What drives the cost of a fence

Because a per-foot price is only true until somebody asks what's in it. Once it has to cover a gate, a slope, a tear-out and a wheelbarrow route around the side of the house, the number moves — and a quote that moves after you accepted it is the thing everyone hates about this industry.

So instead of a price list, here is the honest version: what actually changes the number, so you can read any quote — ours or anyone else's — and tell whether it accounted for your yard.

The obvious driver, and the one everyone gets right. Longer fence, more money.

What gets missed is that not all feet cost the same. A straight run across open grass is cheap. The same distance threading between a shed, an AC unit and a tree costs more, because the work per foot goes up.

A gate is not a section of fence with hinges. It's a framed, braced structure with hardware that has to stay square through a few thousand swings a year.

Every gate is a meaningful line item. A drive gate is a different order of magnitude again. If two quotes differ sharply, count the gates in each before anything else.

This is the biggest invisible variable, and it's where the cheapest quote usually got cheap.

Pressure-treated wood posts cost less up front and rot at the soil line. Steel posts cost more and take the rot question off the table permanently. The fence looks identical either way on install day, which is exactly why the difference shows up in the price and not in the photo.

A flat lot is a fast fence. A lot with real elevation change means either racking the panels to follow the ground or stepping them, and both take longer than building straight across.

Building straight across a slope is the cheap option and it leaves gaps under the fence. If a quote seems low on a sloped lot, this is often why.

Removing an existing fence is real labour and real disposal cost. Old posts set in concrete have to come out of the ground, which is slower than putting them in.

Check whether a quote includes it. 'Fence removal by others' at the bottom of a page is how a low number stays low.

Everything has to get to the back yard. A wide side gate and a flat run is easy. A narrow side yard, a steep bank, or a fully enclosed back that means carrying every picket through the house is not.

Nobody thinks about this until install day. It's worth mentioning during the walk.

Line them up on those six. If one is meaningfully cheaper, it is nearly always because it assumed a different answer somewhere — usually posts, tear-out, or gates.

That's fine, as long as you know which. A cheaper fence built knowingly is a decision. A cheaper fence built unknowingly is a change order.