From a few leaning posts to a new fence around the whole back yard, San Antonio Expert Fence handles fence repair and fence installation in Cibolo.
Cibolo writes its fence rules into its own development code, and they cover a good deal more than height. They say what a fence can be made of, which side faces out, where it can't go in a creek's floodway, and how it has to be kept up once it's standing. When San Antonio Expert Fence takes on a fence job here, whether it's a repair or a new fence, that code is what we plan it to.
The town takes its name from Cibolo Creek, and Cibolo means buffalo. It grew up around the railroad and cotton farms in the 1870s, and while most of it is neighborhoods now, there's still farm land at the city's edges, which the fence code has its own rules for.
A fence with a leaning stretch, a few broken boards or a post that's let go can usually be put right without replacing the whole thing. Cibolo's code says no permit is required for repairs, as the code defines them, and its fence section spells out how a fence should be kept up, which helps when you're working out what yours needs.
The code says a fence must not lean more than 1 inch per foot of its height, measured from the top of the fence. On a 6-foot fence, that works out to 6 inches. A lean can look worse from the patio than it measures, so we put a level on it before we talk about what the fence needs.
When part of a fence is repaired, Cibolo asks for the work to be done in complete sections, at least from one support post to the next. That's the way we'd want to do it anyway, because a full section between two posts lines up with the rest of the fence instead of showing as a patch.
Once you've received a notice from the city's building official, the code gives 10 days to replace broken, damaged or missing parts, using the same material or one comparable to the original in composition, color, size, shape and quality. If unusual circumstances keep the repair from being done in time, the official can allow more time on a written request with a scope and a schedule, though not past 30 days. If a notice has come, mention the date on it when you write, and we'll plan the repair with that date in mind.
The code also asks that a fence be kept sound as a whole or be replaced completely. If the building official finds that the repair on an existing fence, which the code describes as "materials in noncompliance," comes to more than half of the fence, counted over a rolling 12 months, the code calls for the whole fence to be replaced with approved material. So when a fence needs work along a good share of its length, we'll price the repair and a new fence side by side. By then a new fence is often the better value, and you start over with posts and boards that are all the same age.
Cibolo requires a permit to put in a new fence or replace an old one, and a final inspection once the fence is done. When you hire a contractor, the city has the contractor apply for the permit, with a site plan showing where the fence goes and a copy of the contract. We handle that application for you.
The code names wood, metal, brick and masonry as fence materials, and it allows no more than two of them in a single fence. It also says a wood fence should be rot resistant. If you'd like to mix materials, we'll go over the combination with you before anything is ordered, so the fence stays within that limit.
Cibolo's code puts it this way: the "finished sides of fence posts must face opposite private or public property." We plan which way your fence faces to that rule before anything is built.
On a house lot in a single-family district, the code doesn't allow chain link with slats, and it rules out barbed wire, electric wire and razor wire too. Chain link on its own isn't on that list. If slats were the plan because you'd like some privacy, a wood privacy fence will get you there.
Typical prices at Texas rates for repairing a fence, and for a new wood fence when replacing it is the better choice.
| Item | Typical price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Fence repair, typical job | $190–$870 | per job |
| Fence post replacement | $150–$390 | per post |
| Gate repair or rehang | $97–$390 | per gate |
| Pine privacy fence, 6 ft | $19–$39 | per linear foot installed |
| Old fence removal | $3–$4.75 | per linear foot |
Repairs are priced by the job, the post or the gate, and a new fence by the foot, with taking out the old one as its own line. A new or replacement fence needs Cibolo's permit, and any city fee for it isn't part of these prices. Try the cost calculator.
Out front, the limit depends on your lot's zoning district, and Cibolo has two front-yard rules. We find out which district your lot is in before the front fence is drawn.
A front-yard fence can be up to 3 feet tall. If it's decorative and less than 60 percent opaque, it can go a foot taller.
Within 25 feet of the front property line, a fence can be up to 3 feet tall, or up to 5 feet if it isn't opaque. The code gives a decorative wrought iron fence and a chain link fence as examples of a 5-foot fence there. In the AG district, which is the farm-zoned land, the code also allows wire fencing, barbed wire included.
Outside the front yard, a Cibolo fence can be up to 8 feet in total height. A lot of privacy fences are built at 6 feet, so there's room to go higher where you'd like more screening.
A fence that runs across the yard, say to close off a dog run or a garden, can't be taller than the fence it meets. If the back fence is 6 feet, a cross fence that ties into it can be 6 feet or lower.
Where two streets meet, the code keeps a triangle clear for drivers, at least 30 feet along both streets from the curb or the edge of the asphalt, and a fence that would block a driver's view can't go in it. On a corner lot, that's one of the first things we mark out.
Two things about where a Cibolo lot sits can change where its fence goes: the floodway along a creek, and a utility easement.
Cibolo doesn't allow fences in the floodway shown on FEMA's flood map. The one exception is a break-away fence, the kind made to give way to floodwater, approved through the City Engineer. The floodway is the creek channel and the land right beside it on that map, not the whole floodplain, so whether your back line is in it comes from the map rather than from how close the water looks. If your lot backs toward Cibolo Creek, we check the map before the fence is planned.
If a utility easement runs across your lot, Cibolo lets you fence across it. By putting the fence there, the code says, the owner is taken to have agreed to two things: the utility can still get reasonable access to the easement, and damage to the fence from the utility's normal maintenance is the owner's to bear, not the easement holder's. When we lay out a fence that crosses one, we'll show you which stretch sits in the easement.
Your lot's plat, the official map of the subdivision, can show its easements, and it's filed with the county clerk. For most of Cibolo, that's Guadalupe County. We work from the recorded plat to see where your easements run before any posts are marked.
The table on this page gives typical ranges for a repair job, a post and a gate. What decides where yours lands is how many sections need work, since Cibolo asks for repairs to run from post to post, and whether any posts need replacing along with the boards. Once we've seen the fence, you'll have a price for the repair, and if it's close to the point where a new fence makes more sense, a price for that as well.
If it's the subdivision's perimeter fence along what the code calls a collector or arterial street, Cibolo's code says it's to be maintained by the HOA so it doesn't become a hazard, a nuisance or blight on the neighborhood. Where there's no HOA, or the HOA is inactive, the upkeep falls to the homeowner. The same section asks a wood perimeter fence along those roads to have something that breaks up the run, like a column or a jog in the fence or plantings along its base, once per 50 linear feet. If the fence turns out to be the HOA's to keep up, that's worth knowing before you pay for a repair yourself. If it falls to you, we can take on the repair.
Yes. Cibolo's code allows a fence on or along the property line. It can't cross onto a neighbor's property or onto public property, it can't go in the city's right-of-way along the street, and it can't block access to a fire hydrant or a utility meter. If you have a survey of the lot, send it along with your request, since it's the best guide to where the line runs.
Cibolo's code says a fence isn't mandatory, with a few exceptions, and enclosing a swimming pool area is one of them, along with a day care play area. The barrier around a pool, its height and its gate have their own rules, and we plan the pool fence to them with your pool's layout in front of us.
Cibolo's Board of Adjustment can grant a variance from the fence height rule, and it has approved one before. It's a formal request that the board hears and decides, so it isn't something to count on. We'd start by showing you what fits within the rules on your lot.
Cibolo is rewriting its development code, and the fence section is part of that work. Until a new code is adopted, the current one stays in force. If the rules change before your fence goes in, we'll plan it to whatever rules apply when the permit is applied for.
From a gate that drags to a whole new privacy fence, these are the fence jobs we take on in Cibolo.
We take fence jobs in these towns too. Fence rules aren't the same from one town to the next, so a fence in one of them is planned to that town's own rules.
Tell us whether it's a lean, a gate that won't latch, a few broken boards or a whole new fence, and anything you know about the lot, like a notice from the city, an easement or a creek out back. When we've seen the fence, we'll tell you plainly whether a repair will take care of it or a new one makes more sense.
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.
