c/fence-erectors

My post hole digger broke on a job in Austin last Tuesday

I was setting posts for a 200 foot privacy fence when my old digger just snapped at the handle. Had to borrow a neighbor's auger to finish the day, which was way faster but kept hitting rocks. Now I'm thinking about upgrading but not sure if a powered auger is worth the money. Anyone run into problems switching from manual to powered digging?

That $400 post hole digger rental nearly broke me

I spent $400 renting a tracked auger for a big job in Columbus last month thinking it'd save time on 80 post holes. The machine kept getting stuck on roots and I lost two full days messing with it, plus the rental place charged extra for a broken shear pin. Anyone else just stick with a manual clam shell digger for tricky soil, or is there a better machine I should try?

Swapped my usual chain link for welded wire on a job in Phoenix and I'm not going back

A buddy convinced me welded wire holds up way better against kids climbing and dogs digging, and after seeing how clean it looked on his ranch I gave it a shot, has anyone else switched materials and regretted it later?

The gate hinge mounting mistake I keep seeing on jobs in Austin

Over the last 6 months I've fixed 4 gates around Austin where the homeowner or a handyman mounted the hinges directly into the end grain of the post instead of into the face. On a 6 foot wood gate that's a lot of weight hanging on screws that are basically pulling straight out. I can usually tell before I even get out of my truck because the gate will be dragging on the ground or the top hinge is pulling away from the post. Has anyone else run into this or found a good way to talk people out of doing it before they finish the job?

Rant: Saw a guy at the supply house price a job by feel and not measurement

I was picking up some pickets this morning and overheard this older fencer telling a new guy he just 'knows' what a 200 foot run costs. No tape, no calculator, no nothing. The kid walks away looking like he just got a secret handshake. That stuff drives me crazy. I spent 20 minutes at the truck last week double checking my numbers for a 150 foot yard in Austin. How do you trust a gut feeling on a $3,500 job? Anyone else run into old timers who just eyeball everything?

Drove 80 fence posts in an hour with a truck trick I'd never seen before

Was setting a long run of chain link on a farm outside of town last month and an old farmer came out and showed me how to brace a 2x4 against the top of the post and tap it straight with a tractor bucket. Saved me about 3 hours of hand leveling on that job. Anyone else ever tried something like that or got a better way to straighten posts without a full crew?

Appreciation post: That time a gate hinge bolt sheared off at the worst moment

I was putting up a cedar fence in North Haven last Thursday, about 60 feet of board-on-board for a new homeowner. Everything was going smooth until I tested the double gate swing and pop - the bottom hinge bolt just snapped clean. I stood there cussing for a solid minute cause I had no spare 3/8 carriage bolts in the truck. Ended up having to drive 20 miles to the nearest hardware store, cost me an hour of daylight. But here's the thing - that old dude at the counter told me to grab stainless steel bolts next time instead of the zinc-coated ones I always used. Said the zinc ones get brittle after a few seasons of freeze-thaw cycles. Stuck a pair of stainless ones in and they threaded in like butter. Anyone else had zinc hardware give out on them after a few years?

Chain link gates sag way worse than wood ever did in my experience

I put up a 12 foot wide chain link gate at a horse farm outside Nashville back in 2018 and within 3 years it was dragging the ground on one side. Wood gates I've built stay true for way longer, even with the same hardware. The metal hinges just can't handle that much unsupported span without a frame kit or truss rod from the start. Has anyone else swapped back to wood for wide driveway openings?

Warning: Don't cheap out on post hole diggers

Bought a $30 auger bit from a surplus store and it snapped halfway through a job in rocky soil near Austin. Lost an afternoon and had to rent a skid steer for $250 to finish. Anyone else had a tool fail at the worst time?

Rant: That week in June when everything went sideways on a 400-foot privacy fence job

Storms rolled in on Tuesday, the post hole digger broke down Wednesday, and by Friday I realized the customer's property line was actually 8 feet further back than the survey stakes showed, so has anyone else had a job where the survey was just plain wrong?

I finally picked hand digging over the auger for a tricky corner lot job

So I had this big corner lot job in a tight residential area last month. The ground was full of old roots and buried irrigation lines from the 90s. I was going back and forth on renting a mini auger for $150 a day or just doing it by hand with my clamshell digger. Decided to go old school hand digging because I knew the auger would get hung up on every root and probably bust a pipe. It took me about 6 hours total for 20 holes, but I didn't damage anything and the homeowner was thrilled I didn't tear up her yard. Has anyone else had augers cause more headaches than they saved in a spot like that?

That 'self-leveling' post mix I used on a sloped yard sank 2 inches after the first rain

Lost $60 in materials and 3 days of labor because the bag claimed it would hold on a 5% grade and it just washed down the hill like soup, has anyone else had better luck with a different brand on slopes?

Last Tuesday was the worst fence day I've had in 5 years

I showed up to a job in Naperville thinking it would be a simple 200 foot run of chain link. Ground was frozen solid from the cold snap we had, so I had to rent a jackhammer which set me back $150. Got through 6 holes before the jackhammer seized up on me. Then the supplier sent the wrong gauge wire, 9 gauge instead of 11, so the mesh was way too stiff to roll out right. Customer came out and asked if I could finish by Thursday because they had a dog coming. I told them flat out no with the ground like this and the wrong material. Ended up eating the rental cost and pushed the job to next month. Has anyone else had a day where literally everything went wrong from start to finish?

Just lost a full day's pay on a cheap post hole digger

Bought a no-name manual post hole digger from a discount tool place for $45 last month. The welds on the handle snapped clean off after about 15 holes in some tough, rocky soil in my area. Had to stop the whole job, drive an hour round trip to get a new one, and lost the entire afternoon. That's easily $400 in lost time and labor for me and my helper. Should have just spent the money on a decent, known brand from the start. Anyone have a manual digger they've actually put through hell that held up?

I thought those new composite fence posts were just overpriced plastic junk until I saw a 5-year-old install in Galveston.

TIL a weird trick for setting posts in super sandy soil near Daytona

I was about to give up and order a truckload of gravel, but an old-timer told me to soak the hole with a hose first, then tamp the concrete slurry in stages. Has anyone else tried something like that on a beachside job?

Changed my mind about using a string line for long runs

Always thought it was overkill for a simple straight fence. Then I had a 150-foot run in Bakersfield that drifted almost 8 inches by the end. Tried a laser level instead, but the sun washed it out. Anyone have a better method for super long stretches?

Remembering the old way we used to set posts before concrete trucks were common

When I started out in the 90s, we mixed all our concrete for post holes by hand in a wheelbarrow. I can still feel the ache in my arms from a day of setting twenty cedar posts on a farm near Bellingham. We switched to ordering the small load trucks around 2005 because the boss got tired of losing half a day just to mixing. It's faster now, but I do miss the quiet rhythm of that work before the truck shows up. Anyone else make that switch and find they still do a small job by hand sometimes just for the feel of it?

Just lost a full day's pay on a vinyl fence because I trusted the wrong post hole digger rental

Rented a two-man auger from a place in Springfield last week for a big vinyl job, thinking it would save time. The thing was so worn out it just spun in the clay without biting, and we spent six hours fighting with it before giving up. Ended up having to hand dig all 24 holes, which put us a full day behind schedule. Anyone have a go-to rental spot they trust for tough ground?

Vent: I keep seeing guys set posts in concrete without checking for frost lines

Tbh, I was working on a job in Madison last week and had to fix a whole section of fence the crew before me put in. They set the posts in a full concrete collar, but only went down about 18 inches. We get real winter here, and the frost line is 42 inches. I know it takes more time and digging, but come spring, that whole line is going to heave and tilt. I've seen it happen three times just this year. It's a basic thing, but people skip it to save a couple hours. How do you guys handle explaining this extra cost and work to a customer who just wants the cheapest quote? Do you have a go-to way to show them why it matters?

Just hit 500 linear feet of cedar fencing installed in a single week... by myself. That number feels impossible.

A job in Boulder last month taught me to always check the frost line

We were setting 8-foot cedar posts for a ranch style fence and hit solid rock about 18 inches down. The homeowner was sure the frost line was only 12 inches there, but my old code book said 24. Had to rent a demo hammer to go deeper, which added a day and about $300 to the job. How do you guys handle rocky soil when the specs call for a deeper hole?

My neighbor in Austin convinced me to stop using 4x4s for every corner post

He showed me how a 6x6 on a windy corner he put in 5 years ago hasn't budged an inch, while my 4x4s on a similar lot are already leaning. Anyone else switch to bigger posts for high-stress spots?

Can we talk about the moment you realized you were setting posts wrong?

I was using a 4-foot level on a 6-foot cedar fence line in Denver last Tuesday when my old foreman stopped by, pointed at my string line, and said 'you're checking plumb on the wrong side of the post, you'll be fighting that lean forever', and I felt like a total rookie lol.

Just finished my 100th cedar fence install in this town

I was looking over my books last night and the number jumped out at me. That's 100 cedar fences in just this one town over the last five years. I remember the first one was a nightmare, took me three days and I messed up the post spacing. Now I can knock out a basic run in a day. It's wild to see how much you can improve without even noticing. Anyone else hit a number that made them stop and think?