Fence material calculator

The math, line by line

The defaults above are one real job: 150 feet of 6-foot cedar privacy fence with one gate. Every number is checkable by hand:

1. Sections: 150 ÷ 8 = 18.75, rounded up to 19 sections.
2. Posts: 19 + 1 to close the run = 20, plus 2 for the gate = 22.
3. Rails: 19 × 3 = 57 — three rails per section on a 6-foot fence; 5-foot and under gets two.
4. Pickets: 150 ft × 12 = 1,800 inches ÷ 5.5-inch picket = 328, plus 2% cull for the warped and split ones = 335.
5. Concrete: 22 posts × 2 bags = 44 fifty-pound bags.

Change any input and the takeoff recomputes with the same five formulas. The same math runs inside Voice Estimate when you dictate a fence job — the app extracts the numbers you said, and code does the dividing and rounding. See this takeoff inside a complete filled-in estimate, priced line items and all.

What this assumes

Nothing here is hidden in a default you can't see. Every number above comes from an assumption you can change in the form:

• One straight run. Corners don't add sections, but they consume post locations and labor — count them on the walk, not at the supplier.
• Flat ground. Stepped or racked panels on a slope change rail counts and layout. Grade it on-site.
• Gates add two posts each, set in concrete like any other post, plus one hardware kit per gate. The kit is an unpriced suggestion — this page has no prices anywhere.
• Rails come from height: three per section at 6 feet and up, two below.
• Pickets butt tight. The width you enter is the whole unit — no gap allowance. If you space pickets, add the gap to the width.
• Two 50-lb bags per hole, gate posts included, for a 4×4 in an 8–10 inch hole. Wet soil, frost depth, or 6×6 posts want more.

Everything on this page is a quantity to order against. There are no prices here on purpose: rates, markup, and the total are the contractor's job — no software should be inventing them. How to capture the whole job by voice — corners, demo, soil, access — while you're still on the fence line.

When the defaults are wrong

• High-wind exposure. Open fields and ridge lots commonly drop post spacing to 6 feet. Change the spacing input, not the fence after a storm.
• Shorter fences. A 4-foot picket fence gets two rails per section — enter the real height and the rail count follows.
• Chain-link. This takeoff is wood. Chain-link uses posts, top rail, and fabric by the roll — different order entirely.
• Rock, roots, old footings. They don't change the material count, but they own your schedule. Price them with a dig-condition clause.