What You’ll Pay for a Wood Fence in Lely and How Long It Takes
A new wood fence in Lely typically lands between $3,500 and $9,000, with most standard backyard projects finishing in three to five working days. We build with pressure-treated pine rated for ground contact in Florida’s wet, humid soil, and every job includes a written line-item estimate before a single post hole is dug. Call (844) 638-7249 and we’ll walk your property, take measurements, and hand you a fixed price the same day.
How We Build a Wood Fence in Lely: The Real Sequence
Most homeowners haven’t done this before, so we lay it out plainly. Here’s exactly what happens, stage by stage, starting the day the first truck arrives.
Day One: Layout, Utility Locates, and Post Holes
Before we break ground, Sunshine 811 marks all underground utilities, which is required by Florida law and takes about two business days. Once we have clearance, we snap chalk lines along your property boundary, confirm placement with you, and start digging. In Lely, the water table sits high (often 18 to 24 inches below grade near the canal network), so our post holes go 36 inches deep, well past the saturated zone, and we set every post in high-strength Quikrete or Sakrete concrete mix that cures hard even with groundwater present. Posts are set by midday and we don’t touch them again until the concrete kicks off.
Day Two: Stringers and Frame-Up
Pressure-treated 2×4 stringers get fastened horizontally between posts using hot-dipped galvanized hardware. This is when you see the fence’s actual silhouette for the first time. If you’re adding a gate, we frame the opening today and flag it for you to approve the swing direction. We check for level across every bay because Lely’s lots, especially near the golf course edges, have subtle grade changes that show up fast on a long fence run.
Day Three: Pickets, Trim, and Cap Rail
Pickets go on one by one, spaced according to the style you chose (tight-fit privacy, shadowbox with alternating sides, or spaced picket with a gap). This is the most labor-intensive day. We install the top cap rail and any trim boards. If the design includes a lattice topper or decorative post caps, those go on now as well.
Day Four: Gate Hardware and Walk-Through
Gate posts get the heaviest hardware because gates sag first. We use adjustable heavy-duty hinges and a sturdy latch, then hang the gate and cycle it a dozen times to dial it in. We walk the full fence line with you to mark anything that needs attention, and we don’t leave until you’ve signed off on the alignment, gate swing, and overall look.
Day Five (if needed): Final Adjustments and Cleanup
If weather or cure time pushed anything into a fifth day, we use it for gate adjustments, a last hardware torque check, and a full site cleanup. We pull every scrap, rake the post-hole dirt, and haul off all debris. Your fence is done and you get the 730-Day Done Right Promise in writing before we leave.
The Wood Fence Options You’ll Choose Between
Every wood fence starts with a handful of design and material decisions. Here are the ones that actually affect the look, cost, and how the fence holds up given Lely’s humidity and afternoon thunderstorms.
- Pressure-treated pine (standard). This is what 80% of Lely fences use. Kiln-dried, chemical-treated for ground contact, rated to resist rot and termites. It arrives with a greenish tint and weathers to a silver-gray over 6-12 months. Most economical option, and with proper concrete footing it holds 15-20 years in our climate.
- Cedar (upgrade). Naturally rot-resistant with a tighter grain and no chemical treatment. It’s lighter to handle, takes stain more evenly, and smells good during install. Costs about 30-40% more than pressure-treated pine and shows up on higher-end Lely Resort properties where the Architectural Review Committee prefers a specific stain color.
- Privacy style (solid board). Pickets are butted tight with no gap. Full visual block, six feet tall, the most popular height. Works well on zero-lot-line homes where your neighbor’s lanai is close.
- Shadowbox style (alternating board). Pickets alternate sides of the stringer, giving partial visibility and airflow. It looks finished from both sides, which matters if your fence faces the golf course or a common area where both sides are visible.
- Picket style with spacing. Traditional looking with 1½- to 3-inch gaps between pickets. Used more for front-yard boundaries or defining landscaping than for privacy.
- Gate configuration (single vs. double). A single walk gate adds $300-$500. A double drive gate for boat or trailer access adds $800-$1,500 depending on width and hardware grade.
What a Wood Fence Costs in Lely, FL
A wood fence in Lely runs $3,500 to $9,000 for a typical backyard enclosure. The number moves based on five things.
First, linear footage. Most Lely lots range from a 60-foot side yard to a 180-foot full perimeter. Every additional foot of fencing adds $22-$38 in materials and labor.
Second, style. A solid privacy fence uses more pickets per linear foot than a spaced picket design; shadowbox uses roughly the same board count but requires more labor to alternate sides. The difference between the cheapest style and the most board-heavy style is often $1,200-$2,000 on an average yard.
Third, access and demo. If we’re tearing out an old chain-link fence first, demolition and haul-off add $400-$800. If the fence line runs through overgrown landscaping or behind a pool cage with tight clearance, labor hours increase.
Fourth, gate count and size. Each gate needs its own heavier posts, hardware, and hang-time. A double gate adds real cost and we’ll show it as its own line item on your estimate.
Fifth, HOA or ARC requirements. Lely Resort governs most of the community’s neighborhoods through an Architectural Review Committee. If the ARC mandates a specific stain, post-cap style, or height maximum that differs from standard, materials cost shifts accordingly. We factor that into your quote after reviewing the current ARC guidelines for your village.
Every quote we write is a fixed-price, line-item estimate. It includes all materials, concrete, hardware, labor, cleanup, and the 730-Day Done Right Promise. It doesn’t include landscaping restoration beyond the immediate fence line, but we keep the job site tight and protect your lawn. Call (844) 638-7249 and get your number in writing.
What Lely Homes Specifically Do to This Job
Lely isn’t like building a fence in a dry inland subdivision. Most of the community sits on the edge of the Everglades drainage basin, and the canal-and-swale network woven through Lely Resort isn’t decorative. It’s the stormwater system, and Collier County enforces strict no-disturbance buffers along those swales. That means we can’t place a post within the easement without a survey and approval, and some fence lines have to jog or cantilever slightly to stay compliant. We’ve built fences on nearly every village street inside Lely Resort and we know where those setbacks land.
The other reality is the Architectural Review Committee. If you live in a Lely Resort neighborhood, your fence needs ARC approval before Collier County will process the permit. The committee has specific standards for material finish, post cap style, and visible hardware, and we’ve seen applications kicked back for using the wrong screw head. We handle the ARC submittal for you because we’ve done it hundreds of times. We also coordinate the required survey and the Collier County building permit, which is a separate step after ARC sign-off. Timeline-wise, ARC review adds about two to three weeks before we can dig, so plan accordingly.
The housing stock matters too. Most Lely homes are 1990s-to-2000s concrete-block stucco construction, and a lot of those original wood fences from the build-out era are now sagging, rotted at the post base, or leaning because they were set in shallow footings that didn’t account for the high water table. We regularly pull up posts that were buried only 18 inches deep with a bag of dry mix poured around them. That won’t hold in saturated Collier County soil. Our footings go deeper, use more concrete, and cure solid before we hang weight on them. If you’re replacing a fence built when the house went up, the difference in longevity is night and day.
Serving Lely, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Lely 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 Questions About Wood Fences in Lely
Yes. Collier County requires a building permit for any fence over four feet tall, and if your home is inside Lely Resort, you need Architectural Review Committee approval before the county permit gets issued. We manage both submittals for you as part of the job. ARC review typically takes two to three weeks, and the county permit follows about a week later.
A properly built pressure-treated pine fence with concrete footings in Lely lasts 15 to 20 years before the posts show meaningful decay. The pickets may weather or cup slightly over time, but structural failure almost always starts at the post base. Our 36-inch-deep footings and ground-contact-rated posts are designed to keep water from pooling at the wood-to-concrete junction, which is where most Lely fences fail first. The 730-Day Done Right Promise covers any workmanship issue during the first two years. Call (844) 638-7249 if you want us to look at an existing fence and tell you honestly whether it’s worth repairing.
Most wood fences we build in Lely fall between $3,500 and $9,000, depending on linear feet, style, gate configuration, and whether we’re removing an old fence first. A straightforward 120-foot privacy fence with one walk gate typically runs around $5,200-$6,800. We give you a written fixed-price estimate after walking the property, so you’ll know your exact number before you commit. Estimates are free.
Pressure-treated pine needs to dry out before it will accept stain properly. We recommend waiting 4-6 months after installation before staining or sealing, which lets the wood’s moisture content drop enough for the stain to penetrate. Cedar can be stained sooner. If your Lely Resort ARC requires a specific stain color, we can factor that timeline into your project schedule so you’re compliant from day one.
A wood fence is not a wind-rated structure like impact windows, but the way it’s built makes a big difference in a storm. Posts set 36 inches deep in concrete resist uplift far better than shallow dry-set posts. Privacy fences catch more wind than spaced-picket styles, so in a major storm some picket loss is possible. That said, we’ve rebuilt plenty of fences after hurricanes in Lely, and the ones with deep concrete footings and galvanized hardware almost always survive with minimal damage. We don’t overpromise on storm performance, but we do overbuild the footing.
Get Your Wood Fence Estimate in Lely
If you’re ready to price out a wood fence on your property, call (844) 638-7249 and we’ll come out at a time that works for you. The estimate is free, the pricing is fixed, and we’ll walk you through style options, ARC requirements if you’re in Lely Resort, and a realistic timeline before you decide anything. This is also the moment to ask about pairing the fence with Paver Driveways in Lely or Concrete Driveways & Concrete Work in Lely if you’re tackling the whole exterior. For a broader look at what goes into the full project scope, see Fence Installation in Lely, and if you want to know how our crew approaches any job across Lely, that page covers it. Our Fence Installation team handles wood, vinyl, aluminum, and chain link, so you’ll get straight answers about which material fits your budget and your HOA rules.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., building fences and earning trust across Southwest Florida since 2014.