Chain link and wood privacy fence cost in Georgia

Where chain link and wood privacy usually land around Rome

Fence work is priced by the foot of fence installed, which makes the length of your run the first number that matters. These ranges can't stand in for a quote on your yard, but they're a good yardstick for one. If a quote lands far outside its range, ask what's in it. A good answer is usually something you can see from the back door, like a slope, a rock outcrop or an old fence that needs hauling off.

Most jobs land inside these ranges, and bigger ones go past the top. Flat ground, a straight line and easy access sit toward the bottom, while a hill, rock, a pile of corners or a fence that has to come out first sit toward the top. Here's where each one usually lands:

• Chain link: $15 to $30+ per foot installed.
• Wood privacy: $25 to $40+ per foot installed. Boards set edge to edge for privacy.

Why does chain link cost less than wood privacy?

Look at what goes into each foot. Chain link is a thin steel fabric stretched between line posts that can sit about ten feet apart, with heavier posts only at the ends, the corners and the gates. Wood privacy is lumber for every foot of the run: posts about eight feet apart, rails to carry the boards, and screws or nails in every one of them. More material and more hands per foot account for much of the gap.

Wind adds to it. A solid wood fence catches what chain link lets through, so the posts have to hold against a push that a chain link run barely feels, and that's why a privacy fence is built heavier at the ground.

Chain link has labor of its own that people tend to underrate. The fabric has to be pulled tight and tied off, and a loosely stretched run sags and won't tighten itself back up. If privacy isn't the point, chain link holds a boundary, and a dog that doesn't dig, and its range starts lower.

What moves a fence quote up or down

The range is for fence in the ground. The quote you get is for your yard. Slope and rock can't be judged from the street or from a photo, so be wary of a firm number for a brand new run that came from a phone call alone.

These are the things that separate the range from your quote:

• Footage, plus every corner, end and gate post along the way. Those posts carry more load than the ones between them.
• Height. A taller fence uses more material and wants deeper posts, so check what height a quote assumes.
• The ground. Rock near the surface, tree roots and soil that stays soaked make every hole more expensive to dig.
• Slope. A run can step down a hill in level sections or follow the grade, and the two are built differently.
• Gates. A walk gate and a drive gate are different pieces of work, and each needs a post built to hang it.
• What's there now. An old fence has to come out, and whatever it leaves in the ground gets dealt with.
• Access. Can a machine reach the line, and how far does material get carried from the road?

What about vinyl, gates and replacing posts?

Here's what moves the price on each of those three. Spaced picket and ranch rail are different fences from wood privacy, with a different amount of lumber in them.

Vinyl is a manufactured panel system, so the price follows the style, the color and the post system. A gate is its own build: it hangs from one post that gets levered every time it swings, so the post, the hardware and the width of the opening, a person or a truck, are what you're paying for. Replacing a post on an existing run turns on how the old one was set, whether concrete has to come out, and how much of the fence on each side has to be unfastened to get at it.

Putting new boards on a run with sound posts is a small job next to rebuilding the run, and new boards on posts that have gone won't outlast the posts. The way to tell is to push a screwdriver into each post right where it leaves the dirt, and how to probe a post for rot shows what you're feeling for.

A single post or a gate that's stopped latching is a small job in its own right, and small jobs cost less per item when they travel together. The arithmetic on bundling small repairs shows how much a shared trip saves.

Can you build a fence yourself?

A short run of either type is a fair DIY job if you've got a helper and a rented auger. The holes are the work, and that's where a homemade fence goes wrong if it's going to. Call 811 before you dig, because Georgia requires it and the locate is free.

Wood privacy is the more forgiving of the two to build, since boards hung to a level hide a post that's slightly off. Chain link wants tension. You'll need a stretcher bar and a come-along, and the fabric only looks right when the posts are dead plumb and in a straight line.

It stops being a weekend project with a long run, a steep slope, ground full of rock, or a gate wide enough to drive through. Where the line runs is a surveyor's question, so build to a boundary you can point at. Set it on the wrong side and you're moving it.

Before you say yes to a number

Put quotes side by side only after they describe the same fence: same footage, same height, same material, with gates and tear-out on lines of their own. A figure that quietly leaves out the gates or the haul-off will always look better than one that includes them, and so will one that's silent on what happens if a hole hits rock.

Permits and HOA rules come before posts, not after. How permits work and who usually pulls one is worth five minutes, and your city or county building office, plus your HOA if you have one, settles it for your address.

For a second number on your own yard, send the footage, a photo down the line and one of any gate through fence installation and repair. A new run still gets a look at the ground before the number is firm, and the quote won't cost you anything.

Questions that come with this one