How the price is calculated
Fences are priced by the linear foot. Every job has a starting price that covers the first 50 feet (the trip, the layout, the post holes and the setup), then a rate for each foot after that. The calculator uses typical installed rates for a licensed, insured company:
- Wood privacy, 6 ft: $2,000 for the first 50 ft, then $30 a foot. 150 ft comes to $5,000
- Vinyl privacy, 6 ft: $2,400, then $36 a foot. 150 ft comes to $6,000
- Chain link, 4 ft galvanized: $1,100, then $17 a foot. 150 ft comes to $2,800
- Aluminum or ornamental, 4 to 5 ft: $2,200, then $34 a foot. 150 ft comes to $5,600
The result is shown as a range, because rock, slopes, trees on the line and local material prices move the final number. Gates and tear-out of an old fence are added on top. For what drives each of those, read fence installation cost per foot.
How to measure your fence line
Walk it with a measuring wheel or pace it off (one adult step is about 2.5 feet). Measure each side separately and add them up. Do not count the side of the house or a neighbor's fence you will tie into. Leave the gate openings in the total; the calculator adds the gate itself as an extra.
Fence materials calculator
For a wood privacy fence with posts every 8 feet:
- Posts: length ÷ 8, plus 1, plus 1 extra for each gate. 150 ft takes 20 posts
- Rails: 3 per 8-foot section on a 6 ft fence. 150 ft is 19 sections, so 57 rails
- Pickets: length in inches ÷ 5.5 for standard 5.5 inch boards butted together. 150 ft takes about 328 pickets; buy 5% extra for bad boards
- Concrete: 2 bags of 50 lb fast-setting mix per post in normal soil. 20 posts take 40 bags
Vinyl and aluminum come in 6 or 8 foot panels, so count panels (length ÷ panel width, rounded up) and posts (panels + 1). Chain link needs a terminal post at every end and corner, line posts every 10 feet and a top rail the full length.
For fence companies
The same calculator goes on your website with your own starting price, rate per foot, gates and add-ons. Your customers see your range at 9 p.m. instead of calling three companies, and you get the lead with the fence type and the footage.