I have a place on my property South of Bowie that needs barb wire fencing. I figure it’s about 250 yards. About 75 or so yards is timber (mostly brush) that needs to be cleared. Then about 25 or so yards at the other end to be cleared. Then T posts and wire. Due to recent arthritis, I can no longer do it.

I got one fence company to look at it. They estimated the cost, including a dozer to do the clearing, at $7,500.

My idea is chain saw down the brush and get on with it.

That cost for that distance seems excessive to me and I’ve done my share of fencing. But, I’ve never paid to have fencing done and I realize material costs have increased.

Thoughts and experience?

Works out to about $10.00 a lineal foot for materials, labor and brush removal.

4 or 5 strand?

Doesn't sound unreasonable to me considering the cost of everything has gone up significantly.

I had a 600' stretch of 7 strand barbed wired done last year for $6/foot. That included all materials (excluding the 2 3/8 pipe, I already had it) H-braces and kickers on each end. The fence line was already cleared, which is where I am guessing your higher cost is coming from. I have another 7k feet or so of fencing i want to replace with woven wire but I'll be doing it myself as I have a lot of trees that need to be cleared to get it done. Hiring that out is too rich for my blood.

I just did 1627' of 5 wire barbwire back in September. I furnished all T post, contractor furnished 2 3/8" pipe for line post and corners, one 16' gate, wire and labor. He also tore down 1735' of old fence. $4022.00

Dozer cleared 1827' of mesquite trees.
$1187.00

$3.20 a foot excluding T post.

$10 a foot seems very high.

I did about 1600' of field fence/goat fence with a strand of barbed wire on top. T post were every 10'. I did not have to do any clearing and the cost was $5/ft.

The clearing is what’s driving up the cost. I’d rent a dozer for a day, do the clearing myself and then get a bid on just the fence.

He says it's mostly brush. The fence guys have a skid steer, if they're legit fence contractors. They could clear 100 yards of brush in a couple of hours, easy. Sounds like to me these guys are taking advantage. He just needs to call someone else.

Where did you get the quote from? We get fence quotes for work regularly. In metro areas barbed wire is usually I. The range of $10-$15 per foot. In rural areas it’s usually about 1/2 that.

I was just going by that they said they would need a dozer. I also took “mostly” to mean there is some timber. Without putting eyes on it there’s really no way to know.

I may just tackle the brush myself. Not an emergency. I have 2 chain saws. If I hadn’t gotten old and arthritic, I wouldn’t consider paying someone to do this stuff.

That shouldn't be more than half a day of dozing, with good equipment. IMO that's $500-700 for clearing. Fence ought to be ~$4 a ft, maybe a little more depending on pipe usage. I realize a shorter piece might be a little higher but anything above $7/ft for the entire job is a outrageous. I'd keep calling.

Need to rent a skid steer with one of these , (Mighty Axe up to 12" trees) This one has cleared many miles of fence line in the past at the old Ranchito. You'll have it done in a couple days with no back trauma. It will also cut the small stuff (ie even Cactus) and fast.

Will that pull or just cut?

I know a guy had a few miles done last yr, $20,000 a mile 5 strand. That figures to 3.78 a foot.

I don’t operate equipment for a living but there are some on here who do. My money says you’re not getting a dozer out there much less there and a half day of work $500-$700. Economies of scale, the small size of the project is really hurting this.

I live in Fort Worth area and the land is 70 miles away. I’ve had it about 40 years and built my share of fence. I thinks lot of the locals think they’re dealing with what they call Dallas Cowboys $$$$$.

I’ve got one more guy that’s supposed to get in touch with me. If he is also nuts, I’ll do it, arthritis or not, as I can. If it takes me a year, so be it.

Red Chevy, just outside of Bowie Texas

The guy that built two miles for me this fall charged $135/hr for dozing. I based my estimate on that.

FWIW...we just had two of miles of fence done in rough country that finished up last month. It worked out to $5.00 per foot.

It included a dozer, excavator, skid-steer and extra mileage charges due to the remote distance.

Dave, $10.00 pft is a little hard to justify.

Just call our LO. We aren't far away. We.had 1/2 mile fence done recently there. PM me.