When you want a privacy screen consider a stockade fence, with its tightly fitted pickets, that provides a solid barrier between your property and your neighbors. A stockade fence, made of wood or vinyl, also makes a nice backdrop for a garden landscape. You’ll find fence sections 6 feet high by 8 feet wide sold at home and lawn and garden centers and custom-made fences by fencing contractors.
A fence contractor will charge $3,500, including labor and material, to build a 50-foot-long vinyl stockade fence with an entrance gate. A homeowner with carpentry skills and tools can buy the fence components and build it for $1,800, saving you 49 percent.
If you’re considering any type of fence project for your property, it’s important to carefully read your property survey to make sure you know exactly where your property ends and your neighbor’s begins. Then contact your local building department to ask about code requirements for fences so you choose a style and height of fence that will meet those requirements.
If you plan to do it yourself, be advised that fence building is difficult and strenuous work. The brainwork is planning the layout and determining the material needed, including the cement to secure the post holes, and the hardware to fasten the panels together. The grunt work of digging the post holes, pouring cement for the posts, and muscling the panels in place takes more strength and stamina.
To find more DIY project costs and to post comments and questions, visit www.diyornot.com and m.diyornot.com on smartphones.
Pro Cost — DIY Cost — Pro time — DIY Time — DIY Savings — Percent Saved
$3,500 — $1,800 — 14.3 — 24.0 — $1,700 — 49 Percent
Copyright 2023 Gene and Katie Hamilton. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
