You look out the back yard at that fence. Ever since you bought your home you have wanted to replace it. Parts of the fence is missing, one whole side is leaning to one side and you have to do a power lifting exercise to open either the front or back gates. Yes! it is time for a new fence. Your bordering neighbors may even be willing to pitch in and pay for part of the cost. The next question is: where do I start? If you are in Abilene or the surrounding area, you just call Duke Construction, of course. But for those of you who don’t live in the Big County. here are a few tips that will save you a lot of money and future headaches. One thing that my father always taught me when considering a costly project is that it is important try to get two to three bids. Doing this step acquaints you with a couple of contractors and it gives you some idea of what your cost will be.
When building a fence there are certain things that can greatly affect the price, but will also determine how long the fence will last while maintaining its beauty. As I have done fence bids through the years. sometimes the homeowner will ask why my fence bid is more costly than the contractor that gave them a bid yesterday. Let’s start from the ground up. No matter who you use make sure they mention getting the utility companies out to mark the lines. Unless your home has all utilities in the front of the home the lines will need to be marked. There are times when we can go to a home and it is very obvious where the lines are, but not usually. The sewer line is particularly hard to locate and it may require the builder to have a plumber run a camera through to mark the lines. If you should happen to run a posthole digger or an arguer through a water or sewer line, you can have a mess in a hurry.
The second thing to look for is post spacing, as well as the construction of the post themselves. We try to put our posts six feet apart. Many builders will do seven, eight, or nine feet apart. But in west Texas fences take a lot of abuse. Wind is one of the biggest culprits. We have seen fences that are only are a year or two old already leaning over. And just for the simple reason that it did not have enough support. If that happens, we go in and partially dig up the old post, then add new ones to keep this from being a continuous problem. The home owner has now paid twice for a fence to be built.
Most homeowners don’t know that posts are made of different thicknesses. The ones we purchase are much thicker than the ones you see at the big box home improvement centers. Because they are thicker they can stand up to a lot more stress that the thinner version. We also use a heaver bracket that will hold up your support two by fours that your pickets are nailed to. Be sure to find out how they are going to attach the picket. We use weather treated screws rather than nails. Nails will back out of the wood over time. Lastly. are the pickets themselves. You can save on your cost by buying pine pickets. You can get them the same size as the cedar pickets, but if you plan to stay in your home a while your may want to go with cedar. Cedar has a great natural look and holds up to the elements much better in the long term. We usually put in pickets that are at lest three quarters of an inch thick. After the fence is completed you may want to consider having a sealer put on. A sealer will extend the look and durability of you fence. Well. there you have it, if we can help you with your fencing needs. please give us a call at 325-665-8025
or our email is steven@dukeconstructiontx.com.
