San Antonio Expert Fence builds vinyl privacy, picket and post and rail fences for homes in San Antonio and the cities around it, and none of them need painting or staining.
San Antonio Expert Fence plans a vinyl fence around the summers here. If you're wondering whether vinyl will stand up to them, a good part of that comes down to choices made before the first post goes in: the color, the product and the way the fence is put together.
After that, it's the everyday kind of deciding: a style that suits your yard, vinyl or wood, and what the city lets you put up across the front of the house.
Vinyl softens as it warms up, and a fence standing in full sun gets hotter than the air around it. After the record run of triple-digit days San Antonio had in 2023, that's a fair thing to think about before you buy. It doesn't rule vinyl out. It just means a few choices count for more here than they would somewhere cooler.
The darker a vinyl fence is, the more of the sun's energy it soaks up and the more heat builds up in it. That's how the standard test for heat buildup in vinyl building products puts it, as a general rule. It's also why white, tan and other light colors are an easy fit for a yard that gets full afternoon sun.
A darker fence can still be done well. It runs hotter in the sun, and one manufacturer, for example, calls for a middle rail to reduce bowing in the boards, especially on dark colors. If you've got your heart set on a dark brown or black fence, we'll build in the extra support it needs from the start.
Fence vinyl can have a UV inhibitor mixed into the plastic to help keep the color from fading. One maker says every fence it sells contains titanium dioxide for that job. Not every product carries the same protection, so it's a fair question for any fence you're pricing.
Like any material, vinyl grows a little on a hot afternoon and shrinks back on a cool night. The same maker puts the change at up to a quarter inch on an 8-foot rail across an 80-degree swing. That isn't much, but a rail jammed tight into its post has nowhere to go, so we fit the rails with room to move.
High heat right beside a vinyl fence can distort it. A grill, smoker or fire pit is best kept a comfortable distance back from the fence line, and if yours already lives along the fence, we'll set the new fence out to keep clear of it.
These are typical installed costs for vinyl fences at Texas prices. Where your own figure falls depends on the style, the color and how many feet of fence your yard needs, with any gates priced on top.
| Item | Typical price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Vinyl privacy fence, 6 ft | $29–$53 | per linear foot installed |
| Vinyl picket fence | $15–$34 | per linear foot installed |
| Woodgrain-look vinyl fence | $19–$44 | per linear foot installed |
| Vinyl post and rail fence | $11–$17 | per linear foot installed |
| Vinyl walk gate | $190–$970 | each, installed |
| Vinyl double drive gate | $490–$1,900 | each, installed |
| Old fence removal | $3–$4.75 | per linear foot |
Color plays a part too. Black is the most expensive vinyl color, so a black fence lands above a white one of the same style and size. Try the cost calculator.
Vinyl comes in the same basic shapes as a wood fence, and the style you pick decides how much privacy you get and how the fence looks from the street.
Along the back and sides, where privacy is the point, a solid privacy panel is the natural choice, and a lattice top softens it if a tall, solid fence feels like a lot along a small yard. Out front, picket and post and rail are the usual pair.
Each gate is built in the same style and color as the fence, so it looks like part of it. Vinyl posts are hollow, so we stiffen the post each gate hangs from before the gate goes on. A walk gate covers the path to the back yard. If you need to get a trailer, a boat or a car through, a double drive gate is the one made to open wide, and it's simpler to build it with the fence than to add one later.
Send the form with where the fence would run and any style or color you have in mind, and we'll call you back to set a time to come out.
We measure the fence line and note which stretches get the most sun, where the grill or fire pit sits, and where the gates need to go.
We go over the style, the color and the height with you, inside what your city allows.
You get one price for the fence, the gates and taking out the old fence if there is one, and nothing is ordered until you've said yes.
When the job needs a fence permit, we handle it. Then the posts go in, and the rails and panels follow once the posts have set.
We check the caps, rails and latches along the finished fence, swing each gate with you, and only then call it done.
If you're deciding between the two, the difference shows up in what you pay at the start, what you do to keep the fence looking good, and how much choice you have in the look.
Vinyl costs more to put in than wood. After that, the upkeep runs the other way. A wood fence needs a fresh coat of stain every few years to keep its color, while a vinyl fence just needs washing. Which one comes out ahead over the life of the fence depends on how long you'll keep it and how you look after it. If you're torn, we can put a wood price beside the vinyl one so you can see both for your own yard.
A wood fence tends to wear out first at the ground line, where the posts sit in damp soil and termites can find their way in. Vinyl isn't affected by moisture the way wood is, so rot isn't something you'll be watching for. The posts still stand in concrete in the same ground as any fence, though, and across the middle of the county much of that ground is black clay that shrinks and swells with the seasons, so a well-set post matters just as much with vinyl.
Wood gives you more colors and styles to pick from, and you can change its color later with a new stain. Vinyl comes in fewer choices, and since it isn't stained, pick a color you'll be happy to keep. The woodgrain-look panels close some of that gap if you like the look of wood.
The city's fence rules say a good deal about height and where a fence sits, and that's where a vinyl fence out front needs the most planning. Material comes into it too, briefly.
San Antonio's fence rules name the materials a fence can be built from, including wood, chain link, stone, masonry and decorative wrought iron, and they list the ones that can't be used, such as plastic sheeting, sheet metal and corrugated metal. Vinyl fencing isn't named on either list. If that's a worry for your yard, bring it up early, while every style and color is still on the table.
In front of your house, San Antonio keeps a solid fence to 3 feet, and anything up to 5 feet has to be at least 70% open. A vinyl picket fence can meet that, but only with wide spacing: the gaps have to be a good deal wider than the pickets. We space front pickets to fit. Post and rail, with its wide gaps, is about as open as a fence gets.
If your home is in one of San Antonio's historic districts, the city's historic preservation office has a fences guide. The guide names black wrought iron, painted wood picket and garden-loop as the most common fitting fence types, and it doesn't name vinyl. Fence work on a historic property, front or back, needs the office's approval first, so the office gets its say before the panels are picked.
Vinyl fences are priced by the foot, with gates added on. At typical Texas prices, 150 feet of 6-foot vinyl privacy fence comes to roughly $4,350 to $7,950 installed, before any gates. Picket, woodgrain-look and post and rail fences are priced the same way, each at its own rate per foot, and the color you pick can raise it. Your own price comes after we've measured and you've picked a style and color.
Plain water and a brush handle everyday dirt: run a garden hose over the fence and work the dust and grime off with a soft-bristled brush. For heavier dirt or algae, a pressure washer on a low setting works. Try it first on a spot that doesn't show. When water alone won't do it, mild soap and water is one of the cleaners vinyl makers list. Stay away from acetone and strong solvent cleaners, because they can damage vinyl. Clean a small stretch at a time and rinse it well before you move on.
Yes, though it's done differently than wood. A cracked or broken vinyl board usually means replacing that section or panel rather than patching it. A panel that has slipped out of its rails can sometimes go right back in, and a post or post sleeve that's been knocked can be reset. If the rest of the fence is sound, the repair may only need to cover the damaged part. We'll look at it and tell you which kind of fix yours needs.
San Antonio does get hail, including the 2016 storm that was one of the costliest hailstorms in Texas history. Hail can crack thin vinyl, and thicker, denser vinyl is far more likely to take a hit without splitting, so the thickness of the vinyl is worth asking about when you choose. Wind is a different question. The national standard for fence vinyl tests the plastic itself and leaves wind out, so how well a vinyl fence stands up to wind depends on the fence as built, especially the posts, the concrete around them and how it's reinforced.
If you live in a neighborhood with an HOA, it can. Texas law lets an association regulate the type of fencing, so your HOA's rules may say whether vinyl is allowed and which colors are. The easiest time to find that out is before you pick a color. We'll work inside your HOA's rules on material and color, and if your board wants to review the fence before it goes up, we can put together a drawing and a list of what it's made of for them.
Six feet along the side and back of a San Antonio house, and that's the height the vinyl privacy price on this page is based on. A pool in your yard or the yard next door is one of the few cases that allows 8. The nearby cities write their own rules, so if you live in one of them, its limits apply instead.
We build vinyl fences in San Antonio and in the nearby cities below. If your home is in one of them, your fence is planned to that city's rules rather than San Antonio's.
A rough length and a color you like are plenty to start with. Send what you have, and we'll take it 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.
