Composite Gates Devon

We survey, manufacture and fit composite and metal gates across Devon — Plymouth and the Tamar valley, Exeter and the Exe estuary, the bay towns of Torquay, Paignton and Dartmouth, and out west to Tavistock and the edge of the moor. Every gate is measured on site, made to those measurements, and installed by the same people who quoted it.

Coverage moves. We are always reviewing how the installers on our network are performing and taking on new ones as demand grows, so the towns below are where we work most consistently rather than a complete or permanent list.

Towns and cities we cover

The surrounding villages and suburbs of each are covered too. If your town is not named, send your postcode and we will confirm.

Devon

• Plymouth
• Exeter
• Torquay
• Paignton
• Dartmouth
• Tavistock

Also covered: Newton Abbot, Totnes, Teignmouth, Dawlish, Exmouth, Sidmouth, Honiton, Tiverton, Cullompton, Crediton, Okehampton, Ivybridge, Kingsbridge, Salcombe, Barnstaple, Bideford and Ilfracombe.

What we make and fit

• Composite driveway gates Double and single leaf, hung or sliding, manual or automated.
• Composite garden gates Side gates, back gates and matching pedestrian gates.
• Metal gates Steel and metal-framed gates, made to measure.
• Electric gates Automation on new gates, or retro-fitted to existing ones.
• Composite fencing Matching fence panels and screens to tie the boundary together.

What Devon asks of a gate

On and around Dartmoor, the planning authority is different

This catches people out more than anything else in the county. Inside the National Park boundary, the Dartmoor National Park Authority is the planning authority — not West Devon, not Teignbridge, not South Hams. It sets its own policy on boundary treatments, and it takes a closer interest in what a gate looks like from a lane or a footpath than a district council typically would. The boundary is also not where most people assume: it runs well past the open moor and takes in a good deal of ordinary farmland and village around Tavistock, Okehampton and the Bovey valley. If you are anywhere near it, the five minutes spent checking which side of the line you are on is worth more than any advice we can give you.

The estuaries carry salt a long way inland

Devon has three that matter for a gate — the Tamar, the Exe and the Dart — and all three are tidal well beyond the point where the water stops looking like sea. A property at Topsham or up the Dart towards Totnes is dealing with salt air on most days of the year, even though it is nowhere near a beach and the owner would not describe it as coastal. The consequence is a specification conversation people do not expect to be having: the composite board is untroubled either way, but the frame, hinges, bolts and fixings want the coastal grade rather than the standard one. It is a small part of the cost and it is the difference between a gate that still swings properly in ten years and one that seizes.

Plymouth is a city, and the rest of Devon is not

It is worth saying plainly because it changes the job completely. Plymouth is dense, largely rebuilt after the war, and full of terraces, flats and short frontages where the question is usually a side gate or a narrow pair rather than a four-metre driveway pair. Twenty miles away at Dartmouth or Tavistock the plots are wider, older and frequently walled in stone, and the constraint is what the wall will carry rather than how much room there is. Neither is harder. They simply start from opposite places, and a quote given without seeing which one you are is a guess. It is the reason we survey rather than price from a photograph.

What affects the cost

Gate prices move on a handful of variables rather than a fixed rate. The main ones are:

FAQs about Composite Gates in Devon

I live near Dartmoor. Who do I ask about permission?

If you are inside the National Park boundary, the Dartmoor National Park Authority is the planning authority rather than your district council, and it applies its own policy to boundary treatments. The boundary reaches further than most people expect, taking in farmland and villages well beyond the open moor. Checking which side of it you are on takes five minutes and occasionally changes the whole design.

I am not on the coast, but I am on the estuary. Does that matter?

Yes, more than people expect. The Tamar, the Exe and the Dart are tidal a long way inland, so properties at Topsham, Totnes or up the Tamar get salt air on most days despite being nowhere near a beach. The board is unaffected. The frame, hinges and fixings want the coastal grade, and that is a small part of the price.

My frontage in Plymouth is narrow. Is a gate worth it?

Usually yes, but it is a different gate from the one you would fit in Dartmouth. Short city frontages tend to want a single leaf or a narrow pair, sometimes a side gate rather than a driveway one, and the swing arc matters far more than the span. We measure it with the car where it actually parks rather than looking at an empty drive.

Can you fix a gate to a stone wall or a Devon bank?

To a sound stone wall, usually yes, once we have checked what is behind the face. To a bank, no — an earth-and-stone bank will not hold a gate however solid it looks, so the gate goes on its own posts set alongside and the bank is left doing its own job. It is a normal arrangement, not a complication.

Which parts of Devon do you cover?

Plymouth, Exeter, Torquay, Paignton, Dartmouth and Tavistock all have their own pages, and the villages around each are covered as a matter of course. If your town is not named, send your postcode and you will get a straight answer either way.

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