Fencing takes time... how much?

[EquusMagnificus]

I am trying to figure out whether we should put our fence posts in ourselves ($$ bringing in my dad's tractor, buying another auger, + our time) or enlist the help ($$ + some of our time) of our neighbours to do it.

We have a more sandy-type of soil but there are lots of rocks. How much time do you estimate it would take to put in approx. 200 posts? Or how much time do you allow per post?

We'd do the rest of the installation ourselves for sure, the posts are the biggest part of the job because it requires machinery which we don't own. :no:

[RedTahoe]

Is there any place around you where you can rent machinery?

I would run an estimate of the cost to bring your dad's tractor, cost to buy a new auger, etc.

I would pit it against an estimate from a contractor, etc. on doing the job.

[goodhors]

I figure there is not much worse than putting in wood fence posts by hand, except doing them in quantities!!

We hired our fence done. They used a post pounder, which was REALLY FAST, and the posts DO NOT come loose. You want to make sure your lines are straight, because the posts also do not COME BACK OUT! The two they got in the wrong place by a few inches, had to be cut off and replaced to be in line.

We have rocks, clay soil, and they did break a couple posts with the pounder going along. Still, the posts have stayed in place for MANY years, never loosened up.

Perhaps you could pay a fence company to come out, install the posts, hang the fence yourself.

Having our fence done was worth the cost of marital bliss, no arguing between tired people doing a job they hated!! Our installer had the whole thing done in less than 4 days. I had quite a bit of fence put up, crossfenced, gates hung too. And electrified, since our fence is high tensile. They did a tremendous job, used equipment that did the job well and quickly. Result was MUCH better than anything we could have put up ourselves, AND no arguing about it!!

Speed and great installation, pounded posts done by professionals is REALLY worth the money!! If all you can afford is the pounded posts done, go for it. I bet they can get them ALL up in less than a day. Post pounder is one of the better inventions of the 20th century!!

[NoDQhere]

We too have sandy, gravelly soil and have put in hundreds of wood posts. We moved a fence line last week and it took two afternoons to dig the holes with a conventional post hole digger and tamp the posts in, also by hand. 25 posts. We did this small project by hand because the ground was soft and we didn't want to tear everything up with the tractor.

We have a post pounder and under ideal circumstances they work great. The ground needs to be "not too hard" and your posts need to be sharp. Run a string and you can get a pretty straight line. By far the fastest, but it can be hard to get a "perfectly" straight line of posts :).

We also have an auger post hole digger for rocky ground. It will get a hole dug but in real rocky ground the holes can get pretty big which means lots of tamping.

As I said, we have put in lots of fence and haven't had any bloodshed, yet :lol:. Just think of it as a family bonding experience :lol:. We have also had great help from our neighbors for our big projects :yes:. Setting posts is a time consuming project no matter how you do it.

[Blugal]

Just your subject line - how much time does fencing take? In my experience, it's never-ending... putting it in (making sure it's straight!), painting, or electric fencing, re-configuring, fixing broken fence (regular or electric)...

To answer your real question, I'd rent a post-pounder.

[LisaB]

We did our front field. I obviously had fencing prior because we ran into no rocks or anything. So, nothing to hinder us. We worked 1-2 hours just about every evening and then most weekends. It's about a 2 1/2 acre field. Took us 3 months. That includes a run-in shed.
We paid someone to fence in our larger field, about 4 acres. He had a post driver and it truly is sturdier. Took him 3 weeks. 3 board around the house and no climb on 2 sides. Plus making a corral at one end. And it was just him and sometimes his wife.

[EquusMagnificus]

LOL Blugal ;) Yes, I know that!! Hence why I want it done right this time so I don't spend so much time fixing it and redoing sections.

I really don't think our land is suited for post-pounder use. An auger is probably the best way to go because of the oodles of rocks.

If I said I had 200 posts to put in, how much time would you estimate just for that part?

[poltroon]

For posts, seriously consider hiring someone with experience, because they have the right equipment and know how to use it and can probably do in half a day what would take you a week. Plus, if you have to rent or buy equipment, it may cost you just as much.

Your mileage may vary, especially if you're far from everywhere or you're just looking for an excuse to buy some new equipment. :)

How are you setting your posts? How many are corner posts? What kind of fence are you putting in? All this matters for your answer.

[Blugal]

Can you find someone who's got one machine that will both auger and pound (or at least, push) posts?

I drove my coach's little ASV (http://www.asvi.com/) for a summer which did that. We'd auger the holes then have a person on the ground place the pole into the hole and line it up with the others (or against the telephone poles for vertical orientation) and have the ASV push it in.

Not sure that would be efficient for 200 posts. But there are people who do fencing that might have a dual-action machine (I think some tractors have this ability).

If I had to estimate... probably a couple hours to lay everything out, then 5-10 minutes per post (depending on how well you laid everything out, and whether you have to re-auger or pull the post out with a chain etc.). Then the actual work of fencing, completely depends on the type of fencing and the tools you have available.

If you've got the money, get someone else (with references) to do it.

[LisaB]

10-15 minutes? Surely you jest! Are you talking about driving the posts in then?
For regular auger and tamping, it took us 20-30 minutes. With the strings and making sure it was always straight. And then, it is exhausting so you can only do so many at a time.
If you enjoy each other's company and you are not on a timeline, then do it yourself. Otherwise pay for someone to drive your posts in. The nailing of the fences wasn't bad at all.

[Tom King]

I allow a half day per 300' including everything for posts on 8' centers for 4 board, but I wait until the moisture in the soil is just right and we don't have many rocks. If we have a long straight run we can do better than that but curves take longer so that's just my rough rule of thumb.
Also, I've built stuff before and have two really strong guys that have worked for me for a long time. We're a lot faster than 10 or 15 minutes per post wihout really getting in a hurry. With our soil conditions just right no way can a pounder put posts in as fast or as straight as we can.

I measure the distance on straight runs, set the end posts, pull lines top and bottom, flag the posthole locations, Mike and Gregory (big guys who each can bench press over 400 lbs.) go down the line with the two man auger(my auger with good sharp bits and point, not some piece of illkept junk from a rental place)-takes more time to go between holes than down and up when the ground is soft, drive the trailer down the line dropping posts in holes leaning away from the lines, Mike on one side and Gregory on the other-each with a digging bar to tamp with, me with a level-since we pulled two lines I only need to plumb in one plane-don't let any post quite touch the line-leave a hair of daylight or the line with not stay "straight" if anything pushes the line, the guys kick dirt in each side and pound it tight, and we are ready to set the boards. Get a kid to drive the truck pulling the trailer which the supplier has set a bundle of boards on the opposite side that they put the posts on, we tack the top board in place without driving the nails (20 penny hot dipped) all the way in through drilled holes-drills on each end of trailer, for now one nail in each end, stand back and look to see how any undulations need to be cheated up or down to have smooth flowing lines, have the guys adjust ends up or down to suit me, lay out the rest of the boards marking with a story stick and Sharpie, nail the other boards in place, rewalk the stringline on the backside to see if any errant posts need adjusting, take the strings down and you're done.

[equusvilla]

Are post pounders only for round posts or can they be used on 4x4's too?

[Sparky Boy]

BEST money we ever spent was having a PRO put in our fence posts. I mean BEST!!

We then put up the boards ourselves. Because the pro did such a good job keeping the posts perfectly straight, it was easy to put up the boards. Our fencing would be a mess if we'd have done the posts. We actually tried putting in the first 3, that's all it took to get me on the phone with the PRO. :D

Sorry, didn't really answer your question but maybe you or someone else can learn from my pain ;)

[shakeytails]

It takes us about 15 minutes per post with an auger in soil that is not rocky, and we both hate it. I wish we could rent or borrow a post driver, but we haven't had any luck with that.

[foggybok]

4 times as long as you think it will.

Did our new fence ourselves and it turned out beautiful, but the installation was not without costs! We should NOT work together :) But I now have the nicest front fence line in the neighborhood!

And now he's working on the back (with lumber cut from our own trees, so that's fun...). I'm letting him do that alone, it is slow work, but he does a beautiful job and we don't fight :)

[county]

Rent a hydraulic pounder you use on a tractor to put wood posts in with we put in 428 in three days last year. Rocks don't faze the thing just pounds them down along with the posts and the posts are so solid you can budge them.

[Gryhnd]

We bought an auger for our tractor, thinking we could do the fence ourselves. The auger could not get through the rocky soil, it was hit or miss whether our hole ended up exactly where we wanted it to, or whether the auger hit a rock and went to the side, and it could take us a very long time just to get one hole dug - we could be working on one hole for an hour. After I hurt my back bad enough to go to ER (from bending over the wheelbarrow mixing cement for 2 days and then picking up a post - and it's never been the same since and that was a year ago :cry:), and realizing it would take us all summer just to get the holes dug, we gave up and hired someone. For us, big mistake not to hire someone initially but of course it was a financial decision. I don't know what the fence guy used, but he had something on a bobcat I believe and got the posts done in two days with several young guys doing the work. If you can afford it, hire someone to do the posts, the rest of it should be much easier to tackle yourself.

[LisaB]

I was told that you can't rent a post driver because they are too dangerous. I called just about every place around here.

[shakeytails]

I was told that you can't rent a post driver because they are too dangerous. I called just about every place around here.

That's what I was told, too. They are extremely dangerous, especially for people that don't normally deal with implements that can kill you. A friend of mine told me how he crashed every gate on the farm to get his cousin (a fence contractor) to the hospital when something broke on the driver and smashed his head open. He lived, but gave up the fencing business.

[county]

I think their much safer then an augar a lot of people use them here.

[EquusMagnificus]

Ugh... and here I was hoping for some happy posts about how it wasn't such a big deal, I'll do fine, etc. etc. :lol: So much for that!

But thanks for the honest input! :) My partner laughed when I said some had even mentionned hiring a pro in order to keep your relationship going strong. ;)

I am seriously considering having them put in because I am very very pregnant (37.5 weeks! Woot!) and I seriously don't know when I could get around to doing it all! At least, when the posts are in, I can walk around with some hot tape and at the very minimum, set up some electric fencing. :) It is not too extreme of a job so I am hopeful that I should be able to do that pretty soon.

But anyways, your input gave me a pretty good idea of the size of the job and it will help me determine if the price quote I am being given makes sense or not.

[TheBandit]

I am seriously considering having them put in because I am very very pregnant (37.5 weeks! Woot!) and I seriously don't know when I could get around to doing it all! At least, when the posts are in, I can walk around with some hot tape and at the very minimum, set up some electric fencing. :) It is not too extreme of a job so I am hopeful that I should be able to do that pretty soon.



HIRE SOMEONE!

10 months pregnant is not the time to go gung-ho setting up your farm. (Even though it is terribly exciting!)
Sit down, put your feet up and make someone else do the work.

[MintHillFarm]

I am trying to figure out whether we should put our fence posts in ourselves ($$ bringing in my dad's tractor, buying another auger, + our time) or enlist the help ($$ + some of our time) of our neighbours to do it.

We have a more sandy-type of soil but there are lots of rocks. How much time do you estimate it would take to put in approx. 200 posts? Or how much time do you allow per post?

We'd do the rest of the installation ourselves for sure, the posts are the biggest part of the job because it requires machinery which we don't own. :no:


Take it from me, from one that tried with an auger first...it took all day to do 12 posts...
With a pounder, provided you have a large enough horsepowered tractor, you could do 50, maybe more. Just think of the time you will save as well as the hand labor of putting the posts in the ground after augering the hole, and then back filling etc. WIth the pounder, you set the post and the machine does the rest; those posts are in!

I did what you mentioned, set the posts and added electric rope till I had the money to finish it with 3 board hemlock. Which by the way has held up great over 10 yrs; I would not waste $ on oak boards...good luck let us know what you do!

[county]

10 months pregnant?

[EquusMagnificus]

HIRE SOMEONE!

10 months pregnant is not the time to go gung-ho setting up your farm. (Even though it is terribly exciting!)
Sit down, put your feet up and make someone else do the work.

10 months pregnant? I don't get it either :lol: :winkgrin:

As much as I would like to just give out the full job to a contractor, money is always an object and the house renovation did cost a lot more then planned so it's not like there's oodles of extra budget left. :) We have to do some of it ourselves! Hence why I am trying to figure out on which task is it best to spend those hard earned dollars on hiring, kinda of best value for money. :)

I will NOT pay someone to add electric tape though! Come on, that's just too easy. :)

Especially if I do it to contain only my wild herd of broodmares (heck they'd stay within yellow rope... I wuv 'em :winkgrin:). Now, if I am aiming at something pony-proof... I think the pony will just spend a lot of time under close supervision. :)

[TheBandit]

The 10 month comment comes from the theory that a human pregnancy is 40 weeks. 40 weeks divided by 4 (weeks per month) equals 10. Not completely accurate time wise, but when you have done it more than once, it sure seems like forever. :)

In all seriousness, I've done the farm thing while pregnant twice. The first time I ended up having an emergency c-section due to a separated placenta from overdoing it. My son is considered a miracle baby. I live with that guilt every day.

I'm not saying don't do anything. Pay someone to do the lifting, banging, twisting stuff. And go easy all of the rest.

[NoDQhere]

Once the posts are in, the rest is very easy :lol:. I can put up miles of Horse Guard Tape all by myself. You need an old broom handle to put through the roll for rolling out the tape. I put the insulators in my "muck" cart, grabbed a cordless drill, a box of screws, a tape measure and a pencil. I go down a line of posts with my tape measure, mark the posts so my insulators come out evenly spaced then put all the insulators on the posts. Put the tensioners at the corners, up goes the tape, pull it tight and fence done :yes:.

[EquusMagnificus]

LOL TheBandit, it sure does feel like eternity! I have had so much discomfort with all sorts of perfectly normal but oh-so-annoying issues that I have had to keep quiet for a while now. Result : I am freakin' HUGE but that's a whole nuther story as they say.

I am very much looking forward to getting that body of mine back. This one is pretty solidly attached and seems in no hurry to get out! ;) As I said, my body limits me a lot so there really ain't much I can do until it's over.

Patty, yes! That's why I certainly won't pay anyone to install tape! I am pretty good at that as well! :)