About Fence Ledger

Fence Ledger works out what a fence project needs — posts, rails, pickets, concrete — and shows the arithmetic behind every number.

Why it exists

Most fence calculators divide the total length by the post spacing and round up. That is correct for one unbroken straight run and wrong for everything else, because some posts are not optional: every corner needs one, every gate needs one on each side, and an open run needs one at each end. Those forced posts break the fence into separate runs, and each run has to be divided and rounded on its own.

On a 50 × 30 ft yard, doing it properly is two posts more than the shortcut. On an L-shaped run it is one. Small numbers — and exactly the ones you discover missing with the hole already dug.

Concrete has the same problem in a different shape. The familiar rule is two bags per post, which contains no hole diameter, and hole diameter is what the answer is most sensitive to. Widening a 10 in hole to 12 in raises the requirement by about 45%. We compute the bore volume, subtract the gravel base and the space the post itself takes up, and show the working.

How the numbers are made

• Everything is computed in metric internally and converted for display, so feet and metres give identical results for the same physical fence.
• Lumber is measured at its actual size, not the size on the tag. A “4×4” post is 3.5 in square; using 4 in would overstate the concrete it displaces by about a third.
• Waste is applied per item, not as one blanket percentage. Cut-to-fit stock produces offcuts; posts do not, and you cannot buy a tenth of a post.
• Purchasable quantities are rounded up once, at the end, never at intermediate steps.

Where cost figures come from

Cost ranges are compiled from published US construction cost guides, with the sources and the date of collection shown next to the figure. They are national planning ranges, not quotes, and they are reviewed on a schedule rather than left to go stale quietly.

Where a figure was adjusted rather than taken verbatim, or where sources disagree, that is recorded too — the removal cost estimate, for instance, is marked low confidence because published sources for it differ by a factor of nearly seven.

What is deliberately absent

There are no preset figures for frost depth, permit requirements, fence height limits, or property setbacks. Those vary by county and sometimes by street. A plausible-looking number for them would be worse than no number, because it would look checkable and would not be. The site tells you to verify those locally, and does not pretend to know them.

For the same reason there are no per-item retail prices. Store prices vary by branch and by week, and presenting them as current would be false precision. If you want item-level accuracy, enter what your own supplier charges — those figures always take precedence over ours.

How it is paid for

By advertising. The calculator is free, requires no account, and no part of it is held back. Ads appear after you have your answer, never before it.