Just looking to get some very general back of the envelope ideas on how much fencing costs, and would love to hear from anyone who’s recently installed no climb or v mesh with a board on top.
No climb is roughly a dollar a foot for 4 foot, for just the wire. (Comes in 100 foot rolls generally, and runs anywhere from $100/roll up to $200+ for the really, really good stuff). It is a beeyotch to get tight and keep tight–those corner post had better be set in concrete and braced! Your 2 x 6 will be $12- $20 per depending on type of wood and length, but you figure 12 foot rail for a 10 foot post-to-post ratio. Your wood posts will be anywhere from $8-$20 per, again depending on wood type, length and diameter.
We went with metal posts and top rail on our “front field” that runs along our driveway and house–black metal professionally installed, just like you’d put chain link on. We then put woven wire/field fencing on ourselves. Since I board retired geldings, it has worked very well, and looks fabulous. But really expensive!
V mesh I believe is sold in 10 rod rolls (165 feet) and if I remember correctly it was about twice the cost of 2 by 4 twisted none climb. Welded none climb was about half the cost of the twisted.
We went V mesh after inspecting some that was installed forty years prior, it was still in very good condition.
Ours has been up twenty-five years without any problems.
Where you live, climate-wise, will also effect the longevity of your fencing choices. Wood is very short lived here–it all rots within a few years. Metal fencing rusts (wire) especially the “cheap” brands. It is just so wet, so much of the year.
The more corners and transitions you have in your fencing, the more expensive it will be. When I installed one about 10 years ago, each fence element was about a dollar per foot for the straights (so $1 for the wire, $1 for the top rail, $1 for the support posts) but the corner assemblies (which added horizontal and diagonal bracing, bigger deeper posts, and concrete for the posts and diagonal braces) ran $10/foot. Gates at that time also ran around $10/foot for the large sizes. Those numbers will probably be too low for you today, but it will help you to understand the pricing.
I’m looking at this fencing for perimeter only, which will hopefully keep it simple–four corners, one gate and about 500’ x 870’ square. I’d use something else for cross fencing the interior. But I really like the idea of something substantial and pretty critter proof for the perimeter.
Googling prices of supplies online–no tax, no delivery, no labor–I come to about $4.30/ft if I use the Centaur hot rail on top, and about $4 even if I use wood on top with a strand of hot. This is with the 58" V mesh. Poltroon, maybe I’m way high based on your experience? I know this is very regional based on local wood prices. Curious how much labor runs on project like this, as it sounds like just a bear to put in (big learning curve!) and yeah…we’ll just pay someone to take care of it
I really like the idea of welded pipe for the posts and top rail–you see a lot of old fence like that here in Colorado, I think from the oil days? But I just don’t think I could afford it.
One thing that should be considered: Labor cost is the same (nearly to the penny the same) no matter what material choice you make.
The one that I suggest that if possible you stray away from is the lessor expensive welded wire 2by4 as a horse can lean against it breaking the weld points.
You need to also check what gauge the top, middle and bottom wires are. In the longer lasting products these are several gauges stronger than the field fabric.
When I said $1 per element, I did mean per element, so for the top rail with support posts every 8’ and wire mesh, it ran about $3 per foot. As I said, this was 10 years ago when fuel and metal prices were lower, and I used RAMM flex fence instead of Centaur hot rail. So, $4.30 per foot sadly sounds perfectly realistic to me.
Do pay attention to delivery and even sales tax, which can add quite a lot when buying this kind of heavy stuff. There’s also the cost of any tools you don’t have already if you DIY. I had someone come and dig the post holes, it was far more cost effective to rent a dude with equipment than just the equipment alone. Your cost to do this is going to depend on how far the equipment has to travel to you etc. ( I could have gotten three times as many holes with his minimum charge, still 100% worth it.)
If you’re hiring the job out, you may find that they can get better deals on the materials as well. Centaur in particular may be like this, just because delivery of say 3 rolls is just not cost-effective.