Start with the runs, not the perimeter
A fence takeoff starts by breaking the job at every end, corner, and gate. Intermediate posts divide each straight run; terminal posts carry the ends and direction changes. A single total perimeter hides where those breaks occur, so this v1 tool asks for the infill run with gate widths already removed and lets you add the extra terminal posts separately. If several runs have very different lengths, calculate them separately—the rounding happens per run on the job, not once around the whole property.
That layout decision changes the material math. Wood pickets repeat by actual board width plus the chosen gap. Vinyl repeats by a manufactured section dimension measured center to center. Chain-link fabric is ordered in linear feet while intermediate line posts fit between terminal posts. Treating those as interchangeable “panels” is the common calculator mistake this page avoids.
Wood, vinyl, and chain link do not share a module
The wood fence calculator begins with a 5½-inch picket because NIST PS 20-25 lists that as the minimum dressed-dry width of nominal 6-inch softwood in Table 3. It is a starting value, not a promise about a fence SKU. Rough cedar, green boards, dog-ear pickets, and specialty profiles can be wider or narrower, and even a small face-width error repeats hundreds of times. Measure the stack or use the product specification before ordering.
Vinyl has the opposite trap: the name on the rack may describe a nominal panel, while the installation sheet lays out posts using panel width, post width, and sometimes bracket clearance. Barrette’s routed-panel guide uses panel width plus post width for the common center-to-center measure; other Barrette systems add bracket clearance. That is why this vinyl fence calculator asks for one manufacturer-supplied section dimension rather than offering fake universal brand presets.
Chain link separates terminal posts from line posts. CLFMI’s product manual sets a 10-foot maximum for line-post spacing and gives a commercial footing baseline, but it also warns that frost, soil, height, and wind can require more. Privacy slats make the fence catch substantially more wind; do not use the 10-foot maximum as structural permission when the product guide or local design calls for closer spacing.
Post depth is a local decision with a conservative baseline
Quikrete’s current Setting Posts in Concrete guide literally says to dig ⅓ to ½ of the post’s above-ground length, plus 6 inches for gravel. An older Quikrete project sheet literally says ⅓ of the “overall post length,” plus 6 inches. This calculator uses ½ of above-ground height because it is at least as deep as the older figure under either reasonable reading of “overall”; it does not claim the two wordings are mathematically identical.
That remains an estimating baseline, not a frost-depth map or building approval. Enter the depth required by your city, county, installer, or product sheet and the calculator uses the greater number. For chain link it also checks CLFMI’s 24-inch minimum plus 3 inches for every foot of fence height above 4 feet. Cold-climate frost depth, weak soil, wind exposure, gates, and solid privacy surfaces can all govern instead. The same Quikrete documents and the decision to prefer the deeper end of the range are walked through in How Many Bags of Concrete Do You Actually Need.
Concrete fills the hole, minus the post
The concrete result reuses the same geometry as the live Concrete Bag Calculator: cylinder volume for the hole, less the square or round post displacement, multiplied by the post count. Quikrete’s published yields—0.30 ft³ for 40 lb, 0.45 for 60 lb, and 0.60 for 80 lb—then turn that volume into whole bags. The displayed excavation depth includes the 6-inch gravel layer, while concrete volume does not.
One hole size is intentionally applied to the counted posts so the working stays auditable. Real gate, corner, and pull posts often need larger diameters or different details; calculate those separately instead of averaging them into a number no installer can check. The 10% concrete overage is an editable trade convention for spill and irregular excavation, not a manufacturer yield.
What this calculator leaves out
Rails, fasteners, caps, tension bands, brace hardware, gates, and SKU-specific roll or bundle sizes vary too much to derive honestly from fence length alone. The tool also does not price materials or labor. Fence cost and installation-cost calculators belong in the same backlog as the deck, tile, and drywall cost-estimator terms—not inside a materials takeoff that would have to guess local labor and product prices.