How to Price a Fence Job
Pricing a fence job is four numbers stacked in the right order: materials, labour, overhead, margin. Skip any one and the job is a coin flip — either you lost it to a competitor who knew their numbers, or you won it and lost money installing it.
1. Materials — price from the supplier, not memory
The material cost is what your supplier's current list says, plus delivery, plus your waste factor (10% on wood pickets, 5% on chain link fabric). Memory prices are how a $3,000 material job gets quoted at $2,600 and the margin dies quietly on a Tuesday.
Ballpark CAD material ranges per foot at starter pricebook rates:
| Type (6 ft) | Material cost/ft |
|---|---|
| Chain link (residential) | $10–$16 |
| Wood board | $16–$20 |
| Wood privacy | $19–$26 |
| Vinyl | $30–$45 |
Get the exact count with the fence material calculator, then replace the starter prices with your supplier's numbers.
2. Labour — hours, not per-foot guesswork
Estimate hours the way a crew actually spends them:
| Task | Realistic rate |
|---|---|
| Layout + demolition/removal | $3–$7/ft (if old fence present) |
| Digging + setting posts | ~8–12 posts per person-hour (auger) |
| Framing rails | ~25–30 ft per person-hour |
| Pickets/panels | ~20–25 ft per person-hour |
| Gates | 2–3 hours each including hardware |
| Cleanup + haul | 2–4 hours flat |
Crew rate = loaded hourly cost of everyone on site (wage + taxes + insurance + vehicle). A two-person crew at a $65/hr loaded blend that spends 14 hours on a 100 ft privacy fence puts $910 of labour on the job — that's the real labour number, not "about $10 a foot."
3. Overhead — the shop's share of every job
Overhead rides on every job whether you charge for it or not: insurance, truck, phone, accounting, the quotes you lost. Standard practice: 15–25% of labour + materials as an overhead load, or fold it into the labour rate. Owners who skip overhead are financing their business out of personal savings and calling it profit.
4. Margin — decide it before the customer does
Margin is what's left after materials, labour, and overhead — the actual profit. Healthy fence margins run 20–40% depending on market, with the higher end on design-heavy and hard-access jobs. The math that matters:
Sell price = (materials + labour + overhead) ÷ (1 − margin)
A job with $4,000 in true cost at 30% margin sells at $5,714 — not "$4,000 plus 30%," which is $5,200 and quietly hands away $514.
Worked example — 100 ft, 6 ft wood privacy, one gate
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Materials (starter pricebook + 10% waste) | $2,160 |
| Labour (16 person-hours @ $65 blended) | $1,040 |
| Overhead (20% of materials + labour) | $640 |
| True cost | $3,840 |
| Margin 30% | ÷ 0.7 |
| Sell price | $5,485 (~$55/ft) |
$55/ft for wood privacy sits inside the $45–$65/ft installed range most markets see — and you can defend it line by line because the math is on the quote.
The five pricing traps
- Memory pricing — supplier lists move monthly; your memory doesn't.
- "About $10 a foot" — per-foot shorthand hides gates, corners, and removal, which is where the hours actually go.
- Removal "included" — demo, haul, and disposal are $3–$7/ft of their own labour and dump fees.
- Markup on materials only — margin must cover the whole cost stack, not just the wood.
- Free revisions — every change order gets priced, even the small ones; the customer respects quotes that respect your time.
FenceTracer
Price it with your real numbers, every time
FenceTracer keeps the takeoff, your supplier pricebook, tax, and margin on one quote — so the sell price is the math, not a feeling. Free for 3 months.Frequently asked questions
What do fence contractors charge per foot?
Installed wood privacy runs $45–$65/ft, chain link $25–$45/ft, vinyl $45–$65/ft in most North American markets — but the per-foot number is the result of the math above, not the starting point. Quote from cost, then check against the market range.
What markup should I put on a fence?
20–40% margin on the full cost stack (materials + labour + overhead) is the healthy range. Below 20% you're financing the customer's fence; above 40% you're usually losing on speed or reviews unless the job is genuinely hard.
How do I price fence removal?
As its own line: $3–$7/ft for demo and haul plus dump fees. Never bury it in the fence line — customers who don't need removal shouldn't pay for it, and customers who do need it should see why the job costs what it does.
