# Fencing costs



## Bladesmith (Sep 20, 2003)

Whats it cost to fence about 5 acres? Nothing fancy, just 2x4 wire and posts...


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## YuccaFlatsRanch (May 3, 2004)

What are you trying to keep in - or out??


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Depends on the shape of the property. You need a perimeter measurement. Then figure how many t posts you need. What corner posts are you using? What kind of gate?


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## Okie-Dokie (May 12, 2002)

Around here it costs about a dollar a foot for some one to come out and install a 5 wire barb wire farm fence. I would guess materials would be half of that and labor about half.


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

Bladesmith said:


> Whats it cost to fence about 5 acres? Nothing fancy, just 2x4 wire and posts...


...............................................It Depends....If, you have , a relatively flat property line or gently rolling undulations ....AND....All brush and blockages have been cleaned up where a fence contractor can work I would estimate that to build a "no-climb" , 2x4 wire fence with Welded corners and hbraces it would run around 4.25 afoot . If , you have ROCK that prevents t-posts from being driven , with a regular driver , the builder will have to rent an aircompressor and maybe a bobcat and Predrill each T-post hole with a Rotary Air Hammer Drill which will require the builder to remove the face plates from each tpost and will probably add atleast a Dollar afoot plus the cost of the Equipment rental to the Total Cost . It is 2,174 feet around my 5 acre tract here in northcentral texas......so 4.25 x 2174 feet =$9,240 . The cost factor will be\can be reduced somewhat the more footage that is involved . No Climb , 2x4 , wire fences are very labor intensive to construct and are also the best fence to have around your property line . ....fordy....


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## Bladesmith (Sep 20, 2003)

Its easy land, square, sandy ground (used to be an orange grove) no trees rocks or obstructions, slopes gently downward. dunno about corner posts yet. but dang 9000+ dollars? ack. All we want to do is keep dogs and coyotes out and the hens in.


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Oh yes it is spendy, but well worth the peace of mind. If you do it right, should have to do it only once.
We will have 14 acres to do soon... Sigh ~ ~


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## chickflick (Oct 20, 2003)

Fordy.. you might want to recheck that math! That sounds outrageous!!!  

I am in the process of RE-fencing some around my 'yard' by the house.. it is about 3 1/2 - 5 acres. Now.. the posts are being reused and there is already a couple of strands of barbed around the top .. but $1 per foot sounds about right. I have used this 2 x 4 wire and t-posts for years.. BUT just yesterday the 100 ft. rolls (36") went up from $34 to $42 since July at Tractor Supply!!!! Maybe now $1.50 per foot! 

(My $1 per foot figures came from price of posts every 10 ft. and _4 ft_. wire.)


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

chickflick said:


> Fordy.. you might want to recheck that math! That sounds outrageous!!!
> 
> I am in the process of RE-fencing some around my 'yard' by the house.. it is about 3 1/2 - 5 acres. Now.. the posts are being reused and there is already a couple of strands of barbed around the top .. but $1 per foot sounds about right. I have used this 2 x 4 wire and t-posts for years.. BUT just yesterday the 100 ft. rolls (36") went up from $34 to $42 since July at Tractor Supply!!!! Maybe now $1.50 per foot!
> 
> (My $1 per foot figures came from price of posts every 10 ft. and _4 ft_. wire.)


Boy I wish it was just that cheap here.. for 100' roll of 2 by 4 woven wire (No Climb) is $110.00 a roll, as of last month. (This is not the top end stuff either.) With my luck it has gone up in price.
The feed stores cost even more than Home Depot.
Have to buy all new posts too.. heavy duty T Post in bulk in this area go for $3.95 each. I use railroad ties for the corners and camel backs.

Hope where you live Fordy,, fencing is cheaper!!


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

..................OK , folks lets have alittle dose of Reality....economically...speaking of course.....The, "good" tposts use to be around 2.25\2.35 apiece for a 6 foot tpost . Bwire WAS 31 aroll for 2 point . 2 7/8 inch pipe was 1.00 to 1.10 per foot , and 2 3/8's for the horizontials and Kickers was about .75 to .80 cents afoot . ......
..................Roll forward 1 year ......ALL fencing products are Way up , just like plywood and Dimension lumber.......good tposts...are about 3.50 apiece for a 6 footer. ANYBODY , with any sense , will build a 5 foot fence for both Dogs , horses , and goats. .........
..................The BEST compromise as far as a Good , outer perimeter fence that is an acceptable alternative TOO NO Climb....is Field Fence....47 inches high , with 2 strands of Bwire at 6 inch intervals to effectively give you a 5 foot fence ......Plus, friends , Field fence comes in 330 foot rolls . GET, the SMALL rectangles , that startout AT 3 inches high and 6 inches long . By , the time , that you get to the top the rectangles are.....7 1/2 inches high and STILL 6 inches long............
..................RED BRAND makes the BEST WIRE . Bar none . Most folks Don't pay much attention to the WAY that the wire strands are Tied too each other , but in terms of strength is MAKES a BIG difference . Plus , the quality of the Galvanizing , plays a tremendous role in the LONGIVITY of the Wire . ..
..................Like I ALWAYS say , the Most expensive fence you can BUY , is the ONE that you are Continually Having to Repair , ....fordy...


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

...............As an Addendum , if you know how to weld , even half-Azz , you can build your own fence and DO a Very GOOD job. In fact , you can save enough money to justify buying a small engine driven welder that you can retain for your "Place".......Anybody that would like a recommendation as to what brand of welder ...My offering would be a MILLER......they make a variety of engine powered ac\dc stick machines that are perfect for a small homestead . And , the Thing IS , once you learn HOW to weld you will be doing "the Happy Pagan Welder Dance " all over the Place . Just , don't try and Weld Naked....cause you'll burn your "Peripherials"...........fordy.....


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## NeHomesteader (May 27, 2003)

My husband has a custom fencing business. He charges .22 cents a foot to put in new fence,that does not include the posts and wire. If he builds canyon fence it is higher but normal flat ground is .22 cents. To tear out fence it is .15 cents a foot. Normally he puts in 4-wire barbed wire fence. Different people ask for different things. Government specks are for a 4 wire fence is that the posts HAVE TO BE between 16 1/2 to 20 feet apart ,no more,no less. Varies also what people want. State ground usually puts in 1 steel to 1 wood. The majority of people ask for all wood. So if you were to put in a mile of fence and posts being 16 1/2 feet apart it'd take 320 posts and you could cheapen it up by putting in every 20 feet taking 264 posts. Depends on how many corners and gates you want to put in also as to what it takes. A spool of wire will do 1/4 mile so it would take 16 rolls to do a mile of 4- wire fence. At .22 cents a foot a mile of fence without supplies would be 1161.60 to put in. Costs vary i'm sure according to states and conditions. Hope this helps, Dawn


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

......................Dawn , Your DH is working , WAY TOO Cheap!!!!! A 5 wire , bwire fence with the top wire at 48 inches approximately and the T-posts every 12 to 14 feet , and welded corners and H-braces with diagional braces(kickers) , will run between 1.90 to 2.05 afoot in Texas . Maybe alittle cheaper with the longer footages . I would charge a dollar a foot to build a 5 wire, bwire fence if the landowner wants to provide ALL the materials . Of course , I have to pay my helpers and all other costs associated with the construction . Even the Illegals won't work around here for less than 8 dollars an hour . They , actually , work harder than the "white boys".......fordy.....


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## NeHomesteader (May 27, 2003)

I agree it is alot of work and he puts in ALOT of fence. We live in Nebraska and people are just not willing to pay those kind of prices. Our area is cattle country and people just don't have it. These are the going rates. We'd rather that he charged a reasonable rate and we survive and not charge out of everyones price range and we starve. He builds an incredible looking fence and people keep calling him back,that is worth alot. I do understand that maybe Texas just has different rates and are higher. BUt around here that is just not the way it is. Dawn


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## Sarah J (Jun 28, 2003)

dawn said:


> I agree it is alot of work and he puts in ALOT of fence. We live in Nebraska and people are just not willing to pay those kind of prices. Our area is cattle country and people just don't have it. These are the going rates. We'd rather that he charged a reasonable rate and we survive and not charge out of everyones price range and we starve. He builds an incredible looking fence and people keep calling him back,that is worth alot. I do understand that maybe Texas just has different rates and are higher. BUt around here that is just not the way it is. Dawn


I'm with Dawn here - people in our area of the midWest just don't have the kind of money, nor CARE to spend the kind of money that I hear others talking about. Here we have the woven wire field fencing, 330 foot rolls, 47 inches high, at $97 a roll. We get the metal t-posts, 6 foot, for $2.50 - $3 each, depending on where you get them (I've seen them as high as $6 but you're paying for the convenience of not having to drive 1 1/2 hours to the next nearest town with a Menards or Home Depot). My Dh and I found that the railroad people were tearing out the old RR ties and replacing them - not two miles from our house. We talked wit hthem and they were sorting them out for wholesale to places like Menards and HD. We got them at whoelsale prices - $2.60 each - and this fence is going NOWHERE...I'd love to see a combine "accidentally" hit that (yes folks, sometimes the farmers here are rude and deliberately knock down your fences even when they're 10 feet inside the property line). It wouldn't happen again!

Anyway, for my fence, that *we* put in ourselves, we've spent approximately $600. Multiply that out for the number of perimeter feet you have (ours was about 550 feet) and you can get a MidWest cost estimate. This was done this past spring with the higher prices on all fencing, too. I'd imagine that other areas wil be different, though...

-Sarah


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## uncle Will in In. (May 11, 2002)

Bladesmith;
You don't need that much room for some hens. Build a much smaller chicken park, and it you don't want coyotes or dogs on the 5 acres, just run a couple hot wires around it.


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## HilltopDaisy (Feb 26, 2003)

Wow, Sarah J, the last 2 rolls of woven wire fence I bought were $175 each. They are 4' high, 4"x4", 330' rolls. It's costing a whole lot more to fence my 5 acres than I ever dreamed, and I'm doing it myself, so no labor costs are involved.


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## Sarah J (Jun 28, 2003)

HilltopDaisy said:


> Wow, Sarah J, the last 2 rolls of woven wire fence I bought were $175 each. They are 4' high, 4"x4", 330' rolls. It's costing a whole lot more to fence my 5 acres than I ever dreamed, and I'm doing it myself, so no labor costs are involved.


Youch! I'd hesitate with that, too! :no: Some days I really love the MidWest...  

-Sarah


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

dawn said:


> My husband has a custom fencing business. He charges .22 cents a foot to put in new fence,that does not include the posts and wire. If he builds canyon fence it is higher but normal flat ground is .22 cents. To tear out fence it is .15 cents a foot. Normally he puts in 4-wire barbed wire fence. Different people ask for different things. Government specks are for a 4 wire fence is that the posts HAVE TO BE between 16 1/2 to 20 feet apart ,no more,no less. Varies also what people want. State ground usually puts in 1 steel to 1 wood. The majority of people ask for all wood. So if you were to put in a mile of fence and posts being 16 1/2 feet apart it'd take 320 posts and you could cheapen it up by putting in every 20 feet taking 264 posts. Depends on how many corners and gates you want to put in also as to what it takes. A spool of wire will do 1/4 mile so it would take 16 rolls to do a mile of 4- wire fence. At .22 cents a foot a mile of fence without supplies would be 1161.60 to put in. Costs vary i'm sure according to states and conditions. Hope this helps, Dawn


.............................

.............Dawn , here is a Real Shoulder saver , that your DH might BE interested in.........This is an AIR Powered T-Post Driver . Yes, it really works . I, bought the Smallest Model about 2 1/2 years back . They , now , actually make 4 models . The largest is supposed to beable to drive Pipe . Asmall engine driven air compressor will furnish enough air to make them work quite Well . They work off of Pressure rather Volume . It takes between 70 and 90 psi to make them drive . If , I was building fence like your DH I believe I would invest in one of these mochine(s).......www.rhorermfg.com .........Phone....541-548-7746 . They are located in Powell Butte , Oregon . I believe they have a small file that you can watch on their website that actually shows how they work . I really wish now that I had purchased a larger model .......fordy...


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

try this link to access the above air drivers
www.rohrermfg.com


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## NeHomesteader (May 27, 2003)

Thank-you for the information. I will have him check it out. Sure would make things alot easier for him. Right now we are in a drought and the ground is awful,making digging next to impossible. He has a one man auger that he uses if the ground is soft and can really put fence in fast with that. Otherwise he has a digger mounted on his tractor and even so right now,he ends up digging most of those by hand because the holes fill in with dirt. He is a brute for punishment and can put in a fence quite fast. He just put in 2 bids for fence with the State so the deal you are talking about would come in awful handy. Thanks again, Dawn


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

dawn said:


> Thank-you for the information. I will have him check it out. Sure would make things alot easier for him. Right now we are in a drought and the ground is awful,making digging next to impossible. He has a one man auger that he uses if the ground is soft and can really put fence in fast with that. Otherwise he has a digger mounted on his tractor and even so right now,he ends up digging most of those by hand because the holes fill in with dirt. He is a brute for punishment and can put in a fence quite fast. He just put in 2 bids for fence with the State so the deal you are talking about would come in awful handy. Thanks again, Dawn


....................................................Dawn , This just my opinion, but he should Consider that next to the Largest Driver . Please keep us informed if he decides to buy and use it in his business . Mine , works OK...as long as the ground is fairly soft . Any hardness, at all in the dirt and you have to drive them by hand . Driving t-post ...by Hand will make an old man out of him in short order . He'll think he died and went to fence builders heaven ......fordy.....


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## Montana Mom (May 5, 2004)

lol, well I think we've established that different areas have different costs. 

My advice is to price the materials at several stores and then calculate the costs for YOUR area. 

I am putting up a 4" "snow fence" of thin strips of wood and twisted wire with 3" rebar posts. The fence is $54 for 50' and the rebars are $2 each. 

If you are just looking to keep chickens in why not just fence their area instead of the whole acreage? You could very easily use chickenwire and rebar posts to do so.


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## Bladesmith (Sep 20, 2003)

Well, we need to keep our dog in yard as well, and we'd like to add some goats at some point, hence the yard wide fence. But it looks like even with my bad back I'm better off doing this myself...yeesh Thanks for all the input folks! and Fordy, I'm definately getting one of those welders....after I get my power hammer of course.


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## Ole Man Legrand (Nov 15, 2003)

Bladesmith I fenced in 33 acres with hi tensile wire 5 strands Total cost was 12 cents a foot. Wire at Southern States was $50. for a 4000ft roll. Charge all 5 strands and you can keep every thing out or in except chickens.


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## rambler (Jan 20, 2004)

Ole Man Legrand said:


> Bladesmith I fenced in 33 acres with hi tensile wire 5 strands Total cost was 12 cents a foot. Wire at Southern States was $50. for a 4000ft roll. Charge all 5 strands and you can keep every thing out or in except chickens.


It is interesting to see the different materials & prices on this. For example, here in southern Minnesota, the only thing a welder could be used for is to anchor a corner post perhaps on fence building. But, we just don't have oilfield pipe available, and _no one_ would by steel to make a fence unless you had cash to burn.

On the other hand, used steel T posts are sold 10-100 at a time at most all farm auctions for $.80 - 1.2- a piece, generally you can get all you want for 95 cents a piece. Barbed wire is $32 a roll, and short field fence is $45-60 a roll.

High-tensile is by far the cheapest, as you suggest.

My neighbor used to fence chickens with a few rebar posts & some thing electric wire, 3 strands from a couple inches to 18" high. Worked well, was sure cheap. Have to start with young chicks tho.

Can't imaging $9000 for fencing 5 acres. I'm _not_ saying it isn't worth it for those custom building fence for others - I just can't imagine the end result being worth it to anyone.....

I split my pasture in half, bought some used T posts from a friend for 15 cents each, and got free RR ties from a relative. Cost $40 in gas to get the above. Had the barbed wire tho that would have been $32 for a roll, and $15 for insulators. Ran 1000 feet for about $100 cost. You have to think outside the box if that is how much fence supplies are costing you.

--->Paul


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