Before Your Fence Crew Arrives: A Homeowner's Checklist

Install day goes smoothly or it does not, and most of what decides that happened earlier in the week, at your house, without a crew present.

None of it is hard. It is mostly moving things, marking things, and telling people what is about to happen. An hour of preparation saves a phone call that starts with a question nobody wants to answer.

Here is the list, roughly in the order it is worth doing.

Mark Anything Private That Is Buried

This one is first because it is the one that costs real money when it gets skipped. Tennessee 811 marks utilities: gas, electric, water, communications. It does not mark what you or a previous owner put in the ground yourself.

That means irrigation lines and heads, landscape lighting wire, an invisible pet fence loop, a septic field or line, a well line, a French drain, low-voltage speaker wire, and the power run to a shed or a pond pump. Nobody digging a post hole can see any of it. Flag it with marking paint or landscape flags, or walk it with the crew lead and point. If you do not know where the sprinkler lines run, tell us that too, because it changes how carefully we open a hole.

Clear the Fence Line

The crew needs to walk, dig, and carry material along the whole run, so the line wants to be open a few feet on both sides where you can manage it.

• Move planters, yard art, firewood stacks, kids' toys, trampolines, and anything leaning on the old fence.
• Cut back shrubs and limbs that hang into the line. Anything you value, prune it yourself rather than having somebody guess how much to take.
• Pull up hoses and lawn edging that cross the line.
• Move vehicles, trailers, and boats off the route between the driveway and the work.
• If a garden bed or a favorite plant sits right on the line, say so before install day, not during.

We can handle brush and small growth in the line. Anything bigger, or a stump sitting where a post goes, is worth a separate conversation. See fencing after a tree comes out if that applies to your line.

Check the Access Width

Material and equipment have to reach the back yard. Measure the narrowest point on the route, usually a side gate, a walkway between the house and the AC unit, or the gap between the house and a neighbor's fence.

Write that number down and give it to us on the phone. If the only way in is narrow, everything gets carried by hand and posts get dug differently, and that is much better known in advance than discovered on the morning. If a section of existing fence has to come off to get in, tell us and we will plan to take it down and put it back.

Plan for the Pets

Gates stand open all day on an install, and holes stay open until they are filled. Even a dog that never leaves the yard will leave through a gap that appeared this morning.

The simple answer is to keep pets inside, at a friend's, or at a sitter for the working hours. If that is not possible, tell us at the start of the day, and plan on somebody walking them on a leash rather than turning them out. Pick up the yard too. It sounds small and it is not, since a crew is on hands and knees at ground level all day. If the fence is going in for a dog specifically, the dog fence guide covers what to ask for.

Tell the Neighbors, and Tell Them Early

A fence on a shared boundary means noise, a truck parked nearby, and people working within a few feet of their yard. A short conversation a few days out prevents almost every problem that follows.

Cover three things. When the work is happening. Whether anybody needs to reach their side of the line, and if so, when. And where the fence is going relative to the boundary, since that is the part neighbors care about most. If the fence is a replacement of something you share, the shared fence guide covers that conversation in more detail, and property line questions in Tennessee covers the boundary side.

Parking, Power, and Water

A fence crew arrives with a truck, usually a trailer, and material that needs to come off near the work. Leave the driveway open, or say where to park if it will not fit. On a narrow street, let the neighbors know a trailer will be there for a day or two.

An outside spigot is handy on a concrete day, and an outdoor outlet is handy for cutting. Neither is required, but both are worth pointing out rather than having somebody hunt for them. And leave open whatever needs to be open. A locked side gate with nobody home is the most common reason a morning starts late.

Know What Install Day Actually Looks Like

Expect spoil piles from the holes, a concrete mess near each one, saw noise, and a yard that looks worse before it looks better. Expect the grass along the line to take a beating. That is normal and it grows back.

You do not have to be home, as long as we have access, a phone number that gets answered, and clear direction on anything we would otherwise have to guess about. Gate placement is the big one. Walk it and settle it beforehand, because moving a gate after the posts are set is not a small change. The timeline guide covers the phases and why concrete sets the pace.

Common Questions About Preparing for a Fence Install

The Honest Bottom Line

Mark what is buried and private, open up the line, measure your narrowest access point, make a plan for the dog, and tell the neighbors. Do those five and install day is mostly just noise in your back yard.

When we book a date we go through this list with you, so nothing on it is a surprise. See fence installation for how the work itself runs, or fence installation in Jackson for what is different in town.