Fence Calculator

Fencing is bought two different ways, so this calculator has two modes:

• By panels — for prefabricated sections sold at a fixed width, like 6 ft or 8 ft wood or vinyl privacy panels. Panels needed = (fence length − gate widths) ÷ panel width, with your waste factor applied before rounding up.
• By linear feet — for continuous material like chain link fabric, wire mesh, or board-by-board picket fencing, where posts are set at a chosen spacing (8 ft is a common default) rather than tied to a panel width.

Worked example (by panels): A 150 ft fence with one 4 ft gate and 6 ft panels needs (150 − 4) ÷ 6 ≈ 24.3 panels before waste. Adding a 5% waste factor brings that to about 25.5 — round up to 26 panels. Posts = 26 + 1 (the panel run) + 2 (one gate) + 0 (no corners specified) = 29 posts.

Corner posts sit exactly at every turn in the fence line, not wherever the straight-line spacing math happens to land. This calculator adds one post per corner you specify — treat that number as a minimum, and confirm each corner's exact position on a site sketch before ordering.

Gate posts are load-bearing in a way line posts aren't: they carry the gate's full weight and the leverage of it swinging open, so they're typically set deeper, in a wider concrete footing, and sometimes in a heavier post size than the rest of the run. This calculator adds 2 posts per gate — one on each side of the opening.

Both corner and gate posts should generally use more concrete per footing than a standard line post — see this calculator's FAQ for typical bag counts, or use the Concrete, Mulch & Topsoil Calculator for a full footing volume estimate.

• Stepped layout: each panel stays level and horizontal, with a small vertical gap or step down to the next panel. Simpler to build and works with most prefab panels, but leaves gaps under each step.
• Raked (racked) layout: panels and rails follow the slope's angle continuously, keeping a consistent gap to the ground. Looks more seamless but needs custom-cut, angled panels rather than off-the-shelf ones.
• Measure along the actual slope, not a flat horizontal projection — a sloped run covers more true ground distance than its horizontal footprint suggests, so measuring flat will undercount your fence length.
• Set posts to a consistent height above grade relative to the ground directly beneath each post, not a single fixed height for the whole run, so the fence reads as level even as the ground beneath it changes.
• Budget extra waste for sloped or uneven terrain — 10-15% instead of the standard 5%, since angled cuts and adjustments are far more common.