Most advice about improving a property is about what is inside it. This one is about a gate, which sounds like a small thing until you work out how many future jobs it touches.
On a block laid out back to front, the side a van can reach is the private side, and the documented streetscape consequence of that design is high blank fences enclosing backyards. Whether there is a usable gate in that fence is the single practical fact that decides how every future job on the property runs.
On a back-to-front layout the street side is the only side with vehicle access, and it is usually a high fence. A usable gate in it means equipment can be brought in directly. No gate means every job that needs a machine begins with a long carry along a pedestrian path, and that time is on every invoice for as long as you own the place.
- Check whether there is a gate on the street side at all
- Check whether it actually opens, and how far
- Clear whatever has accumulated behind it
- On a rented property, raise it with the agent rather than acting yourself
- It affects drainage, hot water, gas and anything delivered, not just one trade
On this page
1. Why one gate touches so many things
It is worth listing, because in isolation a gate seems like a minor convenience and the cumulative effect is not minor at all.
- Drain clearing and camera work. A jetter and a camera reel both have to get from the van to the work.
- Hot water replacement. A storage unit is heavy and awkward, and it has to come in and the old one has to go out.
- Anything excavated. Spoil has to come out and material has to go in, repeatedly.
- Gas appliances. Same problem, different trade.
- Everything else. Landscaping, deliveries, waste removal, and any other trade who needs to bring more than a toolbox.
None of those are plumbing problems in themselves. They are all the same access problem wearing different hats, and it is solved once.
Carrying equipment a long way is not a one-off inconvenience. It is a line in the cost of every job on the property, for as long as the arrangement stays the same.
2. Go and look at what you actually have
- Is there a gate on the street side at all?
- Does it open, and how far? A gate that opens forty-five degrees against a fence post is not a usable gate.
- Roughly how wide is the opening?
- Is the path from the gate to the house clear, or is it through a garden bed and around a clothesline?
- Can a van actually stop near it, or is there a driveway crossing or a pole in the way?
- Is there anything stored against it that would need moving first?
That takes five minutes and it produces the answer to the question every tradesperson is going to ask. Writing it down somewhere is even better, because the person who rings the plumber is not always the person who checked.
3. The fixes that cost almost nothing
Before anybody talks about building anything, most of the practical benefit is available for free.
- Clear behind the gate. An enormous proportion of unusable gates are unusable because of what has accumulated behind them over a few years.
- Free the hinges and the latch. A gate that has not been opened in a decade often only needs to be persuaded.
- Cut back the planting on the path from the gate to the house.
- Move the bins if they live in the only opening.
- Know where the key is, if it is padlocked, and check it still works.
Doing those five things converts a lot of properties from "long carry" to "ordinary access", at no cost at all. It is worth an afternoon.
4. If you are renting
Clearing behind a gate and cutting back a plant are things any tenant can reasonably do. Changing a fence is not.
If the gate genuinely does not exist or cannot be made to work, that is worth raising with the agent in writing, calmly and once, as a practical matter rather than a complaint. Frame it in terms of what it costs: every trade attending the property takes longer than it needs to, and that is a cost the owner carries too.
What we would not suggest is any tenant altering fencing themselves. It is not a tenant decision, and it is the kind of well-meant improvement that becomes a dispute at the end of a tenancy.
Trade turning up and struggling to get in?
Tell us the access situation when you book and we will bring what actually fits.
5. If you own the property
Where there is genuinely no usable opening on the street side, putting one in is worth costing properly, because it is one of the few improvements that pays for itself in avoided time rather than in appearance.
That is a fencing job rather than a plumbing one and we are not the right people to quote it or to advise on what is permitted. Anything involving a boundary is worth checking with Council, and where the property is not freehold there will be somebody else to ask as well.
What we can tell you is the plumbing side of the arithmetic: which jobs currently cost more because of the access, and roughly how much of that would go away. That is a useful input to the decision even though the decision itself is not ours.
6. Sort it before the emergency, not during
The reason to deal with this on an ordinary Saturday is that access problems are worst exactly when they matter most.
At two in the morning with water going somewhere it should not, nobody wants to be moving a woodpile to free a gate, looking for a padlock key, or working out whether the plumber can get a machine down a pedestrian path in the dark.
Five minutes of checking and an afternoon of clearing removes all of that from the worst possible moment. It is the least interesting thing on this website and one of the most useful.
- On a back-to-front layout the street side is the only vehicle access, and it is usually fenced.
- A usable gate in it decides how every future job on the property runs.
- It affects drainage, hot water, gas, deliveries and every other trade, not just one.
- Most of the benefit is free: clear behind it, free the hinges, cut back the path.
- Renting? Clear and report in writing, but leave fencing changes to the owner.
- Sort it on an ordinary afternoon, because access is worst exactly when it matters most.
A gate worth having FAQs
How wide should the gate be?
It depends on the job. A standard pedestrian gate is workable for most drain and camera work, and wider access opens up more options. The important thing is that it exists and opens, rather than hitting any particular measurement.
There is no gate at all. What happens?
The job still gets done. Equipment is carried along the pedestrian path from wherever the van could stop, and that adds time at both ends. It is worth telling us in advance so the right approach is planned rather than improvised.
I rent. Can I put a gate in?
That is an owner decision rather than a tenant one, and altering fencing yourself is the sort of well-meant improvement that becomes a dispute later. Raise it with the agent in writing instead.
Would a wider gate actually save me money?
On the jobs that need a machine, yes, and there are more of those over the years than people expect. Whether that adds up to enough to justify the fencing work is a judgement, and we can tell you the plumbing side of it honestly.
Do I need approval to change a fence?
Anything involving a boundary is worth checking with Council, and if the property is not freehold there will be somebody else to ask. That is outside our field, so ask them rather than us.
What should I do right now, for free?
Go and try the gate. Clear whatever is behind it, free the hinges and latch, cut back anything growing across the path, and find out where the key is. That converts a lot of properties to ordinary access at no cost.