ActiveYards Fence Installation: The Fort Myers Owner’s Guide
A full ActiveYards fence installation in Fort Myers typically runs $3,500 to $9,000 installed, depending on linear footage, gate count, and whether we’re pulling old posts out of sandy Lee County soil. Most jobs are done in one to three days, start to finish. You likely landed here because a section blew over during a summer squall, a gate is dragging on the paver line, or your aluminum coating started blistering after a few too many salt-spray seasons. We’re Groundwork Construction Co. of Fort Myers, an independent fence installer (not an ActiveYards subsidiary), and we stock the parts that actually fail so you aren’t waiting weeks while a hole in your fence invites every stray dog on McGregor Boulevard.
Which ActiveYards Models This Applies To
ActiveYards builds their aluminum fence systems across three main series, and the parts are not universally interchangeable. The Dogwood series uses a thinner-gauge picket and a lighter top rail, popular in Fort Myers neighborhoods like Pelican Preserve and Whiskey Creek for its clean look at an approachable price point. The Arbor series steps up to a heavier-gauge aluminum with a reinforced bottom rail, and the Grand Slam series is the commercial-grade line with wider picket spacing and thicker wall posts. Here’s the compatibility gotcha most homeowners hit: ActiveYards changed their post-wall thickness from 0.062″ to 0.080″ on certain Arbor-series gates around 2021, which means a replacement hinge bracket from a new-production unit won’t always seat correctly on an older post without a shim kit. If you’re unsure what you have, look for the small white label inside the gate frame near the bottom hinge - it’ll show the series name and a four-digit date code. We carry OEM ActiveYards latch assemblies, post caps, hinge sets, and full gate frames across all three lines, plus a few high-quality aftermarket equivalents that match the powder-coat texture better than what we’ve seen from no-name Amazon sellers.
Signs Your ActiveYards Fence Installation Is Failing
- Gate dragging or scraping the ground. In Fort Myers, this is almost always a hinge bracket that’s loosened inside the post, not a bent gate. The self-tapping screws ActiveYards uses can wallow out in softer aluminum over repeated heat cycles, especially on west-facing gates that bake all afternoon.
- White oxidation trails below post caps. Aluminum doesn’t rust, but it does corrode where dissimilar metals touch. The stainless steel set screws inside ActiveYards post caps create a tiny galvanic reaction with the aluminum post top, and after four or five Fort Myers wet seasons you’ll see chalky white streaks running down the post.
- Pickets popping out of the bottom rail. The pre-punched rail holes are sized for a friction fit on the picket, but a direct hit from a falling palm frond or a kid’s soccer ball can pop the picket upward. Left loose, the whole section loses lateral stiffness and will rack in the next windstorm.
- Fence section leaning at a 10-degree angle or worse. This is rarely the ActiveYards product itself - it’s the post footing. The sandy mix common in Fort Myers (Myakka fine sand with low organic content) doesn’t hold lateral loads the way clay does, and a post set with a single bag of fast-setting concrete will eventually lean, particularly on corner posts.
- Aluminum coating blistering or peeling in sheets. ActiveYards uses an AAMA 2604-compliant powder coat, good for about 10-12 years of direct salt exposure. If you’re within a half-mile of the Caloosahatchee or backing up to a canal, that timeline shrinks to maybe eight years before the finish starts lifting.
Replacement Cost & What’s Included
A full ActiveYards fence installation in Fort Myers lands between $3,500 and $9,000 for a typical residential lot. At the lower end, you’re looking at roughly 75 linear feet of Dogwood-series, one walk gate, no demolition of an existing fence, and straight post-hole digging. At the upper end, we’re talking 180-plus linear feet of Arbor or Grand Slam, multiple gates, pulling and hauling old concrete footings, and possibly working around mature root systems from the oaks near the Edison Home or the sabal palms half the Cape Coral-adjacent neighborhoods planted too close to their property lines.
Every quote includes the ActiveYards-spec materials, concrete footings poured to 24 inches (past our local frost line, which barely exists, but deep enough for wind-load resistance), post caps, hardware, removal and disposal of the old fence, and our 730-Day Done Right Promise on the workmanship. We give you the number upfront - no change orders because we hit a root or a buried sprinkler line. Call (844) 638-7249 for a free estimate.
DIY or Call Us?
If the issue is a loose post cap or a single picket popped out of the lower rail, you can handle that in ten minutes with a hex key set and a rubber mallet. Tighten the set screw, tap the picket back into its hole, done. What we’d strongly recommend you not DIY is anything involving gate tension or full post replacement. A loaded ActiveYards gate with an aluminum frame and a sagging hinge is under real tension - enough to pinch fingers badly if it lets go while you’re fiddling with it. Post replacement sounds straightforward on YouTube, but digging a 30-inch hole through Fort Myers soil in July while dodging your own irrigation lines is a different animal than what the video shows from somebody’s clay yard in Ohio. If you’re even slightly unsure, call us at (844) 638-7249. Derek Hollenbeck and our team have been setting fence posts in Lee County long enough to know exactly what’s underground in most neighborhoods.
FAQs
How long does an ActiveYards aluminum fence actually last in Fort Myers?
Expect 20 to 25 years from the aluminum itself - the metal doesn’t rot and termites ignore it entirely. The powder coat, which is what most people mean when they say the fence looks worn, holds up 10 to 15 years inland and closer to 8 to 10 if you’re within a mile of salt water. We’ve pulled 18-year-old Arbor-series sections near Sanibel that still had tight joints but needed a refinish.
Can you repair a damaged ActiveYards section, or do I need full replacement?
Single-panel replacement is definitely an option, and it’s what we recommend unless the damage spans multiple sections. ActiveYards panels are modular by design - we can unbolt a bent section between two posts and drop a new one in without touching the rest of the fence. If the posts themselves are leaning or corroded, though, a full re-install starts making more financial sense than chasing individual post replacements across the yard.
How long does a full ActiveYards fence installation take?
Most residential jobs in Fort Myers wrap up in one to three working days. Day one is demolition, post-hole digging, and setting posts in concrete. We let the concrete cure overnight, and days two and three are rail and picket assembly plus gate hanging. The main variable is weather - a typical afternoon thunderstorm in July or August might pause us for an hour, but we build that into the schedule.
Do you stock ActiveYards parts, or am I waiting on a special order?
We stock the high-failure items on our trucks and in our Fort Myers shop: hinge sets, latch assemblies, post caps, gate drop rods, and full Dogwood and Arbor gate frames in black and bronze. Oddball colors or Grand Slam-specific parts may need a 5-to-7-day order from ActiveYards, but we’ll tell you that before you commit. If it’s a stock part, we can usually have your gate swinging again the same day we show up. Call (844) 638-7249 for an exact quote - estimates are free.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner & General Contractor, Groundwork Construction Co. of Fort Myers at Groundwork Construction Co. of Fort Myers, serving Fort Myers and nearby areas.