The fence you put up when you do not want to lose the view.

Where aluminum earns its price

Aluminum costs more per foot than pressure treated wood and then stops costing anything. It does not rot at grade, it does not warp in July, and it never needs a coat of anything. On a front yard, a lake lot or a run you look at every day from the kitchen, that trade usually wins.

It also keeps the view, which matters more on this side of the county than most places. A back yard that opens onto water or trees loses something behind six feet of board. A black picket disappears at forty feet and the yard still reads as open.

One customer had 210 feet of black rod iron put in and wrote that the crew were in and out in five to six hours and everything looked perfect. Panels are the reason. Once the posts are right, aluminum goes up fast.

• Panel and post layout set out before the first hole
• Racking panels used where the ground falls
• Pool runs built to the gap, height and latch rules
• Self closing, self latching gate hardware where it is required
• Posts set in concrete, not driven and hoped over

Pool fencing, and why it is a different job

A pool fence is not a style choice, it is a code item, and it gets inspected. Height, the gap under the bottom rail, the space between pickets, the direction the gate swings, and whether the latch is high enough and self closing are all specified. Get one of them wrong and the fence is up, paid for, and still fails.

One customer called us on a Saturday because they had just had a pool installed and were in a time crunch to pass a homeowners insurance inspection. We came out the next day to quote and fit them in that first week. They wrote afterwards that our knowledge of pool fencing requirements was incredibly helpful. That is the part you are buying on a pool job.

If you are fencing a pool, tell us at the first call. It changes the hardware, and it changes which side of the yard the gate wants to be on.

Grade, racking and keeping a black line straight

Aluminum is unforgiving to look at. A black panel against green grass shows every inch of error in the post line, in a way a wood fence never does. That is not a reason to avoid it, it is a reason to be slow with the string line.

On uneven ground, racking panels pivot at the picket so the rails follow the grade while the pickets stay vertical. Most panels rack a limited amount before they stop, so a steep drop gets stepped instead, with the change taken at the post. We work out which sections do which before we order, not on the day.

Posts still go in concrete. A driven aluminum post feels solid the week it goes in and tells the truth about eighteen months later, usually at the gate.

Gates, latches and the thing that actually wears out

Nothing on a fence gets used like a gate. Everything else stands still for twenty years while the gate gets opened twice a day, leaned on, and pushed by wind. So the gate post is heavier, it goes deeper, and the hinges get set to carry the leaf rather than just hold it.

Wide openings for a mower or a trailer are worth deciding early. A single leaf past a certain width starts to sag no matter who hangs it, and a double gate with a drop rod is the honest answer. If you want a vehicle through it, say so at the estimate.

Before we leave, every gate gets swung and latched with you standing there. A latch that catches on the first try in September should still catch in February, and if it does not, that is a phone call we would rather have than not.