what is a fair price for fence?

[bdog]

I just put up a fence on my 5 acres. Pipe corners with dual h braces and 48" sheep&goat mesh with one strand of barb on the bottom. T-posts are every 10 feet.

My neighbor saw the fence and likes it and wants me to build him one. I am not in the fencing business but I have some spare time right now and might just do it but I have no idea what to charge. It took me and two helpers which I paid 8$ an hour 5 days to build the fence. That included digging holes with phd and setting 42 posts in concrete, welding h braces, hanging gates, pounding 250 posts and putting up a half mile of wire.

I don't want to over charge my neighbor, but at the same time it requires the use of a lot of equipment - tractor, phd, four wheeler, cement mixer, gas welder,torch, etc. Aside from that it is not the easiest work. Anyone know what the going rates are per foot or how do people normally charge?

 

[HammerFour]

You might call a fencing company in your area and see what they charge per foot. That is how it is normally charged in our area, then they add on top of that for additional stuff like clearing brush, removing old fence, hanging gates, etc.

So you are at 16 per hour not counting your time and equipment usage....and 40 hours for your fence.

If his is the same linear footage and you don't have any extra labor clearing brush or the old fence....

$640 for your helpers hourly wage + your rate * 40 + materials....

Best bet is call a fencing company in your area and see what they charge to build that type of fence.

 

[bdog]

I tried calling local contractors, and they won't give a price without looking at it. We live 30 miles from town, and I don't want to have them come all the way out here for nothing, plus I don't want to confuse my neighbor.


Here is the breakdown of the job.

Drill 30" holes, cut pipe to length and set 24 posts in concrete (2 bags each).

Cut to length and weld in 17 horizontal pipes for H-braces.

Pound in roughly 100 T-posts.

Stretch barbed wire along bottom of fence. (approx 1000' total - 4 runs)

Strecth 48" 4"x4" mesh (approx 1000' total - 4 runs)

Hang 2 prefabbed gates.

Install 6 wire clips per post.

I was thinking $1000 plus materials. I figure it will take myself and two helpers 25 hours or so. Works out to $40 hour which includes three people, tractor, phd, gas welder ,cutting torch, misc tools, etc. Also figures to be $1 per foot of fence.

I have never paid to have anything like this done, and can't get any kind of price out of the local contractors so I am wondering if this is reasonable.

 

[JoeR]

When I put in my own field fence, 48" Hogwire, with 6" PT H-braces and 2.5" PT post every 10 feet, my cost was $1.00 per foot just in materials three years ago. Price of fencing has gone up. I used to pay around 60-70 per 330' roll, now it's over $110.00 per 330 foot roll.

Just wanted to make sure you were adding in the higher costs of fencing.

Good luck,

Joe

 

[Silver_Knight]

I just priced fencing like that and it ran 2.50 to 3.75 per ft total.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

If you're doing the fence because he's your neighbor and you're being neighborly then do it for costs.

If you're doing it and you want to make money on it then figure it out to do that.

If he's asking you do it to save money then any you leave on the table (difference between what you charge and what the pros do) can be considered his taking advantage of his neighbor. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

If he's asking you to do it because he feels you are doing a better job than the pros would do then you should at least make what the pros make.

"Fair" is a pretty illlusive term in a lot of situations like this.

If the pros are set up to do the work and know all the tricks then doing it for their price isn't fair for you because you're going to work a lot harder and longer which means you're goint to be doing it for less money.

If the neighbor wants you to help then the neighborly thing to do is to help with your time and the neighbor bear the costs of everything else.

If the neighbor wants to pay you to do a professional job, then that's what the agreement should be.

Keep in mind that if you do the fence for your neighbor that you're going to be expected to warranty your work. Maybe forever. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[bdog]

Thanks for the replies. I am not looking to get into the fence business. I just put up my fence, my neighbor saw it and liked it, and wants me to build him one. He is not like my best buddy next door neighbor and I want to do it for free, and he he totally understands that he is going to pay me for it, but I just don't want to overcharge or undercharge.

I am not looking to get rich on the deal, but I want something for my time. Here is the problem I ran into with another neighbor. I helped him with some work on his farm and basically just charged him my costs as I was doing it to help out. Well he thought it was a heck of a deal and was calling me all the time to help with this or that which is not what I want.

See where I live I only have about 6 neighbors in a 2 mile radius and they are all eldery, and farm. When I bought my house it needed a lot of work and I have done a lot to it, built fences, dirtwork, a large barn, etc. Well all my neighbors see this and think I am handy at stuff and want me to do things for them. This would be great if it was what I wanted to do, but I am busy enough with my regular job and have a hard time now finding time for my own projects, much less theirs.

I guess the bottom line is I already told him I would do it (I give in too easily) but now I am unsure what to charge. He has the attitude of "well just do it and tell me what I owe you. I know you will not try and take advantage of me."

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Sit down and figure for a minute. Add up what the materials will cost, figure in your time, and then factor in some fuel and hours for your equipment. After all, every hour you spend working for someone else will be an hour later on that it won't work for you without maintenance, and maintenance isn't free.

That's your number. It's fair for you because it's fair to you. It's also fair to him because you're not trying to get rich off of him.

If that price isn't competitive then that's the way the cookie crumbles. You're not looking to be competitive. You're looking to be fair, fair for you, and fair for him if he wants you to do the job.