How to quote a fencing job

A fence is quoted by the linear foot, and the linear foot is the least interesting figure in the quote. What decides the price is how many posts the run needs, how many of those are corners, how many gates hang off it, and whether the ground will take a post hole where the drawing puts one.

Walk the line before you price it

  1. Measure the run in segments

    Every change of direction ends one segment and begins another. A single total length hides the corners, and corners are where the cost is.

  2. Count posts rather than feet

    Line posts fall on your spacing; corner, end and gate posts are set deeper, usually in more concrete and sometimes in a heavier size. They are priced separately because they are built separately.

  3. Locate every gate

    A gate is an assembly — two posts, hardware, a latch, and a hinge post carrying a swinging load — so it is priced as a unit rather than as the feet of fence it replaces.

  4. Book the utility locate before you promise a start

    Locates are not optional and they take days. A quote assuming a start date earlier than the locate can clear is a quote with a delay already built into it.

Terrain decides how the fence is built

A slope is handled either by racking the panels so they follow the ground or by stepping them and leaving a triangular gap beneath each one. Those are different amounts of labour and they look completely different when finished, so the quote should say which it prices — a client who pictured the other one has a fair complaint about a fence that is otherwise correct.

What moves a fencing number up

  • Rock, roots or heavy clay, which turns post holes from an auger job into a jackhammer job
  • No gate wide enough to get a machine into the yard, which puts every hole on a hand auger
  • Removing and disposing of an existing fence, which is its own line and often its own dumpster
  • Frost depth, which sets how deep every post goes and therefore how much concrete the job consumes
  • A survey pin nobody can find, and a neighbour with an opinion about where the line runs

Say what the price is held against

Valid for 30 days, and name what that period covers: cedar and steel post prices come off the yard's current list, and lumber moves. It is worth adding that the quote covers the line as walked — a run re-routed afterwards is re-measured rather than adjusted, because moving one corner changes the post count and the post count is the price.

Start from the fencing quote template

Common questions

Why are corner posts priced separately?
They carry tension from two directions, so they are set deeper and in more concrete than a line post and often in a heavier size. A run with six corners genuinely costs more than a straight run of the same length.
Should a gate be included in the linear-foot price?
No. A gate is posts, hardware and a hinge post carrying a swinging load, and it is priced as an assembly. Burying it in the per-foot rate makes every foot of plain fence look expensive to anyone comparing quotes.
What happens if the ground turns out to be rock?
Post holes stop being an auger job and become a jackhammer job, which can multiply the labour on the holes affected. It belongs in the exclusions so that hitting rock is a priced change rather than a loss.

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