One yard, several totals
Three companies can walk the same Montgomery yard and hand back three different numbers. That spread can feel arbitrary, yet much of it traces back to choices: a longer or shorter route, a taller or lower face, heavier posts, one gate or two. Each of those choices is a place where a price can bend. Knowing where the bends are lets you ask a company to show what a different choice would do to its total, instead of taking the number as fixed.
Trade-off: the route and its turns
Length is the obvious part. Every foot of fence carries material and labor. Less obvious are the turns. Each corner and each end can need its own post and more layout time, so a line that weaves around a flower bed, a tree and a patio can add posts and hours that a straight run would not need. Ask each company for the footage it measured and the number of turns it counted. If your route bends a lot, ask for a second price on a simpler line so you can see what the bends add.
Trade-off: height
A taller fence can mean longer boards or panels, an extra rail and sometimes stouter posts. Height also changes how a fence feels from the patio and from the street. If privacy matters along one side only, ask for that side at full height and the rest lower, with each priced as its own line.
Trade-off: the face
What fills the frame matters as much as the frame. Boards butted tightly together can take more stock than spaced pickets, and a design finished on both sides can take more again. Open metal or chain link brings its own cost questions, about coatings, fabric and hardware. Ask each bidder to price your first choice and one alternative for the same stretch.
Trade-off: posts and the ground below them
Once the fence stands, its posts are the part you see least and depend on most. Ask each company to write down the post material and size, how far apart the posts stand, how deep each hole goes, and what fills the hole around the post. Then ask about the ground itself. A crew cannot see what lies below the surface, so ask how the company handles a hole that meets something hard or unexpected, whether that is billed at a set rate, by the hour or not at all, and whether the crew lead will call you before any extra charge goes on the invoice.
Trade-off: gates and their hardware
A gate is a small structure of its own: two posts, a frame, hinges, a latch, and the time to hang it so it swings freely and closes square. A wide opening or a pair of gates for a trailer can call for heavier posts and bracing. Ask for each gate as its own line, with its width and hardware named, so you can see what one fewer gate, or a narrower one, would take off the total.
The paperwork
The City of Montgomery's Inspection & Permit FAQ says both new fences and fence replacements over 3 feet in height require a permit, and the applicant provides a site plan showing the distances from dwellings, other structures and property lines.
Put one question to each company, and write its answer on its bid: "Does this fence call for a permit under the City of Montgomery's Inspection & Permit FAQ, and if so, who will apply for it?"
The old fence
Taking down an existing fence is work with its own price. Ask whether removal is included, whether the old posts are pulled out whole or cut off at the ground, what happens to any concrete around them, and where the old boards, panels and wire end up. Ask the same about the soil that comes out of the new holes: spread across the yard, hauled off, or left in a pile for you.
Finish and care after the crew leaves
For wood, ask whether stain or sealer is in the price, who applies it, and when the wood will be ready for it. If it is not included, ask what a return visit to apply it would cost. For vinyl and metal, ask what cleaning or touch-up the company suggests and whether it leaves touch-up paint or a few spare parts behind. Write the answers on each bid, since the care a fence asks for later is part of what it costs.
Two warranties
A fence can carry two promises: one from the maker about the material, one from the company about its work. Ask for both in writing, and for each one ask what it covers, how long it runs, what would void it and whether it passes to a later owner of the house.
Proof of coverage
Ask each company for proof of liability coverage and workers' compensation, and keep it clipped to that company's bid.
When money changes hands
Ask what is due at signing, whether a second payment falls due when materials arrive or when the posts are set, and what is held back for the end. Ask whether the last payment can wait until a walk-through at which every gate swings and latches and the yard has been cleaned. Agree that any change once work starts, such as a gate moved or a stretch made taller, is written up, priced and signed by you before the crew does it. Pay by a method that leaves a record.
Setting the bids side by side
Give each company a column on one sheet. Down the left, list the trade-offs in order: footage and turns, height, face, posts and holes, hard digging, each gate, removal and hauling, finish, both warranties, the permit answer, proof of coverage and the payment steps. Fill the squares from each bid. An empty square is a question for that company. Once every column describes the same fence on the same terms, the difference between the totals starts to mean something, and you can decide which trade-offs are worth making.