Custom Wrought Iron Gates, Forged for Metro Detroit
Solid bar stock, hand-welded joints, and a design built for your driveway, not pulled off a factory rack. Free on-site assessment, firm quote before any work starts.
313 Gates forges and installs custom wrought iron gates for driveways, entries, and estates across Metro Detroit, built from solid iron bar stock and finished with the scrollwork, panels, or clean picket lines a property calls for. Whether the search that brought you here says wrought iron, rod iron, or something spelled a little differently, it's the same job: a gate hand-built to a size and design that a factory rack never carries. See the fabrication process below, or jump to what a custom gate typically costs.
Reading iron gate grades
| Build type | What it means | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Solid forged bar | Real iron or steel bar stock, bent and welded by hand into the design | Estate entries and gates meant to hold their design for generations |
| Welded tube, iron-look | Hollow steel tube welded to mimic a wrought iron profile | Budget-conscious driveways that want the look without full bar stock |
| Cast ornamental additions | Cast scroll or finial pieces welded onto a bar or tube frame | Adding detail to a design without a full custom fabrication |
These are the three builds most Metro Detroit properties choose between. Which one fits depends on budget, design, and how much detail the entry calls for.
One visit, start to finish.
Detroit’s Ironwork Heritage, Still Being Forged
Detroit’s skyline and its oldest neighborhoods carry a real ironwork tradition: art deco grille patterns downtown, bar-and-picket fence lines in older subdivisions, and hand-worked gate hardware built to outlast the houses behind it. A custom iron gate from 313 Gates draws on that same vocabulary, bar spacing, panel proportion, and joint work meant to be examined up close, not just glimpsed from the street.
That’s the standard a forged gate is held to here: not a catalog panel with your address on it, but a design built for the specific opening, house, and property it’s going to guard.
Wrought Iron, Rod Iron, or However You Found This Page
However you searched for this page, wrought iron, rod iron, custom iron gate, or something you typed in a hurry that came out closer to “rawt iron,” the job on the other end is the same: iron or steel bar stock, fabricated by hand into a gate built to your opening.
313 Gates fabricates every gate from raw material, not a pre-cut kit, which is what actually separates a custom iron gate from the welded panels sold at a home center.
What Drives the Price of a Forged Gate
Three factors set the price of a custom iron gate: the opening’s width and height, the complexity of the design (a clean picket line costs less to fabricate than heavy scrollwork or custom finials), and whether the gate is automated with an opener. Nationally, decorative wrought iron gates run from roughly $1,800 to $7,000, with a fully automated custom design landing higher, often $4,000 to $12,000.
None of that is a quote, it’s context for what to expect before a technician measures your opening and gives you a firm number. 313 Gates prices every gate after seeing the actual site, never off a phone description.
313 Gates prices every gate after seeing the actual site, never off a phone description.
Iron Gates and Michigan Winters
Michigan’s freeze-thaw cycle is hard on gate posts and footings more than it’s hard on the iron itself, since a properly finished iron panel resists cold far better than the ground it’s set in. Frost heave, water in the soil freezing and expanding through winter, can push on a post over several seasons, which is why post depth matters as much as the gate’s fabrication.
A gate that starts scraping or a post that leans by spring is almost always a footing issue, not a fabrication defect, and it’s covered by gate welding and hardware repair rather than a full rebuild.
Questions, answered.
What's the difference between wrought iron and rod iron?
Nothing, they're the same gate. 'Rod iron' is a common mishearing of 'wrought iron' that stuck in everyday use, the same way you'll see it searched as rot iron, wrote iron, or raw iron. Whatever the spelling, the fabrication is identical: iron or steel bar stock, cut, bent, and welded to your opening.
How much does a custom wrought iron gate cost?
Nationally, decorative wrought iron gates typically run from about $1,800 to $7,000 depending on size and design complexity, with a fully automated custom iron gate landing higher, roughly $4,000 to $12,000 once fabrication, hardware, and an opener are included. Your exact price depends on opening width, panel design, and finish, confirmed with a free on-site assessment, never estimated sight unseen.
How long does a custom iron gate take to build?
Timeline depends on design complexity and current shop workload more than anything else. A straightforward picket-style gate moves through fabrication faster than a heavily scrolled estate design with custom finials. You'll get a firm completion date once the design is approved, not a vague range guessed at the first visit.
Can a custom iron gate be automated with an opener?
Yes. Iron gates pair with the same swing and slide operators used on any driveway gate, sized to the panel's weight rather than a lighter aluminum or vinyl gate. See [gate opener repair and installation](/services/gate-openers/) for how automation is matched to a heavier iron panel, confirmed during your on-site design visit.
What's the difference between solid wrought iron and a welded steel gate made to look like iron?
Solid wrought iron uses real bar stock, bent and welded by hand into the design. A welded steel 'iron-look' gate uses hollow tube steel shaped to mimic that same profile at a lower cost and lighter weight. Both hold up well with a proper finish; the difference is presence, weight, and price, not durability.
Does 313 Gates repair or restore an existing iron gate, not just build new ones?
Yes. Sagging hinges, broken welds, rust damage, and bent panels on an existing iron gate are repair work, not always a full replacement. See [gate welding and hardware repair](/services/gate-repair/gate-welding-repair/) for hinge, latch, and weld repair on gates 313 Gates didn't originally build.
Does iron rust in Michigan winters?
Bare iron will rust eventually, which is why every gate ships with a primed and finished surface built to resist Michigan's road salt and freeze-thaw cycles. That finish isn't maintenance-free forever, an occasional touch-up at chips or scratches keeps rust from getting a foothold, but it's a fraction of the upkeep bare or poorly finished iron would need.