OT--How expensive to fence a yard

[albionmoonlight]

So I am looking at houses, planning with the fiancee to travel to NC in a few weeks to look them over and make offers.

We want a fenced yard on our house (we've had our dog for a year in our apartment with no fenced yard and as much as we love having to go for a walk every time she needs to do her business, we are ready for a lazier approach.)

Anyway, some of the houses that we see look great, but for their lack of a fenced back yard. We may decide to buy one of them and fence the yard ourselves (or--more to the point--pay someone to do it for us).

I've tried to do some research online as to how much that would cost and have only found places willing to give quotes.

Does anyone here know about how much it costs to fence a reasonable (.25 acres or so) back yard? I don't need exact figures--but I have no idea if we are talking about hundreds of dollars or thousands or dollars or . . . One Millllllllllllllion Dollars.

Having a real rough # in mind will help me price the non-backyard houses appropriately.

Thanks.

[BishopMVP]

I have no idea, but the thread title just cracked me up because we spent a month or two last year in Math doing fence problems.

[HerRealName]

Get a shock collar with a remote instead. $60 and problem solved. There are also wireless dog fences that are available for much less (maybe $200?) than the cost of a fence.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Rule #1 -- Make sure, in advance & don't just take the agent's word for it, that local zoning & building ordinances would allow you to add a fence to the yard in question.

Rule #1b -- Make sure, in advance, what sort of fences would/wouldn't be allowed for the yard in question.

In some cases, the answer to #1 is "none", and in other cases the answer to #1b is "only very specific types".

If this is really a big deal for you, possibly even a dealbreaker (which is the impression I'm getting from your question), then it's better to make sure rather than be sorry.

Beyond that, here's an idea (because I'm not really finding much in a quick search online either) -- check the cost of various fencing materials at Home Depot, Lowe's, etc. Then add-in something for cost of labor, supervision, etc. & you should at least have an idea whether this is a $2k project or a $20k project.

Hope that's at least a sliver of help,
Jon

[cthomer5000]

Chain-link wire fencing -- either vinyl-coated or galvanized -- remains the nation's top seller, accounting for more than half of all fence sales, according to U.S. Department of Commerce figures. </FONT>

A lot of that has to do with price. At about $6 per foot installed, chain link is relatively inexpensive. A 4-foot wooden picket with 3-inch spacing, by way of contrast, starts at about $9 a foot installed, and a 6-foot solid wood privacy fence goes for about $13-$14 per foot. Then there's ornamental aluminum, which sells for anywhere from $19 to $27 per foot, depending on height, space between pickets and whether or not the tops are rolled or swooped and sport decorative finials.</FONT>

PVC fencing, which typically comes in white, beige or gray, can run from about $17 per foot installed for a 4-foot contemporary style to more than $28 per foot for a solid, 6-foot privacy fence. Ornamental steel can cost between $21 to $30 per foot, and wrought iron can run anywhere from $17 a foot to more than $100, depending on its weight and complexity of design.</FONT>

One way to scale down fencing costs is to install it yourself -- provided you have the right tools (posthole digger, circular saw), are handy with a level and aren't afraid of concrete.</FONT>

A 36-inch-by-8-foot panel of white vinyl picket fencing costs $32.96 at Lowe's while a 42-inch-by-8-foot panel of white scallop-top vinyl runs $37.91 (posts and post tops are sold separately). A 6-foot square piece of vinyl privacy fence panel is a bit more expensive, at $59.97.</FONT>



Home Depot, too, offers both vinyl and wood fence panels. A 42-inch-by-8-foot spruce French Gothic panel with double-nailed pickets costs $14.65; a 4-foot-by-8-foot spruce stockade fence panel, $16.50; and a 6-foot-by-8-foot pressure-treated stockade panel, $27.95. </FONT>While material is an important consideration because it pretty much dictates how much a fence will cost, homeowners need to stop and think first about why they want a fence.</FONT>



http://www.vinylbydesign.com/site/tertiary.asp?TRACKID=&DID=294&CID=217


hopefully that helps some...

[Ksyrup]

It varies greatly. In Tallahassee, we fenced our yard for about $1500. In Dallas, with a smaller yard, it cost my parents $4000.

[Tekneek]

We had ours fenced a few months back. While there are no 'covenants' or 'rules' in our subdivision, we decided it was best to "keep up with the Jones's" and got one of those black ones (I forget what it is really called). It cost us somewhere around $1800 or so, and from all accounts we were getting a good deal. Fencing is a lot more expensive than I realized, especially when just getting the regular steel one is not the option you are going with.

[Glengoyne]

Did our yard a couple of years back. Was just over $3000 doing it ourselves, and pretty well going on the cheap. That was for 250 linear feet of 6 foot pressure treated fence.

I guarantee you that my next back yard is smaller.

[Aylmar]

We had a company do our fence last fall. It's a 5' chain link (I wanted wood, but both my neighbors had chain link, so I went with the matching material). Cost us around $1400 dollars to fence in a nice sized corner lot. We live in a suburb of Chicago. Don't know if that really helps you, but there it is... :)

[primelord]

As other people have said it depends. What type of fence are looking to get. Chain link is cheaper than wood which is cheaper than vinyl. If you are willing to put the fence in yourself it will save you quite a bit of money. Putting up a 6' wood privacy fence around our yard that we installed ourselves cost ~ $2000. Vinyl would have cost us about $4000. And to have vinyl installed for us would have been close to $7000.

[Craptacular]

How about a leash tied to a stake in the ground?? :)

[Mac Howard]

I fenced 3 sides of a quarter acre block (approximately 100 metres) here in Australia about five years ago. I was quoted just over 8,000 Aussie dollars. I said "to hell with that" and did it myself for 5,500 dollars.

Allowing for inflation and conversion rate I think about the same in US dollars today. Perhaps a little less.

[WSUCougar]

Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?

[Draft Dodger]

we fenced in our tiny backyard ourselves (picket fence). cost a couple hundred dollars, including the rental of the power auger.

so, it looks like your answer is..."anywhere between $200 and $7,000"
:)

[-Panther]

1/4 square acre = 104.355 feet wide & 104.355 feet long

so:

each side is 104.355 feet long
you're only fencing 3 full sides + how ever far it is from each side of your house to the line.

104.355 x 3 = 313.065

assume about 50 ft for sides (25/side)

313.065 + 50 = 363.065 total feet needed.

figure $6/foot

363.065 x $6 = $2,178.39

when we fenced in our backyard (half acre) it costs us a little over $5,000 over 1.5 years ago.

[cuervo72]

I think to fence our back yard (6 foot, scalloped, no spaces, 2 single gates, 1/4 acre lot), or rather 3 sides of it, it cost around $3,000 or so. This was a couple of years ago, I think wood prices may have gone up a little since then.