-dip galvanizing under a powder coat protects longer than paint alone and adds a step.
- Operator and power. Trenching power to the gate or a solar operator, plus the duty cycle the gate will see.
- Access control and safety devices. Keypads, intercoms, photo eyes, loops and edges.
- Columns and footings. Masonry columns and footings dug into Hill Country limestone.
- Section approval. The drawings and packet your ACC needs, and any city permit where a lot sits inside Austin limits.
The measure is free, and you leave it with a written scope rather than a guess.
How a Shady Hollow Job Runs, From Measure to Install
Every job follows the same order, because the order is what keeps a committee from sending it back.
- Site visit. We measure the opening, the grade and the fence line, and identify your section and its covenants.
- Shop drawings. You approve a drawing showing height, material, color, picket spacing and gate swing before any steel is cut.
- ACC packet. The drawing and plat go to your section's committee. Nothing is fabricated on an unapproved design.
- Fabrication. Frames are cut and welded in our shop, then galvanized or powder coated.
- Install and setup. Posts and columns go in, the gate is hung, and any operator is set up with its safety devices tested before we leave.
The work is backed by a written warranty. Call to book the measure.
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
Shady Hollow: Gate and Fence Questions
Who approves a fence or gate in Shady Hollow?
Your section's Architectural Control Committee. Shady Hollow is unincorporated and each section has its own covenants, so the committee reads your drawing against your section's rules. We prepare the drawing and help you put the packet together.
My lot is in the Estates of Shady Hollow. Can I use iron?
Yes. The Estates sets picket type fencing as its minimum and bans chain link perimeter fencing, and ornamental steel pickets meet that standard. The ACC still approves the height, material and line.
Do I need approval to replace my existing fence?
In the Estates of Shady Hollow, a replacement with identical materials and dimensions needs no ACC approval. Changing to iron, raising the height or moving the line does. Other sections are checked against their own covenants at quote time.
What does a pool gate need here?
The Estates asks that every pool gate have a self-closing latch, and that the pool application confirm compliance with Austin and Travis County codes. We hang pool gates on self-closing hinges with a latch that catches on its own.
Can my HOA stop me from fencing my lot?
Since SB 711 took effect on September 1, 2025, an HOA may not prohibit a perimeter fence, but it can still regulate type and material and can require a driveway gate set back 10 feet from the right-of-way. Your section's rules still apply to the design.
How long does a custom gate take to build?
It depends on the design, the finish and the committee's meeting date. We give you a schedule after the site visit, timed so fabrication starts once the ACC has approved the drawing.
What happens if the power goes out?
Automatic gates can be fitted with battery backup or a manual release so the gate still opens. A solar operator runs on its own battery. We set this up with you at install.
What happens at the site visit?
We measure the opening, the slope and the fence line, look at where power can reach the gate, identify your section, and talk through styles. The visit is free and ends with a written scope.
Talk to us about a gate in Shady Hollow
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.