How to price fencing jobs

A per foot number is how customers compare fence quotes, so you need one. But a straight run on flat dirt and a run with three gates, two corners and a slope are not the same job at the same price. This guide builds the price from your materials and crew time, then checks it against published ranges.

What goes into a fence price

• Materials per foot. Pickets or panels, rails, posts, caps and fasteners, from your supplier's current price.
• Posts and concrete. Post count from your spacing, plus bags of concrete or gravel per hole.
• Gates. The gate, hinges, latch and the extra posts and bracing. Price gates as their own line.
• Labor. Layout, digging, setting posts, the cure time and the return trip to hang panels and gates.
• Site conditions. Slope, roots, rock, utility locates and old fence removal.
• Drive, overhead and profit. Trips there and back, plus the costs you pay every month and what the business keeps.

Setting your labor rate

Start with the wage. The closest group the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes is fence erectors. In its May 2025 wage survey, that group's national mean wage was $24.29 an hour and the median was $23.07 (BLS OEWS 47-4031).

Add your labor burden on top: payroll taxes, workers' comp and any paid time off. If burden in your state comes to 20% of wages, a $25 an hour tech costs you $30 an hour. That loaded number is what goes into the job cost.

Fixr's wood fence guide puts labor at $10 to $20 a foot, with fencing materials at $5 to $15 a foot, for $15 to $35 a linear foot installed (Fixr). That is a useful check on your own crew cost per foot.

Per linear foot benchmarks

The wide ranges come from height, material and site. Your own number should land in the band for the fence you are building, not the whole range.

A worked example: 200 feet of 6 foot wood privacy fence

All inputs are assumptions for the example.

• Run: 200 linear feet, flat yard, 8 foot post spacing, 26 posts including ends and the gate posts, one walk gate.
• Materials: $11 a foot for pickets, rails and posts from the supplier.
• Crew: two people, two days of nine hours, at $30 an hour loaded.
• Overhead 20% of the price and profit 15%.

1. Materials: 200 feet x $11 = $2,200
2. Gate hardware and one walk gate: $260
3. Concrete for posts: 26 posts x 2 bags x $6 = $312
4. Labor: 2 people x 2 days x 9 hours x $30 = $1,080
5. Locates, auger rental and blades: $180
6. Drive: 3 trips x 25 miles x $0.76 = $57
7. Direct cost: $2,200 + $260 + $312 + $1,080 + $180 + $57 = $4,089
8. Overhead plus profit: 20% + 15% = 35% of the price
9. Price: $4,089 / (1 - 0.35) = $4,089 / 0.65 = $6,291

Check it: 35% of $6,291 is about $2,202, and $6,291 minus $2,202 is about $4,089, the direct cost of $4,089. The profit and overhead are inside the price, not added on top of a cost you guessed.

That is about $31.45 a linear foot. Fixr's privacy wood fence range is $17 to $37 a foot installed, so this lands inside it. On a sloped yard or rocky ground, add the extra hours rather than raising the per foot number for everyone.

Three options on every fence quote

• Good: the fence they asked for, the $6,291 privacy fence above.
• Better: the same fence with cap boards, metal post bases or a wider double drive gate.
• Best: upgraded posts, stained or sealed after install, and a check-up visit the next spring.

Send all three with Koira's estimates. The customer picks, signs and pays the deposit on one page, and the job lands on your day once it is paid. The free fence linear feet calculator measures a run on the map, so you can give a first number before you drive out.

Use the job to win the street

A new fence is visible to every neighbor who walks past. Neighbor postcards tell the homes nearby that you just built one on their street. Koira prints and mails them, and each card is one flat price on every plan.

Common fence pricing mistakes

• One per foot price for every yard. Slopes, rock and roots take hours. Price them.
• Gates priced like fence. A gate is hardware, bracing and setup time.
• Skipping tear-out. Removing and hauling an old fence is its own line.
• Forgetting the return trip. If posts cure before panels go up, that is two trips.

How to raise your prices

• Rerun your cost math once a year with this year's wages, fuel, insurance and materials. If it gives a higher price than you charge, the gap is coming out of your pocket.
• Raise prices for new customers first. They have no old number to compare against.
• Tell repeat customers ahead of time, in writing, with the new price and the date it starts.
• Lumber moves fast. Date your material prices and recheck them before you send a quote on a big job.

Questions contractors ask