Fencing contract template — property lines, permits and neighbours
A fence contract has a problem no other trade has: it is built on a line whose position is a legal fact, and getting it wrong means taking it down.
This is a checklist of what a fencing contract has to settle — not a ready-to-sign legal document, and not legal advice. Most states regulate home improvement contracts: required disclosures, cancellation windows, deposit limits and licence display all vary, and some trades carry extra rules. Adapt this, then have a lawyer in your state review it before you put it in front of a customer.
Download as a spreadsheet to work through, or print it to sit alongside your own agreement.
What a fencing contract has to settle
Fencing contracts have to settle who is responsible for the property line, because a fence in the wrong place is not a defect to be repaired — it is an encroachment to be removed. The contract should say whether a survey was obtained, who obtained it, and who bears the cost if the line proves to be elsewhere. Permits, HOA approval and setback rules sit alongside that. Terrain is the commercial variable: rock and roots at post depth need a unit rate agreed before the first hole.
Clauses it needs
- Parties, licence number, and the property address
- The line the fence follows, and whether a survey establishes it
- Who bears the cost if the boundary proves to be elsewhere
- Permit, HOA approval and setback compliance, and who obtains each
- Scope: linear feet, style, height, posts, gates and hardware
- Post depth and setting method, with a unit rate for rock or roots
- Utility locates before digging, and liability for unmarked lines
- Neighbour access, if posts must be set from the far side
- Removal and disposal of any existing fence
- Payment terms, including concrete cure time before gates are hung
What fencing contracts actually get argued over
- A fence built to an assumed line, then found to encroach
- HOA rejection after installation because approval was nobody's job
- Rock at post depth with no agreed rate, argued mid-install
- Gate hanging delayed for cure, read by the customer as an abandoned job
The estimate this contract is built on
A contract can only be as clear as the scope it references. BidWand drafts the itemised estimate — labour, materials, exclusions and assumptions — that the scope and exclusions clauses point at.
Draft the fencing estimate this contract references
This generates the estimate, not the contract — describe the job and you get the itemised scope to attach. No email needed to see the first one.
What you get — see the format first
A complete estimate you can send to the customer, built from the rate you enter:
| Description | Qty | Unit | Unit price | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor — itemized by task | hrs | hour | your rate | — |
| Materials — with your markup applied | qty | ea / sq ft | cost + markup | — |
| Permits, disposal, access | — | — | — | — |
Plus a plain-English scope summary, assumptions (what had to be guessed), exclusions (what you are not doing — the section that prevents most change-order arguments), and a validity period. Printable, or send the link.
Every figure comes from the rate and markup you supply. We never fill in a market price for you.
Related guides
How much to charge
fence installation · garage floor epoxy · driveway sealing · pressure washing · interior painting
Estimate templates by trade
fencing · drywall · flooring · tree service · pressure washing · junk removal · siding · masonry
How to estimate
How to write a contractor estimate · Estimate vs quote vs bid — and which one you should send · What to include in a contractor estimate · How to price a job as a contractor · Should you charge for estimates? · How to follow up on an estimate · How to handle change orders · Estimate vs invoice: what's the difference? · How to raise your prices as a contractor