DIY Board Fence Post Sourcing

[TheHorseMutterer]

How does one go about finding fence posts in bulk? Ideally, I need somewhere in the neighborhood of 375-450 posts and I’m assuming I can get some kind of discount if I’m getting that many. I’m specifically looking for treated (either PT only or creosoted or something similar) in 6x8 for 3 or 4 board fence. I’m cheap and willing to work my butt off so I’m leaning towards having someone dig all my post holes with a skidsteer and then installing the rest of the fence myself. Property is 4 acres and I’ll be ripping out existing 4" round posts with field mesh (6x6" openings) and replacing visible-from-street fence with 3 or 4 board with horse mesh and the back of the property with top rail and horse mesh. Total fence line will be around 3,000 linear feet.

Am I a lunatic? I’ve read a couple threads from people who sounds like they have installed their board fence themselves in much the same manner, so I’m hoping the COTH DIY Faction will have some input for me.

Thus far, the couple of quotes I have gotten don’t exceed my DIY pricing by much, so I have to assume there’s a way to get some real cheap materials somehow. I know these guys aren’t working for free. And if I can’t source cheap materials, I want to know so I can feel much better about sitting around watching my fence get built, rather than building it myself.

Lastly, I’d like to thank all the contributors to all the threads I’ve been reading recently about building barns, renovating properties, and the laundry list of farm improvements to keep horses and other animals. This forum has been invaluable from everything from picking a tractor to buy to selecting flooring for the aisle of my future barn.

[fordtraktor]

Call fencing companies. I buy mine from a local company that does fence work. They are Mennonites and only sort of available by phone and not at all by email, but have good prices. I do the actual fencing with my farm helper.

If you don’t have a fence post pounder, though, I would get the posts pounded in. More secure, saves SO much work. It is a lot better than augering them in. Nailing up boards is no big deal but setting posts is an art form. I still try to get my dad to help because he’s a magician at getting them to pound straight. 60 years of practice will give you that touch, I guess.

That said, not sure if you will be able to if you are taking out old posts. Maybe not feasible.
Also you will need to brace that mesh extra well if augering in posts. If I were you and a sole person I would have the pros do the mesh too because unless you are decent at fencing it can be easy to have saggy mesh, or have it pull your posts sideways if they aren’t braced well. This is something to do right the first time.

I don’t see the point of putting in 3/4 boards and mesh. Seems excessive but I am sure it is nice. I would just do mesh and a sight line board on top if I chose that kind of fencing. Or if you have 4 board, ditch the mesh.

[TheHorseMutterer]

Thanks, fordtraktor. The 3/4 board fence + mesh is more to keep my dogs contained than for the horses - and for the look. The area is pretty much 4 board or bust and I don’t want to be “that neighbor” if I don’t have to be. The less visible from the street fences will definitely be mesh with a sight board only. Unless I come into a large, unexpected inheritance.

I don’t think posts can be pounded down here. We have outrageous clay that I can only imagine would annihilate any post you attempted to pound in. I would much prefer to pound them, though!

I’ve called several companies around here and they’re mostly install it themselves or nothing. They’re also all on a waiting list until “fall or winter” which makes this all the more irritating.

Out of curiosity, what are you paying (ballpark) for what kind of posts? I was quoted $12.50/linear foot for 4 board with mesh unpainted, and I almost think that’s a pretty solid quote.

[Charliezmom]

Have you checked for posts at your local feed stores? Around here both the mom and pop feed store and the Tractor Supply carry fence posts. Feed store guys here also know a ton of stuff about local farm related contractors.

For our first farm we did 4ft tall no-climb with wood boards at the top for a sight line. We used half round posts for the line posts and 6" round ones for corners/gates. These posts came from local feedstore and were around $8 for half rounds, $15 for rounds.

For our current farm we went with 5ft tall no-climb and ran a line of flex fencing at the top for the sight line. Again went with half round posts for line posts and rounds for corners/gates. I ordered these posts from a local lumber mill. I found them through some creative google searching. Once I factored in shipping from the factory, I realized the pricing was the same as the feed stores so, I didn’t save much on my small order (approx 200 posts).

We rented a skidsteer and a 2 man auger to drill the post holes (the infamous red clay is here too). And built the fences ourselves. The quotes for having the fence professionally built was nearly 3x’s what it cost us to do ourselves, so DIY was a no brainer.

Best of luck with your project!

[caper]

I would get my rough cut oak boards and white oak post directly from a sawmill. Much cheaper. We have 3 board oak fencing. Can’t get creosote up here anymore. It isn’t environmentally friendly.

[gumtree]

I’m in horse country so there is lots of fencing around here and lots of horse/farm fencing contractors. Mostly 3-4 oak boards on 4X6 pressure treated posts. Right behind that is split rail and V-mesh with an oak top board.

Really no need to use a bigger post than a 4X6, 6X6 for gates.

These post can be had at Home Depot, Lowes etc. I would go to their contractor desk and get a quote delivered. For the quantity you are ording you should be able to get at least 10% off and free delivery.

I just received a flyer in the mail from this place in Lexington KY. Pretty good prices. Even with shipping it might end up being cheaper then what you can source locally.

I wouldn’t use the round for nailing boards to. Get the faced.

http://www.thoroughbred-center.com/fencing/

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

Here it’s Tractor Supply, Baumgaars (they still have creosote), a local lumber mill, or a big box store (Menards, Home Depot, Lowes). I don’t know if 350 is enough to equal a pallet and get a discount at TSC or not. They do have 10% sales a few times a year.

IMO, it is best to hand pick your posts so you can sort through the bad ones.

[TheHorseMutterer]

Thanks for all the replies, guys. This is super helpful.

I hadn’t thought about asking for a discount at a big box (I actually work for the orange one at corporate and should have thought about that). That being said, as TTP mentioned, I worry about the quality if I don’t hand pick them. I bought railroad ties from them for a small retaining wall and went through almost a whole pallet as a guy was loading them with a forklift telling him I didn’t want 75% of them.

I recently had a run-in with the local drunk who knocked on my BACK door after dark and helped himself INSIDE my house when I went to get shoes, so I’m now in kind of a rush to put of a driveway gate of some variety and fence a portion of the front so that I have a little more between me and the unwashed masses. I think getting a recommendation for a shotgun belongs in another thread…

Charliezmom - What was your experience with renting the skidsteer and auger to DIY the install? Can two very capable people manage it? How many posts/how many linear feet did you install per day?

gumtree - Thanks for the link! I’ll definitely get in touch with them and see if they’re comparable to the local guys I talk to.

[ElementFarm]

not in your neighborhood, but we have access (~1 hr away) to a great lumberyard that provides fence materials to the bulk of the fencing installers in our horsey area.
Prices for creosote:
full round posts: 15.45
half round posts: 8.55
8’ board (1x6): 7.77
10’ board (1x6): 8.36
delivery is 2.40/mile

Tractor supply has no climb wire (red brand) for ~130/100’
Quick crete is ~5/bag, 2 bags per post at gates, corners, and wet areas

for our ~800 linear foot fencing project (putting in an additional pasture, entirely mesh with a top board) is running us about 3000, so much less as a DIY project than quotes of 6-10/linear foot.
But don’t forget the auger, the tractor diesel, and the TIME. It’s been a month for us to get even one line of fence posts in – and it’s hot and humid so progress is slow and miserable. Some days I wish I had just saved up another year and had it professionally installed.

[fordtraktor]

I just paid 10.50 for full round line posts. 10’ 6" diameter brace posts are more expensive of course, I paid $21 each for those to brace my corners (in concrete). I am putting in Centaur so I need heavy bracing. This is for good stuff, not cheap crappy posts like you sometimes get at Lowe’s. You want to go in person and look at what people are selling before you buy. Some posts are a lot better than others and if you are putting in the ground for 20-30 years you want it to last.

I paid $20 to deliver the load.

This place had creosote available and said most people are still using it because it lasts longer. Messy to install but better in the long run. I am putting up white though so of course went with the plain which I will stain.

Prices are pretty good here in Indiana I guess. It seemed expensive to me when I got my bill! :lol:

We have clay but it’s not red clay. Didn’t realize that stuff was so hard you couldn’t even pound posts into it. what about in the spring and fall when it rains? We always try to fence in the spring when the ground is soft when doing posts because if you are pounding posts in August it is basically impossible, but in March after a bunch of rain they go right in…but maybe it’s always hard in Georgia, I don’t know. Or perhaps that is why those companies were trying to put off your project, that and the heat.

[Charliezmom]

Regarding the skidsteer rentals. We’ve rented them three times over the years. Each time we’ve gotten it delivered on a Friday and turned it back in on a Monday. There was a slight learning curve the very first time, but once DH got the hang of the controls he was able to drill holes pretty easily. Every now and then you hit a root or a rock and have to dig by hand but that’s not terrible. Twice we rented machines with a track. The most recent time we rented one with wheels. The wheeled one gave us all sorts of issues and we weren’t able to get much accomplished. We think it was just undersized for the job at hand. Not sure if the track vs. wheels had anything to do with it, but something to keep in mind. In the future, we’re going to stick to ones with tracks.

We are not experts by any stretch of the imagination, so it often takes us a while to get fencing done. On one of our most productive rentals we were able to get 130 posts done, YMMV.

The two man auger we rented once was pretty awesome, we clocked it and, were able to get holes dug in 90seconds or less. The major drawback to that though is its a beast, I’m not strong/big enough to wrestle with it.

[Charliezmom]

Regarding the skidsteer rentals. We’ve rented them three times over the years. Each time we’ve gotten it delivered on a Friday and turned it back in on a Monday. There was a slight learning curve the very first time, but once DH got the hang of the controls he was able to drill holes pretty easily. Every now and then you hit a root or a rock and have to dig by hand but that’s not terrible. Twice we rented machines with a track. The most recent time we rented one with wheels. The wheeled one gave us all sorts of issues and we weren’t able to get much accomplished. We think it was just undersized for the job at hand. Not sure if the track vs. wheels had anything to do with it, but something to keep in mind. In the future, we’re going to stick to ones with tracks.

We are not experts by any stretch of the imagination, so it often takes us a while to get fencing done. On one of our most productive rentals we were able to get 130 posts done, YMMV.

The two man auger we rented once was pretty awesome, we clocked it and, were able to get holes dug in 90seconds or less. The major drawback to that though is its a beast, I’m not strong/big enough to wrestle with it.

[fordtraktor]

I was at TSC yesterday…line posts $14, corner posts $17. They didn’t have the ones long enough to be bracing. I was looking at those and they are actually 12’ long, not 10’. So our local fencing company is substantially cheaper, $3.50 a post for comparable product.

[TheHorseMutterer]

Fascinating reading here. I got a quote from a reputable company that is scary local to me for $10.50/foot for 4 board with mesh and $8/foot for mesh with top rail. Painting is additional ($1.50/foot for 4 board, $0.85/foot for top rail). It seems exceedingly reasonable to me, actually. I say this like I know what I’m talking about…

Materials only got quoted too, but I left that paper at home and don’t want to misquote - I’ll hop on later with those figures. Guys at the fencing company laughed at the prospect of pounding them, so I think that’s just a year-round situation here. Based on the digging we’ve been doing in my extremely wet crawl space, I see why. Even when wet, this red clay is insanity.

Looks like labor more than doubles the costs of the fence here. Materials were quoted at about $16k for full 4 board and the fence I would be a-ok with (lots of top rail with some 4 board) would be about $30k installed.

Still debating the merits of doing it myself, but am leaning towards having them do it. I’m worried this would be the never ending project from hell if we try to do it ourselves, and I kind of envision the “rental AND this AND that” adding up to quite a bit in addition to the full materials list. I’d prefer installed with no surprises versus uninstalled and similar price at the end. Maybe I can bat my eyes and get them to drop some cost off…

[JannieC]

If you decide to have someone install it for you, ask for references and make sure you go look at jobs that were just done and some that have been up for years. I was just recently reading something that mentioned that there is a very specific way to put in the staples, at a diagonal. Who knew? After the fact, I learned that I should have walked the entire length of fencing to check that all staples were in securely and no mistakes or shortcuts were taken.