Start with Dothan's fence application
A fence plan often begins with a picture of the finished yard: a privacy screen around the patio, a low run of pickets out front, a gate wide enough for the mower. In Dothan it can pay to put a document next to that picture early on. The city's fence permit application spells out what it wants to see, and reading it while the plan is still a pencil sketch lets you raise the right questions before any company prices the job.
What the application spells out
Dothan's fence permit application must include a site plan showing the fence. The application also says:
- no fence may be built on a right of way;
- no fence may go on an easement until a Hold Harmless Agreement is filed with Engineering Services;
- fences in a historic district need Historic Preservation Commission approval first;
- a fence serving as a swimming pool barrier must be at least 48 inches high, with self-locking latches on all gates.
Those lines turn into questions for your own lot. Where does the right of way along your street end? Does an easement cross the part of the yard you want to enclose? Is the house inside a historic district? Will the new fence serve as a pool barrier? Your deed, plat or survey may answer some of these. For the rest, ask each contractor how it will find out, and ask whether your fence calls for a permit at all.
Then settle who does the paperwork. Ask whether the company draws the site plan, who submits the application, and whether any fee and the time spent on it are inside the quoted price or listed on top of it.
Two questions about licenses
The City of Dothan says building contractors need a City of Dothan business license in addition to construction permits, and that in each Alabama county or municipality where a business works it is subject to that jurisdiction's licensing requirements.
Put two questions to every company that bids, and note the answers on its quote along with the name of the person who gave them:
- "Do you hold a current City of Dothan business license?"
- "What state license or registration, if any, covers this work, and what is the number?"
The residential code the city adopted
The City of Dothan adopted the 2021 International Residential Code for One and Two-Family Dwellings (Section R313 deleted) under Ordinance 2024-343, effective January 1, 2025.
Ask the contractor whether, and how, that code touches the fence you are planning.
Finding the edge of your lot
A site plan is only as good as the lot line drawn on it. Look for the corner pins or other markers your survey shows, and compare them with what you and your neighbors have long assumed. If the markers are gone, or the survey and the ground seem to disagree, a land surveyor can find and flag the corners.
Show the neighbors on each side a copy of your sketch before the crew arrives. They may have questions about which face of the fence will point their way, or where a gate swings. If someone next door wants to share the cost of a fence on the common line, write the agreement down. Ask each contractor how far inside the line it plans to set posts and who checks the stakes on the first morning.
Buried pipes and wires
Digging post holes disturbs soil you may never have turned. Ask who will request a utility locate before digging, and how much notice that takes. Then ask what the public locate leaves unmarked. Lines you own, such as irrigation pipe, wiring to a shed or a yard light, a gas feed to a grill or a buried pet fence, may not be painted on the grass. Walk the route with the crew lead and point out everything you know about.
Matching the material to the job
Decide what the fence has to do before choosing what it is made of.
- To keep a dog in, ask how close to the ground the bottom edge will sit.
- To screen a patio, ask whether full height is needed along every stretch or only one.
- To mark a front yard, an open picket or metal style may do.
Each material brings its own upkeep. Wood takes stain or paint and can be mended a board at a time. Vinyl comes in its own color. For aluminum and steel, ask what coating protects the metal and how a chip is touched up. Chain link can be bare or coated, with slats as an option. Ask every bidder what its material will ask of you in the years ahead.
Posts and gates, in detail
Ask each company to describe, in writing:
- what the posts are made of and, for wood, whether they are rated for ground contact;
- how each post is set, and how deep the holes go;
- the spacing between line posts, and whether corner, end and gate posts are a heavier size;
- how wide each gate is, which hinges and latch come with it, and how it is braced against sagging.
Coverage and the contract
Ask for proof of liability coverage and workers' compensation before work begins, and call your own insurer if you are unsure what your homeowner's policy covers while a crew is in the yard. Ask for the contract in writing, and ask what happens to the price if a hole turns up a buried slab or a tangle of roots.
Before you sign a quote
Read each written quote with a pen in hand and ask yourself whether you can point to:
- a drawing of the route with every gate and corner marked;
- the height, the material and the board or panel style;
- the post details and gate hardware described above;
- tear-out and haul-away of any old fence;
- who prepares the site plan and files the application;
- the answers to both license questions;
- separate warranty terms for materials and labor;
- the deposit, each payment step and a start window.
Anything you cannot find is a question for that company before the totals are compared.