Gatewood Fence & Gate in Iowa
Gatewood Fence & Gate has been fixing gates across Iowa since 2001, long before most of the national outfits started buying up phone numbers here. Hal Gatewood runs it owner-operated, same as day one, and his name is still on the shop and on every invoice. When you call, a live person answers, 24 hours a day, because Hal knows a broken gate does not wait for business hours. Whether it is a sagging farm gate outside Council Bluffs, an automated driveway gate in Des Moines that stopped mid-cycle, or a weld that gave out on a hundred-year-old iron fence in a river town, Hal fixes it in your driveway rather than hauling it off for a replacement you might not need. That repair-first philosophy is why Gatewood joined the Locally family: the same standards Hal already held, now stamped with a guarantee Iowa homeowners can verify before they ever pick up the phone.
Why Iowa Homeowners Choose Gatewood Fence & Gate
Iowa homeowners between 50 and 70 have learned the hard way that a low quote on the phone often turns into something else entirely once the truck pulls up. Hal Gatewood built his business on the opposite idea. His address is published, his license number is on every estimate, and his cell is the one that rings when you call at midnight because your gate is hanging by one hinge. There is no dispatch queue, no call center three states away, no technician who introduces himself with a name tag that says “corporate training program.” Hal or one of his background-checked, uniformed crew shows up in the window promised, and if that window slips, you get a call from the person you talked to, not a text from an app.
The 90-Day Done Right Promise is stamped in writing on every job, not buried in fine print where you need a magnifying glass. If something is not right, one call brings Hal back. No runaround, no “we will send a different crew next Tuesday.” He welds on site, diagnoses the actual problem instead of swapping parts that still have life in them, and certifies to nine major gate brands including LiftMaster, FAAC, BFT, Linear, Viking, Ghost Controls, DoorKing, Elite, and Mighty Mule. That means whether your gate runs on a three-year-old opener or a system installed when the Hawkeyes last won the Rose Bowl, Hal has the training and the parts to fix it without telling you to replace the whole setup.
His pricing is upfront and does not require haggling: $40 off any repair over $200, no trip charge inside the county, a free second opinion on any written estimate someone else gave you, and a permanent 10% discount for seniors and veterans. Hal would rather keep you for twenty years than win one big ticket. Ask anyone on your street. In a state where your word still matters at the grain elevator and the coffee shop, that is how you stay in business for over 29 years.
Backed by the Locally Family
Locally started in 1997 when a retired county extension agent named Ward Selby got tired of hearing the same story: out-of-state plates, a quote that tripled at the door, and a phone number that stopped working the day after the check cleared. He wrote down what a homeowner could actually verify in five minutes: a local phone number a person answers, an address you can drive to, the owner’s name and face, and a license number you can look up. Any company willing to publish all four could carry his name. That list is still the entire standard.
Gatewood Fence & Gate met that standard before he ever heard of Locally. The Locally family guarantee means every Iowa job Hal takes carries the L.O.C.A.L. values: Local roots with an address in this county, not a call center three states away; On time with a window that means something; Community first, hiring here and buying here; Accountable, with the owner answering the phone and putting his name on the work; Loyal, building twenty-year relationships instead of chasing one big ticket. The person who answers the phone is the person who shows up, and the price he says on the phone is the price on the invoice. That is the promise, and it is the only thing Locally sells.
Written by Hal Gatewood, Owner at Gatewood Fence & Gate, serving Iowa since 2001.