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submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by ericbomb@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

New home owner who has never had to hire a contractor before. Want to have chain link fence replaced and want to have put in white vinyl fence to match connected town home.

It is just a 40 foot length I need replaced and will need to have one gate. As I get quotes, what kind of price should I expect to pay? What's considered fair and what's considered a rip off?

EDIT: Thanks for all the feedback! I think I'm not in the right tax bracket to hire people to do this, so probably going to try to do it myself.

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[-] Wwwbdd@lemmy.world 37 points 1 day ago

My time to shine. I own a company that does fences, we specialize in custom vinyl. Obviously this varies by region, but I'll price vinyl $95-130/ft, and $300 per gate. Depending on if I liked you, what I knew about the soil, travel time to your job, I'd probably come in around $5300, installed

It might sound insane, but my 4 man crew costs about $1100/day to keep on the road. 40' in bad conditions is 2 days minimum, can easily spill into 3. My materials would be around $1500, so worst case I'm netting in $500 for 3 days of work, which is damn near unsustainable considering the amount of machinery I've got in play

[-] ericbomb@lemmy.world 30 points 1 day ago

What I am learning is that I am not in the correct tax bracket to pay for contractors unless messing up means the house burning down. So probably gonna be DIY this one.

[-] Wwwbdd@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago

The overhead running a legit business is unreal.

My general advice is don't use post mix concrete, use regular stone mix and backfill immediately. The backfilled dirt will hold it in place and slow the cure, giving you hours to go back and tweak as you go. That rapid post makes no sense, there's no urgency in the setting phase, that's the opposite of what you want.

And remember, if you do a good job it can last 20+ years, so don't be lazy and take a shortcut because it's "good enough". You're better spending $300 on a rental machine to dig the holes than to set a post that isn't deep enough. I'm in Canada where frost can be hell, my posts go 4' down and usually 5 bags concrete per post, then another 3 bags down the post once it's all assembled. Your 40' fence I could easily put in 50 bags. Don't base your shopping list on that, but know that if you care about longevity it takes patience and hard work, like anything else in life

[-] DerArzt@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago

Renting the machine also would be good for your back. Folks can underestimate how hard digging narrow holes in the ground can be.

[-] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

4ft of concrete will be a nightmare to remove when the post needs to be replaced.

[-] Wwwbdd@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

I've pulled them before with shovels and a farm jack, and it is a nightmare, dangerous too. Now we have machinery to do it, or a truck and chain, wouldn't do it manually any more

[-] BombOmOm@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Realistically, one would just dig down half a foot, break up the concrete, cut the post, then backfill the dirt. Put any new post you need a foot to the side. No reason to remove the boulder.

this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2024
61 points (95.5% liked)

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