What Is a Prefabricated Gatehouse, and Why Should You Get One?

How important is a gatehouse for your business or worksite? The answer might surprise you.

These unassuming booths are often the first part of your property that your visitors encounter. That means your gatehouse and its employees set the tone for your entire worksite, and maybe your entire company. Gatehouses are crucial to maintaining site security and controlling site capacity.

This small building, in short, could play a big role in your company’s success. And a prefabricated gatehouse can offer you the most bang for your buck—without sacrificing employee comfort or visitor experience.

Interested in learning more about the prefabricated gatehouse option for your company? Read on to learn more.

What is a Prefabricated Gatehouse?

What exactly are we talking about when we say prefabricated gatehouse? Let’s break it down:

The gatehouse part is simple enough. It’s a small structure that’s been used since ancient times to monitor and control who enters a property.

A desk with one security guard can be enough to control the entrance to a compact space such as the elevator area at an office building. But what if you need to protect a larger area, such as an academic campus or an employee parking lot? You’ll need security gatehouses to monitor important outdoor entry points.

Doing that monitoring is no easy job. It requires long, monotonous shifts (often averaging 12 hours) while facing everything Mother Nature has to offer. Hail, snow, fog, baking sun, freezing nights—watchmen have seen it all.

Gate personnel are also exposed to some of the most unpredictable security factors on your property. They face all comers, including members of the public who aren’t welcome or may have criminal intent. Unwelcome visitors—even nice ones who wander in by accident—can cause serious issues on the property.

Those visitors can jeopardize employee safety at higher-risk worksites such as construction projects. They can steal physical and intellectual property. They can complicate capacity monitoring (and lower sales revenue) at ticketed events.

There’s no doubt about it: gate employees have an important yet sometimes challenging job. Gatehouses provide them with the basic tools they need to do that job while sheltering them from security risks and the elements.

A prefabricated building comes to you already partially or fully constructed. The word “prefabricated” may invoke a child’s playhouse you unwrap on Christmas morning.

But prefabricated buildings can actually be technologically advanced, complex, and highly durable. Prefabricated designs such as container offices will play larger and larger roles in the workspaces of the future.

Reasons to Get a Prefabricated Gatehouse

What are some reasons you might need a gatehouse—and why, specifically, should you pick a prefabricated one? There are lots of important reasons:

Quicker and Cheaper Construction

Let’s say you decide to build your own gatehouse. The thing is, any construction project is still a project.

That means hiring electricians, construction workers, and other contractors. It requires dealing with insurance coverage, permitting requirements, and on-site safety measures. All of these considerations can add up to a significant final price tag.

Construction projects inevitably disrupt the workday for other employees. There will be noise, dust, and parking issues. So in addition to spending money on the project, you’re also losing money due to diminished employee productivity.

Sometimes construction projects are a necessary evil, even factoring these problems into account. But that’s not the case with gatehouses. Instead of constructing one, you can simply buy a prefabricated gatehouse.

Prefabricated gatehouses ship quickly and install in one day. There’s minimal labor and construction involved. You save money by avoiding all the complexities and costs of an on-site construction project. You save your employee’s productivity (and ears and parking spaces) by minimizing disruption to their workdays.

Giving Employees the Environment and Tools they Need

If you’ve built a toolshed at home, it can be tempting to think you can build a gatehouse just as easily. They’re both just tiny houses, right?

But the fact is, your employees won’t do their best in a bare-bones gatehouse. They need to be able to focus on their jobs in sweltering heat and freezing cold. They need to be able to survey their surroundings, feel safe from threats, and greet visitors easily.

Depending on your staffing arrangements, security needs, and worksite layout, they may have other needs as well. They may need to share the gatehouse with other employees, heat food, or monitor video feeds. The gatehouse floor plan might need to include a bathroom.

Some high-security locations may even need accommodations for drug or bomb-sniffing dogs. Pooches need food, water, and comfortable working conditions too!

This essential role requires an adequate working environment. A DIY gatehouse often can’t meet employee needs. An elaborate construction project takes a lot of time, expertise, and money to meet basic employee needs.

A prefabricated gatehouse is a cost-effective way to create the working environment your employees need to succeed.

Creating A Good Impression

Providing a good working environment for your gatehouse employees isn’t just about keeping your property secure. When people visit your property, your gatehouse workers are the first employees they meet. A good impression in this crucial interaction goes a long way.

Employees in good working environments can give visitors a professional and friendly first impression. Employees dealing with poor conditions may struggle to do the same.

Your gatehouse workers will often be the first people to greet your other employees at the start of each workday. That means a positive, professional gatehouse employee can set a positive tone for your entire workforce.

Prefabricated gatehouses are the most cost-effective options for creating these positive first impressions. They let you customize ideal employee working conditions and visitor interactions.

Gatehouses can even become part of your marketing. Custom colors, logos, and other design touches can turn your everyday gatehouse into a branded experience.

Cost-Effective Yet Customizable

We’ve talked a lot by now about why constructing your own gatehouse from the ground up often isn’t a good idea. So what can prefabricated gatehouses offer that’s better?

One of their biggest draws is their customizability. Manufacturers offer both complex and simple gatehouse designs. Here are just a few prefabricated gatehouse customizable components:

• Electrical outlets
• AC for hot environments
• Baseboard heating for cold environments
• Sliding windows and doors for easy interaction with visitors
• Lockable windows and doors for security
• Roof-mounted cameras and spotlights for extra security
• One-person or multi-person desk setups
• Video monitor setups
• Phone and internet connectivity
• Safes for secure cash storage
• Shatter-proof windows
• Attached employee restrooms
• Custom color and logo detailing

Prefabricated gatehouse makers (like Guardian Booth) use industry expertise and specialized manufacturing equipment. That keeps costs low and quality high. The resulting gatehouses create positive experiences for both visitors and employees.

Transportable Yet Durable

One of the biggest perks of going with a prefabricated gatehouse is easy installation. Almost all models ship fully constructed. All you need to do is hook them up to electricity, and you’re ready to go.

A prefabricated gatehouse’s easy setup isn’t limited to the initial factory shipment. Many prefabricated gatehouse owners move them around worksites frequently. Models can come with forklift pockets for easy lifting or even wheels for towing.

That’s especially useful if you have a workplace where conditions change frequently, like a construction site. Sometimes workplaces that don’t regularly need a gatehouse will rent one for a few hours for a large-scale event. Afterward, the gatehouse goes back to the rental warehouse—that’s how transportable they are.

Transportability doesn’t matter much, of course, if the gatehouse starts falling apart after a few moves. That’s why prefabricated gatehouses are built to be extremely durable.

At Guardian Booth, our standard model uses double-layered aluminum siding with weather-resistant insulation. We also use galvanized diamond floor plates and a solid-steel forklift-compatible frame and base. Visit our site to learn more about the features and benefits of Guardian Booth security guard house.

Pick Your Prefabricated Gatehouse Partner Carefully

Hopefully, by now, we’ve convinced you that prefabricated gatehouses are the way to go. However, it’s important to note that not all manufacturers are the same. A good prefabricated gatehouse maker offers quality materials and workmanship, fair prices, and responsive customer service.

At Guardian Booth, we’ve built our business around offering customers all of those things. Whatever your budget or gatehouse needs, we can work with you to provide a high-quality prefabricated solution. Contact us today to learn more.