New home owner who has never had to hire a contractor before. Want to have chain link fence replaced and want to have put in white vinyl fence to match connected town home.

It is just a 40 foot length I need replaced and will need to have one gate. As I get quotes, what kind of price should I expect to pay? What’s considered fair and what’s considered a rip off?

EDIT: Thanks for all the feedback! I think I’m not in the right tax bracket to hire people to do this, so probably going to try to do it myself.

  • Hikermick@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    That’s a pretty small job. You may get outrageous quotes because a contractor may not want to be bothered.

    Materials according to the Home Depot website: EDIT sorry just realized you said 8ft high plus a gate This will raise the materials cost a bit but you get the idea.

    5 8ft long vinyl fence panels 6ft high at $109 each = $545

    6 8ft high vinyl fence posts at $39 each = $234

    6 fence posts caps at $4 each =$24

    6 bags fast setting concrete at $7 each =$42

    Total $845 in materials Guessing 8hrs labor at $30/hr =$240 I’d estimate around $1,100 or so. Adjust for sales tax and labor costs in your area.

    FYI if you want to learn basic Home owner DIY skills, this is a good place to start. It’s a bit of work digging the holes but it’s not rocket surgery.

    • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      You would need at least twice that amount of concrete unless you are digging an undersized hole. 6 bags would be adequate for a chain-link with 6" holes, you want 8" holes for 5x5 posts.

      To do 8ft high fences, you need 12ft posts. 8ft posts are for a 5ft high fence. Also 8ft high fences usually have 6ft wide panels, so they would need 7 panels. So closer to $1,900 in just vinyl.

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      You’re not going to find a legitimate business anywhere in the country that only charges $30 an hour for labor. That’s probably what they pay their laborer, but they also have benefits to account for, insurance, gas, machinery, the list is endless. Plan on $100-$600 an hour depending on where you are.