Avoid These Common Mistakes
GREENVILLE, SC, November 23, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ — Before you spend thousands of dollars on a new fence, be sure you understand what you are buying and avoid some of the mistakes many buyers make.
1. You absolutely have to know where your property lines are. Don’t base your fence placement decision off who mows what, or if there was a stick in the ground when you moved in that someone thinks is an old marker. If you don’t have pins in the ground that are freshly marked by a licensed surveyor, then you will 100% put the fence either too close to your side and lose valuable property or you will encroach into the neighbor’s yard and end up having to move the fence. And if there is a dispute about property lines, there is no proof of who is right and wrong without a survey. The biggest regret most fence buyers have is that they didn’t get a survey first. It is often double the cost of a new fence to move fencing that was put in the wrong location. Most residential surveys are around $600. Go ahead and invest that now so you are completely ready for the install.
2. Be sure to hire a contractor with appropriate insurance. Jesse Sutton at Green Hill Fence runs a fence company in Greenville, SC that specializes in residential installs. “You wouldn’t believe how often minor problems turn into major issues because a contractor isn’t properly insured to do fence installations” says Sutton. He lists underground utility damage as the major cause of surprise invoices. Every fence contractor is supposed to call in a utility mark request. Hitting an unmarked utility can costs tens of thousands of dollars to fix. If the installer isn’t insured then it goes right back to the homeowner to pay.
3. If you buy a wood fence, be sure you stain in. A wood fence will never look better than the first day it is installed. You can maintain the look of the fence and add years to its life by staining the fence. If you do not stain a wood fence it will continue to get worse and deteriorate. In fact, many people consider other materials like vinyl fencing and aluminum fencing, both of which have a lifetime warranty if purchased from reputable companies.
4. There are some situations in which you are required to have a fence. You have to have a fence around a swimming pool. There are certain requirements to have fall protect in front of or on top of retaining walls. Many retention or drainage ponds are required to be fenced. These fences don’t have to be expensive. You can usually do something like 4′ black chain link fencing.
5. Don’t fall for labor only pricing. Sutton explains that there have been multiple situations in which someone has gotten a price that was extremely low and learned on the day of the install that the price was labor only. The majority of fence companies quote a price that includes material and labor. When quoting that way, you might see a 20% range between your highest and lowest quote. If three quotes are at $8,000, $8,600, and $9,200 and one is $3,500, you need to closely investigate how the one price is so different than the others.
Jesse Sutton is the general manager at Green Hill Fence Company in Greenville. The company installs more than 800 residential and commercial fences each year in and around the Upstate of South Carolina.
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