The first contact

Ninety-six inches of what, exactly?

Published 2026-08-22 5 min read

The short answer

A 96-inch gap between posts and a 96-inch overall width are two different gates. Ask which measurement he took, and ask for a photo — the photo is what settles it.

He measured carefully. He wrote it on a scrap of paper, he read it out over the phone, and he was not wrong. He just did not mention where he held the end of the tape, because it did not occur to him that there was more than one place to hold it.

Ninety-six inches between the posts, with three-inch posts on each side, is a hundred and two inches overall. Build to the wrong one of those and the piece is either six inches too small or six inches too wide, and either way it is in your shop and not in his driveway.

Example dimensions. Both numbers describe the same opening honestly, and only one of them is the one you need.

This is not the customer being careless

Reference points are a trade habit, not common sense. The same person who cannot tell you whether he measured inside or overall can rebuild an engine or file a tax return. He has simply never had a reason to think about datum, and nothing in his life is going to teach him except an expensive mistake.

Which means it is not his job to get this right. It is yours to ask in a way that makes it impossible to get wrong.

Ask for both numbers, not the right one

The instinct is to explain the difference and then ask for the correct measurement. It works less well than it should, because he now has to understand your explanation before he can answer. Ask instead for two numbers: the gap between the posts, and the total width including them.

If they differ by roughly twice the post width, you know he understood. If they are the same number, you know he measured once and copied it, and you have found the problem before cutting anything.

The photo is the referee

One picture of the opening, taken square-on from a few steps back, resolves nearly every remaining ambiguity: whether the posts are set or still to be installed, whether the ground falls away, whether there is a wall return in the way, whether what he called a post is a post or a tree.

And it tells you the one thing that never appears on a customer’s sketch: what he is fixing to. Concrete, brick, block, wood and stucco all change the fixing, and the fixing changes the price. Ask outright, and let the photo confirm the answer.

Five questions and what each prevents. Our own reasoning, from where fabricated work actually comes back.
What the request form asks	What it prevents
Both dimensions — between posts and overall	One number that describes two different pieces of work.
A photo taken square-on from a few steps back	A description of a situation that has to be imagined.
What the posts or walls are made of	A fixing method priced on an assumption.
Whether the posts are already in the ground	A gate built to fit an opening that does not exist yet.
Which side it should open toward and how high off the ground	A piece that fits perfectly and swings into the flower bed.

The measuring block — copy it and put your own tolerances in the brackets

Heading, in his words: “How do I measure for a quote?”
The two numbers, asked plainly: “Send us both: the gap between the posts, and the total width including the posts. Two numbers, not one. If you only send one we have to guess which it is.”
How to hold the tape: “Measure at [where you want it: the top, the middle and the bottom] and give us all three if they differ. Openings are rarely square, and we would rather know now.”
The photo: “One photo standing square-on, a few steps back, with the whole opening in frame. That answers more questions than a page of description.”
What it fixes to: “Tell us what the posts or walls are — [concrete, brick, block, wood, stucco]. That decides the fixings and it changes the price.”
The things nobody thinks to say: “[Which way it should open, how much ground clearance, whether anything crosses the opening, whether it has to be liftable by one person.]”
What you do with imperfect information: “If something is unclear we will [call before cutting / come and measure ourselves for a fee that comes off the job], rather than build to a guess.”

The last point is worth stating even though it costs you a phone call. The alternative — building to a guess and hoping — costs a piece of metal, a day, and the only thing in this trade that cannot be re-cut.

Why this beats a drawing

Customers send drawings, and drawings feel like precision. They are not, because a drawing inherits the same missing reference point and adds a scale nobody verified. Two numbers and a photograph carry more information than a neat sketch, and they take less time to produce. Say so on the page, kindly, and most people will be relieved.