For a low fence across the front, a taller one around the back yard, or a fence line that has to find its way past an old oak, San Antonio Expert Fence plans and builds it in Alamo Heights.
Alamo Heights is a separate city with San Antonio all around it, so a fence here goes by Alamo Heights' rules and Alamo Heights' permit, not San Antonio's. When San Antonio Expert Fence plans a fence in town, a few of those rules shape the plan more than the rest: how tall the fence can be out front, how tall it can be at the sides and back, and how much digging the code allows near one of the town's heritage trees.
With San Antonio wanting to annex it, residents voted 289 to 8 in 1922 to become their own city, and Alamo Heights has written its own rules ever since.
When the Chamberlain Investment Company of Denver laid out Alamo Heights in the 1890s, its plan ran the streets along the lay of the land and kept the centuries-old trees, even where they stood in the middle of a street. Today the city protects its heritage trees by code, and that protection reaches the ground around their roots. If there's a big old tree near where you'd like a fence, the tree comes into the plan early.
Alamo Heights' code says no more than 30 percent of a heritage tree's critical root zone can be trenched, excavated, damaged or removed, and none of that can come within 3 feet of the trunk. A fence goes in by setting posts, and setting posts means digging, so when a fence line runs near one of these trees, we plan where the posts go with that limit in mind. Whether your tree counts as a heritage tree is one of the first things we find out.
When trenching or excavation will affect a heritage tree's critical root zone, the city's permit checklist asks for that root zone to be shown on the site plan. So the tree is on paper right beside the fence, and you'll see how the two sit together before the application goes in.
If an old oak stands a few feet from where your back fence would run, the line can bend away from the trunk, or be set a little farther into your yard, so the posts land farther from the tree. We'll go over the choices with you at the tree and show you where the posts would go before anything is dug.
Alamo Heights requires a city permit for a fence, and work can't start until the permit has been issued. At the center of the application is the fence you've already been picturing, written down: where it goes, how tall it is and what it's made of. We put that together with you.
Along with the fence itself, the site plan shows the lot's property lines and any easements already on it. Settling those details at the start means you know exactly what fence you're getting before the application goes in.
The city wants the estimate for the job to cover design fees, materials and labor for the full scope of the work, and to be signed by the property owner. It's the city's requirement, and it means the estimate for the whole fence is in front of you, with your signature on it, before the permit is applied for.
Alamo Heights sets a low height limit for the minimum required part of the front yard and a taller one for the sides and back. In every yard, front, side and back, the height is measured from the lower side of the fence, which matters most on a lot that isn't level.
In the minimum required part of the front yard, a fence can be up to 3 feet tall. We work out where that part of your front yard falls before a front fence is drawn. At 3 feet, a fence marks the edge of the yard and frames the walk up to the door, and the house stays in full view from the street.
At the sides and back, a fence can go up to 8 feet. That leaves plenty of room for a tall privacy fence. If your yard sits above your neighbor's, we work out the height from the lower side of the fence before it's ordered and keep it inside the limit.
Typical installed prices at Texas rates, from a picket fence across the front to cedar around the back, along with a new post or taking out an old fence.
| Item | Typical price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Wood picket fence, 3–4 ft | $15–$29 | per linear foot installed |
| Cedar fence | $15–$42 | per linear foot installed |
| Aluminum fence | $19–$53 | per linear foot installed |
| Fence post replacement | $150–$390 | per post |
| Old fence removal | $3–$4.75 | per linear foot |
The city's listed permit fee isn't part of these prices. Try the cost calculator.
It can. Fences are priced by the foot, and the table on this page gives typical ranges, so a line that swings out around a tree and runs longer costs more than a straight one would. After the length, it's the height, the material and the gates. Once we've seen where the tree stands against the fence line, you'll have a price for the fence as it will actually run.
It can, and who does the cutting decides whether a permit is needed. Alamo Heights requires a pruning permit for tree trimming, except when the owner or someone the owner regularly employs does it. Either way, when an oak is pruned, the cuts have to be painted within 30 minutes. If a limb hangs low over where the fence would go, we'll point it out when we look at the line, so the trimming can be planned before the fence goes in.
City staff have said they can't permit the part of a fence that sits off the lot without the approval of whoever owns that land. The site plan for the permit shows your property lines, so the fence gets drawn against them first, and any stretch that would cross over is plain to see on paper before anything is built.
Not by a contractor. Alamo Heights allows contractor work on weekdays only, with none on weekends or city holidays, so a fence we build here goes in on a weekday. A homeowner doing the work without hired help isn't held to the weekday rule, though the city still limits the hours.
The height limit is the thing to watch. Side and back fences in Alamo Heights top out at 8 feet, and a fence on top of a retaining wall can run into that limit. The city's Board of Adjustment has heard a case on exactly that. On a lot with a retaining wall, we work out the height question before a fence design is settled.
Alamo Heights' standards for single-family lots keep air conditioning units and pool equipment at least 3 feet from the property line or a fence. If the A/C unit or the pool equipment sits near where you'd like the fence to run, we'll look at that spacing with you when we lay out the line.
Here's the full list of fence work we take on in Alamo Heights, from picket fences out front to privacy fences, gates, repairs and staining.
We take fence jobs in these towns too, and a fence in any of them is planned to the rules of the city it stands in.
Tell us where you'd like the fence to run and what's near the line, like an old oak, a yard that drops toward the neighbor's, or the A/C unit along the side of the house. We'll look at it with you and plan the fence around what's there.
San Antonio Expert Fence is a fence company in San Antonio, Texas, for homes, businesses and HOAs. We repair fences and build new ones, and every job starts with a free visit and a written price.
Each city around San Antonio writes its own fence rules, and we plan every fence to the ones where your home is.
