Gates and Perimeter Metalwork in Nairobi
from KES 25,000
The gate is easy; the ground is the job
Most gate failures in Nairobi are not the gate. They are the track, the ground under it, or a hinge post set into inadequate foundations.
Sliding gates need a level, well-drained run for the track, and the track needs a foundation that will not settle. Set in shallow concrete on black cotton soil, common across Lavington and the western suburbs, it heaves seasonally and the gate stops running true.
Swing gates put enormous leverage on the hinge post. A tall, solid-infill leaf catching the wind will lever a poorly founded post out of the ground over a couple of years.
We look at what the gate is being fixed into before quoting the gate.
Solid or open infill
Solid sheet gives privacy and takes the full wind load, which means heavier posts and hinges. Open bar or mesh infill is lighter, cheaper, longer-lived mechanically, and gives no privacy.
On an exposed Karen or Runda boundary the wind load on a solid leaf is a real engineering number, not a detail. We size the posts for it.
Automation
The motor, the power supply and the safety edge are separate from the gate and we quote them separately. A gate motor fitted to a leaf that binds will fail, so the gate has to run freely by hand first. We will not automate a gate that does not.
Where the site loses power regularly, a manual release that is actually reachable matters more than the specification of the motor.
Rates
KES 25,000 – 120,000 for a typical residential gate by size, design and finish. KES 50,000 – 250,000 for larger or automated installations.
Galvanising before finishing is strongly recommended on any gate, because a gate takes weather from every direction and the bottom rail sits closest to splashing ground water.
See what railings cost, or the areas we cover.