I built the new 62-ft-long fence myself, with help from a few guys. How come? Cost savings, and quality.
- I’ve worked in the construction sector since I was 17. I was 56 when I built the new fence, in 2017. (I’m 61 now, as of 2022.) In the 39 years between ages 17 and 56, I learned tons about construction and about construction quality control.*
- I personally built or rebuilt five fences around the two homes I’ve owned, in San Jose.
- I had learned the weak spots on fences built by others: (1) Contractors don’t dig the holes deep enough (2 ft) or wide enough (8 to 9 inches around). (2) They pour sacks of dry concrete into the holes, and pour water on top, rather than mixing the concrete and water thoroughly in a container and then pouring in the mix. (3) The concrete doesn’t get mounded at the top, and rain infiltrates the post at ground level. (4) The tops of the posts are cut horizontally and thus get infiltrated by rain and termites, and then the top rails lose their grip on the posts. (5) The bottom beams are too slender ― they measure 1 inch by 8 inches, or 2 x 8, or 2 x 10 ― and they eventually warp under the weight of the overlying fence boards. (6) Nails get used instead of screws.
- I’ve seen how fence contractors did sloppy work at my next-door neighbors’ houses and other houses in the neighborhood: the post holes are shallow, and thus the posts start leaning sideways soon, and the boards are visibly out of plumb.
I had three options. (1) I could have spent (wasted) a day doing quality control, watching a wanting-to-cut-corners contractor dig the post holes inadequately, and I could go around with a tape measure and nag him to dig the holes to the proper dimensions and mix the concrete properly, and maybe get into arguments. Or (2) I could be the typical naive homeowner and spend the day away at work while my fence contractor did a sloppy, corner-cutting job.
Or, (3), I could be a lot smarter and wiser and industrious, and I could save wasted money and time and instead spend a day of valuable time digging the holes (with assistance) and get exactly the required work quality. And, I could plumb all the boards and install all the connections properly myself (clips, screws), etc. I selected this last option, #3.
* Worked summers doing carpentry and steel fabrication, ages 17 to 21. (Earned a B.A. and an M.S. in geology from ages 17 to 24.) Worked, and continue working, as an engineering geologist from age 24 to the present, State of California certified since 1990, working in close cooperation with geotechnical engineers on interactions between soil and foundations (meanwhile earning another M.S.). So, yeah: soils, earth pressures, concrete foundations, structures, connections, construction quality and the like are things I kinda understand.