While I’m not a big fan of construction, nature and prices steered me into the topic, as my fence decided to take a rest.
So for the past week my mind has been preoccupied with thoughts, plans, and calculations about a fence – or, let’s say, a partial replacement. Before diving into my calculations, let me tell you that construction seems to be quite expensive, and fence work is no exception. I roughly figured that replacing a fence of give or take 80 feet would come out to around $4000+ if I were to call a company to do the job. A company would look at my old fence and probably tell me to replace it entirely, since the wood is old enough to remember Jean Chrétien. Judging by Home Depot prices, materials alone would be around $2000.
I wish I could get rid of the fence, but unfortunately I need to have one… so it was time to figure out the best course of action. While I’m not planning to make my fence the best in the neighbourhood, I do wish to fix the issue somewhat permanently. A typical wooden fence can last a while; however, the weak spot is the wooden post – a 4×4 post rots, breaks, and will have to be replaced sometime between 15–25 years, depending on wood quality and conditions. On the other hand, a steel post (such as a PostMaster galvanized post for wooden fences) should last considerably longer, perhaps even twice as long. And while a galvanized steel post costs twice as much as a wooden one ($42 vs $21), there are more factors to consider.
In order to install a new 4×4 wooden post, you need to dig a hole, buy cement, add a bit of gravel, and then set it. Considering you will need 3 bags of cement (quick-post cement), that will cost $33 ($11 per bag at current rates). I’ll skip the gravel price, but you can toss several more bucks into the mix. So at this point we are at about $54+. Now if you want someone else to do the labour, then add another $20 (current rate) per post. Rounding the cost up, that brings us to about $75 per post.
So while a galvanized steel post starts at $42, it has a trick up its sleeve that doesn’t seem to be advertised heavily. Yes, you need a smaller-diameter hole for the post – which cuts down on the amount of concrete needed, and if you’re installing lots of posts, savings on concrete alone will cover the price difference between a steel and a wood post. However, the neat trick is that you don’t need concrete at all. Instead of going the traditional hole-set-concrete route, you can drive steel posts down into the ground with a pneumatic hammer. Now the math looks very different: no more concrete, no more digging or gravel, and you can hire a contractor to drive steel posts into the ground at $20 per post. And so $42 + $20 = $62 per post — that is $13 cheaper per post.
Now I know: we can use less concrete, we can put some leftover glass instead of gravel, we can do the labour ourselves – I’m sure there are lots of “saving” measures that can be employed. However, you can also rent a pneumatic hammer for $75 per day and hammer in as many posts as your heart desires, and oh boy, those posts go in fast. I watched professionals, and those guys hammered in 12 posts in under 80 minutes – which roughly translates to 7 minutes per post. Once the post is in, you can start putting up a fence right away if time and speed matter.
Approximate fence post cost comparison
(skipping gravel, brackets, and stuff)
Cost item
– Wood (3 bags concrete)
/ Wood (2 bags concrete)
/ Steel post
Post material per post – $21 / $21 / $42
Concrete per post – $33 / $22 / $0
Labour per post – $20 / $20 / $20
Subtotal per post – $75 / $64 / $62
Subtotal for 12 posts – $900 / $768 / $744
From where I’m standing, galvanized steel posts work out to be cheaper. So the question on my mind is: why are we still installing wooden posts? And why are we still using concrete for steel posts? I mean, for the cost of concrete, we can hire a contractor to drive posts in – fast, professional, and no mess. Not only that, whenever an old post breaks, you need to pull the old concrete out in order to install a new post, if you want to retain the existing post location. Removing old post concrete costs money, but a metal post can be driven in right next to the old one – not to mention that it lasts considerably longer. After going over the calculations, I wonder if it is time for homeowners to rethink fence posts.
