Cedar Driveway Gate Cost for Fort Lauderdale Homes

A cedar driveway gate costs $1,200 to $5,000 installed, with most single 12-foot gates on a steel frame landing between $2,000 and $3,500. Automation adds another $1,800 to $4,500. Width, height, and frame material are the three things that move the number.

Wood is the material people want and the material with the most ways to get it wrong. Almost all of them come back to the same thing: a gate is a lever, and wood on its own is not stiff enough to be the lever.

Where the price lands

Configuration	Typical installed cost
Single 10–12 ft, wood frame, cedar	$1,200–$2,200
Single 12 ft, steel frame, cedar cladding	$2,000–$3,500
Dual swing, 14–16 ft total, steel frame	$3,000–$5,000
Horizontal slat, premium grade cedar	Add 20–40%
Automation (operator, safety, power)	$1,800–$4,500
Posts and footings, if not existing	$400–$1,500

The steel frame point, because it decides everything

A wood gate built entirely of wood will sag. Not might — will, on any span past about eight feet, because the joinery flexes under the weight of the panel hanging out from the hinge side.

People try to solve it with a diagonal brace, and on a narrow pedestrian gate that works. On a 12-foot driveway gate it delays the problem by a year or two.

The gates that last are welded steel frames with cedar cladding. The steel carries the load and holds the geometry; the wood provides the look. From two feet away you cannot tell, and the gate is still square in year fifteen.

If a quote for a wide wood gate does not mention a steel frame, ask what is stopping it from sagging. The answer will be informative.

Wind load: the thing nobody plans for

A solid privacy gate is a sail.

A 12-foot by 6-foot panel is 72 square feet of surface with nowhere for wind to go. That load goes into the hinges and then into the hinge post, in cycles, every windy day. It is the main reason solid gates work loose while picket gates do not.

Three ways to handle it:

• Spaced boards with a small gap between them, which barely changes the privacy at a distance
• A gap at the top or bottom of the panel to bleed pressure
• Size for it — heavier posts, deeper footings, heavy-duty hinges

Any of those is fine. Ignoring it is not, and in a windy market it is the difference between a gate that holds and a gate that develops a lean.

Species, honestly

Western red cedar is the default for good reason: naturally decay resistant, dimensionally stable, takes finish well, and light for its strength. Grade matters — clear or select tight-knot cedar stays much flatter than the knotty grades sold for fencing.

Redwood performs similarly where it is available and priced sensibly.

Pressure-treated pine costs less and moves more. On a fence, a twisted board is a fence board. On a gate, it is a visible defect on a panel you look at every time you come home, and the movement stresses the fasteners.

Ipe and other hardwoods are gorgeous, extremely stable, extremely heavy, and expensive enough that most people stop after the quote. On an automated gate the weight is a genuine consideration.

Finish, and what happens if you skip it

Plan on a penetrating stain or oil every two to three years, more often on a west-facing gate.

The important part is less obvious: finish all six faces of every board, including the end grain, before assembly. End grain absorbs moisture far faster than face grain, and unsealed board ends are where cupping and rot start. A gate that was finished after assembly has unsealed end grain hidden inside every joint.

If you would rather not maintain it, let cedar weather naturally to silver-gray. That is a legitimate choice and a lot of people prefer the look. Just know that unfinished wood cycles moisture harder and moves more, which is another argument for the steel frame.

The bottom rail is where wood gates die, same as steel gates. Keep it up off the ground, keep sprinklers off it, and keep debris from piling against it.

Automation with a wood gate

Doable and common, with two conditions.

Steel frame, as above. A wood-framed gate under a motor works itself out of square.

Correctly sized operator, accounting for both the weight of solid cedar and the wind load. A solid wood gate is one of the heavier residential gates, and an operator running at its rated limit is an operator with a short life. Our gate opener cost guide covers sizing and what the safety devices add.

Also worth thinking about which way it swings and whether the driveway slopes — a solid wood gate has no clearance to spare. Our sliding versus swing comparison covers that decision.

When wood is the wrong call

We build wood gates and we will still say it.

Full afternoon sun on a west-facing entrance is hard on any finish. You are signing up for a more frequent refinishing schedule than the brochure implies.

Sprinkler overspray hitting the gate daily will rot the bottom rail regardless of species. Move the head or pick a different material.

A busy entrance that opens and closes all day asks a lot of the heaviest infill you can buy. Aluminum or ornamental steel takes that kind of duty better — see our aluminum versus iron comparison, and our gate opener cost guide on how duty cycle changes the operator you need.

If you want zero maintenance, buy metal. Wood is a material you have a relationship with. Some people enjoy that. If you know you will not, do not pretend otherwise at the quote stage.

What you can do yourself

Refinishing is a genuine DIY weekend. Clean, let it dry fully, sand any rough areas, and apply a penetrating stain. Materials are under $100 for a typical gate, and doing it on schedule doubles the life of the wood.

Replacing individual boards on a steel-framed gate is straightforward — match the profile, use exterior-rated fasteners, seal all six faces before installing.

Do not DIY the frame, the posts, or the operator. The frame is welding, the posts are concrete and geometry, and the operator has safety requirements that are not a place to improvise.

Fort Lauderdale Gate Pros builds wood driveway gates on welded steel frames, installs automatic openers sized to the weight, and handles matching security fencing across Fort Lauderdale and Broward County. For overall pricing, see our driveway gate cost guide.

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