Fencing estimating software that wins more jobs

A fence price is built from five parts:

1. Tear-out and haul-off of the old fence.
2. Posts: count, depth, concrete and digging conditions.
3. Infill by the foot: wood, vinyl or chain link, at the height you're building.
4. Gates: each one, with its hardware.
5. Setup, cleanup, permits and the property line.

Measure the run and count the posts

Measure every run, corner to corner. Then count posts: divide each run by your post spacing, round up, and add one. Add posts for corners, ends and each side of a gate.

Example: A 150-foot straight run at 8-foot spacing has 19 sections and 20 posts.

Note the slope too. On a grade you'll step or rack the fence, and stepping takes more cutting and longer posts.

Each line item carries your own hours

These are the common lines on a fence estimate and what each is measured in. Tear-out, rails and pickets, vinyl panels and chain link go by the linear foot. Posts, gates and cleanup go by the each.

The hours and prices are yours to set. A crew with an auger and a good setup moves faster than one digging by hand, and every line's hours are editable.

Vinyl and chain link include their posts

The wood post line covers wood fences. The vinyl panel line brings its own vinyl posts, and the chain link line includes its line posts, so you don't add the wood post line to either.

Charge for tear-out, not just new fence

Example: Here's a replacement: 150 feet of old wood fence out, a new 6-foot wood privacy fence with 20 posts in concrete, 146 feet of rails and pickets and a 4-foot walk gate. The hours below are example figures; say your own records show your crew needs:

Work	Your hours
Remove old fence and posts, 150 feet	30
Set posts in concrete, 20	20
Rails and pickets, 146 feet	45
Walk gate, 1	3
Cleanup and haul-off	2
Total	100

Tear-out is nearly a third of those hours. A per-foot price for new fence that doesn't charge for the old one gives that time away.

Your labor rate covers more than the wage

What you pay a fence installer isn't your labor rate. Your rate has to cover:

• the wage
• payroll taxes and the insurance: workers' comp and liability
• the truck, trailer, auger and post driver
• disposal of old fence
• the hours spent measuring and quoting fences you don't get

Then it needs a profit.

Wage, overhead, then markup

Each line's hourly price in BuildWell is built like this:

1. Wage: the metro median for that line's kind of work.
2. Overhead: what you set as labor overhead, 100% by default, doubling the wage.
3. Markup: what you set as labor markup, 20% by default.

Example: Say your installers cost you $30 an hour each. Use your real number. The 100 hours on that replacement come to:

• Wages: 100 × $30 = $3,000
• With 100% overhead: $6,000
• With 20% markup: $7,200 for labor

In BuildWell, the tear-out and cleanup lines start from the construction laborer wage, and the wood fence lines from the carpenter wage. So your real total will differ. Materials come on top.

Price materials near the job, then mark up

Price these at what they cost near the job this week:

• posts
• rails, pickets or panels
• post concrete
• fasteners
• gate hardware

Add a markup that covers the pickets you cull, the extra bag of concrete and the warranty on what you build. BuildWell's material markup starts at 20%; change it whenever a job calls for it.

Add unlisted styles as custom lines

Fence styles BuildWell doesn't list yet, like ornamental aluminum or split rail, go on the estimate as custom lines with your own labor and material price.

Settle permits, utilities and the property line

• Permits and rules: many cities require a fence permit, and most limit height, especially in front yards. HOAs often have their own rules on style and color. Add your permit fee as a line; in BuildWell, a flat permit fee is added when the estimate includes a permit.
• Utilities: call 811 before you dig, on every job. A post hole is exactly the kind of digging that finds a buried line.
• The property line: put the fence where the homeowner tells you, and say in your terms that locating the line is the homeowner's responsibility. If they aren't sure, a survey costs less than moving a fence.

Pay depends on the season and margin

Wages differ between metro areas and with experience. Spring and summer are busy in most of the country, and frozen ground slows work in winter.

Owners earn the gap between what they charge and what the fence costs. That's why tear-out, gates and your labor rate matter more than any wage table.

Self-employment tax is 15.3% of net earnings

As a sole proprietor or single-member LLC, you pay self-employment tax on your net earnings: 15.3% in total.

• Social Security, 12.4%: applies to net earnings up to the Social Security wage base, which is $184,500 for 2026.
• Medicare, 2.9%: applies to all of it.
• Deduction: you can deduct half of the self-employment tax on your income tax return.

Income tax, federal and state, comes on top of it. Set money aside from each deposit and final payment.

Pay quarterly estimated taxes

Nobody withholds tax from your jobs, so the IRS expects payments during the year on Form 1040-ES. They're usually due in mid-April, mid-June, mid-September and mid-January. Your busiest months fall right before the June and September payments.

Track these deductions

Fence businesses commonly deduct:

• augers, post drivers, saws and hand tools
• equipment rental
• the business share of your truck and trailer
• fuel
• insurance and license fees
• dump fees for old fence
• phone and software

Keep receipts and log mileage as you go.

Send subs a 1099-NEC at $2,000

If you pay an unincorporated subcontractor for services, you'll generally need to send them a Form 1099-NEC. For payments made in 2026 and later, that applies once you've paid them $2,000 or more in a year, up from $600 before 2026.

Collect a Form W-9 from every installer you pay as a contractor. Whether they're contractors or employees depends on how you direct the work, not on what you call them.

Sales tax on materials depends on your state

States treat fence contractors differently. Some have you pay sales tax when you buy materials. Others have you charge it to the homeowner, on materials or on the whole job.

Check your state's revenue department. In BuildWell, sales tax applies to materials only, not labor, at the rate you set.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. A tax professional who works with contractors can tell you what applies to your state and business.