How Much Does a Gate Shop Drawing Cost?

You need a drawing to quote the gate, to get the customer to sign off, and to build it. If you do not draw it yourself, someone has to. So what does that cost?

Nobody publishes a price list for gate drawings. But drafting rates are public, and a gate drawing is just drafting time. This guide puts real numbers on it, then compares the other ways to get a drawing. My dad has run a fabrication business for nearly 20 years, and getting a good drawing fast and cheap was always a struggle for him. That is why we built CAD60, so take our part in the comparison with that in mind. We have tried to keep it fair.

What does a drafter charge for a gate drawing?

Here is what two Australian sources say drafting costs. Neither is specific to gates. A gate drawing is billed like any other drafting job, by the hour or by the sheet.

Obelisk is a drafting company, and ServiceTasker is a cost guide. Treat both as rough ranges and get a quote for your actual job.

Do the sum on a simple gate. Say it needs two sheets: an elevation with the frame and infill, and a sheet of details. At $180 to $450 a sheet, that is about $360 to $900. By the hour, a drawing that takes three hours at $75 to $95 is $225 to $285. A cantilever gate with a motor, a raked site or a patterned infill takes longer.

What makes one gate drawing cost more than another?

Drafting is billed on time, so anything that adds time adds cost. A pedestrian gate is simpler than a double swing gate. A sliding or cantilever gate adds tracks, rollers, a tail and a motor. A raked or stepped opening means more views and more dimensions.

• Even battens are quick to draw. A custom pattern or a laser-cut panel is not.
• Clear site measurements and a sketch save the drafter time. Vague notes mean phone calls, and the drafter bills for those too.
• If you want it tomorrow, expect to pay a rush rate.
• A cutting list, hardware callouts and a finish note each take time to add.

To brief a drafter well, use the gate fabrication drawing checklist and tell them exactly what you need on the page.

How long does it take to get a gate drawing back?

Drawing time and waiting time are two different things. A drafter might only need a few hours on your gate, but you join their queue. Obelisk gives 48 to 72 hours for markup changes under 10 sheets, and 5 to 10 working days for a full documentation package. A small job from a busy drafter can still take a week.

For a fabricator, that wait matters. The customer is waiting on your quote, and a quote that takes a week to arrive often loses to one that came the next day.

What do revisions cost?

Customers change their minds. Wider, taller, a different infill, the hinges on the other side. Each change is another revision.

Some drafters include a round or two of changes in the price. Others charge every change by the hour. ServiceTasker puts redline markups at about $55 a sheet, up to about $155. Ask before you start:

• How many revision rounds are included?
• What does a change cost after that?
• How fast is a revision turned around?

Is it cheaper to draw it yourself?

Only if your time is cheap. Every hour at the screen is an hour not on the tools, so price it at your shop rate. If your rate is $120 an hour and a gate drawing takes you two hours, that drawing cost $240. The shop hourly rate guide shows how to work your rate out.

Add the software and the time to learn it. General CAD can draw anything, but you start from a blank page each time. Some shops draw by hand on grid paper, which is fine for the workshop and less fine for a customer. The drawings without CAD guide covers the hand-drawn route.

How do the options compare?

CAD60 is the option we built. You pick a gate from the catalogue, type the sizes, and get the full drawing set in 60 seconds: every view, every size, a cutting list and a 3D model. Change the width and the whole set redraws. You can preview any job for free. Clean PDFs of your own sizes, plus STEP files, are on the paid plan.

For a wider look at drawing tools, see the shop drawing software guide.

When is a drafter worth the money?

A good drafter earns their fee on jobs like these:

• A one-off design that no catalogue or template covers.
• Big commercial jobs that need drawings in a builder's or architect's format.
• Work an engineer has to review and sign.
• Jobs where the gate is one small part of a bigger set of plans.

For the everyday gates, fences and screens a small shop builds every week, paying by the sheet adds up fast. That is where drawing it yourself, or using a configurator, usually wins.

Common questions