Fencing

Fences almost never fail in the middle. They fail at the posts — and then the panels, the rails and the gate all get blamed for something that happened below ground.

That is worth knowing before you buy a fence, because it is the part of the quote that is easiest to cut and the part you will notice missing in year four.

The posts are the fence

Everything above ground is doing very little work. The posts are resisting wind load on a large sail, plus the weight of the whole structure, plus whatever leans on them — and they are doing it at the exact point where wood meets wet soil.

So the things that determine how long a fence lasts are:

• Depth — deep enough for the height of the fence and the soil it is in, not a standard hole for every job
• Concrete footings shaped to shed water away from the post rather than forming a cup that holds it
• Post material and treatment appropriate to being in the ground, which is a different requirement than being in the air
• Spacing matched to the panel type and the wind exposure of the site

Bay Area clay adds a specific problem: it swells in the wet season and shrinks in the dry one, working posts loose over years. Fences on exposed ridgelines and in wind corridors take more load than sheltered ones and need to be built accordingly.

Repair or replace

If the panels are sound and only a few posts have gone, that is a repair — and a much smaller job than the leaning fence suggests.

The signal is simple: push on a post. If it moves at ground level, the post is the problem. If it is solid and the panels are the loose part, that is hardware and rails, which is cheaper still.

Replace the run when most of the posts are gone, when the wood is soft through the structure rather than just weathered on the surface, or when it is old enough that repairing one section just moves the failure to the next one. We will tell you which of these you have rather than quoting a full fence by default.

The conversation to have before anything goes in the ground

Two things get settled at the first visit, and both are cheaper to settle then than later:

Where the line actually is. Fences sit on or near property boundaries, and a fence built on an assumption is a hard thing to move. If there is any doubt about where the line runs, that is worth resolving before posts are set — and if a neighbor shares the fence, talking to them first tends to make the whole project easier.

What the fence is for. Privacy, containing a dog, marking a boundary, blocking wind, or just looking better from the street — these lead to genuinely different fences. Height, board spacing, and whether it is solid or open all follow from the answer.

Local rules on height, especially in front yards and at corners, vary by city and are worth checking before the design is settled.

What we build

• Privacy fences, picket and open styles, residential and commercial
• Gates — including rehanging, hardware, and gates wide enough for equipment access
• Replacing sections worn down by weather, time or impact
• Post replacement on otherwise sound fences
• Fences on slopes, stepped or raked to follow the grade
• Repairs and rebuilds alongside retaining wall work, where the two often meet

Material and design get worked out directly with you before anything goes in the ground.

What it looks like while we are there

Digging is the slow part, especially in clay or where there is rock. Post footings need to set before the panels go on, so most fences are a two-visit job rather than one continuous day.

Access matters: we need a route for material and, on longer runs, for equipment. If the yard is only reachable through the house or a narrow gate, mention it when you call.

Across the Bay Area

We build and repair fences in San Rafael, Tiburon, Mill Valley and across Marin, in San Francisco, and out through Berkeley, Orinda, Walnut Creek and Vallejo.

Call with the rough length of the run, the height you have in mind, and whether the ground is flat or sloped. If it is a repair, push on a couple of posts before you call — knowing whether they move tells us most of what we need.