San Antonio Expert Fence builds wood and vinyl privacy fences for the backs and sides of yards in San Antonio and the cities around it, solid and tall enough to screen your yard from the neighbors and the street.
San Antonio Expert Fence starts every privacy fence by working out with you how tall yours can be. The city's limit is 6 feet, and some lots can go to 8, depending on what's around them.
Once the height is settled, the rest is choosing a style and a material you'll be glad to look at, at a price that suits you.
Along the sides and back of a San Antonio house, the city's limit for a fence is 6 feet. That may be all the screening you need. When the house behind you has a second story, though, or what's behind your back line is busier than another back yard, 6 feet can feel short. The city allows 8 feet in some of those situations, though not for a two-story house on its own.
The city's zoning code lists the situations where a side or back fence can go up to 8 feet. These are the ones a house lot runs into:
The code lists two more cases, one for public and institutional buildings and one for height the city council grants when land is rezoned, but those don't come up for a house.
Once part of your fence qualifies, you don't have to live with an 8-foot stretch running into a 6-foot one. The city lets the rest of the back fence go up to 8 feet too, so the whole line can match. That keeps the yard from looking patched together, and we'd rather build it in at the start than add it later.
When your lot fits one of these cases, the extra 2 feet is allowed by the zoning code itself. The city doesn't have to contact your neighbors before the fence goes up, which is the step its code otherwise calls for on a fence over 6 feet. It still needs the city's residential fence permit, like any new fence, and we show its height and the case it falls under on the application.
If your lot doesn't fit any of those cases, a fence over 6 feet can still happen in some yards, but it's a request to the city rather than something you're allowed outright, and it takes a while to decide.
A section of San Antonio's city code says a fence over 6 feet can't go up unless the city's development services department has contacted all the owners of property bordering yours and none of them has objected, or the city council has allowed it by ordinance. You don't have to knock on doors for any of this, because the city does the contacting. And no fence in San Antonio can go above 12 feet under any conditions.
The 6-foot limit itself is in the city's zoning code, and the city handles a request for a taller fence as a special exception, heard by its Board of Adjustment at a public hearing. The board has granted extra fence height before, and the city says each request is decided on its own merits. Owners within 200 feet of your property get a notice from the city, and they can send in comments for or against the request or speak at the hearing. How the neighbor rule and the board's hearing fit together on a given request is something we confirm with the city before anything is filed.
We put the request together for you, including a drawing of your lot to scale. The board meets twice a month, and the city puts the whole process at about 30 to 45 days. No construction is allowed while the request is open, so the fence goes up after the board decides. That decision is the board's to make, and we won't promise it either way, but we'll tell you plainly how your request looks before you decide to file it.
These are typical installed costs at Texas prices for the privacy fences we build. The material, the height and how many feet of fence your yard needs decide where you land, and each gate is priced on top.
| Item | Typical price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Pine privacy fence, 6 ft | $19–$39 | per linear foot installed |
| Cedar fence | $15–$42 | per linear foot installed |
| Board-on-board or shadowbox fence | $18–$38 | per linear foot installed |
| Vinyl privacy fence, 6 ft | $29–$53 | per linear foot installed |
| 8 ft privacy fence, any material, 150 ft | $4,400–$12,400 | per 150 ft, installed |
| Walk gate, 4 ft wide | $390–$780 | each, installed |
The cedar row isn't tied to one height or style. The 8-foot row is figured on a 150-foot fence and isn't tied to one material. The top of its range is a premium manufactured panel, which is why it runs so wide. Taking out an old fence is priced once we've seen your yard. Try the cost calculator.
A privacy fence has one main job, which is to block the view, and every style here does that. Where they differ is how they look, especially from your neighbor's side, and how much looking after they need over the years.
Pine is the budget-friendly wood and cedar is often chosen for its looks, and either one can be stained or left to weather to a silvery gray. Vinyl costs more to put in than wood, and after that it needs washing rather than a fresh coat of stain every few years. If you're torn, we can price your fence in both so you can see the difference for your own yard.
A privacy fence is only as private as its gate, so your walk gate is built from the same boards or panels as the fence, at the same height. Where the new fence meets your house or a neighbor's fence, we close it off so there's no gap at the end to see through.
Send the form with a line about where the fence would run and what's on the other side of it, whether that's another back yard, an alley, apartments or a road, and we'll call you back to set a time to come out.
We measure the fence line and note what borders it, how the ground slopes, whether there's a pool on either side, and how high the houses sit next to it.
We go over the height your lot allows and the style and material you'd like, inside what your city's rules say.
You get one price for the fence and its gates, and nothing is ordered until you've said yes.
Once the permit is in hand, and the board has decided if you've asked it for more height, the posts go in, and the boards or panels follow once they've set.
We look the finished fence over with you from end to end, swing the gate, and only call it done when you're happy with it.
A few situations change what a privacy fence can be on your lot, or who builds part of it.
If the property along your side or back line is a business, the city requires that business to put up a solid screening fence, at least 6 feet tall, on the side it shares with a home. We'll look at what's already standing there when we come out and fit your fence to it.
On a corner lot, the city keeps the corner itself clear so drivers can see the cross street. A privacy fence along the side street turns in or stops short before it reaches that corner.
If your home is in one of San Antonio's historic districts, the city's historic preservation office has a fences guide of its own. It calls for a back privacy fence in wood, no taller than 6 feet, set back from the front of the house rather than lined up with it. In a historic district, plan on that unless the office says otherwise.
Not a solid 6-foot one. Out past the front of your house, San Antonio stops a solid fence at 3 feet. A front fence can go as high as 5 feet if it's mostly open, at least 70% open by the city's definition, so it won't screen much. Along the sides and across the back, behind the front face of the house, is where a privacy fence does its real work.
It can. Texas law lets a homeowners association regulate the type of fencing in the neighborhood, so your HOA's rules may cover the material, the style or the color of a privacy fence. The city's limits and your HOA's both apply, so we build the fence to meet both. If your board wants to review it before it goes up, we can give them a drawing and a list of what the fence is made of.
A solid fence blocks your view of the road, and that's the job a privacy fence is built for. It isn't a sound wall, so we won't promise it'll make a busy road quiet. If your back or side line borders a street the city classes as anything other than a local street, though, that's one of the cases where an 8-foot fence is allowed, and the extra height screens more of the traffic from view.
If the board approves your taller fence, the city's approval letter sets a deadline of 12 months from the decision to apply for the permit, and applying for it is part of our job. If it doesn't approve it, you can still build a 6-foot privacy fence along the sides and back, the same as any San Antonio lot, and since nothing is built while the request is open, there's nothing to take down. The city won't take the same request again for a year.
For a new one, yes. San Antonio requires a permit to build a new fence, and to repair or replace more than 25% of the length of an existing one. The city's allowance for smaller repairs without a permit is written for fences 6 feet tall or less, so on an 8-foot fence we check the permit question before any repair. For a fence we build, we handle the permit.
We take privacy fence jobs in San Antonio and in the nearby cities below. Those cities write their own fence rules, and they don't always match San Antonio's, so if your home is in one of them, your fence is planned to its rules instead.
What sits on the other side of your back fence line is a good place to begin. Send us that and roughly how long the fence needs to run, and we'll work out the height and the price from 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.
