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Privacy Fence Cost Calculator

Takeoff from post embedment and picket layout · prices are cited, not ours

Fence quotes come per linear foot, which hides what you are paying for. This counts the pickets, posts, rails and concrete first, then lets you price them.

Fence cost estimate

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Quantities from the picket layout and the post embedment rule. Prices are pre-filled from a dated third-party range, cited below, and are yours to change.

Specification summary

Generated from on . Reopen that address to reproduce these figures exactly.

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Result

graderailsfrost linefence heightembedmentFrost depth, not fence height, usually decides how deep the posts go.
Privacy fence elevation

Fence prices

Wood fence cost, as published by HomeGuide, how much does a wood fence cost
ItemLowHighUnit
Privacy fence, 6 ft, installed$25$50per linear ft
Privacy fence, 8 ft, installed$50$75per linear ft
Materials only$10$30per linear ft
Labor only$5$20per linear ft
Picket fence, installed$20$40per linear ft
Split rail, installed$15$35per linear ft

Source: HomeGuide, how much does a wood fence cost. Last price check: September 6, 2026. HomeGuide dates and bylines its figures, which is better than most, but they are national ranges for installed work and not a quote for your yard.

Lumber price trend

The Producer Price Index, softwood lumber from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, series WPU0811, stood at 300.614 in July 2026. Softwood lumber is +15.0% against July 2025, so a range published before then is likely low.

Source: BLS series WPU0811, read 2026-09-07. An index tracks what producers charge, not what your supplier charges: use it for the direction of travel, not to set a figure.

Wrought iron fence prices

As each row states
ItemLowHighUnit
Wrought iron fence, typical project$1,421$5,138total
Materials$25$35per linear ft
Plain black iron, 4 ft, uncoated$25$30per linear ft
Pre-galvanized iron$30$30per linear ft
Ornamental iron$30$35per linear ft
Installer labor$30$80per hour
Wrought iron gate, manual to automated$600$8,500each
Old fence removal$3$5per linear ft
Professional painting$8$10per linear ft

Source: HomeAdvisor, how much does a wrought iron fence cost. Last price check: September 15, 2026.

The source's 50, 100 and 150 ft rows ($1,250 to $5,250) are its $25 to $35 materials rate times the length, with no labor in them.

Aluminum and steel fence prices

As each row states
ItemLowHighUnit
Steel fence, typical project$2,426$6,791total
Steel fence, residential$7$32per linear ft
Powder-coated steel$11$29per linear ft
Black aluminum$15$55per linear ft
Ornamental steel$15$55per linear ft
Aluminum pool fence$15$25per linear ft
Steel privacy panels, 6 ft$27$36per linear ft
Labor$15$40per linear ft
Gate, 32 to 36 in$100$6,000each

Source: HomeAdvisor, how much does a steel or aluminum fence cost. Last price check: September 15, 2026.

The source puts a wood fence at $2,700 on average and an aluminum fence at $4,610, the same figure it gives as the steel fence average.

Electric fence prices

As each row states
ItemLowHighUnit
Electric fence, typical project$1,027$1,646total
Installed, invisible or buried$2$6per linear ft
Aboveground electric fence$1,900$3,000total
By area, invisible fence$1,000$5,000per acre
Repair$100$400per repair
Permit$150$200total

Source: HomeAdvisor, how much does an electric fence cost. Last price check: September 15, 2026.

The typical project, $1,027 to $1,646, sits below the source's own aboveground fence row of $1,900 to $3,000.

Barbed wire fence prices

As each row states
ItemLowHighUnit
Barbed wire fence, typical project$1,612$6,154total
Installed$3$6per linear ft
Barbed wire$0.05$0.15per ft of strand
Standard 1,320 ft roll$60$220per roll
Livestock wire$0.07$0.09per ft of strand
Razor or concertina wire$1$4per linear ft
Metal posts$25$60each

Source: HomeAdvisor, how much does a barbed wire fence cost. Last price check: September 15, 2026.

Wire is priced per foot of one strand and the source's livestock fence runs three to five strands, so the installed rate is the one to multiply by fence length.

Driveway gate prices

As each row states
ItemLowHighUnit
Automatic driveway gate, typical project$2,500$5,000total
Automatic swing gate$840$6,000total
Automatic sliding gate$700$4,080total
Automatic lift gate$500$12,000total
Aluminum gate$2,090$3,150total
Steel gate$740$5,130total
Wrought iron gate$740$5,150total
Wood gate$440$5,130total
Vinyl gate$340$2,200total
Manual driveway gate, installed$1,500$4,000total
Gate motor$560$4,750each
Keypad$250$650each
Intercom$680$4,500total
Installer labor$30$80per hour

Source: HomeAdvisor, how much does an automatic driveway gate cost. Last price check: September 15, 2026.

The source gives the typical automatic gate as $2,500 to $5,000 and, further down, a basic electric gate at $7,000 on average.

Wood fence prices

Per linear foot, installed
ItemLowHighUnit
Wood fence, installed$10$30per linear ft
Spruce$22$35per linear ft
Cypress$27$43per linear ft
White oak$30$75per linear ft
Cedar$35$40per linear ft
Tropical hardwood$35$55per linear ft
Redwood$35$120per linear ft
Black locust$40$80per linear ft
Pressure-treated pine$45$90per linear ft
Western red cedar$45$90per linear ft
Composite$55$85per linear ft
Permit$150$500total

Source: HomeAdvisor, how much does wood fence installation cost. Last price check: September 13, 2026.

The source gives $10 to $30 per linear foot installed, yet every wood in its own table starts at $22 or more and pressure-treated pine, usually the cheapest fence wood, is its $45 to $90 row. It also prices cedar at $35 to $40 in the table and cedar and cypress at $27 to $43 in the paragraph below.

Fence painting and staining prices

As each row states
ItemLowHighUnit
Painting or staining a fence, typical job$750$4,250total
Painting or staining$3$14per linear ft
100 ft of fence, one coat$300$1,400total
200 ft of fence, one coat$600$2,800total
Wood picket fence$2$5per sq ft
Privacy fence$2$10per sq ft
Wrought iron fence$5$12per sq ft
Painter$25$100per hour
Pressure washing first$150$300total
Fence repairs$300$900total

Source: HomeAdvisor, how much does it cost to paint or stain a fence. Last price check: September 16, 2026.

The source's length table is its $3 to $14 per linear foot times the length, for one coat; its overall range of $300 to $4,800 differs from its headline $750 to $4,250.

Worked example

A 100 ft run of 6 ft privacy fence, posts at 8 ft, 5 1/2 in pickets butted tight, in a place with no frost.

  1. Sections and posts first. A 100 ft run at 8 ft spacing needs 13 sections, so 14 posts. The post count drives both the concrete and most of the labor.
  2. Then the pickets. 100 ft is 1,200 in, divided by the picket width plus any gap.
  3. Then the post holes. Depth is the greater of one third of the fence height and the local frost depth, and the concrete is the hole volume less the post that sits in it.
  4. Then you price it. Either a whole-fence rate per linear foot, which is how installed quotes read, or line by line if you are buying materials yourself.
  5. Compare the two. A per-foot quote against your own line-item total is the only way to see what the labor and margin actually are.

Enter a frost depth and watch the total move. Deeper holes mean longer posts and more concrete, and it is the single input most likely to make a quote from a warmer state look wrong.

The formula

The count is layout, and the concrete is geometry. Neither depends on a price:

pickets = ⌈ 12L / (w + g) ⌉    posts = ⌈ L / s ⌉ + 1    V = (π(d/2)² − p²) × depth / 1728
L
fence length, ft
w, g
picket width and the gap between pickets, in
s
post spacing, ft
d, p
hole diameter and post size, in
depth
the greater of one third the fence height and the local frost depth
V
concrete per post, cubic feet, with the post volume taken out

Post depth is the input that quietly moves the money. It sets how much concrete you buy and how long the posts have to be, and it is set by your frost line rather than by the fence.

Why a per-foot quote hides the important part

Fence work is quoted per linear foot, and that is a blended number. It rolls up pickets, posts, rails, concrete, labor, hardware, overhead and margin into one figure, which makes two quotes impossible to compare except on the total.

The quantities are not in dispute. A 100 ft fence at 8 ft post spacing needs 14 posts whoever builds it, and a 6 ft fence needs its posts a third of that height in the ground unless frost says deeper. Those follow from the layout, not from the market.

So price the parts you can see. If a quote is well above your line-item total, that gap is labor, hardware, waste and margin, and asking about it is a reasonable conversation. If the materials line alone is double the yard price for the same counts, that is a different conversation.

Frost depth is the input people forget. A quote priced for a warm state assumes shallow holes. Move the same fence somewhere with a 42 in frost line and the posts get longer and the concrete roughly doubles, before anyone has raised their rate.

What this leaves out

The takeoff covers pickets, posts, rails and post concrete. It does not include gates and their hardware, post caps, stain or sealer, fasteners, demolition of an existing fence, spoil removal, or permits and survey work where a fence sits near a boundary.

Gates in particular are worth pricing separately. A gate needs heavier posts on both sides, its own hinges and latch, and it is the part of a fence most likely to be rebuilt in five years.

Where the money actually goes

On a straightforward run, pickets are the largest material line by count but rarely the largest by cost. Posts and concrete usually are, because a post is longer stock, and every post takes a hole, a bag or two of concrete and the time to dig and set it. That is why post spacing matters more to the price than picket width does.

Widening spacing from 6 ft to 8 ft on a 100 ft run removes four posts and their concrete. It also puts more span on each rail, so check the rail size against the span before treating it as free money.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a privacy fence cost per foot?
Installed quotes are commonly written per linear foot, and the range published by HomeGuide is cited on this page with its date. What this calculator adds is the quantity behind that rate: how many pickets, posts, rails and bags of concrete your run actually needs.
Why does frost depth change the price so much?
Because it sets how deep every post hole goes. Deeper holes mean longer posts and more concrete per post, multiplied by the post count. It is the input most likely to make a quote from a different climate look wrong.
Does this include a gate?
No. A gate needs its own pair of heavier posts, hinges and a latch, and is normally quoted separately. HomeAdvisor's gate prices are in the tables below: a wrought iron gate at $600 to $8,500 and an automatic driveway gate at $2,500 to $5,000 for a typical project.
Should I use the per-foot price or the line items?
Use the per-foot rate to sanity-check a quote, and the line items if you are buying materials and building it yourself. Doing both and comparing them is the useful exercise.
How many pickets do I need for 100 feet?
At 5 1/2 in wide and butted tight, 219. Add a gap between pickets and the count drops; the calculator does it from your own picket width and gap.
Are these your prices?
No. This site publishes no price of its own. The pre-filled figures are a dated, bylined range from HomeGuide, cited on the page, and you should replace them with your own quote.
How much does a backyard privacy fence cost?
HomeGuide's range for a 6 ft privacy fence is $25 to $50 per linear foot installed, so a 100 ft backyard run comes to $2,500 to $5,000. An 8 ft fence is $50 to $75 per foot, or $5,000 to $7,500 for the same run. Putting up the fence yourself removes the labor line, which HomeGuide gives as $5 to $20 per foot.
What is the average cost of a wooden fence?
HomeGuide's article is about wooden fences, and it gives $25 to $50 per linear foot for a 6 ft privacy fence installed, $20 to $40 for a picket fence and $15 to $35 for split rail. Materials alone are $10 to $30 per foot. The calculator turns your own run into the pickets, posts and rails behind those rates.
Does this work for a fence built from panels?
It counts individual pickets on rails, the way a stick-built wood fence goes up. A fence assembled from prebuilt fence panels needs one panel per bay between posts instead, so take the post count from the calculator and ignore the picket and rail lines.
How much does aluminum or wire fencing cost?
HomeAdvisor's metal fence rows put black aluminum at $15 to $55 per linear foot and an aluminum pool fence at $15 to $25. For wire fencing, its barbed wire fence runs $3 to $6 per linear foot installed, with the wire itself priced by the strand. Woven wire and hog wire have no row here; the wire fence calculator counts and prices those.
What is the most cost effective fence?
By the per foot rows on this page, wire and electric fences cost least to install: barbed wire at $3 to $6 per linear foot and a buried electric fence at $2 to $6. Neither gives any privacy. For a low cost garden fence you can actually see, HomeGuide's split rail starts at $15 per foot installed, and HomeAdvisor's residential steel row starts at $7 per foot before its separate labor row of $15 to $40. A 6 ft wood privacy fence starts at $25 installed.
How much does an underground dog fence cost?
An underground dog fence is an invisible electric fence, a wire buried along the boundary rather than a barrier on posts. HomeAdvisor prices an invisible or buried electric fence at $2 to $6 per linear foot installed, or $1,000 to $5,000 per acre, with repairs at $100 to $400. It has no posts, rails or pickets, so the takeoff above does not apply to it.
Does this price a brick, stone or concrete block fence?
No. None of the sources on this page has a row for a brick, stone, cinder block, cement block or precast concrete fence, and the takeoff counts pickets, posts and rails rather than masonry units. The block calculator counts block and mortar for a masonry wall. Plastic fencing, sold as vinyl, has no per foot row here either; the only vinyl item is a vinyl driveway gate at $340 to $2,200, and the vinyl fence calculator counts sections and posts.
How much does a wrought iron fence cost?
HomeAdvisor's June 2026 guide gives $1,421 to $5,138 for a typical wrought iron fence and $25 to $35 per linear foot for materials: plain 4 ft black iron $25 to $30, pre-galvanized $30 and ornamental $30 to $35. The installer is $30 to $80 an hour, removing an old fence $3 to $5 per linear foot, and a gate $600 to $8,500 from manual to automated. At the material rate, 150 ft is $3,750 to $5,250 before labor.
How much does an electric gate cost?
An electric gate is an automatic gate. HomeAdvisor's June 2026 guide gives $2,500 to $5,000 for a typical automatic driveway gate, $840 to $6,000 for a swing gate and $700 to $4,080 for a sliding gate, with a gate motor at $560 to $4,750.
How much does it cost to stain or paint a fence?
HomeAdvisor's June 2026 guide gives $3 to $14 per linear foot for painting or staining a fence, $300 to $1,400 for 100 ft with one coat, and $750 to $4,250 for a typical job.
How much does a brick fence cost?
HomeAdvisor's June 2026 guide gives $15 to $40 per square foot of face for a brick fence installed. A 6 ft high fence 100 ft long is 600 sq ft of face, which is $9,000 to $24,000 at that rate.
How much should a fence cost per foot?
It depends on the material. HomeGuide's December 2025 guide gives $25 to $50 per linear foot for a 6 ft wood privacy fence installed and $50 to $75 for an 8 ft one. HomeAdvisor's June 2026 guide gives $15 to $40 for vinyl, HomeAdvisor's June 2026 guide gives $10 to $29 for 6 ft chain link, and HomeAdvisor's June 2026 guide gives $25 to $35 for wrought iron materials.
How much does a white vinyl or picket fence cost?
HomeAdvisor's June 2026 guide gives $14 to $20 per linear foot for a vinyl picket fence and $25 to $60 for a privacy style vinyl fence. HomeGuide's December 2025 guide gives $20 to $40 per linear foot for a wood picket fence installed.
How much does it cost to restain a fence?
HomeAdvisor's June 2026 guide gives $3 to $14 per linear foot to stain a fence, with pressure washing first at $150 to $300. The guide does not price a restain separately from a first coat.
How much does an automatic gate opener cost to install?
HomeAdvisor's June 2026 guide gives $560 to $4,750 for a gate motor and $250 to $650 for a keypad, and $30 to $80 an hour for the installer.

Check these numbers yourself

How every figure here is verified: Sources & Method. Who builds this: , and the method is on About. Found something wrong? Tell us and it gets fixed or removed.

Figures on this page last checked against the source documents on 2026-09-06. Codes are amended locally; confirm against the edition your jurisdiction enforces.

Related calculators

Estimates only. Quantities are a takeoff from your dimensions, with no waste allowance and no gate, hardware, stain, demolition, permit or survey costs included. Post depth follows the one-third convention and the frost depth you enter, neither of which replaces local requirements. This site publishes no price: the pre-filled figures are a third party's, cited with their date. Confirm quantities against your own layout and prices against your supplier.