Looking for fencing companies in Portland, OR
January 6, 2024 11:21 AM Subscribe
The fence in my back yard blew over and I need to replace it. For 150 linear feet, the first contractor to come out quoted me $12,000, which seems high based on digging through a few pages of search results. I'd love to hear from others if that sounds like a normal price, and also welcome recommendations for fence companies in Portland, OR.
Mod note: One comment removed, please just focus on answering OP’s question about pricing, thank you!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 1:53 PM on January 6, 2024
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 1:53 PM on January 6, 2024
Check out Fix-a-Fence. I recently had a fence that was leaning pretty badly and got quotes from them and Rick's Fencing. Rick's said the whole fence needed replacing and quoted me $5k (I think the span was about 50 ft). Fix-a-Fence said the posts just needed replacing and quoted me $550.
posted by TurnKey at 2:07 PM on January 6, 2024
posted by TurnKey at 2:07 PM on January 6, 2024
What style of fence, and what material was quoted? That can make a huge difference; I got 120ft of high-grade (clear heartwood) redwood for $14K in Silicon Valley, including one gate. If I'd gone for fence-grade wood I'd have paid about half as much.
posted by aramaic at 2:23 PM on January 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by aramaic at 2:23 PM on January 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
Best answer: My half of about 50’ of fence split with a neighbor in PDX was $1050 a couple years ago, but we only paid to have the posts set and we built the fence (cedar good neighbor fence on treated cross posts) ourselves. The price you got quoted doesn’t seem completely out of line given inflation and added labor.
Did you get a quote from a licensed general contractor? A fencing company would likely be cheaper. If you’re flexible on timeline (not while it’s a cold mud pit outside), that could potentially help, too.
posted by momus_window at 2:38 PM on January 6, 2024
Did you get a quote from a licensed general contractor? A fencing company would likely be cheaper. If you’re flexible on timeline (not while it’s a cold mud pit outside), that could potentially help, too.
posted by momus_window at 2:38 PM on January 6, 2024
Best answer: Down in Eugene, I paid $10K last October for 180 linear ft of 6 foot capped cedar fencing, with one basic person gate and a second person gate with a small arbor. Your price seems maybe a bit high but probably still reasonable with inflation and volatile lumber prices.
posted by bassooner at 2:45 PM on January 6, 2024
posted by bassooner at 2:45 PM on January 6, 2024
Best answer: I'm in Eugene and that quote seems awfully high on the face of it. I recently had 114 linear feet of 4' tall hog wire fencing with pressure treated lumber and two man gates put in for a grand total of $3700. The breakdown with labor, concrete, and decorative posts caps included was $3260 for the wood and wire, and $440 for the two man gates that have matching black hardware ($220/gate). This was a small family-owned business that only does fences, nothing else. Hope that helps your price comparisons. Good luck!
posted by Lady Sugar Maple at 5:29 PM on January 6, 2024
posted by Lady Sugar Maple at 5:29 PM on January 6, 2024
“ 6 foot capped cedar fencing”
“ 4' tall hog wire fencing with pressure treated lumber”
Yeah the OP needs to supply more information about size, materials, extras, on what grade, etc, or we’re going to hear about Lego, steel and quarter sawn padauk options.
posted by klausman at 6:15 PM on January 6, 2024
“ 4' tall hog wire fencing with pressure treated lumber”
Yeah the OP needs to supply more information about size, materials, extras, on what grade, etc, or we’re going to hear about Lego, steel and quarter sawn padauk options.
posted by klausman at 6:15 PM on January 6, 2024
Response by poster: Sorry, yes:
6', cedar. 1 gate. I don't know much about fences. It was a pretty basic one, and I just want a basic one to replace it.
posted by Pudding Yeti at 11:28 PM on January 6, 2024
6', cedar. 1 gate. I don't know much about fences. It was a pretty basic one, and I just want a basic one to replace it.
posted by Pudding Yeti at 11:28 PM on January 6, 2024
Best answer: So, after sabotaging the Ask with lack of information I'll just say that after tossing out a line for contractors on both Angie's List and Yelp (which I didn't know did contractor connecting until two weeks ago), I had a great experience with Yelp and a terrible one with Angie's List:
Fewer and less helpful responses from Angie's List, many more much more helpful responses with Yelp, with much more speedy offers to come do an estimate. The Yelp people were more comfortable making arrangements over email. Angie's List people were very phone-centric when they responded.
For our cedar, dog-ear, two-gate, 6-foot-tall, 150' project, estimates ranged from $7,000 to $12,000, with promised dates going from four days out to eight weeks out.
The low bid was a father/son team who seemed overwhelmed by human contact. The high bid was an operation with bad poker faces who haven't yet learned enough shamelessness to avoid admitting that they were gouging.
I was relieved when the upper-medianish bid came from a "we mostly do fences" contractor who operates out of Salem I had also heard about through my personal network as people checked in with me, and the extra money over a few of the others paid off in the form of great communication and a general sense of competence and operational acumen. They were also a great source of advice when one of my three fence neighbors went random on me the day of the build.
I imagine there are a lot of first-time fence problems people in the world, so the other thing I'll offer is that as much as it's a pain if you don't have the luxury of taking part of a day or two to do this, you do want the on-site estimate done with time and care. I got a small education just letting five different sets of eyes come on the property, look around, and explain the particular issues my situation would pose. It never occurred to me until it had to that there's value in seeing how much time and care they each took. It encouraged me to go ahead and spend a few extra bucks to not have to think about it over the lifetime of the fence. "Less than your weekly Starbucks budget" or whatever.
posted by Pudding Yeti at 2:33 PM on January 26, 2024
Fewer and less helpful responses from Angie's List, many more much more helpful responses with Yelp, with much more speedy offers to come do an estimate. The Yelp people were more comfortable making arrangements over email. Angie's List people were very phone-centric when they responded.
For our cedar, dog-ear, two-gate, 6-foot-tall, 150' project, estimates ranged from $7,000 to $12,000, with promised dates going from four days out to eight weeks out.
The low bid was a father/son team who seemed overwhelmed by human contact. The high bid was an operation with bad poker faces who haven't yet learned enough shamelessness to avoid admitting that they were gouging.
I was relieved when the upper-medianish bid came from a "we mostly do fences" contractor who operates out of Salem I had also heard about through my personal network as people checked in with me, and the extra money over a few of the others paid off in the form of great communication and a general sense of competence and operational acumen. They were also a great source of advice when one of my three fence neighbors went random on me the day of the build.
I imagine there are a lot of first-time fence problems people in the world, so the other thing I'll offer is that as much as it's a pain if you don't have the luxury of taking part of a day or two to do this, you do want the on-site estimate done with time and care. I got a small education just letting five different sets of eyes come on the property, look around, and explain the particular issues my situation would pose. It never occurred to me until it had to that there's value in seeing how much time and care they each took. It encouraged me to go ahead and spend a few extra bucks to not have to think about it over the lifetime of the fence. "Less than your weekly Starbucks budget" or whatever.
posted by Pudding Yeti at 2:33 PM on January 26, 2024
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 12:35 PM on January 6, 2024