Wood Fence Calculator: Materials, Cost Per Foot & a Full Worked Example

Wood is the fence most people picture and the one most people misprice — usually because they shop by the linear foot and then get surprised by what the per-foot number leaves out. A good wood fence calculator approach works the other way: count the actual pieces first (posts, pickets, rails, concrete), price those, and let the per-foot figure fall out of the math. Here's the full method, with 2026 prices, so you can build a material list and a budget that agree with each other.

The short answer

Wood fencing runs $10–$45 per linear foot installed in 2026, depending on style and species (Angi's 2026 data). A standard 6-foot privacy fence — the backyard default — typically lands at $20–$40 a foot installed: pressure-treated pine at the low end, cedar toward the top. Materials alone for a pine privacy fence run about $9–$15 a foot.

What that means by project size (6-foot privacy, fence run only, gates extra):

• 50 feet — $1,000–$2,000 installed
• 100 feet — $2,000–$4,000 installed
• 150 feet — $3,000–$6,000 installed
• 200 feet — $4,000–$8,000 installed
• 300 feet — $6,000–$12,000 installed

For a reality check, Angi puts a typical 150-foot, 6-foot privacy fence at about $4,700 — right in the middle of that 150-foot range. (Comparing materials first? Our fence cost guide prices wood, vinyl, chain link, and aluminum side by side.)

Count the fence in 8-foot sections

Wood fences are built in sections between posts, and posts usually sit 8 feet apart. Every quantity flows from the section count:

• Sections = total length ÷ 8, rounded up
• Posts = sections + 1 (use 4×4 posts; 6×6 at gates and corners if you want them to stay put)
• Rails = sections × 3 for a 6-foot fence (2 rails is enough at 4 feet). Rails are the horizontal 2×4s the pickets nail to.
• Pickets = length × 2.2 for standard 5½-inch pickets set tight (150 feet needs about 330). Add 10% for cuts, warped boards, and spares.
• Concrete = 2 bags (50–60 lb) per post hole is the safe planning number for a typical 10–12 inch hole.

Priced per section, a 6-foot pine privacy section uses 1 post (~$14), 3 rails (~$7 each), about 18 pickets (~$2.25 each), and 2 bags of concrete (~$6 each) — roughly $90 of materials per 8-foot section, or $11–$12 a foot, before screws and hardware. Current retail ranges behind those figures: pressure-treated 4×4 posts run $10–$18 each, pine pickets $1.50–$3.00 each, and cedar pickets $2.75–$5.50 each, which is why a cedar fence prices out so differently from pine before labor even enters the picture.

A worked example: 150 feet of 6-foot privacy fence

The classic three-sides-of-a-backyard job, in pressure-treated pine, posts at 8 feet:

• Sections: 150 ÷ 8 = 18.75 → 19 sections
• Posts: 20 × $14 = $280
• Rails: 19 × 3 = 57 × $7 = $399
• Pickets: 150 × 2.2 ≈ 330, plus 10% waste → 360 × $2.25 = $810
• Concrete: 20 posts × 2 bags = 40 × $6 = $240
• Screws and fasteners: about $60

Materials total: roughly $1,790 — call it $1,800, or about $12 a foot. Add $80–$120 if you need to rent a post-hole auger.

Hired out, the same fence at a typical $30 a foot comes to about $4,500 — labor is roughly half a professional fence bill, which matches Angi's average of ~$4,700 for this exact job. So the honest DIY math: you keep around $2,700, in exchange for digging 20 holes and hanging 360 pickets. If you want the counts without the hand math, our fence calculator builds the full list — posts, pickets, rails, and concrete — from your footage and spacing.

The same fence in cedar

Swap the species and only three lines change — but they change a lot:

• Posts: 20 cedar 4×4s at about $35 = $700
• Rails: 57 × $10 = $570
• Pickets: 360 × $4.00 = $1,440
• Concrete and fasteners: unchanged at about $300

Cedar materials: roughly $3,010 — about $20 a foot, or $1,200 more than the pine version of the identical fence. Installed, cedar privacy typically runs $30–$55 a foot, putting this yard at $4,500–$8,250. What the premium buys: cedar's natural rot resistance and a 15–20 year lifespan (vs. 10–15 for treated pine) without depending on stain to survive — though it still wants a sealer every few years to hold its color instead of going gray.

Where the per-foot price moves

• Species — pressure-treated pine is the budget standard. Cedar resists rot naturally and looks better weathered, but pickets alone can double the material bill.
• Height — 4-foot fences are markedly cheaper (shorter pickets, 2 rails instead of 3, shallower holes). 8-foot fences need heavier posts and often a permit, and price like a commercial job.
• Style — board-on-board privacy uses about 30% more pickets than a standard tight fence to close the gaps as boards shrink. Shadowbox uses more again. A simple spaced-picket or ranch style uses a fraction of the lumber — and prices accordingly.

Gates stay out of the per-foot math, as always: a single walk gate runs $150–$500 installed depending on width and hardware, and a double drive gate $400–$2,000. Removal of an old fence adds $3–$5 a foot, and a basic permit is usually $20–$60 where one is required. The cost nobody budgets: stain or sealer. Pine needs it within the first year or it grays and checks early — $3.50–$13 a linear foot if a pro sprays it, or a weekend and $150–$300 of product if you don't.

Run your footage through the fence calculator to get your post, picket, rail, and concrete counts, price that list against the ranges above, and you'll walk into any lumber yard or contractor meeting knowing what your fence should cost — to within a few hundred dollars, not a few thousand.