Wood privacy fence installation in Peachtree City

What moves the price of a wood privacy fence

Length first, then height, then the ground. Timber grade comes fourth.

Pressure treated pine sits at the bottom of any quote you are given and cedar at the top, and in wet clay that gap buys service life rather than a nicer colour. Height matters more than people expect, because a six foot fence needs a longer post in a deeper hole than a four foot one, so the extra two feet costs more than two feet of picket.

Then the ground. A run that steps down a grade has to be racked, which means each panel is adjusted to follow the slope instead of sitting level, and that is slower than a flat line. How much the ground moves along the run also decides how many holes get dug by hand rather than by machine.

Two items sit outside the per foot figure. Taking an old fence out and hauling it away is one, and in the older villages that applies to most jobs. Gates are the other. Ask for the measured run as well, rather than the boundary length; on a lot backing onto a cart path those are not the same number.

Access decides the rest. A back garden a truck can reach is cheaper to build than one where every post, every bag of concrete and every panel goes through a side gate on a barrow.

Six feet at the sides, eight only outside the setback

Along the side and rear of a typical lot, six feet. Eight feet applies only outside the required setback, which on most residential lots is not where the privacy fence goes. Decorative features on top may reach seven feet.

People quote the eight foot maximum a lot. It is real. But it describes a part of the lot most homeowners are not fencing, and building to it inside the setback is not an option however much the neighbour’s hedge overlooks you.

Near a street the number drops again. No fence taller than four feet may stand within 40 feet of the right of way of an arterial or collector street, so a corner lot can find its front and side runs capped at four feet while the rear boundary allows six.

Do I need a permit for a wood fence?

Yes, on almost every one of them. The threshold is four feet, and a privacy fence clears it by two.

Planning and Development wants an application describing the material and the height, a site plan drawn on an official plat or survey, and a photograph of the fence you intend to build. Find the plat before you call anyone. It is the document that answers where the easements sit, and it is what a good contractor asks for first.

Why a wood post works loose in clay

Red clay holds water against the post and swells and shrinks as that water comes and goes. Over a few wet winters it works the post loose.

This is the single biggest difference between a fence that stands straight for fifteen years and one that is visibly out of true by its third spring. It has almost nothing to do with the wood and almost everything to do with what happens below ground.

Peachtree City takes about 50 inches of rain a year against a national average nearer 38, so there is more water moving through that clay than in most places the national how-to articles were written for.

Post depth, and what the gravel actually does

Thirty to 36 inches for a six foot fence, with a gravel base of six to eight inches under each post.

The gravel gets skipped. Its job is drainage: it gives the water somewhere to go instead of sitting against the bottom of the post. A post set straight into wet clay with a concrete collar and no drainage traps that water rather than shedding it, which is precisely the failure you are trying to avoid.

Ask a contractor what depth they set to and whether they use a gravel base. The answer tells you more about how long the fence will last than the grade of timber does.

Cedar or pressure treated pine?

Pine is cheaper and cedar lasts longer in ground contact. That is the whole trade-off, and in this climate it leans further toward cedar than it would in a drier place.

Fifty inches of rain a year and clay that stays damp are hard on timber. If the budget only stretches one way, spend it on the posts and the depth rather than on the picket grade. A cedar fence on shallow posts fails before a pine fence on deep ones.

Autumn is the better window for setting posts

September through November brings moderate temperatures and lower rainfall, which puts the clay at a workable moisture content.

Spring works too. What does not work is setting posts into saturated clay immediately after heavy rain, and July is the wettest month of the year here. A crew that offers to start the morning after a downpour is not doing you a favour.

Gates are priced apart from the run

A wide gate costs more than its width in fence, every time.

A gate needs heavier posts, hardware, and a frame that will not sag once it has swung a few thousand times. A walk gate is simple. A double drive gate wide enough for a mower or a golf cart is where the number moves, and on a lot with a cart path at the back that second gate is often the one people actually want.

Decide how many gates you need before asking for a price. Adding one afterwards means new posts, not just new hardware.

The finished side faces the neighbour

Where the fence has structural supports on one side only, that side must face the interior of your property. So the finished face looks outward, toward them.

It costs nothing and it settles an argument before it starts. Say it out loud when you agree the job.

What if my lot backs onto a cart path?

Then a second rule applies. No fence may be installed within four feet of the edge of a paved cart path, measured from the pavement rather than from your property line.

It shortens the run and adds two corners where the fence turns in and back out again. On the whole it lowers the total, but it changes the shape of the quote, and a price worked out from the boundary length will not survive contact with the site.