Estimates
A fence estimate, line by line
By DoneQuote Editorial · August 23, 2026 · 8 min read
On this page · 7 sections
The customer measured the back yard with a phone app and got 200 feet. You walk it with a wheel and get 214, three feet of grade drop along the south run, a chain-link fence nobody mentioned that has to come out first, and a maple whose roots sit where the posts want to go.
None of that surprises a fence contractor. It becomes a problem only when the estimate hides it inside one number.
Below are two fence estimates in the form a customer sees them. Every dollar figure and the company name are invented — cedar, vinyl, dump fees and labor price differently by market and by month. The structure is what transfers. See DoneQuote for fence contractors for quoting tools built for this trade.
214 feet of cedar privacy fence, with the old chain link coming out
Rockwell Fence & Gate, LLC Estimate #2026-483 · Valid 21 days
For: J. Whitaker, 6 Foxglove Court Scope: Remove existing chain link, install 6 ft cedar privacy fence with one walk gate and one drive gate
| Description | Qty | Unit | Unit price | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft cedar privacy fence, 4x4 posts on 8 ft centers, set in concrete | 214 | ln ft | $38.00 | $8,132.00 |
| 4 ft walk gate, cedar to match, self-closing hinges and gravity latch | 1 | ea | $465.00 | $465.00 |
| 10 ft double drive gate, cedar, drop rod and cane bolts | 1 | ea | $1,285.00 | $1,285.00 |
| Remove existing chain link, posts and footings | 190 | ln ft | $6.50 | $1,235.00 |
| Disposal: fence material, fabric and broken concrete | 1 | lot | $310.00 | $310.00 |
| Layout, string line and hole marking after utility locate clears | 1 | lot | $240.00 | $240.00 |
| Stepped panels across the 3 ft grade drop, south run | 1 | lot | $420.00 | $420.00 |
| Difficult digging allowance — billed only against hours used | 6 | hr | $95.00 | $570.00 |
| Subtotal | $12,657.00 |
Included: 32 post holes to local frost depth in normal soil; gate hardware adjusted at final walkthrough; site raked and debris hauled.
Excluded: property survey or pin location; HOA submittal and approval fee; tree or shrub removal; sprinkler line repair where a head sits inside the fence line; staining or sealing; any grading or fill to close a gap under a stepped panel.
A 68-foot vinyl run replacing storm damage
Plenty of fence work is not a whole fence. This run came down in a storm, on a line shared with a neighbor.
| Description | Qty | Unit | Unit price | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft vinyl privacy panels, 8 ft sections (9 sections to cover 68 ft; the ninth is cut to fit), set on new posts | 9 | section | $420.00 | $3,780.00 |
| Reset two leaning posts on the adjoining run, new footings | 2 | ea | $145.00 | $290.00 |
| Remove and dispose of damaged panels and broken posts | 1 | lot | $385.00 | $385.00 |
| Mobilization, layout and utility locate coordination | 1 | lot | $185.00 | $185.00 |
| Difficult digging, billed at cost if encountered | 0 | hr | $95.00 | $0.00 |
| Subtotal | $4,640.00 |
Included: color and profile matched to the existing fence where the supplier still stocks it.
Excluded: any panel outside the 68 ft marked on site; discoloration difference between new and weathered panels; insurance claim documentation beyond a copy of this estimate.
The digging line sits at zero on purpose: the customer sees the rate before you dig, not after.
Linear foot, per section, or per post
A linear-foot price holds up only when the fence is mostly straight. Corners, ends and gate openings each need their own post, and a gate post is heavier than a line post. A hundred feet with nine corners costs more to build than a hundred straight feet, and a per-foot number cannot tell them apart.
Do the takeoff in the units the material ships in, then convert:
- Stick-built wood — count posts, then rails and pickets against the bay spacing. Partial bays get cut on site, so a linear-foot price converts back cleanly.
- Vinyl, aluminum and pre-fab panels — count sections. Panels come in fixed widths, and cutting one down to fill a 3-foot gap wastes most of a panel. Price per section and say how many.
- Chain link — fabric and top rail run by the foot, but terminal posts, tension bands and gate frames are counted one by one.
Present whichever unit the customer can compare against the next bid.
The holes are where the estimate breaks
Everything above ground is predictable. The 32 holes are not. Rock ledge, buried footings from a fence two owners ago, root mass, a water table that refills the hole as fast as you dig it — none of it shows on a walkthrough, and any of it can double the time per hole.
Three honest ways to handle it, all better than absorbing it:
- An allowance line with hours and a rate, as above, billed only against what you use.
- A stated per-hole adder: "Holes requiring rock drilling or footing demolition are billed at $85 each above the estimated price."
- A call-first threshold: "If difficult conditions look likely to exceed six hours, we stop and get your approval before continuing."
Grade belongs in the same conversation. A slope run is either stepped, which leaves a triangular gap under each panel, or racked to follow the ground, which costs more labor and is not possible with every panel product. Say which one the customer is buying — the gap under a stepped fence is a complaint that shows up after the crew leaves.
Where the fence goes, and who signs off
A fence set a few inches onto a neighbor's property is a real dispute. How it ends varies by state and by the facts — removal, money damages, or a recorded boundary agreement — and who pays depends on your contract and on who located the line.
So ask before you price: does the customer know where the line is, and are there survey pins or a recorded plat? If the answer is vague, put the survey in exclusions and note in writing that the fence goes on the line the customer stakes. That note is worth having, but it is not legal protection — where the boundary is genuinely in doubt, a surveyor beats moving a finished fence.
Two more things to flag rather than assume:
- Utility locate. Call 811 before any digging and let the notice period run. How much advance notice is required, and how long a locate stays valid, is set state by state.
- Approvals. Three separate rulebooks can land on one fence: local zoning or building code, HOA covenants, and any recorded easement. Between them they can govern height, material, setback, which way the finished face points, whether you need a permit, and what a utility may do to a fence built inside its easement. Rules vary town to town and subdivision to subdivision, so check the building department and the customer's own covenants, then write the approval into the estimate as the customer's responsibility, with a date.
How long the price holds
Cedar and treated pine prices swing, and a vinyl color can go on backorder for weeks. That is what the 21-day date on the cedar estimate is for. Pick a window your supplier's pricing supports, and say what happens after it: material re-priced at the supplier's quote on the order date, labor unchanged.
Getting the second one out faster
Most of the cedar estimate above is lines you have typed a hundred times. Save your fence types, gate builds, tear-out rate, disposal and the difficult-digging allowance in DoneQuote once. Then describe the job or paste the customer's email, and the draft comes back priced from your own numbers — on the estimate and on every change order after it.
A fence estimate that names the tear-out, the gates, the grade and the digging is the same price with the arguments already settled.
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