Most of what looks like a dead fence is three bad posts
A leaning fence, a gate that drags, a section that came down in a February windstorm. None of those necessarily mean a new fence. Willard Fence Co. does repair work as a real part of the schedule, and will tell you when a repair is throwing money at something that needs replacing instead.
What usually fails, in order
- Posts, at the soil line. Wood rots where wet meets air. This is the number one call.
- Gates, at the hinge. The post settled, or the frame racked because it had no diagonal.
- Rails, at the fastener. Nails back out over years of expansion and the rail drops.
- Fabric, at the bottom. Chain link rusts from the ground up where sprinklers hit it.
- Whole sections, after wind. Usually the run that had the weakest posts already.
Post resets
When the boards are sound and the posts are not, resetting the posts is the highest value repair there is. On a wood fence the panels come off, the failed posts come out, new posts go in at depth (steel, if you want the problem gone for good), and the panels go back. You keep the fence you have and it stands up straight again.
Storm and wind damage
North valley wind takes fences down in sections, and it takes down the sections that were already marginal. We rebuild what came down and will tell you honestly whether the rest of the run is next. If there is an insurance claim, we will itemize the estimate so it is usable.
When to replace instead
Replace when more than about a third of the posts are gone, when the boards are cupped and splitting across the whole run, or when a repair would cost more than half of a new fence. We will say so. A repair that fails next winter is not a saving.
What repairs typically run
| Reset or replace a single post | $180 to $400 per post |
|---|---|
| Rehang or rebuild a gate | $250 to $900 |
| Replace a downed section of wood fence | $300 to $900 per section |
| Restretch or patch chain link fabric | Priced after a look |
| Weld repair on an iron gate or panel | Priced after a look |
These are typical installed ranges for this part of Northern California, published so you can budget. They are not a quote. What a run actually costs is decided by the site: access, grade, what has to come out first, and how many corners and gates are in it.
Questions we get
Yes. Repair work is a normal part of the schedule, not a favor. Small jobs get grouped by area, so the answer to "when" may be a few days out rather than tomorrow.
Yes, whoever built it. Send a photo and we can usually tell you over the phone whether it is a post job or a rebuild.
We can give you a written estimate that is easy to split, and California's Good Neighbor Fence Act presumes shared responsibility for a boundary fence after written notice. We are not going to arbitrate it. Get the agreement first, then call.
Get an estimate: repair
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.