Driveway Gate - 'how to' questions and a challenge

[tractchores]

Thanks for all the great feedback so far. Based on the numerous comments on width I did some measuring last night and think I can set the columns a little wider without it looking funny and get a 14' gate in there, which should give me extra width should the road be improved in the future. It also gives me some extra room for snow removal, which is good.

Another question - Anyone ever had columns like this professionally installed? I am looking at having a contractor do the building of the columns themselves due to severe time constraints on my end (work). The first estimate came in at over 7k just for the columns. I'll get more estimates shortly but that seems pretty high to me. If you've done it yourself what are the material costs like? I'm planning on the gate itself being ~2k - ~3k plus the opener, and was hoping this would be a $5kish project total.

 

[Jimbrown]

Well probably can't compare Az and Ma But that whole fence you see in my picture including 4 columns was 6,000. does not include the gate.

 

[brin]

$7k for the columns is scary high - ridiculous - ludicrous to me...but I am here in Georgia....just East of Atlanta..Country but yet metro too...and that work here...just for the columns would be no more than $1K for the labor plus the stone...just my guess for here locally...I mean think about it...6ft. x3ft.x3ft. - I mean that is not huge ...they are not attaching a gate...running electric...Even for MA...I think it is robbery....:2cents:but what do I know ?

 

[Dr_Zinj]

By the way, code in NH for driveway width requires 15 feet of clearance. Don't know what Mass code requirements are.

 

[tractchores]

$7k for the columns is scary high - ridiculous - ludicrous to me...but I am here in Georgia....just East of Atlanta..Country but yet metro too...and that work here...just for the columns would be no more than $1K for the labor plus the stone...just my guess for here locally...I mean think about it...6ft. x3ft.x3ft. - I mean that is not huge ...they are not attaching a gate...running electric...Even for MA...I think it is robbery....:2cents:but what do I know ?

Agreed. It's a first quote, I think he may also have some high end stone in it for some reason. Expecting 2 other quotes shortly, which should give me a sense. Even in MA that's pretty insane... At that price I'll be doing it myself and saving about $6,000

Well probably can't compare Az and Ma But that whole fence you see in my picture including 4 columns was 6,000. does not include the gate.

Thanks, that certainly helps put it in perspective as well! What was your gate & opener? I figure those costs are probably consistent across areas since local labor likely isn't involved.

 

[tractchores]

By the way, code in NH for driveway width requires 15 feet of clearance. Don't know what Mass code requirements are.

Thanks. There doesn't appear to be a code for where I am. It's all by the town and the town doesn't regulate them, nor do they regulate the private road that I'm on. If it were a town road it'd be a different story and if it fronted a town road it may also change the requirements (at least the setbacks). This may be the only thing more regulated in NH than MA!

 

[Soundguy]

$7k for the columns is scary high - ridiculous - ludicrous to me...but I am here in Georgia....just East of Atlanta..Country but yet metro too...and that work here...just for the columns would be no more than $1K for the labor plus the stone...just my guess for here locally...I mean think about it...6ft. x3ft.x3ft. - I mean that is not huge ...they are not attaching a gate...running electric...Even for MA...I think it is robbery....:2cents:but what do I know ?

i agreee.. scarry high!

 

[hdmyers]

$7k for the columns is scary high - ridiculous - ludicrous to me...but I am here in Georgia....just East of Atlanta..Country but yet metro too...and that work here...just for the columns would be no more than $1K for the labor plus the stone...just my guess for here locally...I mean think about it...6ft. x3ft.x3ft. - I mean that is not huge ...they are not attaching a gate...running electric...Even for MA...I think it is robbery....:2cents:but what do I know ?

it is high. my good friends are masons... and they look at you..your property..and your houseguests... and then give you a price. That should be very clear. WHen your plumber drives a cayenne, you drive a bentley... and your wife is in the panerama...you are going to be asked to pay accordingly... in this scenario a bud quoted his new F350 into the mix.... 6 pillars...wall removeal etc... 80k...to start. prices always go up.... two pillars is 4hours work. maximum.. two guys will do the work... and they don't get paid that much... figure labourer at 25cash and the owner taking all the rest.

Check out the stone costs...and then figure out say 500 labour for the half day...maybe top up a bit..but not 6k.. that's a trivial job for a stone mason.

cheers

 

[tractchores]

it is high. my good friends are masons... and they look at you..your property..and your houseguests... and then give you a price. That should be very clear. WHen your plumber drives a cayenne, you drive a bentley... and your wife is in the panerama...you are going to be asked to pay accordingly... in this scenario a bud quoted his new F350 into the mix.... 6 pillars...wall removeal etc... 80k...to start. prices always go up.... two pillars is 4hours work. maximum.. two guys will do the work... and they don't get paid that much... figure labourer at 25cash and the owner taking all the rest.

Check out the stone costs...and then figure out say 500 labour for the half day...maybe top up a bit..but not 6k.. that's a trivial job for a stone mason.

cheers

Thanks, that is good info. I definitely agree with the estimates, it's amazing how numbers come down to earth when you get a few people involved or challenge them. I have a nice house, but it doesn't mean that I'll overpay for work. We actually see that a lot and end up doing business with the people who are honest up-front. The others I tend to write off and won't do business with because they're going to screw you any chance they get if they think you're not watching.

 

[RxRatedZ71]

We put in an Elite opener by Liftmaster with a solar setup. Keypad on the outside & inside. We have trees surrounding our driveway and had to run the wire to the solar panel about 50' away after we found the initial setup didnt get enough light to fully charge. This one has 2 batteries and the scissor arm action. The code for the local city requires 15' and a Knox lock for emergency personnel. Here's a few pics of the initial setup.

 

[hosspuller]

You might use your BH to push a pipe under the roadway. Dig a trench and a target hole on the other side. Lay the pipe in the trench and crowd it with the backhoe

 

[tractchores]

A quick update - I'm still getting quotes on the parts of the project. As time progresses I'm leaning towards doing more of the work myself, since by this time I think I could have had it half done. One questions for the experts is - if I am putting in a frost footer of concrete, do I need to do anything fancy or am I just digging my 4' hole to the column dimensions, filling it with concrete and putting some pieces of rebar in it to anchor the column too? Do I need to pour the concrete in layers? Re-enforce it or anything? I have done virtually no concrete work, which is my current hesitation. I'll also put in some conduit so I can run the wires and tunnel under the drive while I've got the holes excavated.

 

[Coyote machine]

Put fish tape in the conduit so you can pull your wires through the entire run. If you use enough tape you can run the wire through and still have plenty of tape at each end to run additional wires later if needed.
Sort of a "push me / pull you" scenario.
I'd put 8-10" of stone below your concrete for extra drainage at the hole's bottom. Concrete is porous and the stone will allow water to drain as needed.
And you should put slip couplings on your above grade vertical conduit - ask your local electrical supply house what you need to get to accomplish this.

 

[classacthollow]

how about running the latch wire, just low voltage, through the gate to the release. then all your power will be on one side. that way you wouldn't have to cut the drive. my gate is all 12 volt. and I ran a 120 volt line to the controller to charge the battery. Also, you mentioned no sun, but you might be able to put the solar panel elsewhere and run back to the gate controller. just a thought.

 

[ETpilot]

I have run pipe under driveways many times. I use the PVC pipe and garden hose trick that Soundguy mentioned. You just water blast your way thru. Goes pretty quick too. Check you soil and see if this is doable. Once you have your pipe in, use an electrician snake to pull the wires thru. I have also used an air compressor to blast string thru the pipe. Unroll a length of string that exceeds what you may need. Stick one end in the pipe and shoot it with the air compressor. The air will quickly move the string to thru the pipe. Then you attach wires to the string for the pull thru. Try this before spending $$$$ on equipment, rental, etc.

As for gate width, wider is better. Consider what vehicles may have to go thru that gate in the future. What space for manuevering is there?

 

[tractchores]

Trenching work has begun here is a thread with pics Electrical Trenching

I decided to do it from the garage because i want control lines back to the house. Code requires an open trench and bedding in sand, so an excavator is the only option. As you can see from the thread above with the boulders a trencher or subsoiler wouldn't have worked. I'm going to try to tunnel under the driveway when i get there, if that isn't possible i can use a single swing control and only power one side.

Also decided to go with formed stone blocks for the pillars, which will run ~1k apiece. Gate is TBD still, prices from installers are crazy, so i may do it myself unless i can find someone remotely reasonable.

 

[tractchores]

I wanted to provide an update about how I address the #2 challenge in the original post in case folks were curios, or if someone has a similar issue. The issue was getting power across a driveway without cutting the drive or going overhead. Ultimately I ended up attempting the process myself using a few techniques including: Banging in a pipe (bent the pipe with the BH when it hit a rock), banging in rebar to create a pilot hole (same as the pipe), using a PVC wand with a pressure washer nozzle to use water pressure (got a few feet, but hit a rock and that was the end of it).

Ultimately the solution turned out to be hiring someone with a pneumatic piercing tool to bore under the driveway. Had they hit a big rock I would have had to get someone with a drill rig (big $). We got lucky and the job was done quickly and easily and at a cost of $250. A 2" sleeve was put in place. In the future I'll go straight to subbing this type of job out and if we ever repave I'm putting conduit runs everywhere!

 

[Soundguy]

boy am i glad I don't build driveways or roads over rocks! I always remove large rocks when putting in a driveway. Not for the reason you encountered, but many others.

 

[RalphVa]

They're coming by Saturday morning to set the posts for ours. Total bill for ours will be around $4,500. Just parts alone are at least 2/3 of this. Openers aren't cheap.

Ralph

 

[tractchores]

They're coming by Saturday morning to set the posts for ours. Total bill for ours will be around $4,500. Just parts alone are at least 2/3 of this. Openers aren't cheap.

Ralph

This has turned out to be WAY more expensive than I expected. For ours parts alone (just gate and openers) will be around $9,500. I'm going relatively high end with the gate and components as I want it to last. The gate itself is $4,000 (14' dual swing gate 6 - 7'H from ameristar), the openers are FAAC hydraulic openers and with associated equipment are $3500 and the rest is safety equipment and a telephone entry system. Install for the gate (which I'm not doing) is 400, install for the controls is more expensive at $2400 (lots of wiring) and that's where the contractor is putting their profit as all the material prices are much better than I could get on my own. Then add in the costs for the giant trench, boring and associated electrical and I'll probably be in for 2k...

All in alll the gate project is going to cost about 14k and that's with me doing all the trenching work. I'm also building 2 stone columns myself from a kit (mini creta pillar kits), which will be 2k for the material, caps and lights. I had originally planned for 5 - 8k, but hope that what I'm intalling will run flawlessly for 20+ years.