What a Fence Installation Quote Should Include Before You Sign
A fair fence quote spells out material, height, terrain, gates and removal — here's the checklist to compare bids apples-to-apples.
A proper fence installation quote should itemize five things: material, height, ground conditions, gates, and removal of the old fence. Miss any one of these and two quotes for the same yard can land far apart — a mid-range 30 m fence in Canada typically runs $3,600 – $5,950, averaging $4,600, but basic chain-link starts around $2,800 while a tall cedar privacy fence with a double gate can push past $6,350. If a quote doesn't break out these variables, you can't tell whether it's cheap because the crew is efficient or because something's been left out.
Why the same fence gets wildly different prices
We build our estimates from labour hours times local trade rates plus materials, then check the result against market prices and real quotes — and the single biggest source of quote-to-quote variation isn't the fence panel itself, it's the site conditions around it. A contractor pricing a flat, easy-dig backyard and one pricing a sloped or rocky lot will quote very differently for identical fencing, and a vague quote hides which one you're getting.
The checklist: what a fair quote itemizes
Material and style. The quote should name the actual product — not just "wood fence" but pressure-treated pine, cedar, vinyl, aluminum or composite, each with a different lifespan and price:
| Material | Typical | Usual range | Lifespan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galvanized chain-link | $3,000 | $2,350 – $3,900 | 20-30 years |
| Pressure-treated pine privacy (6 ft) | $4,600 | $3,600 – $5,950 | 15-20 years |
| Vinyl (PVC) privacy (6 ft) | $5,900 | $4,600 – $7,700 | 20-30 years |
| Cedar privacy (6 ft) | $6,200 | $4,850 – $8,100 | 15-25 years |
| Ornamental aluminum (4-5 ft) | $6,900 | $5,400 – $8,950 | 30-50 years |
| Composite privacy | $7,700 | $6,000 – $10,000 | 25-30 years |
Height. A low 3–4 ft fence, a standard 6 ft privacy fence, and a tall 8 ft fence use different post spacing and post depth, so height should be a stated line, not assumed.
Terrain. This is the variable homeowners miss most often. Level ground with easy digging costs the least; a sloping lot needs stepped or racked panels; rocky or root-filled ground means slower digging, sometimes with a jackhammer or auger, and should be called out as its own line rather than folded into "labour."
Gates. A quote with no gate, one walk gate, or a walk gate plus a double drive gate are three different jobs — gates need their own posts, hardware and hinges, so count them and confirm the quote does too.
Removal of the old fence. "Remove and haul away" versus leaving the installer to simply drop the new fence next to the old one is a real cost difference, and disposal fees for treated wood or chain-link should be named rather than buried.
If a bid is silent on any of the five, ask the contractor to confirm it before comparing price — a lower number that skips removal or assumes flat ground isn't actually the cheaper job.
A worked example
Say you're fencing a sloped 30 m backyard with a cedar privacy fence at standard height, one walk gate, and an old chain-link fence to remove. A quote for that specific job should look close to $6,200 for materials and labour before site extras, with the slope and removal priced as separate add-ons — not quietly absorbed into (or left out of) a round number. If a competing quote comes in well under that for the same spec, ask what's been left off; if it comes in well over, ask what's been added.
What to ask for in writing
- A materials list naming the fence product, post type, and hardware
- Linear metres and height, measured on site rather than estimated from a property line sketch
- A terrain note confirming whether the quote assumes standard digging or prices for slope/rock
- Gate count and type
- Whether old fence removal and disposal are included, and what happens to any trees or stumps in the fence line (worth checking against a Tree removal quote if a tree needs to come out first)
- Property line and survey responsibility — your municipality may require the fence to sit inside your line, which is a boundary issue between neighbours, not something the fence contractor settles
- GST/HST — our figures above are before tax, and renovation work is taxable (13% HST in Ontario, 5% GST in Alberta), so a quote should say whether tax is included
For the full cost breakdown by material, see our Fence installation guide. If you're fencing off a new deck or patio area at the same time, our Deck building guide uses the same labour-and-materials method so you can sanity-check both quotes side by side. And if a quote still looks off once you've checked it against this list, run it through our "is my quote fair" tool before you sign anything — it's a faster check than waiting for a second bid to show up.