Most home improvement projects come with a reasonable level of public understanding about what they involve. People have a general picture of what a kitchen renovation looks like, what a roof replacement entails, and roughly what happens when a plumber comes to fix a drain. Fence installation does not have the same cultural familiarity, and the result is that homeowners often arrive at the process uncertain about what to expect, what to prepare, and what good work looks like versus what they should be asking questions about.
That uncertainty is not a trivial problem. It can lead to misunderstandings about timelines, surprise at how disruptive the process is, missed opportunities to flag issues before they become expensive, and a general sense that the project did not go as expected even when the result is a perfectly good fence.
This guide is designed to change that. It walks through the fence installation process from the first conversation with a contractor to the final walkthrough after the last post is set, so that you know what is happening, why, and what you should reasonably expect at every stage.
Stage One: The Initial Consultation and Site Visit
What happens
The process begins with a site visit rather than a phone estimate, and if a contractor offers you a quote without seeing your property, that is the first thing worth questioning. Fence installation pricing depends on factors that cannot be assessed remotely: the exact perimeter to be fenced, the terrain and slope of the land, the condition and accessibility of the site, the soil type, and any complicating factors like retaining walls, existing structures close to the fence line, or difficult equipment access.
During the site visit, a reputable fencing contractor will walk the full perimeter of the proposed fence line with you, discuss your goals and priorities for the installation, take measurements, and assess the site conditions that will affect the project scope and price. This is also the time when questions about bylaw compliance, property lines, and specific material or configuration preferences should come up. A contractor who does not raise these topics during a site visit is not necessarily doing something wrong, but it is worth asking about them yourself if they are not volunteered.
What you should do
Come to the site visit with a clear sense of what you are trying to achieve. Privacy from a neighbouring property? Containment for children or pets? Security for a commercial facility? A decorative boundary that complements the property’s aesthetic? The clearer you can be about your priorities, the better the contractor can align the recommendation with what you actually need rather than defaulting to a standard solution.
If you have any concerns about property lines, note them before the visit. We will cover this in more detail below, but if you are not certain where your property boundary sits, saying so during the initial consultation gives the contractor the opportunity to advise you on next steps before the project is priced and scheduled.
What you will receive
Following the site visit, a professional contractor should provide a written quote that specifies the scope of work clearly: what is being installed, what materials will be used, what gauge and height applies, how gates are specified, and what the total installed price is. A quote that describes the work in vague terms, like “six-foot privacy fence, approximately 100 feet” without specifying the material, gauge, post spacing, or hardware, is not giving you the information you need to compare it against other quotes or to hold the contractor to a standard once the work begins.
Stage Two: Property Lines, Permits, and Utility Marking
Confirming your property line
This step is the one most frequently skipped by homeowners who assume they know where their property line is and discover after installation that they were wrong. In many established neighbourhoods across Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, and the Tri-Cities, fences have drifted over decades and may not accurately reflect the legal property boundary. Building a new fence on the assumption that an existing fence sits on the property line is a risk that has resulted in real post-installation disputes and forced relocations.
If you are not fully confident about where your property line sits, commissioning a BC land survey before installation begins is the most cost-effective form of insurance available for this project. A survey certificate confirming your boundary eliminates the risk of a neighbour dispute after the fence is installed, and the cost of a survey is modest relative to the cost of relocating a fence that was built in the wrong place.
For installations along shared boundaries where your neighbour has agreed to share cost or wants input on the fence design, formalizing that agreement in writing before work begins protects both parties.
Bylaw compliance
Before a fence installation is scheduled, the design should be confirmed against the applicable municipal bylaws for your property. In the City of Vancouver, front yard fences are limited to 1.2 metres in most residential zones and side and rear yard fences to approximately 1.83 metres. Other Lower Mainland municipalities follow broadly similar patterns with specific variations. Gates are subject to the same height limits as the fence line they are part of. Corner lots have visibility triangle restrictions near the intersection.
Your fencing contractor should be familiar with the bylaw requirements for the municipalities where they regularly work. If they are not raising bylaw considerations during the consultation, ask directly whether your proposed installation is within the permitted height limits for your yard location and your municipality. For a full breakdown by municipality, see our guide to Vancouver fence bylaws.
Utility marking: BC One Call
Before any fence post is set, ground utilities must be marked. This is not optional and it is not something to skip to save time. Underground utility lines including electrical cables, gas lines, water mains, telecommunications infrastructure, and sewer laterals are present under most residential and commercial properties across Metro Vancouver, and striking one with a post driver or an auger creates a genuinely dangerous situation as well as a costly repair.
In BC, the utility marking service is BC One Call, reachable at 1-800-474-6886 or online at bconecall.bc.ca. You or your contractor can submit a locate request, and the relevant utility companies will attend the site to mark the locations of their underground infrastructure with spray paint and flags before any digging begins. The standard turnaround for a locate request is three business days, and planning your installation date around this timeline is part of a professional project schedule.
A contractor who proposes to begin installation without utility markings in place is taking a risk with your property and your safety that no legitimate time pressure justifies. This step is non-negotiable.
Stage Three: Scheduling and Pre-Installation Preparation
Scheduling
In the Lower Mainland’s fencing market, quality contractors typically book weeks in advance during peak season, which runs from late spring through early fall. If your project is not urgent, accepting a scheduling window that suits the contractor’s current workload is generally better than rushing a less qualified crew onto your property ahead of schedule. Ask for a confirmed installation date and a day-before confirmation call rather than a vague window.
For commercial and municipal projects, the scheduling process involves coordination with your project manager around site access, other trades working concurrently, and any specific installation windows that the facility’s operations require. Establish these parameters during the consultation and confirm them in writing before the project is scheduled.
What to do before installation day
Clear the fence line. This sounds obvious but it is consistently the preparation step homeowners most underestimate. An established garden border along the fence line, a shed sitting close to where a post needs to go, a stack of lumber leaning against the existing fence, or landscaping features that overhang the fence line all add time and complication to the installation. Clearing the full proposed fence line to a width of at least three feet on your side before the crew arrives is the single most useful thing you can do to keep the installation running smoothly.
If existing fencing needs to be removed as part of the project, confirm with your contractor whether removal and disposal are included in the quoted scope or whether this is a separate item. Removal of existing fencing adds both labour time and disposal cost to the project and should be explicitly discussed during the quoting process rather than assumed in either direction.
If your property has dogs, children, or other elements that need to be managed on installation day, plan for that in advance. A fencing crew working efficiently is not compatible with a dog who wants to investigate every tool or a gate that needs to stay open for crew access while a pet is loose in the yard.
Stage Four: Installation Day
What happens when the crew arrives
A professional installation crew will arrive on site with the materials pre-staged from the site assessment, the tools required for the installation, and a clear understanding of the scope from the project plan. The first thing a reputable crew does is walk the fence line before beginning work to confirm the layout, identify any site conditions that differ from the assessment, and flag anything that needs to be discussed with you before posts start going in.
If your installation involves removing existing fencing, that work typically comes first. Existing posts are pulled or cut, existing mesh or boards are removed, and the fence line is cleared to prepare for the new installation.
Post setting
Post setting is the most consequential part of any fence installation and the step where the quality difference between contractors shows up most clearly. Posts set too shallow will shift. Posts set without adequate concrete will move in wet or frost-affected ground. Posts set without careful alignment will produce a fence line that weaves rather than runs true.
In most Metro Vancouver conditions, fence posts are set in concrete with a depth appropriate to the fence height and the specific soil conditions of your site. The standard rule of thumb is that a post should be buried to approximately one-third of its total length, but specific conditions including soil type, drainage, proximity to the coast, frost exposure at higher elevations, and the load the post will carry can all affect the appropriate depth and concrete volume.
After posts are set, concrete needs to cure before the remainder of the installation proceeds. Depending on the concrete product used and the weather conditions on installation day, this typically takes a minimum of several hours and may require returning the following day to complete the installation if a faster-setting product is not being used. A crew that installs fence fabric and rails before the concrete has adequately cured is compromising the structural integrity of the finished installation for the sake of completing the job in one visit.
Fence fabric, rails, and hardware
Once posts are set and the concrete has cured to a point that supports the remaining installation, the fence fabric, top rail, bottom tension wire, and hardware are installed. For chain link fencing, the fabric is unrolled, stretched to appropriate tension along the fence line, and fastened to the posts and rails. Tension is important: a chain link fence that is insufficiently tensioned will sag, bag, and move over time in a way that a properly tensioned installation does not.
For privacy fencing, panels or boards are installed to the post and rail structure with appropriate fasteners and spacing. For vinyl fencing, panels slot into the post and rail system with the precision that requires careful post alignment during the setting stage.
Gates
Gates are the most labour-intensive element of any installation relative to their size, because they require precise fitting, accurate hinge placement, proper balancing, and latch alignment that allows the gate to close cleanly and latch securely without forcing. A gate that swings freely, closes with reasonable pressure, and latches securely the first time is the result of careful post alignment, proper hinge specification for the gate weight, and fitting work that takes more time than most homeowners expect from what looks like a straightforward element.
If your installation includes automated gates, the motor mounting, wiring, and access control commissioning will typically take additional time beyond the gate structure installation itself, and may involve coordination with an electrician for the power supply.
What you should be doing during installation
Make yourself available but not underfoot. A good crew works best when they have clear access to the fence line without navigation around you at every step. At the same time, you should be reachable during the installation in case something comes up that requires your input. If the crew discovers a buried obstruction, an unexpected grade change, or a utility mark that intersects the proposed fence line in a way that requires adjusting the layout, you need to be the person who makes that call, not the crew lead making a unilateral decision.
Do a brief check at the end of the post-setting stage before the crew leaves for concrete to cure. Confirm that the post layout looks right to you, that the gate post locations are where you expected them, and that there are no obvious layout issues before the fabric goes up. Catching a post in the wrong position before concrete sets is significantly easier and less expensive than catching it afterward.
Stage Five: Completion and the Final Walkthrough
What completion looks like
A completed fence installation should present cleanly on both sides. Any concrete used for post setting should be at or below grade, not heaped above ground level where it creates a drainage problem and an aesthetic issue. Mesh or fabric should run consistently and be properly fastened at all connection points. Top rails should be level and consistent. Gates should open, close, and latch cleanly without requiring adjustment or force. Surplus materials, packaging, and any waste from the installation should be removed from the site before the crew leaves.
The walkthrough
Before you sign off on the completion of the project, walk the full fence line with your project manager or the crew lead. Check that the installation matches what was quoted: the height, the material, the gate placement and configuration, and any specific elements that were discussed during the consultation. Look at the post bases to confirm the concrete has been finished cleanly. Test each gate through its full range of motion. Check that latches engage cleanly and that the gate returns to its resting position without assistance if it was specified as self-closing.
If you notice anything during the walkthrough that does not match the quoted scope or that raises a question about workmanship, raise it before the crew leaves. A professional contractor will take that conversation seriously and address legitimate concerns on site where possible. A minor adjustment to a gate latch, a section of fabric that was not tensioned quite right, or a post that was finished above grade are all issues that are straightforward to address while the crew is still on site and significantly more complicated to schedule a return visit for.
Warranty
Confirm the warranty terms before the crew leaves and get them in writing if you do not already have them in your contract. At Raybern Erectors, every installation is backed by a one-year parts and labour warranty. If you notice a deficiency within that period, contact us and we will return to the site and make it right at no additional cost.
What to Do If Something Comes Up Mid-Project
No matter how thoroughly a site is assessed before installation begins, things sometimes come up that require a conversation. The most common situations are discovering a buried obstruction that requires post relocation, encountering soil conditions that require deeper post setting than the standard specification, or finding that the utility markings place a line closer to the planned fence line than expected.
When any of these things arise, a professional contractor stops work, communicates the situation to you clearly, explains the options and their implications, and agrees on a path forward before proceeding. You should never arrive at a completed installation and discover that a significant change was made to your fence layout mid-project without your knowledge or consent.
If the change involves additional cost, the contractor should communicate that before proceeding rather than presenting a surprise charge at completion. Most legitimate mid-project changes are modest in scope and cost, and a professional contractor will handle them transparently.
How Long Does Fence Installation Take in Vancouver?
Residential projects
A standard residential chain link fence installation of 100 to 150 feet typically takes one to two days, depending on the number of gates, the site conditions, and whether the project requires post curing time before fabric installation can proceed. Privacy fence installations of comparable scope generally take a similar timeframe, with the boarding or panel work adding time relative to fabric installation.
Smaller projects, such as a single gate addition, a short perimeter run, or a repair and section replacement, can often be completed in a single day or less. Very large residential projects or those with multiple gates, complex terrain, or difficult site access take proportionally longer.
Commercial and municipal projects
Commercial and municipal fence installation timelines vary considerably depending on scale and complexity. A commercial perimeter installation of several hundred feet with multiple access gates, like our Tenold Transportation yard project in Abbotsford, requires multiple days of crew time plus coordination around concrete curing and gate fitting. Large-scale municipal sports facility projects, like our Walnut Grove Community Park installation in Langley which covered half a kilometre of fencing with a dozen gates and multiple player shelters, require weeks rather than days and involve our full project management infrastructure throughout.
For commercial and municipal projects, the timeline should be established in detail during the project planning stage, with clear milestones, any dependencies on other trades identified, and a completion date that accounts for realistic contingencies.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Raise your concern with your project manager during the final walkthrough while the crew is still on site where possible. For issues identified after completion within the warranty period, contact Raybern Erectors directly. Our one-year parts and labour warranty covers deficiencies in workmanship and materials, and we will return to the site to address any legitimate warranty concern at no additional cost.
Minor adjustments during installation are sometimes possible, but significant design changes mid-project create complications for material supply, scheduling, and cost that are difficult to manage cleanly. The best time to finalize your design is during the consultation, before fabrication and material ordering has taken place. If you have second thoughts after booking but before the installation date, contact your project manager as early as possible to discuss options.
Most fence installation work can proceed in light rain without significant issue. Heavy rain can affect concrete curing conditions and may cause the crew to pause or return the following day for specific installation stages. Your project manager will communicate any weather-related schedule adjustments as they arise.
Some impact on the fence line area is inevitable. Posts require excavation or driving, which displaces soil. Concrete finishing at post bases disturbs a small area around each post. Crew access along the fence line creates foot traffic through the installation corridor. Clearing the fence line of plantings and soft landscaping before installation day minimizes this impact and is the single most useful preparation homeowners can make.
During peak season from late spring through summer, quality fencing contractors in Metro Vancouver typically book several weeks in advance. For projects with a specific completion deadline, booking four to six weeks ahead during peak season is a reasonable planning assumption. Off-season bookings in fall and winter may have shorter lead times.
You do not need to be physically present throughout the installation, but you should be reachable by phone and available to return to the site quickly if something comes up that requires your input. At minimum, plan to be present for the start of the installation to confirm the layout with the crew and for the final walkthrough at completion.
Raybern Erectors has been installing fences across Vancouver and the Lower Mainland since 1964. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation and estimate on your fencing project.
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