Job takeoff
Fence run takeoff
Posts, rails, pickets and the concrete for the post holes along a run of fence.
A takeoff is the trade word for the shopping list a job produces — every material, and how much of each, worked out by its own cited calculator.
- 2Measurements in
- 3Trades out
Give the job once
Every figure on the right follows these, in the units you choose.
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the fence quote check: each line is read against these same calculators — what it leaves out, what it adds, and what to ask.
Check the quoteEvery trade, from those dimensions
then change a dimension, and each line shows what moved.
| Trade | Quantity | |
|---|---|---|
Fence CalculatorPosts and rails at the default height and spacing; the boards are the picket row below.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
| 14 posts | |
Fence Picket CalculatorPickets at the default width and gap — the gap is where the count moves.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
The reject and breakage allowance: the calculator's working figure, a trade convention. | 215 pickets | |
Post Hole Concrete CalculatorConcrete for a hole at every post the fence row counts, at the default diameter and bag size.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Post Hole Concrete Calculator | 0.6657 yd³ | |
Fence CalculatorPosts and rails at the default height and spacing; the boards are the picket row below.
Why this quantity? | 14 posts | |
Fence Picket CalculatorPickets at the default width and gap — the gap is where the count moves.
Why this quantity? | 216 pickets | |
Post Hole Concrete CalculatorConcrete for a hole at every post the fence row counts, at the default diameter and bag size.
Why this quantity? | 0.5098 m³ |
Estimates, not a quote. Each row gives its base, the allowance on top, the adjusted figure and what to order; change an allowance on the row, or open its reasoning to see every figure it rests on. A trade's own page carries what it does not cover — open the one you are about to order against.
Labour and programme
Person-hours for the rows going in, from trade rules of thumb: a range for each piece of work, never a price.
- Fence15 h (8.4–35)
- Fence Picket10 h (6.0–24)
About 26 person-hours in all, between 14 and 59.
Trade by trade
- Landscaper1 landscaper + 1 labourer1½ days
About 1½ days, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
1 row carries no hours of its own
- Post Hole Concrete: counted with Fence
Labour and programme
Person-hours for the rows going in, from trade rules of thumb: a range for each piece of work, never a price.
- Fence15 h (8.4–35)
- Fence Picket11 h (6.0–24)
About 26 person-hours in all, between 14 and 59.
Trade by trade
- Landscaper1 landscaper + 1 labourer1½ days
About 1½ days, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
1 row carries no hours of its own
- Post Hole Concrete: counted with Fence
Setups you have saved
The build-up, the dimensions and any allowance you changed — kept on this device, and reusable on any job. Your prices are not copied in: they stay in your price book, so a setup never holds a stale one.
How far does a budget go?
At your own prices, with this build-up unchanged.
About this job
A fence is a post problem with boards attached. Everything expensive about it — the digging, the concrete, the setting out, the labour — follows the post count, and the post count follows the spacing rather than the length: a 30 m (98 ft) run at 2.4 m (8 ft) centres and the same run at 1.8 m (6 ft) centres differ by four posts, four holes and about sixteen 20 kg bags of concrete (nine 80 lb bags), and by nothing at all in boards. The fence row counts the posts, and the concrete row fills a hole for each post that row counts, so the two move together whatever the length or the spacing.
The concrete row is the one that gets underestimated, because a post hole is deeper and wider than people picture. A 600 mm (24 in) hole at 300 mm (12 in) diameter is 42 litres (1.5 ft³) of concrete before you subtract the post, and there is one of them every couple of metres (7 or 8 ft). With a 100 mm (4 in) post in it that is about four 20 kg bags per hole, or a little over two 80 lb bags, and a tall fence in soft ground wants a wider or deeper hole than that.
The picket row is separate from the fence row for a reason: the two answer different questions. The fence calculator gives the structure at a chosen height and spacing; the picket calculator gives the board count for a given picket width and gap, which is where the appearance is decided and where a 10 mm (3/8 in) change in the gap moves the count across the whole run.
How each line reads
- Base
- What the calculator gives for these dimensions, before anything is added.
- Allowance
- Cutting waste, a lap or spare stock — named, with where it comes from, and changeable on the row.
- Adjusted
- The base with its allowance on top.
- Order
- What to buy: the adjusted figure in whole boards, bags, rolls or lengths.
The order this happens in
Quantities do not tell you the sequence, and on this job the sequence is where the money goes wrong.
- Confirm the boundary before you dig. A fence in the wrong place is a fence built twice.
- Check for services along the line — a post hole is exactly deep enough to find a cable.
- Set the end posts first, string a line between them, and space the intermediates off the line.
- Dig each hole to a depth of at least a third of the post's height above ground, deeper in soft ground or high wind.
- Set the posts plumb in concrete, crowned so water sheds away from the timber, and let them go off before loading them.
- Hang the rails, then the boards, working to a line rather than to the ground — the ground is never level.
What this takeoff does not cover
- Gates, their posts, hardware and the extra depth a gate post needs.
- Ground conditions. Rock, made ground and waterlogged clay all change the hole and some of them change the whole design.
- Wind exposure, which decides post size and embedment on an exposed or tall fence, and which nothing here evaluates.
- Preservative treatment, post caps, capping rail and the gravel board at the bottom.
- Removing the fence that is there now.
Quote check
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the fence quote check. Every line of it is read against these same calculators and your measurements. Quantities only, never prices.
What it leaves out
Every line this takeoff has that nothing on the quote reads as.
What it adds
Labour, removal, hire, fees — each named for what it is.
What to ask
One list of questions, ready to copy. Never a verdict.
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Frequently asked questions
- What does the fence takeoff give for a typical job?
- Opened at Fence length 30 m · Post hole depth 0.6 m, it orders: Fence, 14 posts; Fence Picket, 216 pickets; Post Hole Concrete, 0.51 m³. Opened at Fence length 98 ft · Post hole depth 2 ft: Fence, 14 posts; Fence Picket, 215 pickets; Post Hole Concrete, 0.67 yd³. Every figure follows the dimensions you give it.
- Which calculators does the fence takeoff run?
- 3 calculators, one to a line: Fence Calculator, Fence Picket Calculator, Post Hole Concrete Calculator. Each has a page of its own with its formula and its sources; the takeoff runs them all on one set of dimensions.
- What does the fence takeoff leave out?
- 5 things, each named on this page: Gates, their posts, hardware and the extra depth a gate post needs; Ground conditions; Wind exposure, which decides post size and embedment on an exposed or tall fence, and which nothing here evaluates; Preservative treatment, post caps, capping rail and the gravel board at the bottom; Removing the fence that is there now.
- Can I check a quote for this job against the takeoff?
- Yes. The fence quote check reads a quote's lines against these same calculators and your measurements, and reports what it leaves out, what it adds and what to ask. It reads quantities, never prices.