Background
Greg Sprinkle, owner of Cow Creek Ranch, had recently launched his clothing brand and needed an entry driveway gate that would help establish his brand.
We had previously installed a fence for one of Greg’s friends who then referred us to Greg as someone who could develop a custom design for the gate. As a result, Greg contacted us and asked if we could come out to ranch located near New River, AZ to survey the location for the new entryway and discuss his vision for the design of the gate.
Client Brief
Upon arriving to the property – located on the backside of Lake Pleasant – we were taken back by the scenic landscape that was Cow Creek Ranch and knew the gate had to be as bold and picturesque as the backdrop that encompassed the area.
Greg took us to the location of where the gate was to be installed and provided details on the desired demotions.
Greg knew that he wanted to have a gate designed that would include mountain ranges and feature his new logo directly in the center of the gate. He provided some photos which captured the inspiration of his vision for the new gate.
Google Photos 1
Google Photos 2
We were able to use these photos in conjunction with Greg’s request to get to work fabricating plans for the new design.
Design Process
Greg provided the precut logo that was to be the centerpiece for the gate so we started our design by sketching up some designs on graph paper starting with placing the logo on the center of the page. After drafting up a few sketches and sending them over for review, we knew the design that would end up being our roadmap for the final custom designed gate.
The design features a simple 3s principle. In nature style art elements are often grouped and presented in groups of threes. This is common especially when it comes to mountain ranges. This seemed like a good philosophy for us to integrate into the foundation of our design.
As we were finalizing the initial cuts and began free floating the metal cuts on the ground, it was clear we were missing a sense of realism and the boldness demanded by this project. In effort to make the gate feel less modern and more Southwest we began building up and laying the mountains with additional cuts. This quickly transformed the ranges from abstract to 2D. We knew we were ready to reveal the complete design to Greg for approval before welding all the elements together.
Installation
The structure was to be 14 feet high, with a 14 foot crossbeam at the top.
The most challenging part of installing the newly designed gate was the fact that we were erecting a large free-standing structure in the middle of a wash. For a gate like this normally the vertical posts would be 2x2s. However, washes can prove to be very wishy washy when it comes to trying to secure foundation posts. In this case we needed to install 4x4 posts to ensure the posts didn’t shift once installed.
We use an excavator to create four foot holes for the posts, and a skid steer to assist in mounting and securing the top beam.
The next day we mounted the gate. The final touch was to apply a rust inhibitor coating to the gate to ensure the gate matched the landscape and the desired look.
Greg loves his gate and feels it sets the tone as the entryway into his new apparel brand.