Automatic gates in Cairns: what to sort out before you order

An automatic gate is one of the few things on a property that moves several times a day, every day, for years. Most of the problems we get called out to fix were decided before the gate was ever built.

Sliding or swinging

Sliding gates suit short driveways, ground that slopes towards the street, and entries with no room for a leaf to open. Swinging gates suit flat entries with space inside the boundary, and they're the traditional look on acreage.

Where the driveway slopes, a sliding gate is usually the only sensible answer.

Motor sizing is not a place to save money

A motor that's marginal for the gate weight will work for a while and then fail early, usually in the wet season. We size the motor to the actual gate, including wind loading on solid infills, rather than to the lowest quote.

Power and blackouts

Decide early whether you want battery backup or solar. Cairns gets storm outages, and a gate you can't open is worse than a gate you never automated. Manual release is always available, but battery backup is what people actually want.

Safety sensors and access

Photo-eye beams and obstruction detection stop the gate on anything in its path. If children, pets or the public can reach the gate, treat these as part of the job rather than an upgrade.

Then work out who needs access: remotes for the household, a keypad code for visitors and trades, an intercom if you want to see who's there, and timed or multi-code access for business sites.

Get those five decisions right and the gate becomes something you stop thinking about, which is the whole point.