Wood Fence Cost Per Foot: Cedar, Pine & Styles

Species is the biggest single lever on price, and the one most quotes describe vaguely as “wood.” Ask which species and grade you're being quoted:

Roughly $10 to $30 per foot is material and $5 to $20 is labour. Regional labour rates move the total more than most people expect — West Coast markets commonly run half again as high as Southern ones for identical fences.

Style changes how much wood goes into each foot, which is why a picket fence and a board-on-board fence in the same cedar can differ by more than double:

Price your own run→ — the calculator prices gates separately, which is where wood quotes most often come in over budget.

A wood fence is the cheapest privacy option to install and one of the more expensive to own. Stain needs renewing every three to five years and paint every five to seven, at roughly $2 to $4 per linear foot each time. Over twenty years that is four or five cycles:

The orange segment is the part nobody quotes. Wood starts cheaper than vinyl and, on a twenty-year view, lands in the same territory or worse. That doesn't make wood the wrong choice — it's warmer, endlessly customisable, and repairable board by board — but it should be chosen knowing the real number.

Skipping the refinishing isn't a free option either. Unsealed wood greys, checks, and eventually rots, which turns a maintenance cost into a replacement cost.

Here is the thing almost every wood-fence cost page omits: fence panels rarely fail first. Posts do, right at ground level. That's where moisture, soil contact, and oxygen meet, and it's why a fence with sound-looking boards can be pushed over by hand after fifteen years.

Concrete or gravel?

Genuinely contested among installers, and worth understanding before you accept a quote. Concrete gives the most lateral rigidity, but a collar of concrete can hold water against the post and accelerate the rot it was meant to prevent — unless the top is crowned to shed water away from the wood. Gravel drains freely and makes a future post replacement far easier, at the cost of some stiffness in high wind or on a heavy gate.

The common compromise is a gravel base for drainage with concrete above, crowned. What matters more than the method: post depth below the frost line for your region, and using rot-resistant or treated posts even under cedar panels.

What to ask about posts

• Post depth, and whether it clears your local frost line
• Post material and treatment — treated posts under any species
• Concrete crowned to shed water, or a gravel base for drainage
• Post spacing (typically 6–8 ft) and thickness (4×4 vs 6×6 on gates and corners)

Call 811 before digging. Free utility locating, and required in most places — post holes are deep enough to matter.

• If you won't refinish it. Neglected wood fails fast — choose vinyl or chain link instead.
• Wildfire-prone areas. Combustible cladding at the property line; metal or masonry is the safer call.
• Constantly wet ground. Posts in perpetually saturated soil have a short life regardless of treatment.
• Short holds. You carry the upkeep without the years of enjoyment; the cheaper materials make more sense.

• Species and grade — “wood” alone tells you nothing about price or life
• Style (stockade, board-on-board, shadowbox) and height
• Post material, depth, spacing, and setting method
• Gates as separate line items — the most commonly under-quoted part
• Whether an initial stain or seal coat is included
• Tear-out and haul-away of the old fence, if any

Local rules vary. Fence height and setback limits are local, and front-yard fences are commonly capped lower than back. Confirm with your city or county — and your HOA — before ordering.