The fencing contractor launch plan
Every step from deciding to opening, in the order it happens, shaped to your situation, with your own numbers beside it. About 47 steps in 8 phases, 24 of them specific to a fencing contractor. Free to read; ticking steps off and putting in your own numbers come with membership.
The plan47 steps
- 01Not started0/6Fold
Decide with the numbersa week or two
Before a dollar is spent. Most expensive mistakes happen here, and this phase costs nothing.
A fencing contractor sells jobs priced by the linear foot, one bid at a time.
Typical for one unit is $400,000 to $1,500,000 a year; the owner keeps 12 to 20% of it before paying themselves. If that band does not cover what you need, that is the signal to pause and look again.
~50% survive 5 years. Roughly half of all new U.S. employer businesses are still operating after five years.
Twelve questions about your money, time, experience and temperament, scored. Then the 5 questions this business asks of its owner, about the hours and the work. Answer both before you spend a dollar.
Rule of thumb: buy an established shop with real commercial and repeat accounts and a retainable crew when you want cash flow and lower risk; build from one truck when capital is tight and you can... Answer it in your situation above and the plan reshapes.
Customers, prices, rent, staff pay, what it costs to open. We filled in typical numbers; change what you know and everything on this page follows.
- 02Not started0/5Open
Plan the moneya week
What it costs to open, where the money comes from, and the cushion that keeps you alive until the business pays for itself.
A fence company is light on fixed assets compared with most trades: no storefront, and the trucks can be leased.
The itemized cost to open10 lines
- Pickup down payments & material trailers: $20,000 to $24,000Two leased F-250 class pickups ($6,600 to $7,200 down each) and a 7 x 16 trailer per crew; buying both trucks outright adds about $92,000 to $114,000
- Augers, post drivers, generator & track loader: $4,800 to $14,000Two-person gas augers at Lean; a post driver per crew and a leased track loader at Premium
- Saws, layout tools & hand tools: $2,000 to $9,700Cordless kits, miter saws, laser levels, diggers, bars and stretchers
- Safety gear & uniforms: $2,300 to $6,600
- Opening material stock: $0 to $25,000Posts, panels, concrete and hardware for the first jobs; at Lean, buy job by job with customer deposits
- Tablets, logo & website: $1,700 to $9,100
- Truck signs & wraps: $800 to $15,600
- Office & yard setup: $1,500 to $5,000
- License, bond, insurance, yard deposit & launch marketing: $7,800 to $35,000First premiums for liability, auto and workers’ comp, and the first 60 days of marketing
- Initial working capital: $10,000 to $50,000Payroll, fuel and material float for about three months; take a deposit on every signed job
Costs start on day one; customers take months. Map the first twelve months of cash so the business does not run out of money while it is getting going.
The business has to earn your pay like any other bill. Set it in your numbers and watch the month it move.
How deals in this business are financed4 lines
- SBA 7(a) loan (Up to $5M · up to 10 yr (25 with real estate) · 75-85% government-guaranteed)The workhorse for buying an existing fence company or funding a start-up’s equipment, stock and working capital.
- Truck and equipment financing (About 2 to 7 yr · 0-20% down · secured by the equipment)Lease or finance the pickups and any track loader through the dealer or an equipment lender, secured by the vehicles themselves.
- Seller financing (Often 5-25% of price · 3-7 yr)Common when buying an established company.
- Customer deposits and homeowner financing (Deposit at signing · financing via third-party lenders)Not a loan to you, but the cheapest money in the business: a deposit on every signed job pays for its materials, and offering third-party financing on bigger and premium fences...
Most new shops pair an with 10 to 20% of your own cash. Know the monthly payment before you look at a single space.
Before you shop. A lender tells you what they would fund, what they need from you (credit, your cash in, a plan with numbers), and a pre-qualification letter makes a landlord or a seller take you seriously.
- 03Not started0/4Open
Set up the companya day or two
A day of paperwork, and it has to come before the space: a lease, a loan application and every permit are in the company’s name.
Your state’s business name search, the trademark register, and the domain, before the name is on a sign, a van, or a lease.
A , an , and the S-corporation election each change what you keep and what you are exposed to. Compare them with the numbers, confirm with a CPA and an attorney, then file with your state.
After:The is free from the IRS in minutes once the company exists. The bank account needs both. Keep business money separate from day one.
After:Pick the accounting software and connect the bank account now, so every cost of opening is captured and the numbers you later are real.
- 04Not started0/4Open
The territory and the vehiclea week or two
A fencing contractor's "location" is its service territory and how efficiently crews cover it.
What decides it for this business: dense, drive-time-efficient territory, new construction & development, agricultural & acreage base, access to reliable crew , homeowner, middle-to-high income base.
Mobile businesses still answer to city rules: where the vehicle can be kept overnight, whether you can run the business from home, and what the state licenses.
The van or truck is the shop. Price it, outfit it, insure it, and brand it before the first job. The quotes go into the loan application.
Commercial auto for the vehicle, for the work. Customers and any lender will ask for the certificate.
- 05Not started0/2Open
Get the loanfour to eight weeks
Four to eight weeks with an SBA lender, longer if the file is incomplete. Everything else waits on this, so send a complete file.
Your plan with numbers (download it as a PDF from this page), the company’s papers, the vehicle and equipment quotes, your personal financial statement, and proof of the cash you put in.
The lender funds against the quotes and the insurance; the money goes to the vendors and the build.
After:
- 06Not started0/10Open
Permits and the vehicletwo to four weeks
Fencing is lightly licensed compared with electrical or plumbing, but every job digs into the ground and sits on a property line, so locates, permits and setbacks are where new companies get burned.
Bind the policies you had quoted before a contractor, a vehicle or a customer is in play. Keep the certificates; the landlord, the lender and the city will ask.
After:With the money in hand: the vehicle, the , the branding, and the state inspection most cities require before it can work.
After:Register your or corporation and get a city or county business license where you are based and where you work.
State registration to collect and remit tax where fence materials or installed fences are taxable.
Some states license fence work (California’s C-13 fencing license asks for four years of experience and an exam), and many cities register the contractors who pull fence permits.
Bonds and certificates of insurance are often for the license, for permits and by builders and property managers.
Every state requires a call to 811 a few business days before you dig so buried lines are marked; it is free, and skipping it puts the cost of a struck line on you.
Many cities require a permit for new fences and limit height, setback and style, especially in front yards and on corner lots; HOAs often add their own approval.
Fences around pools must meet local pool barrier rules for height, gaps and self-closing, self-latching gates, and they are inspected.
coverage for every truck and trailer in the business.
- 07Not started0/10Open
Set up to runduring the build
During the build, so the business runs from day one: the systems, the prices, the people and the routine.
Linear-foot takeoffs, scheduling, dispatch, and invoicing are the operational core; they drive throughput and accurate bids.
Google Local Services, reviews, and local SEO are the lead pipeline; managing cost per won job is a core profit lever.
Deposits, fast payment, and financing on big or premium fences lift close rates and size.
Crew pay, piece rates, and overtime get complex; you need this the moment you have a crew.
Per-job and per-crew visibility and clean books are essential for managing material spread and financing growth.
, workers' comp, and commercial auto for the fleet: non-negotiable for a digging trade with utility-locate risk.
See the price the the business needs implies, then check it against what the market pays.
Daily: Walk and measure jobs, bid by the linear foot, order panels, posts,... Weekly: Review the bid pipeline and win rate, crew throughput and job... Monthly: Review per-job margins vs the bid, material mix and spread,...
Opening, closing, the sale, the complaint, the cash. One page each. This is the manual a franchise would have sold you.
Free, and it is how most people will find you. Address, hours, photos and the menu or price list, live before opening day; then the sign, the soft opening and the first regulars.
- 08Not started0/6Open
Open and measurethe first ninety days
You own it. Now run it on the numbers.
Friends, neighbors and a short menu or list. Find the problems while the room is forgiving.
Enter the real numbers and see every cost line against the for this business.
Underbidding the linear foot; Material cost and waste; Idle crews and weather days.
Wages are the start: , insurance, training time and the hours you stop billing. Register as an employer and carry workers’ comp before the first payday.
Growth consumes cash before it produces it. Find the rate your own cash funds before you push.
A fence company with trained crews, clean books and repeat accounts is a sellable asset.