What are you paying to have fence posts driven? Also auger questions...

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

I know this is regional, but I need a starting point. Any idea on the cost of having line posts driven?

I was thinking about renting an auger–I don’t have a tractor–(anyone tried a two person gas operated auger?) for the fencing around the back yard, just so I could get that up this fall. I was going to put up 4-board fence so it can also serve as a pasture fence, and then use a wire fence along the bottom to keep the dogs in. Approx. 8’ apart for the posts. Do I need to cement these line posts if they aren’t driven? Our soil is more on the sandy side vs. clay, but isn’t super sandy. I prefer not to cement if I don’t have to, because that’s typically where the rot happens.

We are in a wicked drought, so the ground is going to be rock-hard. I’d like to have the posts driven in the spring.

[Mosey_2003]

I’m doing a line of fence in the next week or two. We usually just cement the ends and corners. I called about renting an auger too but didn’t end up getting a price yet.

[fordtraktor]

We only cement ends and corners too.

Whatever it costs to drive the posts will be worth it. Misery = building fence with an auger. Especially the kind of auger you are talking about that isn’t hooked to a tractor.

[Mosey_2003]

Misery - building fence with a hand operated clamshell digger. Oy!

[fordtraktor]

Well, yes, that’s worse. But the auger is pretty bad too, especially those 2 man ones. Once you convert to driving posts you will never go back!

[Mosey_2003]

I wonder if I could find someone with a driver around here…

[Tom_King]

I’ve tried all the various ways, and do own a tractor auger. Fastest is with a 2-man auger when the ground is right. I don’t bother unless ground conditions are ideal. I probably should include that the two men are pretty good sized guys that can each bench press over 400 lbs. Most time taken during the process is walking from one hole to the next. When the ground is right, drilling a hole may take 5 seconds. We have red clay. The tractor auger only gets used when I’m building a pole building and need to dig big holes.

[Zenyatta]

[QUOTE=Tom King;6525211]
I’ve tried all the various ways, and do own a tractor auger. Fastest is with a 2-man auger when the ground is right. I don’t bother unless ground conditions are ideal. I probably should include that the two men are pretty good sized guys that can each bench press over 400 lbs. Most time taken during the process is walking from one hole to the next. When the ground is right, drilling a hole may take 5 seconds. We have red clay. The tractor auger only gets used when I’m building a pole building and need to dig big holes.[/QUOTE]

What makes the “ground right”?

[horseshrink]

I’m in the Texas Hill Country and my ground, “ain’t right” for sure. There is NOTHING but rock.

I have a man that drills the holes for me with some kind of “special” auger (diamond-tip?).

It takes approximately 30 minutes (sometimes more) for each hole and he can only go down about 16-18 inches. I have to concrete every pole since they are not that deep. He charges $65.00 per hour and I’ve never had him do more than 2 in an hour.

In FL, you could use a hand-held post-hole digger and dig 20 holes per day. :lol:

[superJ]

I’ve heard the two person augers are a nightmare to handle. Before we bought the skidsteer for our farm, we rented a Toro Dingo with an auger on it. My husband and I did all the posts for the stalls with a Dingo. I seem to remember it being roughly $300 for a weekend?

[goodhors]

Pounded posts mean not having to fill and tamp around the posts to set them. I would think “ideal” ground would be a bit damp, not dry or soaked after rain.

Pounded posts may not work in some locations, too many rocks, bad sub-surface kinds of dirt won’t let the posts go in.

We have clay dirt, pounded posts were a lifesaver to get our fence in quickly, SOLID posts for hanging the wire on. We had the whole place fenced by a professional company, who were both good workers, with excellent results. Husband and I decided if WE had to do the fence work, it would be a BAD THING for our marriage!! Not much we both hate more than fence work. So he got the fencelines clean, to let the Professionals do the installing. They were here about 5days, but we had a LOT of fence put in, with double braced ends, gates hung, electric in conduit under each gate. Great job in my estimation. I would have them right back out to do more fence if I needed it. Those pounded posts have stayed FIRM, over a lot of years. They bid the whole job, not per post.

We did auger some posts for privacy fence by the house with a skidsteer. Worked fine, just a lot slower backfilling those holes, than pounding them in. We rented the skidsteer and auger, nothing slowed it down in the way of rocks or big tree roots.

[Rabtfarm]

I have done all my fencing with a tractor three point hitch Woods post hole digger. Best thing for a reasonably straight fence line: run a long run of twine (100-150 feet)where your fenceline will be. Put easily identifiable disposable sticks and flags every post hole.(Every 8 feet or ten feet, etc depending upon your fence layout). Move stringline aside and run the tractor right down that line, drilling right on each spot. Have your helpers drop a fence post in each hole and plumb them up. If you want a REALLY straight line, plumb with the posts aligning on your string line. Backfill/tamp in the posts and move the same stringline up to mark the topline edge of your top wood rail. (Simply move the same stringline up to the top of the post). Most folks set the toprail around 54 inches above grade. You could measure and mark every post at 54" or you can use judgement here to “smooth” out minor ground surface irregularities. Many times I will hold down the stringline with a judicious nail on a post low spot, or hold up the stringline on a hillock. Mark the topline and fit/attach/nail on the top rails. Use a hanger gauge to set the bottom rail(s). After all the rails are on, come through along the fenceline and lop off the post tops evenly at or above the top rail line. Get someone else to paint the fence!

[Forte]

We are in the middle of fencing right now, so this is a topic that is near and dear to me. I am a believer in pounding them in rather than augering. I believe you end up with a firmer post that way. Although, hubby just spend all day yesterday pounding posts into our very rocky soil, and he found that it was very difficult and in some cases impossible to keep the posts level if he hit a rock. He probably would have a better time keeping post level if he was augering. We are aiming to pound them about 3 feet in, but in a few cases he could only do 18-24 inches due to hitting rock. For those posts, we are going to cross brace them. We rented a hydraulic pounder that you can pull behind a truck or tractor. I paid $200 to rent it for a day and hubby was able to do 50 posts in a 24 hour period. If it wasn’t for the rocks, he would have been able to do way more. I did get some prices from contractors, and the cheapest price I was quoted was $23 a post for pounding and that includes the posts. The posts are valued at about $7.50 a post, so that’s $15.50 a post for pounding. It gets pricey pretty fast. I think that those 2 man augers are pretty hard to operate unless you are a big strong guy (or gal. )

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

I realize our soil is probably completely different, but how big of posts are you driving Forte?

[Forte]

The posts we are driving are advertised as 5" diameter, peeled cedar posts, but in reality the end of the post that’s going in the ground is more like 6" or 7". Our ground is clay on top and lots of rocks after the first 18" or so. (we are on the Niagara Escarpment)

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

Cool, thanks, I wasn’t sure how big it was when you mentioned how “cheap” they are. I have to tell you, I’m very jealous of your post cost vs. what I would pay for that here!! LOL. The best I can do is treated SY pine (cedar is way too $$) at about double the cost. I guess that’s what I get for living on the prairie.

Oh and just for fun, I looked up what using oak for a board would cost, as no one uses it for fencing here, but I found a 1x6"x16’ on sale at Menards for $44.25 (was $50).

[Tom_King]

@Zenyatta;6525298

What makes the “ground right”?

Only after Winter (normally) when moisture stays in the ground for months. After it’s been too wet to drive on it for a long time, but just when you can drive on it barely leaving tire tracks. Any drier, and it’s a fight. Just right, and it becomes 100 times easier.

Here Summer normally has long dry spells and the ground dries out not too much different than cured concrete. This summer, here, we’ve had large rains every week, so it’s not too bad right now. Last week the guys dug a footing for a set of steps, and it was easy digging. Any other August and I would have had to rent a mini-excavator.

I can’t get the advanced search function to come up. I did a long how-to on here one or more years ago about how to build a straight fenceline that had smooth flowing lines. Maybe someone else can access the search function and put “building fence” and my user name to come up with it NEVER MIND, i FOUND IT. Some professional fence company sent me an email thanking me for it a short time after I posted it.

see post #5 in this thread to build a straight fenceline with smooth flowing lines http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=303986&highlight=building+fence

[potteryshop]

I am in awe of soil that allows you to pound posts in! We are thrilled to not have to break up rock when we dig - clamshell or auger. I must admit that the rock you dig up is handy to tamp back in the hole to hold the post.

[nikelodeon79]

If you have clay, a two person auger will NOT work. The ground is just too hard and there’s not enough down pressure.

We tried a two person auger and ended up renting a dingo. Drilling the post holes was a BREEZE.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/8925_1209744996540_571776_n.jpg

Cost us $250 for a day and we were able to get all the holes drilled.

[Mosey_2003]

Can you drive 4x4 squares or do they have to be round?