Tell us what the yard actually looks like and we will put the job in front of Utah fence contractors who set posts for a living. Property lines, city rules and wind belong in the conversation up front, not as a surprise on installation day.
A fence is straight in ten years because of what happened underground.
A new run along a bare property line and a leaning section behind the garage are different jobs done by different crews. Tell us which one you have and it goes to someone who does that work.
Cedar or treated pine, built board by board on site, which is why wood follows a slope and an odd corner better than anything else. It moves with the seasons, it takes stain, and it wants that attention on a schedule.
Learn more →Vinyl keeps its color and never asks for a stain rag, which is most of the appeal. The real questions are how the posts are set and how much wind those solid panels are going to catch out where you are putting them.
Learn more →Ornamental aluminum and steel where you want a boundary you can see through, chain link where you want dogs contained and a back line marked. Both let wind pass instead of fighting it, which matters on an exposed lot.
Learn more →Gates are the moving part, and moving parts are what fail. Width, post size, hinges, latch type and whether that post was set to carry a swinging load are what separate a gate that closes from one you lift.
Learn more →Leaning posts, wind-broken panels, a section a falling limb took out, a gate that quit latching. Sometimes a whole run has to come down and sometimes four posts are the entire problem, and those are very different jobs.
Learn more →Three steps, and the first one is just a conversation.
Footage, which sides, how many gates, and whether anything is standing there now. That is most of what a contractor needs to start.
Where the property line actually sits should be established before posts go in, and a neighbor conversation is easier before the crew arrives than after.
Post depth, spacing and how much wind a panel catches decide whether a fence is straight in ten years. That is a design choice, not an accident.
The first is where your property line actually runs. The old fence is not evidence, the row of shrubs is not evidence, and the line your neighbor points at from memory is definitely not evidence. Fences get built a little off, then replaced in the same wrong spot, and after enough repetitions everyone believes it. A recorded plat or a survey is how that question gets settled, and it is far cheaper to settle before posts are in concrete than after. If the line is unclear, that is the conversation to have first, with the neighbor and with whoever is quoting the work.
The second is what the rules allow. Cities along the Wasatch Front commonly regulate fence height, setback from the sidewalk or corner, and sometimes material, with front yards treated differently from back. If you are in an HOA, that is a separate set of rules on top of the city's, and it often covers color and style. A pool on the property brings its own barrier requirements, including height and self-latching gates. The third question is what is buried out there. Sprinkler lines, gas, power and low-voltage runs all need locating before an auger touches dirt.
Everything visible about a fence is the part that gets chosen. The part that decides whether it is still standing straight in a few winters is underground. Post depth, hole diameter, how the concrete is set and whether water can sit around the post base do more for a fence than the grade of the pickets ever will. Utah ground freezes, and a post that does not reach past frost depth will get lifted and dropped season after season until the run has a wave in it. When a fence leans, the posts almost always tell the story, and by then the fix is not cosmetic.
Wind is the other force with a vote. Along the benches and through the canyon mouths, a solid privacy fence is a sail, and every square foot of panel hands load back to the posts. That is why post spacing, post size and depth get more attention on exposed lots, and why some people give up a little privacy for a gap between boards or a lattice top so air can move through. Slope matters too. A fence either steps down the hill in level sections or rakes with the grade, and that decision changes the look, the gaps at the bottom and how the gates have to be hung.
Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, and Weber counties — Ogden down to Provo.
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It depends entirely on your city, and sometimes on where the fence sits on the lot. Municipalities along the Wasatch Front commonly regulate height, setback and corner visibility, and some require a permit while others only require that you follow the code. Your HOA is a separate approval with its own rules on style and color. A contractor who works your city regularly will know the process, but the property owner is the one on the hook for it.
That is two questions. The legal one is what your city and HOA allow for setback, which varies. The practical one is where the line actually is, which is settled by a survey or a recorded plat rather than by the existing fence. Some homeowners deliberately set the fence a little inside their own line so there is no argument later. Whatever you choose, confirm it before the posts are set, because concrete makes the decision permanent.
It depends on where it sits and what the two households agreed to, which is why the neighbor conversation happens before the quote rather than after the demolition. A fence built entirely on your side of the line is generally yours to maintain and replace. One straddling the line usually involves both parties, and cost sharing is a private agreement between neighbors. Get whatever you agree on in writing, even if it is a short email you both keep.
Because a solid panel does not let air through, so it takes the full push and passes it to the posts and their footings. On an exposed lot, that load is the thing most likely to eventually loosen posts or take out panels. The answers are structural, like deeper posts, closer spacing and heavier framing, or they are design choices, like spacing the boards slightly, using a lattice or open top, or picking a material that lets wind pass through.
The gate, almost every time, because it is the only part that moves. Every time it swings, the hinge side works the post, and a gate post carrying a wide gate is doing a job the line posts never do. Sagging, dragging and latches that no longer line up are the usual complaints. Good gates start with a properly sized and properly set gate post, a braced frame, and hardware chosen for the weight it is actually carrying.
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