Adding fencing to your property may seem an intimidating and pricey task. While installing a quality aluminum fence will require a bit of financial investment, you retain lots of flexibility in scaling your fencing costs to fit your budget. Whether you’re trying to meet requirements for a pool fence with as little investment as possible or are willing to invest as much as you need to craft a beautiful and attention-getting fence to surround your property, you’ll be able to do so effectively by carefully considering all of the features and add-ons and adding or deleting them to fit your budget.
Perimeter Dimensions
The only factor of your fencing costs you have little control over is your perimeter dimensions. As would be expected, the larger the area you are trying to surround, the more expensive your aluminum fence will be. Generally, you purchase your fencing in panels of six or seven feet in length. While the seven-foot panel does cost more than the six-foot, if you’re surrounding a large area, purchasing seven-foot panels can save you a bit of money because you’ll have fewer posts to purchase and less panels and posts to install.
Fence Height
A taller fence will logically set you back more than a shorter one, as more materials go into the taller option. Standard fence heights range from 36 inches to 72 inches. Selecting a shorter fence can save you anywhere from $30 to $40 per panel, so this savings can really add up, particularly if you’re fence will surround a sizable space. If you’re adding a fence to surround a pool, check your hoa, local building codes and/or insurance requirements before lowering your fence height in an attempt to save cash, as most jurisdictions require pool barriers to be, at minimum, 4 feet high; some areas of the U.S. have a 5 foot high minimum.
Post Count
Fence panels are not stand-alone. You will need a fence post to rest between each duo of panels. Posts are typically sold separately. Like gate sections, the prices of posts vary depending on the dimensions. You can also select to include add-ons with your posts, including welded plates for surface mount applications, post ball caps that provide a more decorative motif, and solar post lights for nighttime ambiance.
Picket Top Design
While it doesn’t make as much of a difference on the price as the height, the picket tops you select will also impact the final cost of your fence. Pressed Spear points typically do not incur an additional charge. However, decorative finials can add up really fast if you consider that a 6 foot wide panel has 15 vertical pickets. Though slight, the design of your picket tops does impact panel price. You’ll likely be more satisfied with your finished fence if you select the picket-top configuration that most satisfies you—providing, of course, that your budget isn’t exceptionally tight.
Decorative Additions
Many fence designs offer optional decorative additions, such as metal rings that are set between the pickets. Selecting to add these decorative additions will also add dollars to your final bill. Prices associated with adding these additions vary greatly from design to design and depend, primarily, on the intricacy of the addition.
Puppy Pickets
If you’re installing your fence to create space where you pup can play, you may want to add puppy pickets at an additional cost. Dog panels are additions to the bottom of your fence. When you select a fence with puppy pickets, the pickets at the bottom of your fence, which usually extend 16 inches upwards, will be more closely spaced. This is particularly ideal if your furry friend is a petite pooch who may otherwise make his way through the pickets. Adding a puppy pickets to your fence will cost anywhere from $30 to $40 per panel depending upon the design you select.
Gating
The more gates you elect to include in your fence design, the more your finished fence will set you back. Gates range from $150 for a simple single-swing gate to over $2000.00 for a larger and fancier double-swing model. As with the fence panels, the size, height, design and add-ons you select for your gates will impact the final price.
Latches
In most cases, each gate will come with a basic latch. If you want to upgrade this feature, you will have to pay an additional fee to do so. If your gate will surround a pool, you might be obligated to upgrade this latch as those included with gate purchases are not self-latching; most insurance companies require that latches on pool gates feature self-latching closures. Latch prices vary substantially depending upon design and features included
