People ask us who the reputable fence builders in Wichita are. We are not going to name other companies, good or bad. What we can do is hand over the list we would use if we were hiring somebody to build a fence on our own property. There are good crews here. There are also bids that look competitive because something real got left out. These questions tell you which is which.
Ask what fasteners they are using
Stainless steel or galvanized? That is the first thing we would want to know, and on cedar it is not a small question. Cedar tannins react with the iron in ordinary steel, and the result is a blue black stain bleeding down the board from every nail. The USDA Forest Products Laboratory concluded stainless is the best choice on cedar.
Then the second half. Ring shank or smooth shank? A ring shank grips the wood as it dries and moves. A smooth shank gun nail backs out over seasons of Kansas expansion and contraction, which is why old fences grow that row of nail heads standing proud of the picket. We use stainless ring shank.
If your current fence already has that row of nail heads standing proud and a few loose boards, you do not need a new fence yet. Our Fence Tune-Up screws new cedar pickets to your existing rails, no nails, and hauls the old ones off.
Ask about the stain plan
Are they staining the fence? Then three follow ups. Is it in the quote or added later. What product, by name. And when does it go on. Timing depends on the product. Some stains need the wood to dry for weeks before they soak in. The Wood Defender we use penetrates new cedar within days. On one recent job the stain went on five days after the last picket. On our jobs, staining is your choice. If you want it, it is on the quote up front, never an upsell after the fence is standing.
Ask how much concrete goes in the holes
This is the big one. The most common thing is skimping on the total concrete a fence actually calls for.
Here is arithmetic you can run against any bid in town. A hole 10 inches wide and 30 inches deep holds about 1.15 cubic feet once the post takes its share. An eighty pound bag yields about 0.6. That is nearly two bags to fill one hole. Pour in a single bag and it fills about 13 inches. The other 17 are dirt.
That fence is not held by concrete. It is held by loose soil, and Kansas soil moves. Our standard is 1.5 to 2 bags of eighty pound mix per post.
It is the easiest corner to cut, because nobody sees it once the dirt goes back, and the one that decides whether the fence is straight in fifteen years. Ask for bags per hole and depth, in writing. We set posts 30 inches down, past Wichita's 24 inch frost line.
Ask what the posts are made of
A cedar fence has two jobs. Look like wood, and stand up to wind. Most bids here ask a treated 4x4 to do both. Wood rots at grade, where wet soil meets air. That is where fences fail in Kansas, at the post, not the face.
Every fence we set goes on a galvanized steel post, a Halco PostMaster, concealed inside the cedar so the fence still reads as all wood. Not an upgrade, not a tier. You do not have to demand steel, but you do have to know which you are buying. Our Ovora vs. a typical fence contractor page runs both spec sheets side by side.
Ask about insurance and permits
We are fully insured, and we pull permits on every job that needs one. Most Wichita fences do not need one. The adopted building code exempts fences not over eight feet tall, unless the fence encloses an outdoor seating area. Several suburbs run their own desks, and an HOA approval is separate from a city permit. It is broken out on our Wichita fence permit guide. Ask too whether they call 811 before digging. Kansas law requires it two full working days ahead. We call on every job.
Ask the schedule, and what happens if they hit rock
Every bid looks the same on flat, clear dirt. Ask what happens if they hit rock, and who pays. Labor additions on our jobs happen if we are running into rock, if we have to move around obstacles, or if the fence is incredibly customized. We find those on the walkthrough rather than hand you a change order.
The answer we want to hear sounds like ours. If there's removal, we do that on its own day. Day one is digging holes and setting posts. Day two is throwing up pickets and gates. Recent cedar jobs of 200 to 285 linear feet go up in four to five days.
Some contractors try to do it all in one day. The problem is Kansas wind. Pickets catch the wind, and your fence can be leaning after day one because the concrete hasn't fully set. The one honest one day build is driven post vinyl, where we don't do any concrete, so nothing cures and nothing leans.
Look for reviews that pair with real jobs
Star counts are easy. Reviews you can line up against a photo, a footage number and a build date are not. Our reviews, 5.0 stars across 14 of them, come from the same yards on our work page.
One thing we would not judge a company on
Price alone. A low bid is not always a bad bid. Sometimes it is a smaller fence with thinner boards, and if that is what you want, plenty of good people will build you one. Just never compare two numbers without comparing two specs.
People are surprised by the total cost. Material costs have gone up a ton in the last few years. A fence seems simple, but a lot goes into doing it correctly, between organizing the crews and the material ordering. The bulk of the spend goes toward material. We source the highest quality material we can get in Wichita, so our cost sometimes runs higher. Market ranges are in our Wichita fence cost guide.
Nobody can verify the last one from outside. We know if we have the highest paid crew, we'll have the best quality work. Nobody inspects whether a post is truly plumb.
Questions to ask your fence installer, answered
Who is a reputable fence builder in Wichita, KS?
Instead of a name, use a test. A reputable builder will tell you the picket size in inches, the post material, the bags of concrete per hole, the post depth, the fastener metal, and who pulls the permit, in writing, before you sign. Anyone who deflects on concrete earns a second bid.
What questions should I ask a fence installer?
Fasteners, stainless or galvanized. Stain, included or not, and when it goes on. Concrete, bags per hole and hole depth. Posts, steel or wood. Insurance, and who handles the permit. Schedule, how many days and what happens on each. And what happens if they hit rock.
How much concrete should go in a fence post hole?
Close to two eighty pound bags for a hole 10 inches wide and 30 inches deep. One bag fills about 13 inches and leaves the rest dirt. Skimping here is the most common corner cut in this market.
Should a fence company be insured?
Yes, and ask directly rather than assume. We are fully insured, and we pull permits on every job that needs one. Ask any bidder to confirm coverage before work starts, and whether the permit legwork is theirs or yours.
Want the spec before you sign? We will walk your yard, measure the run, and hand you an itemized written quote. Hold it against anyone else's.