Fencing

[mwakio]

Anyone out there have experience with building fences? Positive or Negative comments for companies you have worked with?

[terracore]

We had 3 estimates, and they all wanted to charge a "per foot" rate of $8-$10 per foot instead of giving an estimate based on cost of materials and labor. Essentially we determined that it was a racket and we put the fence in ourselves for a fraction of the cost.

What you might want to consider is getting an estimate for post holes only and put the fence in yourself.

One recommendation I would make is not to buy anything at Home Depot except for the post driver, hand winch (also called a come-along) and concrete. Their fencing products are all garbage, and overpriced garbage at that, and won't last more than a few years. Get your fencing supplies from either Del's or Mirandas. Use only galvanized posts- don't get the painted ones. And only get the Class 3 fencing. It's triple galvanized.

The hardest part of the fencing project is putting the holes in the lava, if your lot hasn't been ripped and you don't have blue rock you can use a handheld drill with a masonry bit and pound the posts in yourself, and the best part is that this technique doesn't require any concrete. Though, every patch of lava is different, it might not work at your location.

The second hardest part is stretching the fence- don't try to do it by hand, spend the extra $40 on a hand winch.

[bluesboy]

KiiK did mine. The labor was expensive, it was all by hand, more or less. They did have an air-powered drill. They drilled holes for the t-posts, then hammered those in (i think), and drilled bigger holes for the every 100 feet posts, and epoxied those in.

[mwakio]

Thank you terracore and bluesboy.

How big of an area did you fence on your own? I have a three acre lot which is about 1,400 linear feet. The quotes I've gotten to fence that area are more expensive than the cost of the land itself. It is also not cleared at all. How difficult was it to hand clear your land (if you needed to)? Can it be done fairly easily with a chainsaw and hand tools in a strawberry guava thicket?

Scott Sweet

[Mr nice guy]

Be sure to wear a sawyer's helmet (with face shield) when clearing sg, there may be plenty of energy built up in the trunks when they are bent.

[mwakio]

Thanks for the tip Mr. nice guy!

[lquade]

i have 3 acres a spaghetti lot. the first acre and a half we didn't have fence line ripped. rented the compressor and rock drill at puna rentals and as everyone said, the holes are the hardest part. and dragging 150 feet of hose through the jungle. and going over hill and dale you end up with some areas that you just can't stretch the fence down into so ended up then filling all of that with old roof tin, logs etc. a constant battle. so when we got ready to do the next acre and a half, i bit the bullet and payed a guy to rip all along the fence line, a giant U shape, we call our racetrack. it made it so easy to drive around and pull the compressor. one guy could do about 40 holes a day, before we were pooped out so with a helper you could do 80 holes a day i would think. stretching the fence with a come a long was the easy part, a few holes we had to throw a small cone of cement in. and yes use good stuff, miranda has made in USA posts and X fence which is very good class 3. hope that helps...

[kalakoa]

If I were doing it all over again...

1. Definitely rip a "racetrack" a few feet inside the perimeter. For a few dollars more, rip a second "inside" lane for planting trees. Leave the fenceline intact, posts tend to be less secure in ripped rock.

2. Buy an electric jackhammer + hammer drill (and a big enough generator) instead of renting the equipment. (If you really don't need it afterwards, post on craiglist.)

3. Wooden posts only seem cheaper... by the time you paint the end with tar (and maybe paint the top after installation) and dig a bigger hole/use more concrete to set the post ... metal is a better investment. It's cheaper by the 21' length, get a pipe rack (or borrow a friend's truck) and cut into thirds with a sawzall. Make sure to put a cap on the top.

4. Galvanized everything. Buy several cans of "cold galvanizing" spray and touch up every cut end, tool mark, etc as you go. (The tall cans from Home Depot are less expensive.)

5. Amazon has a complete selection of fencing tools (winch, pounder, mini bolt cutters, etc).

6. Fence and wire can be spliced with crimp sleeves -- this might be stating the obvious, but it's worth pointing out, I was able to solve a couple of "interesting" problems this way, totally worth the price of the crimping tool.

7. Miranda's has aluminum tie wires for securing fence/wire to metal posts. This can be done by hand but there are wire bending tools for the purpose, bruised fingers/thumbs are unpleasant. (Grab an extra bag of these, they're really useful for all kinds of things.)

8. Make sure the actual fenceline is 6-12" inside the survey markers -- cheaper than any possible future dispute, such as when neighbors rip their lot pin-to-pin and damage your fence...

[terracore]

"How big of an area did you fence on your own?"

Over a quarter mile, and I continue to fence more as we need extra paddocks, etc.

"Miranda's has aluminum tie wires for securing fence/wire to metal posts. "

They also provide free pre-mostly-bent galvanized fence ties with each post purchase, I think 3 per post. I actually use nylon cable ties when I'm setting the fence up (buying the 500 or more per bag at Home Depot is most cost effective, the black ones are UV resistant and will last a few years if there aren't big animals pressing against the fence) and go back and install the galvanized ones later because most of our fencing projects are an "emergency" and time is of the essence.

"miranda has made in USA posts"

The galvanized Chinese posts they sell are about $4/post cheaper and in my experience are actually slightly better posts, though time may change my opinion but so far they are still rust free after a few years and the tops are not split/smashed like some of the USA posts got from the post driver.

"How difficult was it to hand clear your land (if you needed to)?"

You should get your land staked so you know where the fence needs to go, generally they do a rough clearing in the process. There is another thread about pin finders, surveying, and staking, etc.

In my experience I started putting the fence in, got about 15-20 posts into the job, did kind of a crappy job, and decided I wasn't a fence guy. Then I got the estimates and realized I had to become one really quick. I learned the hard and expensive way that the Home Depot fencing is crap, I have already had to replace some of it and will have to replace all of it eventually. At least my galvanized posts are solid. I had to fence in one side of a spag lot relatively quickly and it was a lot of work, so much so that I lost weight and gained visible muscle mass in the process. I also wore through several pairs of heavy leather gloves. It's tough work to do by yourself, but its possible if you can't afford an alternative. It's best to do it in the winter. Summer fencing projects take me about twice as long because I need to spend time cooling off.

[kalakoa]

aluminum tie wires for securing fence/wire to metal posts

T-posts include some clips; round (pipe) posts do not.

The included T-post clips can be upgraded for a nominal fee.