Terms and conditions for a gate and railing fabricator

A gate and railing fabricator sells three things at once: a design, a manufactured product and an installation on someone else's land. Your terms need to deal with all three, including the deposit that buys the steel, the bespoke order the customer changes their mind about, and the automated gate you are expected to look after for years. I draft those terms for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Fabricators of gates, railings, balustrades, security grilles and architectural metalwork in England and Wales, whether you forge by hand or cut and weld from drawings. Most sell to homeowners and also to main contractors, developers, schools and estate managers. Consumers and business customers are treated differently in law, so one set of terms has to be written with both in mind.

What matters in a gate and railing fabricator's terms

Drawings, site measurements and approval

Almost every argument starts with a dimension. Your terms should say who takes the final site measurements, that manufacture does not begin until the customer has approved drawings in writing, and that changes after approval are charged as an extra. Where you are working to brick piers, a driveway or a boundary another trade has yet to finish, the terms should make the customer responsible for the substrate being ready, level and square. Design drawings you produce remain yours under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 unless you assign them in writing, which matters when a customer takes your drawing to a cheaper workshop.

Deposits, steel prices and retention of title

Steel, galvanising and coating are all bought long before you see the balance, so a deposit that covers materials is normal and should be stated as non-refundable once fabrication has started, subject to a consumer's cancellation rights. Where a quotation holds for a stated period, say so, and reserve the right to re-quote if material prices move before the order is confirmed. Retention of title is worth having while finished metalwork sits in your yard, but under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 it is of little use once railings are bolted down and have become part of the land.

Consumer orders and the fourteen-day cancellation right

Gates measured at a customer's home, or ordered by email or telephone, fall within the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, which give the consumer fourteen days to cancel. Goods made to the consumer's specification or clearly personalised are an exception, which covers genuinely bespoke metalwork but not a stock panel ordered in a standard size. Installation is a service, so if you want to start inside that period you need the customer's express request. Leave the cancellation information out of your paperwork and the period can extend by up to twelve months.

Automation, safety and what happens after handover

Automation changes the risk profile completely, because a powered gate is a moving machine on a boundary the public can reach. Your terms should record what you installed, which safety devices were fitted, what force testing and handover documents were provided, and that the customer must not alter the installation or disable safety edges. Servicing should be the customer's responsibility from handover unless they buy a maintenance contract from you. Power supply and isolation by the customer's own electrician should be their obligation, including any certification or notification required under the Building Regulations. Liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence can never be excluded.

Finish, corrosion and what you actually guarantee

Hot dip galvanising leaves runs and a variable surface, coating colours vary between batches, hand-forged work is not uniform, and ironwork near the coast will corrode if it is neglected. Say so in the terms and describe the finish you are supplying. A corrosion guarantee is a good selling point, but make it conditional on the customer cleaning and touching up damage, and exclude chips caused by strimmers, gravel and vehicles. For consumers, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 still requires goods to be of satisfactory quality and as described, with a thirty-day right to reject, and no term can cut that down.

Main contractors, payment and liability caps

Selling to a builder or developer is a different game. Where the metalwork is fixed to the land, the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 applies to contracts between businesses and brings a right to adjudication, payment notice rules, staged payments where the work will take forty-five days or more, and a ban on pay-when-paid clauses. Your terms should set your own payment dates, claim interest and fixed compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, resist open-ended retention, and cap liability at a level your insurance supports, with consequential loss excluded.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

A customer wants to cancel a bespoke gate that is already in the workshop. Where do I stand?

Goods made to the consumer's specification or clearly personalised sit outside the fourteen-day cancellation right, so everything turns on whether the order really was bespoke. That depends on your paperwork: an approved drawing, the site measurements and a dated confirmation from the customer. I draft the ordering steps alongside the terms so the exception is genuinely available when you need it.

Should I offer a maintenance contract for automated gates?

Most fabricators should, because the automated gate that has never been serviced is the one that causes an injury and a claim. Keep the maintenance arrangement separate from the installation terms, price it for a fixed period, and make clear in the installation terms that without it the customer carries responsibility for inspection and servicing from handover.

A main contractor has sent me their order form and their own terms. What should I do?

Read them before the steel is cut. The provisions that hurt fabricators are set-off, retention, extended payment dates and open-ended liability for delay to the wider programme. Decide what you can live with and negotiate the rest in writing before you accept the order. Where terms are already in front of you, my review is £495 and comes back in three working days.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Ask Caesar, £495 a month
• Terms and conditions for a window and door installer
• Terms and conditions for a builder doing commercial work

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.