Types of Fences

Most fence guides list materials and leave you to work out which fits. It's faster in reverse, because the job eliminates most of the field immediately:

• Privacy → wood, vinyl, or composite. Nothing else gives it.
• Containing a dog → depends entirely on the dog; see fencing for a dog→.
• Pool safety → aluminum or another non-climbable option that meets code.
• Security → wrought iron or ornamental steel.
• Marking a boundary cheaply → chain link or split rail.
• Curb appeal → wrought iron, cedar, or a picket style.

Each card is a quick orientation — tap through for full cost breakdowns, honest pros and cons, and who each material genuinely suits. Prefer a filterable table? Compare them side by side→.

If the fence is for privacy, these three are your entire field — and they differ far more in ownership than in appearance.

Wood→ is the cheapest route to full privacy at $15–$45 per foot, and the most flexible: any height, any style, any stain colour, and it follows a sloping grade smoothly. The catch is recurring — refinishing every three to five years, and posts that rot at ground level long before the boards give out. Cedar resists rot naturally and stays straighter than pressure-treated pine, which commonly warps in its first year or two.

Vinyl→ costs more upfront at $22–$50 and never asks for anything again — no staining, no rot, no termites. Over twenty years the two roughly converge. Its weaknesses are specific rather than general: it gets brittle in deep cold (cheap thin panels crack on impact), damaged panels are replaced rather than repaired, and rigid panels step awkwardly down a slope that wood would follow.

Composite is the priciest of the three at $28–$58, offering a wood look with no refinishing. It's worth considering only if you specifically want the grain appearance and vinyl's flatter look bothers you — otherwise vinyl does the same job for less.

None of these gives privacy, and no budget changes that. They're chosen for cost, code compliance, or appearance.

Chain link→ is the cheapest real barrier at $8–$25 per foot and genuinely good at what it does — enclosing a yard, containing a calm dog, handling slopes, and lasting decades with zero maintenance. Its reputation problem is aesthetic rather than functional. Note that it's easily climbed, which rules it out for pool enclosures and athletic dogs.

Aluminum ($28–$55) is the ornamental standard and the usual choice around pools: it never rusts, needs no upkeep, lasts 30–50 years, and its vertical pickets can be specified to meet safety-code spacing. Wrought iron and ornamental steel ($30–$65) are the most secure and longest-lived option at 40–70 years, with the trade-offs of weight, price, and periodic rust maintenance. Most fencing sold as “wrought iron” today is in fact tubular steel — worth asking about, since the two differ in both price and corrosion behaviour.

Material is only the first variable. Four others move a fence quote as much or more:

• Height. Going from 4 ft to 6 ft is roughly a 25% increase in material and often deeper posts; 8 ft more again.
• Ground conditions. Rock, heavy clay, and tree roots slow post digging dramatically — the single biggest hidden labour variable in fencing.
• Gates. Priced per unit, not per foot: $200–$700 for a walk gate, $500–$1,800 for a double. The most commonly under-quoted line item.
• Tear-out. Removing an existing fence adds $3–$8 per foot including disposal.
• Region. Labour rates vary enough that identical fences differ by half again between low- and high-cost markets.

The cost calculator→ accounts for all of these, and prices gates as separate line items.

Within a material, the style drives cost because it changes how much goes into each foot. In wood, a split-rail fence and a board-on-board privacy fence can differ by more than double despite being the same species. The common styles:

• Solid / stockade — boards butted tight for full privacy.
• Board-on-board — overlapping boards, so no gaps appear as wood shrinks.
• Shadowbox — alternating boards; identical from both sides and lets breeze through.
• Picket — spaced pickets, typically 3–4 ft, decorative rather than private.
• Split rail / ranch rail — rails only; marks a boundary and contains nothing small.
• Ornamental panel — aluminum or steel pickets, the pool and front-yard standard.

Four questions settle it in most cases:

• What's it for? — eliminates most of the field, as above.
• Will you refinish it? — if no, wood is out.
• How long will you stay? — a short hold rarely justifies a premium material.
• What's your ground like? — rigid vinyl panels step awkwardly down slopes that wood follows smoothly.

Want that turned into a ranked answer? The fence selector→ scores every material against your answers and shows its reasoning.

Local rules vary. Whatever you choose, confirm your local height limit, setback, and permit requirement first — and your HOA's rules if you have one, since they're often stricter than the city's and can restrict material and colour outright.