David R Ajemian
5 months ago
“Prompt and efficient work on a driveway gate repair on a Sunday. Thank you, Dima - nice work!”
Custom Wrought Iron Gates
Custom Wrought Iron Gates in Los Angeles
Driveway and walk gates in steel, from open pickets and scrollwork to flat-bar slats and privacy panels, drawn to your opening and built by our fabrication partner.
Plan the work with Method Gates
Get Your Free Estimate
Tell us about your gate. We'll call to schedule a visit.
No obligation. It takes about a minute, then we call to schedule. Prefer to talk? (818) 782-6180
Custom Wrought Iron Gates
Custom wrought iron and steel gates, drawn for one opening
Every iron gate we build starts as a drawing of one opening, not a page in a catalog. Method Doors & Gates has been in business since 2006, and its gates are built to its own drawings by a fabrication partner it has worked with for 15 years. That is why the picket spacing, the line of the top rail, the ornament and the frame can all be chosen for your gate instead of taken from what a supplier happens to stock.
The opening sets the engineering. A wide pair of leaves on a sloping drive carries its weight a long way from the hinges, so it gets a deeper frame, heavier hinges and bigger footings than a single walk gate, and its bottom rail is drawn to clear the grade as it opens. The finish is chosen for where the gate stands: paint or powder coat inland, and hot-dip galvanizing under the color where salt air reaches it.
If the gate will carry an operator now or later, the ironwork is drawn for it. The gate-construction standard, ASTM F2200, keeps decorative tops within the plane of the gate and rules out a manual latch. On a slide gate it also requires every opening below 6 feet to be too small for a 2¼-inch sphere, so open pickets on a slide gate get mesh backing or closer spacing in that zone. Automatic gates covers the operator side.
- Custom Gate Design Since 2006
- Licensed, Bonded & Insured
- Permit Help When You Need It
- 24/7 Emergency Gate Service
- Free On-Site Estimates
Designs & details
Explore Custom Wrought Iron Gates
Project photographs alongside labeled design renderings. Select an image for a closer look.
Service options
Iron and steel gate designs
Pickets and finials
Square or round pickets under a straight, arched or dipped top rail, finished with spears, balls or flat caps. Spacing is set on the drawing. Where the gate forms part of a pool enclosure, California's pool safety law sets the gaps and rules out footholds on the outside face, so start with the pool fence guide.
Scrollwork and ornament
Scrolls, collars, rings, rosettes and baskets for Spanish Colonial Revival, Mediterranean and traditional houses, laid out on the drawing so the pattern centers on each leaf. On an automated gate the ornament stays within the gate's plane, because the construction standard treats anything that sticks out as a hazard.
Flat-bar and tube slats
Horizontal or vertical slats of flat bar or tube with even gaps, the modern alternative to pickets. Narrow gaps trade the view for privacy, and a closer pattern takes more wind load, so the frame and hinges grow to suit.
Privacy panels
Solid or perforated steel sheet, or cedar or redwood boards, set inside an iron frame. A solid face adds weight and wind load, so the frame section, the hinges and any operator are chosen with it rather than before it.
Finish systems
Paint or powder coat in the color you choose, over a properly prepared surface, or hot-dip galvanizing under the color where salt air reaches the gate. The galvanizing industry calls zinc plus a topcoat a duplex system and recommends it for coastal exposure.
Matching railings
Stair and balcony railings in the same pattern and finish as the gate, drawn alongside it so the pickets and caps agree. Ornamental ironwork covers railings in more detail.
What the shop drawing decides: pickets, frame, joints and finish
You choose the look on the drawing. Four engineering choices are made on the shop drawing our fabrication partner builds from, and they decide how the gate hangs, how heavy it is, and how long the finish lasts. The article how a custom gate is built walks one gate from the survey to the install.
| Decision | The choices | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Picket stock | Solid square or round bar, or square tube, sized for the gate's height and for how heavy the pickets should look | The weight on the hinges and on any operator, and the clear gap between pickets that a spacing rule is measured on |
| Frame section | Square or rectangular tube sized to the span and the finished weight, with a diagonal brace or a deeper rail on a wide leaf | Whether a wide leaf stays square on its hinges and keeps clearing the drive |
| Joints | Welded and ground smooth where they show; tube ends capped, or vented at each end if the frame will be galvanized | How the frame sheds water, and whether it can be hot-dip galvanized as drawn |
| Finish | Primer and paint, powder coat, or hot-dip galvanizing under paint or powder | How long the color lasts and how well the steel holds off rust. Mild steel corrodes more readily than historic wrought iron, so the finish system does the protecting. |
| Details for automation | Ornament kept within the gate's plane, a smooth bottom edge, no manual latch, and screening below 6 feet on a slide gate | Whether an operator can be fitted to the gate under ASTM F2200 without cutting into it later |
None of these choices shows up in a rendering, so ask any gate company to put them in writing. Ours are on the drawing you approve and on the estimate.
Honest pricing
How we price custom wrought iron gates
An iron gate's price comes from its drawing, and three choices set most of the number: the level of ornament, from plain pickets to scrolls, collars and finials; the span, which sets the frame, the hinges and the footings; and the finish system. Your written, itemized estimate is based on the drawing and agreed scope; changes to the ornament or finish can change the price. The driveway gate cost guide explains what drives a gate's price in Los Angeles.
An estimate for a new iron gate is free. The written, itemized quote is based on the drawing and the agreed scope.
Get Your Written EstimateWhat sets the number
- Ornament: plain pickets, or scrolls, collars and finials
- Span and number of leaves
- Picket stock and frame section
- Finish: paint, powder coat or galvanizing under the color
- A matching walk gate, fence or railing
- Operator and safety devices, if automated
The proposal separates the work being recommended so you can review the scope before approving it.
What to expect
From the first sketch to a hung iron gate
Survey the opening
We take the width at the drive and at head height, check the posts or pillars and the fall of the ground, and photograph the house and any ironwork the gate should echo.
Draw the elevation
The drawing fixes the top line, the spacing, the ornament and the frame at scale, and marks the hinge, latch and operator positions.
Approve before cutting
Spacing, ornament and finish are easiest to change at this stage. Fabrication starts once you have signed off the drawing.
Cut, weld and square
Pickets, rails and ornament are cut to length and welded up, the frame is checked for square and for twist, and exposed welds are ground smooth.
Finish
The steel is cleaned and prepared for the finish system named on the estimate: paint, powder coat, or galvanizing under the color.
Hang and adjust
Posts or pillar fittings go in first, then the leaves are hung, plumbed and adjusted until they swing and latch cleanly. If the gate is automated, its operator and safety devices go in last.
Reviews
What Customers Say About Working With Us
Batia Zelig
6 years ago
“I got my new gates with Method. I got excellent service. The job was well done, and the price was outstanding. Will definitely use them again.”
Virginia Longmuir
4 years ago
“I have used Method for repairs and upgrades to my driveway gate and garage door. They are always on time, courteous and the work is great.”
Custom Wrought Iron Gates FAQ
Questions about custom wrought iron gates
Practical answers to help you plan the next step.
Not in the historic sense. We build iron-style gates in mild steel, which the National Park Service's guidance on historic ironwork describes as the metal now used both to fabricate new hand-worked metalwork and to repair old wrought-iron elements. The same guidance notes that mild steel resists corrosion less well than wrought or cast iron, which is why the finish system matters as much as the design.
Start with the finish system: a prepared surface under paint or powder coat, and hot-dip galvanizing under the color where salt air reaches the gate. Then keep water from sitting on the steel, and touch up chips before rust creeps under the coating. If a gate is already rusting through at the bottom rail or the post bases, iron gate repair covers cutting out and replacing the weak steel, and our coastal rust guide compares finish systems near the beach.
Yes. A photo gives us the style, and the drawing adapts it to your opening, your slope and the swing or slide the site allows. To match existing railings or a fence, we measure and photograph the pieces on site and draw the gate to the same picket size, spacing, caps and finish. If an original piece can't be matched exactly, the drawing says so before you approve it.
Yes, if it was built with an operator in mind: hinges and a frame that can take the operator's load, ornament kept within the gate's plane, no manual latch, and screening below 6 feet if it slides. A gate built without those details may need work before a motor goes on. Gate opener installation covers automating a gate that is already in place.
Where California's pool safety law applies to a home, an enclosure gate has to swing away from the pool, shut itself and latch itself, with the latch mounted no lower than 60 inches up. The enclosure must be at least 60 inches tall, sit within 2 inches of the ground, leave no gap a 4-inch sphere can pass, and offer no handholds or footholds on the outside. For ironwork that means close picket spacing, rails on the pool side, and no scrolls a child could climb. California pool fence requirements sets out when the law applies.
We price iron gates from the approved drawing rather than from a published iron range. A plain picket gate with a flat top takes less shop work than an arched pair with scrolls and collars, a wider span needs a heavier frame and footings, and galvanizing adds a step to the finish. Our driveway gate cost guide walks through how those lines add up.
Service area
Custom Wrought Iron Gates across Los Angeles
From our office in Van Nuys we cover the San Fernando Valley, the Westside, and the neighborhoods in between.
- Bel Air, CA
- Beverly Hills, CA
- Brentwood, CA
- Burbank, CA
- Calabasas, CA
- Canoga Park, CA
- Chatsworth, CA
- Encino, CA
- Granada Hills, CA
- Hollywood, CA
- Lake Balboa, CA
- Los Angeles, CA
- Mission Hills, CA
- North Hills, CA
- North Hollywood, CA
- Northridge, CA
- Pacific Palisades, CA
- Pacoima, CA
- Panorama City, CA
- Porter Ranch, CA
- Reseda, CA
- San Fernando, CA
- Sherman Oaks, CA
- Studio City, CA
- Sun Valley, CA
- Sylmar, CA
- Tarzana, CA
- Universal City, CA
- Valley Village, CA
- Van Nuys, CA
- West Hills, CA
- West Hollywood, CA
- Woodland Hills, CA
Related services
Ornamental IronworkRailings, balconies, window guards, and custom metalwork, drawn to match your gates.
Driveway GatesSwing and slide gates in steel, wrought iron, clear cedar, and redwood, sized to your opening, your slope, and how your driveway is actually used.
Pedestrian GatesWalk gates, side-yard gates, and entry gates built to match the driveway gate, with self-closing hinges, keyed or electric locks, and intercom release.- Iron Gate Repair & WeldingBroken welds, rusted-through bottom rails, bent pickets, and sagging frames, repaired on site or rebuilt by our fabrication partner to match what's there.
Guides & answers
What Makes a Driveway Gate Last: Materials, Frames, Posts, Hinges and Why Gates SagMild steel vs wrought iron, cedar and redwood on steel, galvanizing and powder coat, post sizes from a published chart, hinges rated by weight, and the five reasons gates sag, each with its fix.
Coastal Gate & Fence Care: Preventing Rust in Los AngelesSpecify the protection beneath the finish, understand salt-spray claims, and know when a rust repair needs more than paint.
How a Custom Gate Is Built, From Drawing to Install DayFrom the tape measure on your driveway to the drawing, the cut list, the welding table, the finish, and install day — what “custom fabricated” actually means.
Free on-site estimate · Answered 24/7
Let’s Talk About Your Custom Wrought Iron Gates
Call now or send the form. A real person from our Van Nuys office will schedule your free visit and walk the opening with you.
Free · No obligation
Get Your Free Estimate
Tell us about your gate. We'll call to schedule a visit.
No obligation. It takes about a minute, then we call to schedule. Prefer to talk? (818) 782-6180