Is a 200 ft run in one straight line unusual?

For a residential boundary, fairly. Most 200 ft fences are two or three sides of a yard, which is why the shape option matters — choosing the wrong one undercounts posts.

How much concrete is that?

At a 10 in hole and 30 in depth, roughly 1.7 bags per post — considerably less than the two-bags-per-post rule of thumb, and more if you dig a wider hole. The calculator shows the working.

Should I buy spare posts?

One or two, if the delivery is far. Posts are not consumed by cutting the way pickets are, so no waste percentage is applied to them — but a split or badly warped post is easier to replace from the garage than from the store.

Fence Ledger

How many fence posts do I need for 200 feet?

Two hundred feet at 8 ft spacing is a long enough run that the difference between a straight boundary and one with corners starts to matter to the order.

Posts needed

25 sections at 8 ft spacing.

What the usual answer misses

Doubling the length does not quite double the posts. The extra end post is a fixed cost paid once per run, so longer runs are marginally more post-efficient — but only if the run really is unbroken. Two 100 ft sides meeting at a corner need more posts than one 200 ft straight run, because the corner forces a post and each side rounds up separately.

Work out your own

Every assumption above is editable. Change the length, the spacing, the hole size — the numbers and the working update as you go.

Units

Shape

Fence length

Height

Gates

Advanced options

These are typical values, not requirements. Post depth in particular is governed by your local frost line and building code — check before you dig.

Post spacing

Gate width

Picket gap

Hole diameter

Hole depth

Gravel base

Bag yield

Waste allowance

Posts

Sections

Pickets

460

Concrete

44 bags

Estimated cost

Materials only (DIY)

$1,600 – $4,000

Professionally installed

$5,000 – $11,000

National planning ranges compiled from published US construction cost guides, last checked September 2026 (confidence: medium-low). Prices vary sharply by region, season and contractor. These are estimates for planning, not quotes.

Sources: homeguide.com, calcsummit.com, ergeon.com, homewyse.com

Shopping list

Bill of materials for this fence
Material	Size	Quantity
Posts	4x4	26
Rails incl. waste	2x4	83
Pickets incl. waste	1x6	460
Concrete mix		44bags
Gravel		10bags
Exterior screws		≈3,000

Why these numbers

How we got the section count

Run 1: 200 ft ÷ 8 ft = 25, rounded up to 25 sections

How we got the post count

2 posts are fixed by the shape itself
2 at the open ends
24 line posts spaced between them
26 posts in total

How we got the picket count

Each picket covers 5.5 in plus a 0.25 in gap, so they repeat every 5.75 in
200 ft of fence needs 418 pickets
Plus 10% for offcuts, rounded up to 460

How we got the concrete

Each 10 in hole is 30 in deep, less 4 in of gravel base, leaving 26 in of concrete
The 4x4 post itself takes up part of that, so each hole needs the remainder
Across 26 posts
Divided by the 0.6 cu ft a bag yields: 43.22, so buy 44 bags

Common questions

Is a 200 ft run in one straight line unusual?: For a residential boundary, fairly. Most 200 ft fences are two or three sides of a yard, which is why the shape option matters — choosing the wrong one undercounts posts.
How much concrete is that?: At a 10 in hole and 30 in depth, roughly 1.7 bags per post — considerably less than the two-bags-per-post rule of thumb, and more if you dig a wider hole. The calculator shows the working.
Should I buy spare posts?: One or two, if the delivery is far. Posts are not consumed by cutting the way pickets are, so no waste percentage is applied to them — but a split or badly warped post is easier to replace from the garage than from the store.