Ballfields, schools, ranches. And your backyard fence.
A licensed fence contractor in Chico with its own metal shop. Chain link, ornamental iron, wood, vinyl, and ranch fence, from a four-foot dog run to a twelve-foot court enclosure. Pick a material and a height below.
The workhorse. Galvanized pipe set in concrete, fabric stretched tight, top rail or top wire depending on what the fence has to survive. It goes 4 feet around a dog run and 12 feet around a pickleball court, and the shop stocks the black vinyl coated version for anyone who wants it to disappear into the landscape.
C-13 Fencing Contractor, active, with a $15,000 bond and workers comp in force.
Iron gates and panels are cut and welded locally, not ordered in and bolted together on site.
The same crew hangs a 12-foot court enclosure and a 6-foot backyard fence.
Five things we build in
Every fence is the same three decisions: what it is made of, how tall it is, and how deep the posts go. Here is the first one.
Chain link
The workhorse. Galvanized pipe set in concrete, fabric stretched tight, top rail or top wire depending on what the fence has to survive. It goes 4 feet around a dog run and 12 feet around a pickleball court, and the shop stocks the black vinyl coated version for anyone who wants it to disappear into the landscape.
Chain link detail- Fabric
- 11.5, 11, or 9 gauge, 2-inch mesh; 1-3/4 inch mesh for tennis and pickleball
- Posts
- 1-5/8 to 2-7/8 inch galvanized pipe, heavier as the fence gets taller
- Finish
- galvanized, or black, green, and brown vinyl coated over galvanized core
- Tops
- top rail, top wire, or barbed arm where security calls for it
- Footings
- concrete, depth set by post size and height
Ornamental iron
Pickets, rails, and gate frames cut and welded to the opening rather than ordered to the nearest stock size. Straight top, arched top, spear or flat pickets, and any of it powder coated. This is where a driveway gate stops looking like a kit.
Ornamental iron detail- Pickets
- 5/8 or 3/4 inch square tube, 4-inch spacing to meet pool code
- Rails
- 1 x 1 or 1-1/2 inch channel, welded, ground, and primed
- Finish
- powder coat in satin black, bronze, or a matched color
- Gates
- swing or slide, welded frames, drop rods, and hinge posts sized to the leaf
- Options
- spear or flat picket caps, arched and raked tops, scrollwork panels
Wood
Dog ear or flat top, good neighbor or one sided, kickboard or no kickboard. Posts are the part that decides how long the fence lasts, so they go in concrete at depth, and on a run that has to stay straight for twenty years they go in steel.
Wood detail- Pickets
- redwood, cedar, or pressure treated Douglas fir, 5/8 x 5-1/2 typical
- Rails
- two rails to 5 feet, three rails at 6 feet and above
- Posts
- 4x4 pressure treated, or 2-3/8 inch galvanized steel with wood face
- Footings
- concrete, typically 24 to 30 inches deep depending on height and soil
- Options
- kickboard, lattice or trim cap, board on board, horizontal slat
Vinyl
For people who are done painting. Vinyl privacy panels, picket, or two and three rail, in white and the tan and gray shades that hold up better in valley sun. Posts still go in concrete, and steel inserts go in the gate posts, which is the part cheap vinyl jobs skip.
Vinyl detail- Panels
- tongue and groove privacy, picket, or 2 and 3 rail ranch
- Posts
- 5x5 or 4x4 vinyl over concrete footing; steel insert at gate posts
- Color
- white, tan, khaki, and gray; color runs cooler than white in full sun
- Care
- washing, and nothing else; no stain, no paint, no rot
- Wind
- panels are routed into the posts so a gust loads the post, not the panel
Ranch and agricultural
Field fence, barbed wire, and welded pipe corral across the orchards and pasture between Chico and Orland. Corners and braces are what hold a wire fence up, so that is where the work goes: H-braces set deep, wire stretched properly, and gates hung so they still swing in five years.
Ranch and ag detail- Wire
- field fence, horse and non-climb mesh, barbed wire, high tensile
- Posts
- T-post line posts on wood or pipe corners with H-brace assemblies
- Pipe
- welded 2-3/8 and 2-7/8 inch drill stem corral and arena fence
- Spans
- line posts typically 10 to 16 feet on center depending on the wire
- Gates
- tube gates 4 to 20 feet, hung on pipe or braced wood posts
The tall stuff most fence companies do not bid
A sport court enclosure is 10 or 12 feet of 9 gauge fabric on 2-3/8 inch posts, with a mesh tight enough that a pickleball cannot wedge in it and a gate wide enough for a mower. It is a different build from a backyard fence, and it needs a contractor who is licensed, bonded, and set up for a district or a parks department to hire.
Willard Fence Co. does that work alongside the residential side: court and ballfield enclosures, school and park perimeters, utility and equipment yards, and the security tops that go with them. The same crew that hangs a 6-foot backyard fence hangs the 12-foot one.
Public work
Set up to bid districts, cities, and parks, including prevailing wage projects.
Licensed and bonded
CSLB #1095092, C-13 Fencing, with a contractor bond and workers comp in force.
Built to the spec
9 gauge fabric, 1-3/4 inch mesh, posts and footings sized for the height and the wind.
Gates from the shop
Welded frames, cantilever slides, and drive gates sized for whatever has to come through.
Four visits, and you know what happens on each one
We walk the line
Measure the run, count the corners and the gates, look at access and grade, and check the height rule for your address. If where the line actually sits is unclear, we say so before anything gets priced.
You get a number and a scope
Written, itemized by material, height, and gate count, with removal and haul-off of the old fence in it. If you are splitting the cost with a neighbor, ask and we will write it so it splits cleanly.
Posts first, then wait
Holes dug, posts set in concrete, and then the concrete gets left alone. Custom iron is fabricated in the shop during this part, so the gate is ready when the posts are.
Panels, fabric, and the gate
Panels hung or fabric stretched, gates hung and adjusted so they latch one handed, old fence hauled off, site cleaned. Then we walk it with you before anyone leaves.
A fence company with a metal shop attached
Willard Fence Co. works out of Chico under Kirk Willard, licensed by the state as a C-13 Fencing Contractor. The business does both halves of the trade: crews that install, and a shop that fabricates, which is why an iron gate here is cut to your opening instead of ordered to the nearest stock width.
The range of the work is wider than most fence companies in the north valley. A backyard replacement in the Chico Avenues, an orchard perimeter out toward Orland, a 12-foot court enclosure at a public facility, and a welded arena in Red Bluff are all the same week. Nextdoor neighbors voted the company a Neighborhood Favorite in 2022.
Estimates are free across Butte, Glenn, and Tehama counties.
Every kind of fence we build
Butte, Glenn, and Tehama counties
Chico is home. Residential work runs across the three counties, and commercial and ranch work goes further south into Yuba-Sutter when the job is big enough to be worth the drive.
Glenn County
Tehama County
Yuba-Sutter
Questions we get every week
Tell us about the fence line
Roughly how many feet, what is there now, how many gates, and which town. Photos help. Someone will call back to walk the line and put a real number on it.