Walk the route with a notepad
Before asking anyone for a price, walk the line where you want the fence to stand, slowly, the way a bidder will. Carry a notepad and a tape. At each stretch, jot down what a crew will meet there: open lawn or shrubs, flat ground or a slope, a clear path for a wheelbarrow or a tight squeeze beside the house. Those notes can help explain why one price differs from another, and they give every company the same starting point.
Footage and turns
Fence labor and material are often counted along the run, so the total length can set the base of the price. The shape matters as well. Each corner and each end can call for a sturdier post and extra layout time, so a route that doglegs around a flower bed can add hours compared with a straight run of the same length. Mark every turn on your notes, and ask each bidder whether a simpler line would still do what you need.
Height and how much the infill covers
A taller fence calls for longer boards or taller panels, more fasteners and sometimes heavier posts. How much the infill covers counts too. Spaced pickets leave gaps; a solid privacy face closes them; board-on-board and shadowbox styles look finished from both sides and take extra boards to get there. Caps, trim and lattice each become a line of their own. If you only need privacy along one side, ask for a split price: full height there, a lower style elsewhere.
Material and the years after
Ask every bidder to price the material and to describe what it will need from you later.
- Wood: stain or sealer, and an occasional board swapped out.
- Vinyl: cleaning; ask what the panel warranty leaves out.
- Aluminum or steel: ask about the coating and how scratches are repaired.
- Chain link: ask about the fabric gauge and whether a coated finish or slats are included.
What the auger may hit
Much of the digging ends up out of sight once the fence is standing. Roots, rock, rubble or a forgotten slab can stall an auger and send a crew to hand tools. Ask each company how it prices a hole that strikes something unexpected, and whether it will stop and call you before adding to the bill. On sloped ground, ask whether the price assumes stepped sections or a racked fence that follows the grade, and how the gap under the bottom rail will be handled.
Openings and hardware
Every gate brings its own pair of posts, a frame, hinges, a latch and fitting time. A drive gate or a double gate can need heavier posts and bracing than a single walk gate. Self-closing hinges, lockable latches and drop rods are further items. Ask what each opening includes and what its hardware is made of.
The old fence
If an old fence is coming down, ask whether its removal is priced at all. Ask whether old posts are pulled or cut off, whether concrete collars come out of the ground, who fills the holes, and whether hauling and disposal are part of the number.
Ordinance sections named on the application
The fence application says fences must follow the City of Dothan Code of Ordinances, specifically Section 98-10 (sight distance triangles), 114-176 (corner visibility), 114-183(3) (conforming structures) and 114-132 (dimensional regulations).
Ask each bidder how its layout and price take those sections into account.
The Permits and Inspections office
Dothan's Permits and Inspections office is in the Roy Driggers Municipal Building (Dothan Civic Center), 126 North Saint Andrews Street; applications are processed Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., phone (334) 615-4450.
Ask each bidder whether preparing and filing any application is part of its price, and whether any fee is included or billed separately.
Figures from NOAA's engineering weather data for Dothan
NOAA engineering weather data for Dothan (elevation 400 feet) gives a 1% summer design temperature of 93°F with a mean coincident wet-bulb temperature of 76°F, and a 99% winter design temperature of 30°F. NOAA's engineering weather data for Dothan also lists a 50-year basic wind speed of 100 mph (3-second gust at 33 feet), a 100-year rainfall rate of 4.3 inches per hour and about 14 freeze-thaw cycles in an average year.
Deposits and the payment schedule
Ask how much is due at signing, what is due when the last gate is hung, and whether materials are ordered before or after the deposit clears. Ask for a start window in writing and what happens to the schedule if the materials arrive late. Pay in a way that leaves a record.
License and coverage, on every bid
Ask each company: "What state license or registration, if any, covers this work, and what is the number?" Ask, too, for proof of liability coverage and workers' compensation. Write each answer on that company's bid.
Comparing bids from your notes
Hand every bidder the same notes and the same sketch. When the bids return, read them against the notes stretch by stretch: footage and turns, height and infill, material, digging and slope, openings, tear-out, paperwork, warranty and payments. Circle anything one bid prices and another leaves out, and ask that company to fill the gap in writing. Totals mean more once every bid describes the same fence.
Keep the papers together
Store the notes, the sketch, the signed bid, any permit, the warranty terms and photos of the finished fence in one folder. They can help later with a leaning post, a gate that drifts out of square or a question about where the line sits.