What do you make for customers in Manchester?
For Manchester it is mostly driveway gates, electric and automatic gates, railings and balustrades, and security gates for units. Manchester covers a wide spread of suburbs, from period frontages that suit traditional railings to modern houses and units that want a plain, secure gate and nothing more. At this distance we work from your measurements and photographs rather than a first visit, and we will tell you exactly what to measure and where, because an opening is almost never the size people expect it to be.
Do you charge extra to come out to Manchester?
Manchester is about 114 km from the workshop on Hayes Lane in Stourbridge, so it sits on the nationwide side of what we do rather than in the weekly local run. Delivery or fitting is priced with the job and shown to you before you commit, so nothing for travel appears later. What changes the price of the gate itself is the same anywhere: the width of the opening, the height, whether there are posts to hang from and how much detail is in the ironwork.
Do you work in Manchester regularly?
We fabricate for customers well outside the West Midlands, Manchester included. Manchester is a long run from the Black Country, so the work is planned properly: the gates are fabricated in Lye before anything is booked, and the delivery or fitting date is set around that. Everything is made in the workshop on Hayes Lane in Stourbridge and goes out from there, so a Manchester job is booked around a delivery or fitting date rather than slotted into the local week.
Does the type of property in Manchester change the job?
Less than people expect. Property around Manchester is varied enough that the style of the house guides what we recommend rather than what it costs, and the things that actually move the price are the width of the opening, the height, whether there are posts to hang from and the amount of detail in the ironwork. Because we are working from your measurements rather than a site visit, send photographs of the opening from straight on and from the side as well as the sizes, and we will tell you if anything about the property changes what we would make.
How long does a gate take from first call to fitting in Manchester?
At this distance we start from your measurements and photographs instead of a first visit, and we will talk you through exactly what to measure. Once the sizes are agreed most gates are fabricated within a few weeks, then delivered to you or fitted on a date set in advance. Where steel posts have to be concreted in they need to go off properly before the gates are hung, so that is planned into the visit rather than left to a second trip.
Can you repair a gate in Manchester rather than replace it?
Repairs are realistically a local job. At about 114 km we are not going to send a van to Manchester to reset a hinge, and we would rather say so than take the work. What we can do from here is make the part: a replacement leaf, a new section of railing, or a matching gate to go back into an existing run, fabricated in Lye and sent out to you or to whoever is fitting it. Send photographs and measurements and we will tell you honestly whether that is worth doing or whether somebody closer is the better answer.
Can you match existing gates or railings in Manchester?
Usually we can get very close. Send photographs of what is there, straight on and close up on the top detail, along with the sizes, and we will match the bar spacing, height and finish so a new section reads as part of the same run. On very old cast work an exact match in fabricated steel is not always possible, and we will show you the difference before you commit rather than after.
