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Fence Cost Calculator

Created by Kenneth Alambra
Reviewed by Komal Rafay
Last updated: Jan 18, 2024


If you're wondering how much it costs to build a fence, this fence cost calculator is precisely for you. Use this tool for your picket fence cost estimations to help you properly budget your construction costs. In this calculator, you will be able to explore:

  • How much does fencing costs;
  • How to use this wood fence cost calculator; and
  • Some examples of fence price calculations.

Let's start the discussion by knowing the basics of materials cost calculation in the next section of this text.

How to use this wood fence cost calculator

To use this fence price calculator, all you have to do is follow the steps provided below:

  1. Enter the total fence length of your project.
  2. Indicate the post space between two adjacent posts for your fence. Upon doing so, our tool will already display the number of posts and the number of sections (portions of the fence between two adjacent posts) you will need for your fence project.
  3. Input the height of your fence to determine your required post height, which is simply 1.5 times the fence height.
  4. Then, enter the number of rails you want to install on each section of your fence. The higher your fence is, the better it is to have at least 2 or more rails.
  5. Next is to enter your preferred width and spacing of your pickets. That will give you the number of pickets you will have to produce for your total fence length.
  6. After that, select whether you want a cuboid or cylindrical post footing for your posts. The cuboid option will require you to enter the width and thickness of your concrete post footing. On the other hand, for cylindrical post footing, you'll have to enter the diameter of your concrete post footing. Doing so will result in the concrete volume you'll need for your post footing.
  7. Finally, enter the price per piece of each material you'll need and the price per volume of the concrete you'll use to get the subtotal cost of each material and the total material cost of your fence.

Now that we know how to use this tool to determine how much it costs to build a fence let us now discuss the formulas we used in performing our fence cost estimations.

How much does fencing cost?

Determining how much it costs to build a fence depends on knowing the price of each material you'll use, which includes, but is not limited to, the following materials:
• posts;
• pickets;
• railing material; and
• concrete post footing.

Other fence designs require more materials than these, while others may require fewer. You can check out our vinyl fence calculator and our livestock fence cost calculator to discover other materials we can use to install around the perimeter of our properties.

Nevertheless, despite the variety of materials options on our fencing projects, we can always start with the cost of each material by multiplying the material price by its quantity, as shown in the equation below:

Materialcost=Materialprice×Materialquantity\footnotesize \begin{gather*}\rm Material\\[-5px]\rm cost \end{gather*} = \begin{gather*}\rm Material\\[-5px]\rm price \end{gather*} \times \begin{gather*}\rm Material\\[-5px]\rm quantity \end{gather*}

Following that pattern, we can now calculate the cost of posts using the formula shown below:

Postscost=Post priceper piece×Number ofposts needed\footnotesize \begin{gather*}\rm Posts\\[-5px]\rm cost \end{gather*} = \begin{gather*}\rm Post\ price\\[-5px]\rm per\ piece \end{gather*} \times \begin{gather*}\rm Number\ of\\[-5px]\rm posts\ needed \end{gather*}

On the other hand, here is the equation we can use to determine the cost of pickets and rails, respectively:

Picketscost=Picket priceper piece×Number ofpicketsneeded\footnotesize \begin{gather*}\rm Pickets\\[-5px]\rm cost \end{gather*} = \begin{gather*}\rm Picket\ price\\[-5px]\rm per\ piece \end{gather*} \times \begin{gather*}\rm Number\ of\\[-5px]\rm pickets\\[-5px]\rm needed \end{gather*}
Railcost=Rail priceper piece×Number ofrails needed\footnotesize \begin{gather*}\rm Rail\\[-5px]\rm cost \end{gather*} = \begin{gather*}\rm Rail\ price\\[-5px]\rm per\ piece \end{gather*} \times \begin{gather*}\rm Number\ of\\[-5px]\rm rails\ needed \end{gather*}

Finally, we tweak our main formula to consider the volume of concrete we'll need to find the concrete cost as follows:

Concretecost=Concreteprice pervolume×Volume ofconcreteneeded\footnotesize \begin{gather*}\rm Concrete\\[-5px]\rm cost \end{gather*} = \begin{gather*}\rm Concrete\\[-5px]\rm price\ per\\[-5px]\rm volume \end{gather*} \times \begin{gather*}\rm Volume\ of\\[-5px]\rm concrete\\[-5px]\rm needed \end{gather*}

After taking the cost of each material, we have to add them to find the total material cost estimate of our fence, as shown in the equation below.

Totalmaterialcost=Postcost+Picketscost+Railcost+Concretecost\scriptsize \begin{gather*}\rm Total\\[-5px]\rm material\\[-5px]\rm cost\end{gather*} \!\!=\!\! \begin{gather*}\rm Post\\[-5px]\rm cost \end{gather*} \!+\! \begin{gather*}\rm Pickets\\[-5px]\rm cost \end{gather*} \!+\! \begin{gather*}\rm Rail\\[-5px]\rm cost \end{gather*} \!+\! \begin{gather*}\rm Concrete\\[-5px]\rm cost \end{gather*}

To learn how to calculate the number of materials for your fence project, we have our separate fence calculator waiting for you.

FAQ

What is the cost of a fence enclosing a 100-square-meter square lot?

The cost of a fence enclosing a 100-square-meter square lot starts from around $1,000 up to $3,000. The cost of fences varies depending on their total length, height, and specifications; where fences can have supporting posts spaced (for example, 2.0 meters to 3.0 meters), have different widths and spacing of picket slats, have multiple layers of rails, and have varying volumes of concrete support footings.

How do I calculate the cost of a fence?

To calculate the cost of a fence, you have to take the sum of the costs of each material by multiplying the material's unit price by its quantity.

Let's say we need the following:

  • 3 pieces of $5-posts;
  • 4 pieces of $2-railing materials;
  • 42 pieces of $1-pickets; and
  • 0.5 cubic meters of concrete worth $10 per cubic meter.

We get the material cost of the fence as follows:

total material cost = $5 × 3 + $2 × 4 + $1 × 42 + $10 × 0.5 = $70

Kenneth Alambra
Fence calculator: fence parts
Number and height of posts needed
Fence length
ft
Post space
ft
Number of posts
Number of sections
Fence height
ft
Post height
ft
Number of rails needed
Rails per section
Number of rails
Number of pickets needed
Picket width
in
Picket spacing
in
Number of pickets
Concrete for post footing
Post shape
cuboid
Post width
in
Post thickness
in
Concrete volume
cu yd
Material costs
Posts needed
pcs
◾ Price of post
$/pc
↳ Cost of posts
$
Rails needed
pcs
◾ Price of railing material
$/pc
↳ Cost of railing materials
$
Pickets needed
pcs
◾ Price of picket
$/pc
↳ Cost of pickets
$
Concrete needed
cu yd
◾ Price of concrete per volume
$/
cu yd
↳ Cost of concrete
$
✔ Total material cost
$
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