Austin Metal Gates builds custom pedestrian gates in Austin, TX, and is Travis County's trusted specialist, specializing in side yard walk gates, courtyard entries and garden gates in steel and aluminum. We offer self-closing hinges and keyed or keypad locks.
Our team provides walk gates matched to the fence or driveway beside them, delivering a clean everyday entrance for homeowners and a controlled staff door for both residential and commercial projects. Before we quote, the same crew that installs measures the opening and the ground at the post, you approve the shop drawings before any steel is cut, and every leaf is welded in our own shop.
From a latch height chosen for your family to the hinge that keeps a gate closing straight for years, our team handles every detail. Serving Austin, West Lake Hills, Lost Creek and Rollingwood, we draw each one to fit the lot and the rules of the street it opens onto.
Why Austin Metal Gates
No stock panels cut down to fit, and no handoffs. The crew that measures your opening builds and installs the gate.
A pedestrian gate is the door in your fence. It is the one people use every day, so it has to open easily with a full trash can, close behind a dog, and stay shut in a spring wind. The traditional name for it is a wicket, a small door or gate set into a larger gate, wall or fence so one person can pass without opening the whole thing.
That difference matters to the design. A driveway gate is sized for a car. A walk gate is sized for a body, a mower and a wheelbarrow, and it is hung, latched and finished for daily hands.
The opening should be set by the widest thing you will push through it, not by how wide a person is. A narrow gate is the most common regret we hear about, and it is the cheapest one to avoid on paper.
A walk-behind mower, a wheelbarrow and a garden cart all need clear width beyond the gate posts, not just between the leaf and the latch. Patio furniture, a grill or a moving load will be carried through on the diagonal, which asks for more room than the same object standing still. A single leaf swings wide. Two leaves open a wide gap with each leaf staying short, which helps on a tight side yard where there is little space for a big swing.
We check which way the leaf swings against the walk, the steps and the slope at the post. A gate that swings into a rising grade will scrape, so on a sloped path we rack the bottom rail to follow the ground or hang the leaf to swing the other way.
Hardware decides whether a pedestrian gate is a pleasure or a chore. It also decides whether it is safe, because a gate that stays open is not doing what a gate is for.
A self-closing hinge has a built-in mechanism that shuts the gate on its own, often with a speed control so it does not slam. Springs and hydraulic dampers do the work, in the same way a door closer stores energy from opening and releases it slowly to close. We set the closing speed at handover, including the faster final swing that lets the latch catch.
A latch holds a gate closed and lets you open it easily. A lock actively controls who can open it. Many walk gates need only a good latch, and some need both. Gravity and thumb latches for garden and courtyard gates that see light use. Keyed locks for a side yard where you want the gate shut against strangers. Keypad locks so family, a pool service or a landscaper can enter without a key to lose. Electric strikes that release the latch on a signal, so a gate can be opened from the house or by an access system.
If a walk gate opens into a pool enclosure, it stops being a design choice and becomes a code item. The pool barrier rules ask that the gate swing outward, away from the pool, close on its own and latch automatically. We build pool barrier gates under our pool fencing service, and a walk gate that also serves as a pool gate is drawn to those same rules from the start.
Outside pool work, a walk gate still helps with children and pets. A latch placed out of small reach, a leaf that closes by itself and no wide gap at the bottom all help a yard stay a yard. We do not claim a gate makes a yard safe by itself; it is one layer, together with supervision.
A walk gate that ignores its neighbors looks like an afterthought. We match picket size, rail height, top profile and finish to the driveway gate or fence run beside it, so the property reads as one design.
One point to know: a vehicle gate operator is for vehicle gates only. Where people will walk, a separate pedestrian gate is the right answer, which is one more reason to plan the walk gate with the driveway gate rather than after it.
Many Austin-area lots sit under an architectural committee that reviews any gate facing the street. We give you the drawing and hardware detail for your submission and confirm the current rule at quote time, since codes and community guidelines are revised.
Texas SB 711, in force since September 1, 2025, stops an association from prohibiting a perimeter fence but leaves it able to regulate type and material.
The cost of a custom pedestrian gate depends on the opening, the material and the hardware, and a single-leaf side yard gate is a smaller project than any driveway gate.
These are estimates and are subject to change, and your written quote after the on-site measure sets the final price, which depends on the width, the hardware and what the ground and the posts require.
The process
Four steps, and nothing is fabricated until you have signed off on the drawings and the price.
We measure the opening, the slope and where power can reach, and talk through style, automation and access.
You get scaled drawings for your approval and for any HOA or city review, with one written price.
Steel is cut and welded to the approved drawings, then galvanized, powder coated or both.
Columns and posts set, gate hung, operator set up to UL 325 and every safety device tested with you.
Questions
Wide enough for the biggest thing you will push through it, usually a mower or wheelbarrow, with clear width past the posts. We measure the opening and confirm the number with you on the drawing.
Yes. We match the picket size, rail height, top profile, post cap and powder coat color so the walk gate reads as part of the same design.
A latch holds the gate closed and opens easily. A lock controls who can open it. We fit a latch, a lock or both, depending on what the gate protects.
We can fit self-closing hinges with an adjustable speed so the gate shuts and latches without slamming. We set the speed when we hang it and test it with you.
It can if it is built to the pool barrier rules: swings outward, closes on its own and latches automatically. Tell us at the start so we draw it that way.
Yes, with an electric strike that releases the latch on a signal from a button, keypad or access system. We plan the wiring during the site visit.
The cost depends on width, material, infill, hardware, ground and posts. Any figure is an estimate, and your written quote sets the final price after the free on-site measure.
Most associations around Austin review gates that face the street. We supply the drawing and hardware details for your submission and check the current rules when we quote.
We build walk gates across Austin and Travis County, including Rollingwood, West Lake Hills, Sunset Valley, Shady Hollow, Barton Creek, Lost Creek, Steiner Ranch, The Hills, Lakeway and Volente.
We measure the opening, check the slope and posts, talk through hardware and match the fence beside it. You then receive a drawing to approve before any steel is cut, and a written warranty covers the finished gate.
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.
