Why we talk drivers, not prices
You'll notice this guide gives you no dollar figures. That's deliberate: lumber and steel prices move, every yard is different, and a number published on a website is stale the day it's typed — or worse, it's bait. What doesn't change is what makes a fence cost more or less. Understand the six drivers below and you can predict where your project sits before anyone shows up with a tape measure, and you can spot a padded quote from any contractor, including us.
Driver 1: linear feet — but not the way you'd guess
Total footage is the obvious driver, but cost per foot isn't flat. Short runs carry fixed costs (mobilization, permit, locate, equipment) across fewer feet, so a 60-foot side-yard section costs more per foot than a 300-foot full perimeter. Corners and ends matter too: every corner is a heavier post, set deeper, often braced — a zigzag line costs more than a straight one of identical length.
Driver 2: material
The material ladder runs roughly: chain link at the economical end, pressure-treated pine, then cedar, then ornamental aluminum and steel at the premium end — with style multipliers inside each. Board-on-board cedar uses meaningfully more lumber than standard privacy; a cap-and-trim top adds material and labor; vinyl-coated chain link costs more than galvanized. Our cedar vs. treated pine guide covers the wood decision in depth, because it's where most Mansfield budgets are won or lost.
Driver 3: height
A taller fence isn't just longer pickets — it's more wind load, which means deeper post holes, more concrete, and sometimes larger posts. Going from six feet to eight feet of privacy fence increases material and labor well beyond the extra two feet of picket, and taller fences are also where the City of Mansfield's height regulations come into play — see our permit guide.
Driver 4: gates — the per-unit premium
Every gate is a small construction project inside your fence project: heavier posts, a framed and braced leaf, hardware, and adjustment time. Walk gates are a modest add; double drive gates more; automatic gates are their own budget line entirely, with openers, safety equipment, access control, and power.
Cost-smart rule: put gates where you'll actually use them, and no more of them than that. A fence with four gates “just in case” spends real money on hinges nobody swings.
Driver 5: terrain and access
Flat, open, machine-accessible yards are the baseline. Slopes force stepped or racked panels (more cuts, more time). Rock or dense roots slow every post hole. Tight access — a backyard only reachable through a 36-inch gate — can turn machine digging into hand digging. And utilities along the line (marked by the Texas811 locate) can constrain where posts land.
Driver 6: tear-out and haul-off
If an old fence is coming down, somebody has to pull it, pile it, and pay to dump it — concrete footings included if they're in the way of new post placement. It's real labor and real disposal cost, and any quote that doesn't mention removal either forgot it or plans to surprise you with it.
How to use this
When you request a quote, you'll notice our questions map to these drivers: project type, material, rough length, property type. That's not nosiness — it's the cost model. Answer those and the on-site measure becomes a verification visit instead of a discovery expedition, and your number arrives faster and firmer.