How to Invoice After Gate Fence Installation: Each, Not Feet

Short answer: How to invoice after gate fence installation: bill the opening as a unit, never by the foot. Separate the leaf from the posts on the invoice, because a gate post fights a moment roughly equal to leaf weight times half the leaf width, which is why it goes in a bigger, deeper hole than the line posts beside it. Print the opening width, the leaf width, the hinge and latch counts, and any pool-code hardware. If posts were set that day, say when the gate gets hung.

A gate is the only part of a fence that moves, and everything expensive about it follows from that. The fence beside it is a static object that has to stand up. The gate is a machine with a bearing, a lever, and a service life, and the invoice should read like it. Universal fields still apply — what to include on an invoice covers those — but the lines below are what stop a gate from being priced like eight feet of fence.

Why is a gate billed each and not by the foot?

Because almost nothing in it scales with width in a straight line. A 4 ft walk gate and a 16 ft double drive gate are not four times apart in cost; they are in different categories of work.

The reason is leverage. A hinge post does not just hold weight up, it resists the leaf trying to rotate the post out of the ground. That twisting force is close to the leaf weight multiplied by the distance from the hinge to the leaf’s center of mass, which is about half the leaf width.

Run your own numbers rather than borrowing anyone’s. Weigh or estimate the leaf, halve the width, multiply:

Gate	Leaf weight	Half-width	Approximate moment
4 ft chain link walk gate	Light frame and fabric	2 ft	Weight × 2
5 ft wood privacy walk gate	Heavier, solid face	2.5 ft	Weight × 2.5
16 ft double drive gate, per leaf	Much heavier frame	4 ft	Weight × 4

The drive gate leaf is heavier and the lever is twice as long, so the load on the post compounds on both sides of the multiplication. That is the whole argument for a 6x6 or a heavy schedule pipe in an oversized footing where a line post gets a 4x4. Solid-face wood gates add wind load on top of it, which is a live force that pulses every time the yard gusts.

None of that appears in a price per linear foot, which is why the gate leaves the fence line and becomes its own unit on the invoice.

Where do the numbers come from — opening, leaf, or something else?

The opening and the leaf are two different measurements, and confusing them is the classic way to lose a day.

• The opening is post face to post face, measured after the posts are set and plumb, not from the plan.
• The leaf is narrower than the opening by the hinge-side gap plus the latch-side gap plus whatever the hardware itself occupies.

Chain link gate frames are manufactured undersized on purpose so that a nominally sized frame fits the matching opening with the standard hinge and fork latch installed. Wood gates get built on site to the opening actually measured that morning. The failure looks the same either way: a leaf ordered or built to the number the customer said, hung in an opening that measured something else.

The invoice should print both numbers. “Opening 47 3/4 in, leaf 44 in” is a record. “One gate” is a receipt for an argument.

What is on the hardware line?

Gate hardware is a bill of counted parts, and the counts move with weight and height rather than width.

Item	Unit	Notes
Hinges	Each	Two on a light walk gate, three once the leaf gets tall or heavy
Latch	Each	Fork latch, gravity latch, or lockable — state which
Anti-sag brace	Each	Compression board or tension cable, not both
Truss rods	Each leaf	Standard on wide drive gate leaves
Drop rod and receiver sleeve	Each	Sleeve is set in concrete, so it is a wet-work item
Cane bolt	Each	On double gates
Self-closing hinges	Each	Pool and code-driven work
Gate stops	Each	Keeps a leaf from swinging past square
Gate posts	Each	Larger section than line posts, deeper footing

The brace deserves its own note because it is reversed constantly and the callback is yours. A solid diagonal works in compression and runs from the bottom of the hinge side up to the top of the latch side. A cable and turnbuckle works in tension and runs the opposite way, from the top of the hinge side down to the bottom of the latch side. The cable carries the load from the bottom and the board carries it from the top, so the two run in opposite directions and installing them backward guarantees the sag you were hired to prevent. Naming the method on the invoice is how you prove which one you installed when the gate is inspected two summers later.

Which code items show up on a gate invoice?

More than on any other part of a fence, and they are billable because they are real hardware and real labor.

Pool barriers. Under IRC Appendix G, a pedestrian access gate has to swing outward away from the pool and be self-closing and self-latching. Where the release mechanism sits less than 54 in from the bottom of the gate, the release has to be on the pool side at least 3 in below the top of the gate, with no opening larger than 1/2 in within 18 in of it. Each of those is a hardware selection with a price, plus an inspection your invoice should reference. Adopted codes vary locally, so confirm the version your jurisdiction is on.

Automated gates. An operator turns a gate into powered equipment. UL 325 calls for at least two independent entrapment protection means for each entrapment area in each direction of travel, and the same type of device cannot be used for both. In practice that is photo eyes plus edge sensors, on top of the operator, the loop detector, the low-voltage runs, and a dedicated circuit that may need a licensed electrician. Every one of those is its own line. A gate with an opener on it is not a fence job with an accessory; it is a small equipment installation.

What changed between the quote and the invoice?

What happened	What it added
The existing posts could not carry a gate	New gate posts, larger section, oversized footings
Concrete had to cure before hanging	A second trip, and mobilization with it
The opening measured different from the phone call	A rebuilt or re-ordered leaf
Ground rose inside the swing arc	Grading, a shortened leaf, or rising hinges
The customer wanted it lockable	Different latch, and sometimes a different frame
Leaf heavier than quoted, so two hinges became three	Hardware plus the labor to set it
Drop rod sleeve went into new concrete	Wet work, and another cure window

Cure time is the one that surprises people, and it is worth stating plainly on the paperwork. Hanging a heavy leaf on green concrete is how a gate post leans by August. When posts get set the same day the gate is built, the job becomes two visits, and the invoice should either carry the return trip as a line or say clearly that the price already includes it. Silence there reads as an unfinished job. If the gate was a line inside a larger run rather than the whole visit, the counting works differently and is covered in how to invoice after chain link run fence installation.

What do I demonstrate before asking for the check?

A gate is the rare trade deliverable a customer can fully test in thirty seconds, so let them.

• Swing it through the full arc and watch for it catching on grade at the far end.
• Let it close on its own if it has self-closing hinges, from a few different opening angles. Pool inspectors do exactly this.
• Latch it, then push on it. A latch that only catches when the leaf is lifted is a latch that will fail.
• Drop the drop rod into the sleeve on a double gate and show that it seats.
• State the adjustment window in writing. Gates settle, and a promised visit inside a defined period is cheap to give and stops a sag from becoming a payment dispute.

Then collect. Most gate work is a few hours, the customer is standing right there, and the invoice should come out of your phone before the truck is loaded. If a deposit funded a special-order leaf or an operator, the balance arithmetic is in fencing deposit invoice. When a balance stalls anyway, the sequence is in how to get clients to pay.

Did the gate price actually hold?

Gates are where fence contractors quietly lose money, because the leaf gets priced and the posts, the footings, the cure trip, and the adjustment visit do not. Check four things while it is fresh: hours on the leaf against hours on the posts, whether the footing volume matched what you carried, whether a second trip happened, and whether the hardware installed matched what you priced.

Then do the profit arithmetic correctly, because markup and margin are different operations. A gate that costs you $520 all in and takes a 35 percent markup prices at $702, of which $182 is profit — a 26 percent margin, not 35. Holding a true 35 percent means dividing the cost by 0.65 and pricing at $800. On one gate that gap is $98. Across the gates a busy season puts in the ground it is most of a month.

Published gate prices are a weak sanity check. They swing with material, leaf weight, post size, frost depth, code hardware, and whether an operator is involved. If your build-up lands far from a range you trust, look for the reason in your numbers rather than editing the price to match a stranger’s.

What has to survive after the check clears?

The measured opening and leaf, the post and footing sizes, the hardware list with the brace direction named, photos of the gate open and closed and of the drop rod seated, the inspection record on pool or automated work, the change confirmations, and the numbered invoice.

Keel is an iOS app that holds that file on the phone and nowhere else: no account, no bank connection, no cloud, no login, and an App Store privacy label reading Data Not Collected. Standing at the gate you just hung, the invoice takes about a minute to build with your own numbering, logo, and brand color, the opening and leaf dimensions and the hardware counts printed on it, and the payment link rendered as a QR code the customer scans off your screen. Hardware receipts and the operator’s paperwork get photographed and read on-device by Apple Intelligence, so a disputed line has paper behind it. The second trip to hang the leaf after the concrete cured gets logged as mileage rather than forgotten. The ledger is append-only and hash-chained, so a sent invoice cannot quietly change. Year end exports as a single file, or as the Accountant Pack — a CSV plus a one-page summary PDF. Free is $0 with unlimited invoices, receipts, and mileage, and Keel Pro is a one-time $249.99 lifetime purchase rather than a subscription. You can get it on the App Store.

Frequently asked questions

Should a gate be priced per foot like the rest of the fence?

No. A gate is an opening, not a length, and its cost is driven by leaf weight, post size, footing volume, and hardware count rather than by width. A 16 ft drive gate is not four 4 ft walk gates. Price it as its own unit, print the opening and leaf dimensions on the invoice, and keep it out of the linear-foot line entirely.

Why do gate posts cost so much more than line posts?

Because a gate post resists a twisting force roughly equal to the leaf weight times half the leaf width, applied every time the gate swings. A line post only has to stand up. That leverage is why gate posts go up a size or two in section, into a wider and deeper hole with more concrete, and why a solid-face wood leaf adds wind load on top of the static weight.

What is the difference between the opening and the gate size?

The opening is measured post face to post face after the posts are set. The leaf is narrower by the hinge gap, the latch gap, and the hardware itself. Chain link gate frames are manufactured undersized so the nominal size fits the matching opening once hardware is on. Print both numbers on the invoice so nobody has to reconstruct which measurement the price was built from.

Which way should the diagonal brace on a wood gate run?

It depends on whether it works in compression or tension. A solid wood brace pushes, so it runs from the bottom of the hinge side up to the top of the latch side. A cable with a turnbuckle pulls, so it runs the opposite way, from the top of the hinge side down toward the latch side bottom. Installing either one backward causes the exact sag it was meant to prevent.

Can I hang the gate the same day I set the posts?

Usually not on anything heavy. Concrete needs time before a leaf starts levering on it, and hanging early is the common reason a gate post leans within a season. Plan the job as two visits, then either carry the return trip as its own line on the invoice or state in writing that the quoted price already includes it, so the customer is not left thinking the job was abandoned.

What extra items does a pool gate add to the invoice?

Self-closing hinges, a self-latching mechanism positioned to the code your jurisdiction has adopted, a gate that swings outward away from the pool, and the inspection that follows. Under IRC Appendix G, a release mechanism less than 54 inches from the bottom of the gate must sit on the pool side at least 3 inches below the top, with no opening over half an inch within 18 inches of it.

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This article is general information, not professional or tax advice.