Gates built to survive oceanfront air — hot-dip galvanized, zinc primed, marine powder coated and stainless throughout. Point Dume, Malibu Colony, Broad Beach, Serra Retreat and Topanga.
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☎ (805) 396-9984Everything about building a gate in Malibu is downstream of one fact: the air here is corrosive, continuously, forever. A gate built to an ordinary inland specification will start showing rust bleed at the welds within a couple of years and will look genuinely bad within five. This is not a maintenance failure on the owner’s part. It is a specification failure at quote time.
The specification that actually works is a system rather than a single step. Hot-dip galvanizing so the protection is metallurgical rather than just a coating. A zinc-rich primer over it. A marine-grade powder coat on top. And — the part most often skipped — 316 marine stainless for every fastener, hinge pin and piece of hardware, because ordinary plated hardware will rust and streak down a perfectly good gate.
That package adds roughly 10 to 20 percent to the cost and roughly doubles the service life. On an oceanfront property it is not an upgrade, it is the minimum that makes sense. We would rather lose a job on price than sell you a gate that looks tired in year three.
Corrosion protection does not have to mean an industrial-looking gate. We build the full range here — ornamental iron for the traditional Colony and Serra Retreat houses, clean horizontal slat and vertical bar for the contemporary oceanfront builds, and solid or louvred infill where privacy from PCH matters. The coastal package sits underneath whichever design you choose.
Two Malibu-specific design notes. Wind is a real load here, and a solid-infill gate on an exposed bluff behaves like a sail — it needs a heavier frame and a stronger operator than the same gate would inland, or it will strain both. Where wind exposure is severe we will often suggest a louvred or slatted infill that still gives privacy but lets air through.
The other is access off PCH. Where a driveway meets the highway, a car needs somewhere to wait clear of traffic while the gate opens. That frequently means setting the gate back further than the owner first pictured, which affects footings, the power run and sometimes the gate type. It is worth solving properly at design stage.
Malibu sits at the top of the county ranges, for two reasons that compound. The properties are large so the openings are wide, and everything gets the coastal specification. A double swing in ornamental iron commonly runs $6,000 to $15,000 installed; larger estate gates run $15,000 to $40,000 and above. Add roughly 10 to 20 percent over an inland equivalent for the marine package.
The place people most often try to save and most often regret it is hardware. Ordinary plated hinges and fasteners on an otherwise well-built coastal gate will rust first and streak rust down the finish. Stainless hardware is a small fraction of the total and it is the difference between a gate that ages well and one that does not.
Fire zone requirements apply across much of the Malibu area and can affect materials, clearances and access for emergency vehicles. We build to what the local jurisdiction requires and check that as part of the quote rather than leaving it to you.
We install the length of Malibu, from the Topanga end through the Colony and out past Broad Beach.
Malibu · Point Dume · Malibu Colony · Carbon Beach · Broad Beach · Topanga · Malibu Park · Serra Retreat
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Yes. On an oceanfront property a gate built to an inland specification typically shows rust bleed at the welds within a couple of years. The failure is almost always in the preparation and the hardware rather than in the visible coating, which is why it is invisible in a quote and obvious three years later.
Hot-dip galvanizing, a zinc-rich primer over it, a marine-grade powder coat, and 316 marine stainless for every fastener, hinge pin and piece of hardware. It adds roughly 10 to 20 percent to the price and roughly doubles the service life. On the water it is the minimum specification that makes sense.
It does. A solid-infill gate on an exposed bluff acts like a sail, which loads the frame, the hinges and the operator far harder than the same gate would inland. Either the gate gets built heavier and the operator sized up, or — often better — we use a louvred or slatted infill that still gives you privacy but lets the wind through.
Usually further back than people first imagine. A car needs to be fully clear of moving highway traffic while it waits for the gate. Getting that setback right affects the footings, the power run and sometimes the gate type, so it is worth deciding at design stage rather than at installation.
Yes. Much of the Malibu area carries fire zone requirements that can affect materials, clearances and emergency vehicle access. We check what applies to your address as part of the quote rather than leaving you to discover it later.
Sliding, swing, ornamental and modern gates, operators and access control — the full range we build.
Real installed price ranges for 2026, and the three costs most quotes quietly leave out.
Which one your driveway can actually take — usually decided by slope and space, not preference.