What a Wood Fence in McGregor Actually Costs and How It Comes Together
A wood fence in McGregor typically runs between $3,500 and $9,000 for a standard residential lot, with most jobs finishing inside a week once materials land on site. That number covers pressure-treated pine or cedar pickets, posts set in concrete below our local water table, and a gate or two built to hold square in Florida humidity. Call (844) 638-7249 for a free on-site estimate - we’ll measure your yard, walk the lot lines, and hand you a written quote before we leave the driveway.
How we build a wood fence, start to finish
We don’t rush the stuff that matters underground. A McGregor wood fence lives or dies by what’s buried, so our process front-loads the foundation work most crews try to skip. Here’s the real sequence on the ground.
1. Site walk and utility locate (Day 1 morning)
We meet you on site, confirm the property pins, and mark the fence line with you right there. McGregor lots along the boulevard corridor can have irregular easements - sometimes the fence in your head needs to shift two feet to stay legal. We call in Sunshine 811 to flag underground utilities, which takes about 48 hours. While we wait, we pull or confirm the permit with Lee County, which we handle entirely. No homeowner paperwork required on your end.
2. Tear-out and prep (Day 3)
If there’s an old fence, it comes out. Posts get dug to the footing and cleared. In McGregor, particularly on the riverward side where the water table sits 18 to 24 inches below grade, we sometimes hit saturated soil fast - so we over-dig to 30 to 36 inches and use a heavier concrete collar to anchor against the hydrostatic pressure that heaves shallow-set posts out of the ground within two wet seasons. Rotted old post bases tell us exactly where the underground water pools on your lot before we dig a single new hole.
3. Post setting and concrete cure (Day 4)
Pressure-treated 4×4 posts go in at 30 to 36 inches deep, leveled and braced, then set in concrete. We leave them to cure overnight. This is the step that separates a fence that still stands straight five years after a tropical storm from one leaning toward the neighbor’s lanai. We don’t backfill with dirt and call it done - we pour, brace, and wait.
4. Rail, picket, and gate assembly (Day 5)
Once posts are solid, we run horizontal 2×4 rails, hang pickets with consistent spacing for wind relief (critical down here - a solid wood panel catches hurricane gusts like a sail), and mount pre-built gate frames with heavy-duty galvanized hinges. Gate posts get an extra concrete collar and diagonal bracing to prevent sag, which is the number one call we get from McGregor homeowners who had a fence installed by someone else.
5. Hardware, finish, and walkthrough (Day 6 morning)
Latch hardware goes on, gate swing is adjusted, every picket gets checked for nail pops. You walk the fence with the crew lead, point out anything that doesn’t look right, and we fix it on the spot. We don’t schedule the final payment until you sign off.
The wood choices you’ll actually pick between
Most McGregor homeowners walking through a yard with us make their decision in about five minutes once they understand what each option means for maintenance and lifespan. Here are the real-world tradeoffs.
- Pressure-treated southern yellow pine. The most common pick for good reason. Chemically treated to resist rot and termites - though McGregor’s year-round humidity means it still needs a sealant coat every two to three years. Runs toward the lower end of the price range and lasts 15 to 20 years with basic upkeep. The fence you see on three out of four McGregor homes.
- Cedar. Lighter, naturally rot-resistant, and takes stain more evenly than pine. Costs more - expect cedar to push toward the upper half of our $3,500-$9,000 range for a full yard. Ages to a silver-gray if left unsealed, which some homeowners prefer. Less prone to the warp-and-twist we see in big-box pine pickets after one rainy summer.
- Board-on-board vs. shadowbox vs. standard picket. Standard picket fences leave small gaps between boards. Shadowbox fences stagger boards on both sides of the rail for semi-privacy with wind relief. Board-on-board overlaps every seam for full privacy - good for McGregor lots squeezed tight where you don’t want to see the neighbor’s pool cage. Each configuration changes the material count and labor, so we price them separately.
- Gate hardware grade. We use galvanized-steel hinges and latches rated for coastal use. Stainless upgrades are available. McGregor’s salt-air proximity to the Caloosahatchee means standard big-box hardware starts rusting inside 18 months - we don’t install it.
What a wood fence costs in McGregor, FL
You’re looking at $3,500 on the low end for a straightforward replacement on a small city lot - think 120 linear feet or less, basic pressure-treated pine, one gate, easy dig conditions. A larger property with 200-plus linear feet, cedar pickets, multiple gates, or tricky access (tight side yards, royal palm root zones near McGregor Boulevard, irrigation lines to relocate) pushes toward $9,000. Every estimate we write spells out exactly where your job lands.
What moves the number:
- Linear feet and panel count - the single biggest cost driver. More fence, more material, more concrete, more labor days.
- Wood species - pine holds the low end, cedar bumps it about 15 to 25 percent.
- Gate count and width - a second walk gate or a double drive gate adds hardware cost and framing labor.
- Existing fence tear-out and disposal - included in our quotes, but if the old fence is concrete-set chain link with deep footers, that’s extra demo time we account for.
- Access and root zones - McGregor lots with protected palm canopy require Lee County Urban Forestry coordination if root encroachment is a concern near the fence line; the permit step adds modest fees and timeline, not construction cost.
Our written estimate includes all materials, concrete footings, tear-out and debris removal, gate hardware, and a site walk through the finished fence. It doesn’t include irrigation-system repair if we hit an unmarked line (rare, but we flag it), or stump grinding if you have tree removal planned separately. No change orders appear out of nowhere. The number we hand you is the number you pay, plain and simple.
How McGregor’s lots and rules shape the way we build
McGregor Boulevard’s mid-century ranch homes - most built between 1950 and 1980 - sit on deep, narrow lots with side yards that test a crew’s ability to maneuver. We’ve dug post holes in 40-inch side setbacks where a standard auger won’t fit, and we’ve set posts by hand along property lines where a neighbor’s mature bougainvillea refuses to cooperate. None of that is unusual here. What does surprise homeowners is the permitting step: Lee County requires a zoning review and building permit for new residential fencing, and if your lot runs close to the historic right-of-way along McGregor, Lee County Urban Forestry may need to clear the root zone before posts go in. We handle that conversation - most McGregor HOAs also require fence-style approval, and we’ll provide the material specs and elevation drawings they ask for so you’re not playing middleman.
The houses we work on here tell the same story. Original terrazzo floors, jalousie windows, and low-slung block construction - beautiful, but the lot lines haven’t moved in 60 years. A fence installation in McGregor often becomes part of a larger post-Ian property update, and plenty of homeowners pair the new fence with paver driveways in McGregor or concrete driveways and concrete work in McGregor to pull the whole curb appeal together in one project window. Our fence installation crew works alongside our driveway and hardscape teams so you’re not coordinating three different schedules. We cover all of McGregor from the river side over to the Fort Myers edge, and we’ve been building here long enough to know which streets flood in August and which ones drain fast.
Serving McGregor, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the McGregor area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
Frequently asked - wood fence in McGregor
Most wood fence jobs finish in five to seven working days from the first dig day, not including the 48-hour utility locate window or the HOA/permit approval timeline. Demolition starts on day three after locates clear, posts are set by day four, rails and pickets go up on day five, and the final walkthrough typically happens day six. Call (844) 638-7249 and we’ll give you a schedule specific to your yard.
Yes - Lee County requires a building permit and zoning review for residential fences. Your HOA may also require design approval, particularly in the McGregor Boulevard corridor where architectural standards are actively enforced. We pull the county permit, submit the HOA documentation you need, and handle the whole thing start to finish.
Almost always yes. We can reuse existing post locations on a like-for-like replacement as long as the footing excavation doesn’t encroach on a flagged utility easement. If your old fence straddled a sewer lateral or electrical conduit that’s now marked, we shift the line a few inches to keep everything compliant. We won’t dig blind on a McGregor lot with overhead lines nearby - Sunshine 811 is mandatory and we wait for it every time.
Every wood fence we build in McGregor is backed by our 730-Day Done Right Promise: if it’s not done right, we make it right, for two full years. That covers workmanship - post lean, gate sag, picket warp from improper fastening, concrete footing failure. Wood is a natural material and will weather; the warranty means the structure stays square and solid. Additionally, the treated lumber itself carries a manufacturer’s warranty against rot and insect damage that varies by supplier, and we’ll walk you through those terms before you choose a material.
It does when it’s built with the water table in mind. McGregor’s high groundwater - often less than two feet below grade - rots posts set shallow and backfilled with dirt. We use 30 to 36-inch deep footings with a concrete collar that isolates the wood from direct soil contact at the base, and we run a gravel bed at the bottom of each hole to let water drain away instead of pooling around the post. Properly built, a treated-pine fence here lasts 15 to 20 years. Cedar can go longer with periodic sealing.
Get a fixed-price estimate for your McGregor wood fence
Call (844) 638-7249 to schedule a free on-site estimate. We’ll come to your home in McGregor, measure the full fence line, talk through wood grade and picket style, and hand you a written, line-item price before we leave. No sales pitch, no pressure, no number that changes once the work starts. Calls are answered by a live person, 24/7 - and every crew member who shows up on your property is background-checked and in uniform. If you’re comfortable with 0% financing for 18 months or our $1,000-off projects over $10,000 offer, ask about those on the call.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., building wood fences across McGregor, FL with the 730-Day Done Right Promise.