Quoting a high tensile fence job

[mwemaxxowner]

Until a few months ago, I got roughly 10-20 hours of overtime a week. COVID finally caught up with Lowe's, and consequently us, their treated lumber supplier. I went to strictly only 40 hours immediately, but hey I'm still working, and thankful for it!

This all happened right after buying my tractor. So I took on an extra bill and had a big cut in pay. Since I'm off 3 days a week now I've been picking up some side work wherever possible. I grew up in a family of tradesmen and am an avid DIYer and picked up a lot of skills from watching Pawpaw, Dad, and my uncles.

So far I've been able to use my tractor to AT LEAST make the tractor payment for itself. I worked as a commercial landscaper for about 10 years and one of the services I've been advertising is fence installation. I've installed a lot of wooden privacy fence, a little vinyl privacy fence, and a little metal fence in the landscaping business.

Long story short, I just got a request for a high tensile fence job. I chatted with the fella, and explained I have never done it or been around it, but I'm sure I can do it, as long as he understands I don't have any experience and I'll be learning as I go. He's done it plenty but I think his old bones won't let him any longer. He understands my limited experience, but he also loves just a few miles from where I grew up and has known me all my life. He knows I'll work hard, I'm a quick study, and it'll be top notch before I collect. He's going to give me all sorts of advice, I'm sure.

All that said, I have NO idea how to price it. I live in a podunk (poor) rural area, if that helps narrow down where on the scale it should be. What is the range of pricing for a high tensile fence installation? I'm meeting with him Tuesday to look at the site and go over it all, and figure out exactly what he wants.

 

[Diggin It]

Is he buying the materials and you doing the labor?

Or are you buying everything and looking to do a mark-up?

 

[ponytug]

If you can get him to advise you on how to do it, and you think he knows his stuff, I would offer to do it at cost on materials and a discount on the labor, but with the quote including X hours of teaching on his part. I.e. open ended quote @$Y/hr, so he is incentivized to help you get it done quickly.

Actual costing is a little hard because the tools for the job make a big difference on the time. Do you have spool unwinders, tensioning devices (are they manual or hydraulic or tractor powered)? What do you have for laying out straight fence lines? Post drivers, augers? Then there is the job itself; How many strands, is the land level, how many gates are there, how many bends, corners, water crossings, ....?

I would look at a few high tensile fence videos to give yourself an idea of what you are stepping into. It is fun, but different, or at least I think so. I also think it is one of those red/green/blue/orange things where people have strongly held beliefs about what the best is.

I hope that it works out.

All the best,

Peter

P.S. I bought a whole bunch of tractor accessories a decade ago when someone around here offered me a neighborly discount on three board fence at $80/ft, unpainted.

 

[Doofy]

Should be a fun project and not to difficult. Google "High Tensile Fence".

 

[mwemaxxowner]

If you can get him to advise you on how to do it, and you think he knows his stuff, I would offer to do it at cost on materials and a discount on the labor, but with the quote including X hours of teaching on his part. I.e. open ended quote @$Y/hr, so he is incentivized to help you get it done quickly.

Actual costing is a little hard because the tools for the job make a big difference on the time. Do you have spool unwinders, tensioning devices (are they manual or hydraulic or tractor powered)? What do you have for laying out straight fence lines? Post drivers, augers? Then there is the job itself; How many strands, is the land level, how many gates are there, how many bends, corners, water crossings, ....?

I would look at a few high tensile fence videos to give yourself an idea of what you are stepping into. It is fun, but different, or at least I think so. I also think it is one of those red/green/blue/orange things where people have strongly held beliefs about what the best is.

I hope that it works out.

All the best,

Peter

P.S. I bought a whole bunch of tractor accessories a decade ago when someone around here offered me a neighborly discount on three board fence at $80/ft, unpainted.

A lot of that I can't answer until I visit with him Tuesday. He definitely knows his stuff.

I am assuming they will have the materials delivered, but if I go pick them up obviously I will need to take that into consideration.

I've watched a few videos already, and read a few tutorials. Doesn't look too hard and it'll be a nice skill to get under my belt I think. And I hope within his farming/ranching circle I will be able to get some recommendations and drum up more business if it goes well.

I'll be partnering with a friend of mine who has a 25 HP tractor. He's installed a few of these before but never for a paying customer, so he's at a loss on how to charge (I was expecting there to be an average "per foot" way to charge. That's how we do privacy fence). My friend has a spool to dispense the wires as we pull them, but the tensioner and any other tools I'll need to buy. I'll be adding those tools to my arsenal for personal use and maybe making money in the future so I don't consider that part of the cost of the job.

I have 2 2 stroke augers and good ole fashioned post hole diggers. Depending on the size I might consider renting a 3 point auger (that I would charge for). I'm sure we can get it done with my 2 stroke augers though.

I do want to charge accordingly for my experience, or lack thereof, but I also want to know how it would typically be quoted if I had done it and didn't need guidance. (Assuming the site is reasonably ready to fence, not needing too much grading or clearing to be ready.)


I don't know how many strands yet, or how he wants his corners built (I'm seeing several different ways). I don't know the condition of the land and I have string lines for laying off posts. Is there any other way? (Probably gonna regret that question)

 

[Birdhunter1]

First thing with high tensile fence is you have to have an unwinder, do not cut the bands loose on a coil if it isn't in one or you just wasted the entire coil of wire.
Largely HT wire will go up just like barbed wire, you don't staple it tight and you don't tension it on the corners you tension it in the middle with a spring and a strainer. The reason for not stapling the wire tight is because when you tension it you want it to slide in what is holding it to the posts.

You can go long distances between posts depending on terrain, I like 30' on flatter ground, 20' on hills. Steel t posts are perfectly fine to use but you have to build corners stout, directional changes will need a full out braced structure, they make a duckbill device instead of using posts in a dip. High tensile when tensioned will move a post if it has side or up pressure.

I have a hydraulic post driver and I shoot for a rate of $10 to drive a post (corners and t posts). This figure covers my layout and design time.

If I'm getting materials I figure on 15% markup, I prefer customers to get the post themselves if they can as it saves them a little bit of money, saves me time and if I can't fit all the materials and my tractor on the trailer it then saves me a trip. I like to get the strainers, insulators, crimp sleeves, staples and all the other hardware myself.

Tool wise you'll need a spinning jenny/unwinder, crimping tool for barrel crimps (or learn to tie the wire), high tensile wire cutters (the multi purpose fencing tool doesn't begin to cut ht wire).

Above and beyond that the time involved in running wire is about the same time as barbed wire so if you've done fencework you can probably figure your time out easily. I would almost venture to say HT wire is less time to run than barbed wire due to the fact you will have less posts to attach wire to.

The big question is, what is the guy wanting to fence in or fence out? Are the wires all hot (I'd make one a grounded wire, usually the top one as it is the one most likely to have deer damage). For horses (which is what I have and done the most ht wire fencing of) I find 3 strands at 18", 36" and 54" works well and I make the middle one hot, this works for good pastured trail horses with good pasture, if you are looking to fence in cattle, young horses or goats you will need to add more strands.

 

[Birdhunter1]

Instead of using string lines on an ht fence I build my corners, make a run of wire and tie it to one corner with enough slack I can later slide it up and the other end I cut and use a tension strainer to tighten it and there you have a wire length run and your guide wire for your posts. If you auger a hole you might want to set a lean to your corner post leaning out and jab a big rock down in the hole as the ground will soften and the post will end up leaning in. (which is why I drive them and once braced they don't move). I like the H brace design and I use ht wire and a ratchet strainer as my brace wire instead of #9 wire and twisting it so if I have to tension it later on I can easily do that.

 

[two_bit_score]

This job is a learning experiment. Keep an open mind and don’t get too hung up on how much to charge. You will adjust your price as you get more work. For awhile you might need to be higher on labor but as your experience and speed increase you might be able to lower the labor rate and increase markup.

Jobs you don’t want - Mark them up high. Easy jobs that will go quickly can be less.

A satisfied customer is the BEST advertising!

 

[two_bit_score]

This company is the best I’ve found all around.

Stay-Tuff | Superior Fence Products

Stay-Tuff is a leading manufacturer of agricultural fences. We make some of the most durable and impact resistant fences in the market, plus a full line of fencing tools and accessories.

www.staytuff.com

are you going to do barb wire or net fence With two barb strands on top?

 

[Needville]

I had one built 2 years ago (pre Covid). How they bid it was $4.00 a foot, plus $400 for each corner and $1000 per gate (they supplied the gate and all materials). Wooden posts set 12 foot apart.

As with most jobs the prep work is the hard part. I had already cleared the entire fence line and all they had to do was come in and put in the fence. If you have to tear out the old fence and clear the fence line that could easily be twice as difficult as building the actual fence.