Three sketches before anyone visits
A pencil, a clipboard and a free afternoon can do a lot of the early work on a Johnstown fence. Before you phone a single company, try drawing the fence three ways: once from above, as a map of the yard; once from the side, as a neighbor would see it; and once up close at every opening. None of the drawings has to be neat. Their job is to make you decide things now that a crew would otherwise decide for you later, and to give every bidder the same picture to price.
Sketch one: the yard from above
Start with the house as a box and the lot around it. Add the driveway, the walks, the patio or deck, sheds, play equipment, garden beds and any trees near where you want the fence. Then draw the fence itself as a line, marking every place it turns or stops.
Along that line, write what sits close to it:
- a spigot, a meter, a window well or an outdoor unit that someone will need to reach;
- a spot where rainwater crosses the yard after a heavy shower;
- a tree whose trunk or roots sit near the planned posts;
- a stretch where the ground rises or drops.
Pace off each straight run and jot the rough length beside it. Your numbers may not match a crew's tape exactly, and that is fine; they give you a way to notice if one company's footage is far off from another's.
Sketch two: the fence from the side
Now draw the fence as it would look standing in the yard. This view answers questions the map cannot. How tall should it be along each stretch? Should the face be solid boards, spaced pickets, open metal or mesh? Is the top flat, capped or shaped?
If part of the route runs uphill or downhill, draw that too. A fence on a grade can be built in level sections that step down, or with a frame that follows the slope. The two can look quite different from the street, and a gap can open beneath the bottom rail on a stepped section. Mark which look you prefer, and plan to ask each company how it would close any gap.
Sketch three: each opening up close
Draw every gate on its own, larger than the rest. Note what passes through it: a mower, a wheelbarrow, bins, a bicycle, a stroller. Measure the widest of those things rather than guessing, and write the width you want. Mark which way the gate should swing and what is in its path on that side. Decide whether it should latch from one side or both, whether it should lock, and whether it should close by itself.
Johnstown/Cambria in NOAA's engineering weather data
Johnstown/Cambria, about 6 miles from Johnstown, is the nearest station to Johnstown in NOAA's engineering weather data; its elevation is 2,284 feet. NOAA's data gives that station a 1% summer design temperature of 84°F with a mean coincident wet-bulb temperature of 70°F, and a 99% winter design temperature of 6°F. NOAA also counts, in an average year at Johnstown/Cambria, about 69 hours with the wet-bulb temperature above 73°F and about 684 hours above 67°F.
Fitting the sketch to the lot line
A drawing of the yard is only as good as the boundary underneath it. Look through your closing papers for a survey or plat, and walk the yard looking for the corner pins or monuments it shows. If you cannot find them, or they seem to disagree with an old hedge or a neighbor's fence, a land surveyor can locate the corners and flag them.
Once you know where the line runs, show your sketches to the households beside you. They may have a view on which face looks toward them, how tall the fence stands near their windows, or how they will reach their side of it to mow or trim. Ask each company how far inside the line it plans to set the posts, and who checks the stakes against the corners before digging.
What lies under the route
Ask each bidder who requests utility marks before the work, how far ahead that request goes in, and whether the crew waits for the marks. Then add to your map whatever you know runs underground on your own side of the meters: a sprinkler line, a cable to a garage or yard light, a drain from a downspout, a pet containment wire. Walk the route with the crew lead on the first morning and point out each one.
Pennsylvania's registration rule
Pennsylvania's Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act requires every contractor who performs at least $5,000 of home improvements a year to register with the state Attorney General's Office.
The question to put to each company: "Are you registered with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office as a home improvement contractor, and what is the registration number?" Write the answer on your copy of that company's sketch, along with who gave it and when.
Coverage, and your own policy
Ask each company for proof of liability coverage and workers' compensation before any work begins. If you are unsure how your homeowner's policy treats a crew working in your yard, call your insurer and ask.
Approval from the city and any association
Ask the city whether a fence of the height and style you drew calls for any approval, and what an application would need to show. If a homeowners association covers your street, find out whether it reviews fences and in what order the two approvals come. Then ask each bidder whether it prepares the paperwork, and whether any fee sits inside its price.
Reading what comes back
Give every company the same three sketches and ask that its written proposal follow them. When the proposals arrive, hold each one against your drawings: the route and footage, the height and face for each stretch, how a slope is handled, every gate with its width, swing and hardware, the posts and how they are set, removal of any old fence, cleanup, the material and workmanship warranties, the payment steps and a start window, and the registration answer. Where a proposal departs from your sketch, ask the company why, and ask for the change in writing before you compare totals.