How Gatewood Fence & Gate Came to Arcadia
We opened our Arcadia branch because this city deserved better than what it was getting. For years, homeowners here told us the same story: a gate sags, they call a company, and the first thing they hear is that the whole thing needs to be replaced. The panel gets hauled away on a flatbed, the quote comes back at a number that makes their eyes water, and three weeks later they’re still waiting for a gate. That’s not how it should work, and Hal Gatewood has built his whole career on the opposite approach.
Bringing Gatewood Fence & Gate to Arcadia wasn’t a corporate expansion decision made in a boardroom. It was a simple recognition that the San Gabriel Valley is full of homes with wrought iron gates, wood fence lines, and driveway operators that have been patched, propped, and shrugged at for too long. Hal had been working in this exact trade for years, and he kept hearing the same frustration from people in Pasadena, Sierra Madre, and right here in Arcadia: nobody wants to fix anything anymore. They want to sell you a new one. Hal fixes things. That’s the whole philosophy, and it’s why this branch exists.
When we opened our doors here, we made one promise that still holds: if your gate can be repaired, we’ll repair it. We won’t pull it off the hinges and tell you it’s scrap just because replacement is a bigger invoice. We weld on site when we can, we replace the hinge post when that’s what the gate actually needs, and we give you a written price before any work begins. That promise is the reason this branch is here.
Hal Gatewood’s Personal Connection to the Gate Repair Trade
Hal didn’t stumble into gate work. He was drawn to it the way some people are drawn to engines or old houses. There’s something honest about a gate. You can see exactly what’s wrong with it if you know what you’re looking at. A gate sags in the hinge post, not in the middle. The panel tilts because the post has shifted, the hinges have worn, or the concrete wasn’t set deep enough in the first place. Hal learned to see those things early, working in a shop where the motto was simple: fix the panel without the post and you’ll fix it twice.
The first time he repaired a gate that another company had condemned, something clicked. The homeowner was told the whole thing needed to be torn out. Hal looked at it, saw that the hinge post was sound and the panel just needed straightening and new hardware, and he fixed it that same day. The look on that homeowner’s face, half relief and half disbelief, stayed with him. That’s the moment this work became personal. Not because it was profitable, but because it was right.
He’s been in this trade for more than two decades now, and he still gets genuinely annoyed when he finds safety sensors that somebody bypassed to make a gate close faster. That frustration isn’t an act. It’s the reaction of someone who takes the work personally. A gate closing on its own when it should be reversing is a failure of craftsmanship and a danger to kids and pets. Hal will point at it and tell you exactly where it’s failing, because he’s seen it too many times and he’s never learned to ignore it.
What keeps him in this trade is the satisfaction of leaving a gate that works right. Not works for now, not works until the next rain, but works the way it was supposed to when it was first installed. If he weren’t doing this, he’d probably be building something else with his hands. The tools would be the same, the mindset would be the same. But the gates keep pulling him back, because there’s always another one that someone else gave up on.
Meet Hal Gatewood - The Person Behind Every Job
Hal Gatewood is the Owner & Founder of Gatewood Fence & Gate, and he has spent his entire adult life working with fence lines, gate operators, and the people who depend on them. His training came the old-fashioned way: in the shop, on site, learning from tradesmen who believed that a job wasn’t done until it was done right. That experience is deeper than any classroom credential, and it shows in how he approaches every job.
What sets Hal apart from a corporate franchise technician is simple: he builds gates in his own shop, and you can drive there and look at them. The name on the truck is his name, and he answers for the work. When he says he’ll be there, he means it. When he gives you a price, it’s the price. He’s the kind of person who runs into his customers at the hardware store on a Saturday, and that’s exactly the accountability he wants. His commitment to you is direct: if it has a hinge, a post, or a motor, he’ll treat it like it’s on his own property.
Our Promise to Arcadia Homeowners
We operate by a code Hal calls L.O.C.A.L., because it’s what separates us from the call-center outfits that quote one price on the phone and another at your door. Local roots mean an address in this county, not a call center three states away. On time means the window we give you is the window, and we call if it slips. Community first means we hire here, buy here, and stand behind the name you’ll see again at the supermarket. Accountable means the owner answers the phone and puts his name on the work. Loyal means we’d rather keep you for twenty years than win one big ticket.
That’s not a list of values we hung on a wall. It’s how we run every job from first call to final walkthrough. We write the price down before we start, and that price doesn’t change unless we talk to you first. If something isn’t right, one call brings us back. Hal puts his name, his address, and his word on every job, and he means it.
Our Credentials
When you hire someone to work on your property, you should know exactly who’s walking up your driveway. Here’s what stands behind every gate and fence job we do:
- State-licensed - every pro working under our name is required to hold the license the state requires for this work.
- Insured & bonded - coverage is in place before anyone steps onto your property, and we’re glad to show you proof.
- More than two decades of trade experience - Hal has spent his entire career in this trade, and the work shows it.
- Strong local reputation - we work in the San Gabriel Valley, and our name travels by word of mouth from one driveway to the next.
- Ninety days in writing - every fences and gates job carries a written guarantee, and one call brings Hal back.
A license means someone has met the baseline to do the work legally. Insurance means you’re protected if something goes wrong on your property. The written guarantee means we’re willing to stand behind the job after we leave. Together, they mean you’re not taking a gamble when you pick up the phone.
Rooted in Arcadia
We’re not a branch of some distant corporation watching this zip code on a spreadsheet. Gatewood Fence & Gate is an owner-operated business in the town it serves. Hal lives close enough to be at your gate quickly, and he’s going to run into you again on a Saturday. The truck carries his own name, the phone is answered by a live coordinator who connects you with the local team, and the shop is down the road. In Arcadia, that still matters. It’s the oldest accountability mechanism there is, and it works better than any contract.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Arcadia since 2001.