An off-the-shelf gate kit is cheaper upfront and fine if a stock size fits your opening. A custom aluminium gate is welded to your exact opening, and it’s the better buy when the opening isn’t standard, the gate faces the street, or you want it swinging straight in ten years.
That’s the honest summary. Here’s the detail behind it, because “custom is better” is exactly what you’d expect a fabricator to say, so we’ll show our working.
Fit: the nearest size vs your size
Flat-pack gates come in fixed sizes. If your opening happens to match one, great. If it doesn’t, you’re choosing between a gap (goodbye privacy, hello sideways dog) or cutting the kit down, which usually means cutting through the very fixings holding it together.
A custom gate is built to the opening you’ve actually got, including the awkward ones: sloped driveways, out-of-square walls on older homes, wide double openings, or heights beyond standard. If you’re unsure what your opening needs, our side gate size and cost guide covers how to measure and what sizes make sense.
Build: screwed brackets vs welded frame
This is the biggest difference you can’t see in a product photo. Kit gates are extrusions joined with screws and brackets, because they have to flat-pack into a box. A fabricated gate is welded into one rigid frame.
A gate is a moving part that lives outside. Every open and close puts load through the joints, and mechanical fixings can gradually work loose, which is why an older kit gate so often greets you with a sag and a scrape. A welded frame holds its shape, which is most of what you’re paying for.
Weight matters too. A rigid aluminium frame is still light, which keeps strain off hinges, and if you ever want to automate it, a lighter, straighter gate means a smaller motor doing less work. (If automation’s on your radar, factor it in now; our electric gate costs guide breaks down what that adds.)
Finish: what it looks like in year five
Most quality gates, kit or custom, are powder coated these days, so the difference isn’t the coating process, it’s the choice. Kits come in a handful of stock colours. A custom gate gets powder coated in the colour that matches your fence, window frames or roof, which is the difference between a gate that belongs on the house and one that was clearly bought separately.
Material matters near the coast too. Aluminium doesn’t rust the way steel does, so a salt-air suburb is a good reason to be fussy about what your gate is made from, whichever way you buy it.
Hardware, motors and the bits that break first
Hinges, latches, locks, wheels and tracks are where cheap gates show their price first. Kits ship with the hardware that keeps the kit cheap. On a custom build, hardware is specced for the gate’s actual size and weight, and automation is designed in rather than retrofitted around whatever the kit allows.
Warranty and who you call
With a kit, the retailer covers the product and you (or your installer) own everything else. If the gate sags because the opening wasn’t quite standard, that’s not a warranty claim, that’s a you problem.
With a fabricated gate, one business made it, finished it and installed it, so there’s no gap between “product fault” and “installation fault” for a problem to fall into.
When a kit is honestly the right call
Fair’s fair:
- Standard opening, tight budget. If a stock size genuinely fits, a kit does the job.
- Temporary need. Renting, selling soon, or fencing off a temporary hazard.
- Low-stakes spots. A utility gate down the back nobody sees or uses much.
If that’s your situation, buy the kit with our blessing. The maths changes when the gate is street-facing, automated, oddly sized, or something you’re hoping not to think about again for ten years.
Making the call
Ask three questions: Is my opening standard? Will I want automation? How long do I need this to last? One “no”, “yes” and “long” respectively is usually the tipping point towards custom.
If you’re weighing it up, browse the custom aluminium gate range for driveways, or side and pedestrian gates for everything else, then send through your measurements and a photo for a quote. Worst case, you’ll find out exactly what the custom option costs before deciding the kit’s fine, which beats guessing.