A price begins with a walk around the yard
A fence price often starts with someone walking your yard with a tape or a measuring wheel. What that person measures, counts and writes down becomes the lines on the bid. If you walk beside the estimator and ask what each measurement is for, you can read the finished price with a clear idea of where it came from, and you can spot it when two companies measured different fences.
The length the estimator walks
Footage can anchor a fence bid, since boards, panels, rails and labor can all be counted along it. Ask the estimator to show you where the run starts and stops, and whether the figure follows the ground or is taken as a straight line. If you plan to leave a gap for a gate, a driveway or a flower bed, ask whether that gap was subtracted. Write down the footage from each visit and set them side by side; a large difference is worth a phone call.
Counting the posts
Line posts are spaced along a straight run, but corners, ends and gates can each call for their own post, and sometimes a heavier one. Ask how many posts the estimate counts, how far apart the line posts stand, and which posts are larger than the rest. A route that bends around a tree or a patio can add posts quickly. If your plan has many turns, ask for a second price on a straighter route so you can see what the bends add.
Where the height is measured
A height written on a bid can mean the top of the boards, the top of the posts, or the top of a cap or trim band. Ask the estimator which one the figure describes and whether it is measured from the soil or from the bottom rail. On a sloped yard, ask whether the height holds steady along each section or changes as the ground does. Taller infill can use longer stock and can call for an extra rail or a sturdier post, so ask what moving up or down a size would change in the price.
The ground under the tape
The estimator cannot see below the turf, so digging is a place where a price can change after signing. Ask:
- How deep does the company plan each hole, and how was that depth chosen?
- What fills the hole around each post?
- How is a hole priced when it hits rock, a thick root, an old footing or buried rubble?
- Will the crew stop and call you before adding a charge for a hard hole?
- On a slope, will the sections step down or follow the ground, and how will any gap under the bottom rail be closed?
Ask that the answers go into the written bid, not only the conversation.
Measuring the openings
Each gate carries its own posts, frame, hinges, latch and the time it takes to hang it square. A wide opening or a pair of gates may need heavier posts and bracing. Ask the estimator to measure each opening with you, to write its width on the bid, and to price each gate on its own line with its hardware named. That way you can see what a narrower gate, or one fewer gate, would change.
Tear-out and hauling
If an old fence stands on the route, ask whether the estimate includes taking it down, whether its posts are pulled whole or cut at the ground, and whether old concrete around them is dug out. Ask where the debris goes, and whether the soil from the new holes leaves with the crew or stays in a pile in your yard.
Choosing material after the measurements
With footage, posts, height and gates on paper, the material choice can be priced against the same layout. Ask each estimator for the same layout in two materials if you are undecided. Then ask what each one will ask of you later:
- for wood, which species and grade, whether the posts are rated for burial, and whether stain or sealer is part of the job;
- for vinyl, the wall thickness of rails and posts and what the panel warranty leaves out;
- for aluminum or steel, the coating and how a scratch is touched up;
- for chain link, the wire gauge, the top rail and whether slats or a coating are included.
Wind, rainfall and freeze-thaw figures for Johnstown/Cambria
NOAA's engineering weather data lists a station named Johnstown/Cambria, about 6 miles from Johnstown. For that station it gives a 50-year basic wind speed of 90 mph (3-second gust at 33 feet), a 100-year rainfall rate of 2.6 inches per hour and about 53 freeze-thaw cycles in an average year.
Registration under Pennsylvania law
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.
Before you sign, ask the estimator: "Are you registered with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office as a home improvement contractor, and what is the registration number?" Keep the answer with that company's bid.
Proof of coverage
Ask each company for proof of liability coverage and workers' compensation, and attach it to the bid it came with. Any question about how your own homeowner's policy treats a crew on your property is one for your insurer.
Paying for the job
Ask how much is due at signing, whether materials are ordered before or after that payment, and what falls due once the posts are set. Ask what is held back until a final walk-through, when every gate swings and latches and the yard has been cleaned up. Agree that any change once work starts, such as a gate moved or a section made taller, is written up, priced and signed by you before the crew does it. Pay by a method that leaves a record.
Holding the bid against the estimator's notes
When the written bid arrives, lay your own notes from the visit beside it. Check that the footage, the post count, the height and how it was measured, each gate, the digging terms, tear-out and hauling, the material, both warranties, the payment steps and the registration answer all appear, and that they match what you heard in the yard. Where something is missing or different, ask the company to correct it in writing. Totals from two companies are worth comparing once both describe the same measured fence.