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Fence

What it's for

Takes off a fence run: privacy, picket, horizontal or split rail. You get posts, boards, rail footage and concrete bags to buy, an elevation drawing with a post footing detail, and a running mark-out of the post positions to pull off one tape. It is an order takeoff and a layout. It makes no code check.

Step by step

The example is the screen as it opens: a 6 ft privacy fence, 100' 0" long, posts at 8' 0", 4x4 posts, 5-1/2" boards with a 1/8" gap, no gate, concrete figured from the hole, 10% waste.

Fence inputs at their defaults: STYLE Privacy, HEIGHT 6 ft, TOTAL RUN 100' 0", POST SPACING 8' 0", POST SIZE 4x4, BOARD WIDTH 5-1/2", BOARD GAP 1/8", INCLUDE GATE off, CONCRETE From hole (the other choice is By hand), WASTE FACTOR 10%. CONCRETE carries its label on a line of its own above its two-way picker; WASTE FACTOR keeps its label beside the value and stepper, wrapped to two lines. The answer bar under the FENCE title reads 16 posts, then 14 posts to set · 10' stock, 3' 0" deep. 1 3 5 6 7
Every input on its default, with the headline showing in the answer bar under the title.
  1. Pick STYLE: Privacy, Picket, Horizontal or Split Rail. Changing the style resets the board width and gap to that style's starting sizes. Split Rail has no boards, so the two board rows are hidden.
  2. Pick HEIGHT: 4 ft, 6 ft or 8 ft. It sets the post and picket lengths in the material list and the number of rails. At 8 ft a note under the row says a fence over 7 ft needs a building permit (IRC R105.2 item 2), and that many zoning codes cap a back-yard fence at 6 ft.
  3. Enter TOTAL RUN, the whole fence line from the center of the first post to the center of the last, gates included. Then POST SPACING, center to center.
  4. Pick POST SIZE, 4x4 or 6x6. It names the post row in the material list and sets the post faces in the mark-out and the drawing.
  5. Enter BOARD WIDTH as the actual width of the board, not the nominal size, and BOARD GAP, the space between boards.
  6. Turn on INCLUDE GATE for a gate. A GATE WIDTH row appears. The gate width comes out of the run before boards and rails are counted, and the gate adds one post and a set of Gate hardware to the material list: hinges (three on a gate over 5 ft tall) and a latch, plus a drop rod for a gate over 6 ft wide.
  7. CONCRETE opens on From hole: the bags per post are what the hole takes. That is the bag maker's hole, three times the post's width, filled to 3-1/2" below grade, less the post, at 0.45 cu ft to a 60-lb bag of Concrete Mix. On the defaults a 10-1/2" hole 3' 0" deep takes about 3.1 bags; on a 4 ft fence the 2' 0" hole takes about 2.0, and a 6x6 hole that deep about 4.8. Pick By hand to set BAGS PER POST yourself, in half-bag steps, starting from the hole's figure. At 0.0 — posts set dry in gravel, or driven — no concrete is bought and the concrete row leaves the list.
  8. Set WASTE FACTOR. It is added to the posts, boards, rails and concrete you buy. It never adds posts to set or pieces to the cut list.

Reading the results

Fence scrolled to the results. The last inputs show above: CONCRETE From hole with By hand beside it, then WASTE FACTOR 10%. RESULTS reads 14 posts to set · 10' stock, 3' 0" deep, 235 boards · 330 lin ft rails, Spacing 8' 0" · Height 6' 0", and 48 bags concrete · ≈ 3.1 a post, from the hole, then BASIS & WHAT WAS ASSUMED and the link Check before you cut · Measure twice. The elevation shows a 100' 0" run 6' 0" high with 8' 0" bays, a footing detail marked 3' 0" and VERIFY FROST, the note 235 BOARDS (SCHEMATIC SPACING) and the title strip FENCE ELEVATION, 14 POSTS @ 4x4, NOT TO SCALE. 9 12 10
The numbers match the list below.
  1. The headline is posts to buy, waste included. On the defaults it reads 16 posts. The count is the run divided by the spacing, rounded up, plus the end post, plus one for a gate, then the waste. It is more than the number you will set. The line under it gives the posts you set, the stock they are cut from and how deep they go, 14 posts to set · 10' stock, 3' 0" deep on the defaults, the same count the drawing's title strip and the mark-out show.
  2. Boards and rails. On the defaults: 235 boards · 330 lin ft rails. Boards are the run, less the gate, divided by board width plus gap. Rails are lineal feet for the whole run: two rails for a 4 ft fence, three for 6 ft, four for 8 ft. Split rail is bought by the rail, three per bay: 110 ft at 10 ft bays is 11 bays × 3 = 33 rails before waste. Horizontal is counted by course instead: the boards run post to post, so the height takes enough courses of board plus gap to cover it, each bay takes one board per course, and each board is cut from stock as long as the bay. A 48 ft run of 8 ft bays, 6 ft high in 5-1/2" boards with a 1/2" gap, is 13 courses × 6 bays = 78 boards, 86 with 10% waste, read as 86 boards of 8' · 13 courses, no rails. The next line repeats your spacing and height.
  3. Concrete is bags for every post set, at the bags per post, plus waste, rounded up to whole bags once for the job — a part bag carries to the next hole, and half a bag per post on 14 posts is 8 bags, not 14. On the defaults: 48 bags concrete · ≈ 3.1 a post, from the hole (14 × 3.1 × 1.1). Set by hand it reads "as set". At 0.0 bags per post it reads 0 and there is no concrete row.
  4. The drawing is an elevation of the run with the first bay and the full length dimensioned, and a footing detail in the corner. The title strip counts the posts drawn and set. The detail shows the burial the post length is figured on. It follows the bag maker's post-setting instructions: bury a third of the whole post. Since the post is the fence height plus the burial, that is half the fence height, never less than 2' 0" — 3' 0" on the defaults (a 9' post, cut from 10' stock), 4' 0" on an 8 ft fence and 2' 0" on a 4 ft fence. The instructions add 6" of gravel under the post, so dig the hole 6" deeper than the burial. The detail is marked VERIFY FROST, with a concrete collar unless the posts are set dry (0.0 bags per post) — a post set dry is drawn in earth. The board note says SCHEMATIC SPACING: the count is real, the boards drawn are not one for one. A Horizontal fence draws its courses stacked up each bay at the board width and gap, with no rails. Pinch to zoom, drag to pan, double-tap to reset, and use the expand button for full screen. See Drawings.
  5. RUNNING MARK-OUT lists every post between the two ends as a pair of tape readings, the near face and the far face, pulled from the center of the first post. The faces follow POST SIZE: 3-1/2" apart for a 4x4, 5-1/2" for a 6x6. On the defaults there are 12 marks, P1 at 7' 10-1/4" → 8' 1-3/4". Tap ✓ MARKED — NEXT as you go, or the speaker to have them read out. RESET takes you back to the first mark; it asks before it does, and it stops the speaker. The note under the list says it: hook the first post center, and gates lay out on site. See Mark-out and speak.
  6. MATERIALS. Each row carries what it was figured on. On the defaults: 4x4 posts — 10' each (3' 0" burial — verify frost depth); 14 posts set + waste, Fence boards — 6' pickets, Rails — 16' stock typ, Concrete mix (60-lb) with the hole it fills. An 8 ft fence buys 12' posts for its 4' 0" burial. BASIS & WHAT WAS ASSUMED states the post, rail and burial rules and that every material line carries the waste factor; these notes and the footing detail carry the rest.
  7. The buttons. CUT SHEET shares a PDF of the drawing, inputs and materials, with the post burial and its stock among the results, and the list icon at the right end of the same button shares the material list alone. SAVE keeps the result in History. CUT LIST puts the material list on the Lock Screen as a cut list to work through. SEND LIST shares the list as a page someone else can open and tick off on their own phone, with no app.
Fence scrolled to the end: mark-out rows P5 to P12, the note Hook the first post CENTER — interior post faces at 8' oc. Gates lay out on site, the ✓ MARKED — NEXT and RESET buttons, then MATERIALS listing 4x4 posts — 10' each (3' 0" burial — verify frost depth) 16 pcs with 14 posts set + waste, Fence boards — 6' pickets 235 pcs, Rails — 16' stock typ 330 lin ft, and Concrete mix (60-lb) 48 bags, a 10-1/2" hole (3 × post) × 3' 0" that takes ≈ 3.1 bags. Last come CUT SHEET, one pill with a list icon behind a hairline at its right end, beside SAVE, over CUT LIST and SEND LIST and the line Enter your own measurements to export, start a cut list or send one. 13 14 15
The mark-out, the material list and the export buttons.

There are no red flags on this screen. Nothing here is a pass or a fail.

Fence is a Pro calculator. CUT SHEET, SAVE, CUT LIST, SEND LIST and the mark-out speaker are Pro as well, a one-time purchase. CUT SHEET, the list icon at its right end, CUT LIST and SEND LIST stay dim until you have entered your own measurements. SAVE stays lit, but until then a tap only answers Enter your job's numbers first and saves nothing.

Common mistakes