Very rough ballpark estimate on a fence

[Anonymous]

We have a half acre yard in Fairfax County and have had tense relations with our next door neighbors on one side for years. One owner is retired and spends most of his day puttering on the property and often comes into our yard to mow, trim hedges, and do all sorts of things even though we've asked him not to. (You'd think mowing would be a good thing, but he will essentially just mow like 15 feet over the property line, not actually mow our whole lawn. And the trimming the shrubs thing is just intrusive because they are OUR shrubs! But it has gone way too far lately -- he has literally had two of our trees cut down without our permission and last summer dug up two giant Rose of Sharon bushes that I loved. I'll say up front that my husband and I are not great with yard maintenance beyond mowing the lawn which we do regularly, but what used to be lovely garden beds when we bought the place are now weedy messes, and we'd often let our bushes get overgrown. But too bad - it's our property, and we aren't retired, and if we want to let the shrubs grow big, as long as they're not on his property, it's not his business.

Anyway, when we first moved in, neighbors on both sides really were vocal about hoping that we never put up a fence because they're good friends and are used to crossing our back yard to visit with each other. They sometimes even visit with each other IN our yard for lengthy conversations. I honestly wouldn't even mind that all that much if the one guy on the one side wouldn't keep coming on our property and KILLING things.

So, it's gonna be tense, but we have to put up a fence, for sanity's sake, and peace. My DH wants to do it all himself, which frankly I think is insane. We don't even have time to weed garden beds; we certainly don't have time to build a fence. I can't really counter-argue without having a ballpark idea of how much professional fence installation would cost...$5,000? $10,000? $20,000?

We're not looking for a privacy fence - just something like split rail or picket fence that would just clearly mark "ours" from "theirs". Eventually, we'd love to get a small dog, so a fence that would actually fence in a dog would be ideal. I don't care whether it's wood or vinyl or whatever; no idea even what the price differences are between them. Basically we'd go for the cheapest other than a chain-link fence.

We'd be looking to fence the entire property which is about a half acre. Any ballpark ideas at all???? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

TLDR but i recently went through the process of getting proposals for a western red cedar fence with pressure treated pine posts. Pricing depends on fence type (eg, pressure treated pine vs cedar, and certain features such as gates, cap type, amount of lumber for the fence style) but for about 200 linear feet, 6 feet high and 1x4 inch boards) board and batten, it was approximately $8,000 (+/- $1,000). I had five separate estimates to compare and went with someone who could do the permitting and had the best reviews and references.

[Anonymous]

PP. one big thing. Make sure you know where you property line is so you don’t inadvertently have it built on public right of way or on your neighbors property. Our existing fence was on both our property and our neighbors. We also found other issues with encroachment by other neighbors on our property. Have a site survey completed or get the property staked if you’re not sure. This can run several thousand dollars depending on scope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TLDR but i recently went through the process of getting proposals for a western red cedar fence with pressure treated pine posts. Pricing depends on fence type (eg, pressure treated pine vs cedar, and certain features such as gates, cap type, amount of lumber for the fence style) but for about 200 linear feet, 6 feet high and 1x4 inch boards) board and batten, it was approximately $8,000 (+/- $1,000). I had five separate estimates to compare and went with someone who could do the permitting and had the best reviews and references.

Thanks - that's really helpful. I'm thinking ours would be something like 500 linear feet. Hopefully doing a substantially less high fence would be a bit cheaper. Any sense of whether vinyl was cheaper or more expensive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TLDR but i recently went through the process of getting proposals for a western red cedar fence with pressure treated pine posts. Pricing depends on fence type (eg, pressure treated pine vs cedar, and certain features such as gates, cap type, amount of lumber for the fence style) but for about 200 linear feet, 6 feet high and 1x4 inch boards) board and batten, it was approximately $8,000 (+/- $1,000). I had five separate estimates to compare and went with someone who could do the permitting and had the best reviews and references.

Thanks - that's really helpful. I'm thinking ours would be something like 500 linear feet. Hopefully doing a substantially less high fence would be a bit cheaper. Any sense of whether vinyl was cheaper or more expensive?

Sorry. I don’t know anything about vinyl because it’s not permitted in our neighborhood. Once you start checking out providers (Angieslist, checkbook, etc), you can get a quick sense of what things costs. Just try to make sure you’re comparing apples to apples in your estimates (eg, linear feet, fence height, board width, cap type, material for the boards, frame and posts, permitting included/excluded, etc).

[Anonymous]

OP, I don't have a cost estimate for you but I have a happy comment. We had a tense relationship with a neighbor. They put up a fence and it was glorious for both of us. Sometimes fences really do make the best neighbors! I hope the same holds true for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I don't have a cost estimate for you but I have a happy comment. We had a tense relationship with a neighbor. They put up a fence and it was glorious for both of us. Sometimes fences really do make the best neighbors! I hope the same holds true for you.

Thank you!!! In nearly every other way they are actually lovely neighbors. They guy just literally doesn’t respect the boundary. I know our neighbors on the other side will resent the fence but it’s worth it to me to avoid feeling this constant anger and defensiveness toward the other neighbor!

[Anonymous]

If your neighbors are unpleasant put up a tall fence. Did you ask them why they remove shrubs that are in your property?

[Anonymous]

Definitely do the fence. After I moved in, my retired neighbor came over to complain that my dc's had trampled on his grass while playing in the back yard. I apologized, offered to pay to sod the 5 square feet of grass they "damaged" and told him it wouldn't be an issue going forward because I was getting a fence. He became indignant and wanted to know what type of fence I would be putting up because he was worried it would keep out the sunlight and kill his grass. In one breath he complains my kids played on his grass (his backyard is about two feet deep before it hits my property line) and in the other wants to dictate to me how I keep my kids off of his grass and what I do with my property. Unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely do the fence. After I moved in, my retired neighbor came over to complain that my dc's had trampled on his grass while playing in the back yard. I apologized, offered to pay to sod the 5 square feet of grass they "damaged" and told him it wouldn't be an issue going forward because I was getting a fence. He became indignant and wanted to know what type of fence I would be putting up because he was worried it would keep out the sunlight and kill his grass. In one breath he complains my kids played on his grass (his backyard is about two feet deep before it hits my property line) and in the other wants to dictate to me how I keep my kids off of his grass and what I do with my property. Unbelievable.

Sounds like my neighbor who complained when mine was a newborn at the possibility of mine coming on their property. Funny enough, their kids constantly came onto ours and when we'd ask them to leave they said they had permission from their parents and our property was part of their boundary. People are strange.

[Anonymous]

Have you talked to him about where the property line is? Maybe you could mark it with potted ferns or something for a few months and see if that helps.

Totally though you can put up a fence. People will get over it.

[Anonymous]

Cheapest ball park for a four foot fence would probably be around $6-7k.

[Anonymous]

Have a survey done. It will cost about $5-600, but it is worth it to know the exact property lines. The surveyors can put in stakes to show your corners, so it will be obvious where the lines are.

Would it help if your neighbor just had a visual of where the lines are, even without a fence?

[Anonymous]

Not the OP but wondering who puts the stakes in.
We had a survey done about 18 months ago when we were doing a major renovation but now we want a fence and to get an estimate, I need it staked.

The fence guy said to call Montgomery County but that doesn't sound right to me

[Anonymous]

we did 500 ft. + 3 gates aluminum 4 ft fence for about $10K few years ago.