Fence calculator
Feet of fence, post spacing, picket width and gaps. Posts, rails, pickets and concrete bags out.
Your numbers stay in this browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.
How it is figured
Sections are the run divided by the post spacing, rounded up. Posts are sections plus one, plus one more for each gate, since a gate opening is narrower than a section. Rails are sections times rails per section. Pickets are the run in inches divided by the picket width plus the gap, with five percent for splits and the end cuts.
Concrete: two 60 lb bags per post for a 6 foot privacy fence in a 10 inch hole, three in sandy soil or for a gate post. A post hole 30 inches deep with the bottom third below frost is the usual spec, and the gate posts get the extra bag and the extra depth.
The things that wreck a fence bid are not the materials. They are the property line, the utility locate, and the HOA. The bid says who confirmed each.
From the quantity to the bid
The calculator gives you the material count. The bid gives the customer one price and the scope in plain words, and keeps the count as your cost math. The how to bid fencing jobs guide works the whole price with example numbers, and the fencing proposal template is the layout. Materials at cost plus markup, labor at your rate, then the job price calculator adds them up and sets the deposit.
Questions contractors ask
How many pickets for 100 feet of privacy fence?
With 5.5 inch pickets and no gap, 100 feet is 1,200 inches, 218 pickets, about 229 with five percent waste. Board-on-board overlapping an inch uses more, about 267.
How far apart should fence posts be?
Eight feet on center for most wood fences, which matches 8 foot rails. Six feet for an 8 foot tall fence, a heavy board-on-board, or a windy site.
How many bags of concrete per fence post?
Two 60 lb bags for a standard post, three for gate posts and corners. A 50 lb bag of fast-set is about the same volume as a 60 lb bag of regular.
How do I price a fence?
By the linear foot with gates, removal and the property-line note as lines. The <a href="/guides/how-to-bid-fencing-jobs">fence bidding guide</a> prices a 180 foot cedar privacy fence.
The other tools
- Price book builder. Pick your trade, set what you pay yourself, your overhead and your margin. Every job in the book is priced with your rate, with the math showing. PDF and Excel.
- Hourly rate calculator. What to charge per hour, from what you want to take home, your overhead, and the hours you can bill.
- Markup vs margin calculator. Enter a cost and a markup, see the price and the real margin. Or go the other way.
- Job price calculator. Materials, labor, markup, and the deposit to ask for. The number that goes on the bid.
- Deposit calculator. Job price and the materials you buy first, out comes the deposit, the schedule, and the payment terms line for the bid.
- Concrete calculator. Slab, footing, or post holes to cubic yards and bags, with the order-over built in.
- Roofing calculator. Footprint and pitch to squares, bundles of shingles, rolls of underlayment, and waste.
- Drywall calculator. A room to sheets of 4x8 or 4x12, with the mud, tape and screws to finish it.
- Paint calculator. A room to gallons of paint for walls, ceiling and trim, by the coat, primer included if needed.
- Flooring calculator. Room size to square feet with waste and the number of boxes, for plank, tile or carpet.
- Deck calculator. Deck size to boards, joists, screws and footings, for composite or wood.
- Mulch and soil calculator. Bed area and depth to cubic yards of mulch, soil or compost, and bags.
- Tile calculator. Area, tile size and pattern to tiles and boxes, waste included.
- Gravel calculator. Area and depth to cubic yards and tons of gravel, crushed stone or base.
- Estimate checker. Paste the bid you are about to send. A score out of ten and the exact lines it is missing.
- Invoice generator. Your business, the customer, the lines, tax, the deposit already paid. A clean PDF invoice, no account.
When the number is right, put it on an estimate the customer signs on their phone. Type the job and see it, no account needed. 30 days free, then $29 a month.