Outdoor structures and landscape
Chain link fence installation cost
Chain link runs about $19 a linear foot installed in a straight line and about $25 round a yard with two gates — the same footage, the same mesh. The difference is terminal posts, and no per-foot quote tells you how many you are paying for.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-17 · Nothing you type leaves your browser
The run, and its shape
Length is the easy part. What actually sets the price is how many times the fence stops, turns or opens — each of those is a terminal post, and terminals are where the money is.
All the way round, gates included.
Where the fence stops dead — against a house, a wall, nothing.
Every change of direction. A fenced rectangle has four.
Each one needs two terminal posts of its own.
Double leaves, and heavier posts than the fence needs.
Four feet is the residential default. Six is what gets specified for a dog or a pool surround.
The residential standard, and the one to assume a quote means unless it says otherwise.
Runs the whole fence and passes through the loop caps on the line posts. It is what stops the fabric flapping, and a fence without it is a fence that waves.
Taking it out is charged per foot and happens first.
DIY drops the labour, not the post-hole digging.
Used only to pick a regional labour rate. It stays in your browser.
Installed, all in
$4,414
$22.07 per linear foot · 200 ft · 6 terminal posts
$575 of this is the shape and the gates, not the length
The same 200 ft in one straight line with no gates would be about $3,840. Every corner, end and gate post is heavier pipe, a deeper hole, a tension bar, 3 bands and a cap — and no per-foot quote tells you how many you are paying for.
Where the posts go
Two kinds of post doing two different jobs, at roughly double the price apart.
| 2 3/8 in terminal post4 corners · 2 gate posts | 6 | $192 |
| 1 5/8 in line postbetween terminals, max 10 ft apart | 18 | $288 |
| Hardware on the terminals10 bars, 30 bands, 6 brace bands | — | $211 |
Shopping list
- 4 ft fabric, 11 gauge, galvanised
196 ft of run in 50 ft rolls — you buy rolls, not feet4 rolls - 2 3/8 in terminal post
Ends, corners and gate posts — 4 corners, 2 gate posts6 posts - 1 5/8 in line post
Between the terminals, no more than 10 ft apart18 posts - 1 3/8 in top rail
21 ft lengths, joined with 9 sleeves10 lengths - Tension bars and bands
One bar per fabric end at a terminal, 3 bands to each bar10 bars · 30 bands - Caps and brace bands
Loop caps let the top rail through the line posts; terminals take a solid dome18 loop · 6 dome - Ties
Every 12 in on the posts and 24 in along the rail — 152 of them2 bags - Walk gate, 4 ft
The comfortable width for a wheelbarrow, and the one to fit if there is any doubt.1 gate - Concrete
30 in deep holes, wider under every terminal40 bags
What it costs
National average. Fabric, posts, rail, hardware, gates, concrete and installation. Permits and locating buried services are separate.
$22.07 per linear foot — but that figure is an average over your shape, and a quote given per foot before anybody has seen the yard is an average over somebody else’s. Wood, vinyl and ornamental are priced differently again, and cost two to four times this.
Worth knowing
- 6 terminal posts against 18 line posts. The terminals are the price: 2 3/8 in terminal post in a 10 in hole against 1 5/8 in line post in 8 in, plus a tension bar, 3 bands and a cap on each. The same 200 ft in one straight line with no gates would be about $3,840 — the difference is the shape of your yard, not its size.
- Line posts go no further apart than 10 ft, and here they work out at about 8.2 ft. Spacing them evenly across each run between terminals matters more than hitting exactly 10 ft — an odd short bay at one end of a run is what makes a fence look home-made.
- Posts set 30 in deep, which is the greater of a third of the fence height and your frost line plus 6 in. In a frost line this deep the footing is the job — a post that heaves takes the whole run out of line with it.
- Fabric comes in 50 ft rolls, so 196 ft of run takes 4 — you buy rolls, not feet, and the offcut from the last one is not returnable once it is cut.
- 1 gate adds 2 terminal posts, because every gate hangs between two of them. That is why a 4 ft gate costs several times 4 ft of fence, and why moving a gate to a corner — where a terminal already exists — saves real money.
On this page — 9 sections
- 01The price is the terminal posts, not the fence
- 02What actually goes into it
- 03What chain link fence installation costs per linear foot
- 04Gauge, coating, and what the differences buy
- 05The order it goes up, and the two steps people rush
- 06Against the alternatives
- 07Five ways this goes wrong
- 08How the calculator works it out
- 09The words on a chain link quote
The price is the terminal posts, not the fence
The short version
- Every end, corner and gate jamb is a terminal post. Heavier pipe, wider hole, bar, bands and a cap.
- The same 200 ft costs 29 per cent more as a yard than as a line. Identical fabric, identical height.
- A gate costs several times its own width. Two terminal posts come with it.
- Fabric is a fifth of the bill. The thing everybody shops for is the thing that matters least.
Chain link is the one fence where a price per linear foot tells you almost nothing. Wood and vinyl are built in repeating panels, so length really does scale the cost. Chain link is a frame with mesh stretched across it, and everything expensive about the frame happens where the fence stops.
Two fences, both 200 ft, both 4 ft high, both 11 gauge. One runs straight down a boundary: two terminal posts. The other encloses a yard and has a walk gate and a drive gate: eight. The second one costs about 29 per cent more per foot, and nothing about the fence you look at has changed.
What actually goes into it
A chain link fence is about nine different things, and a quote that names two of them is not a quote. This is the whole list, in the order it goes in.
| Part | How many | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 2 3/8 in terminal post | One per end, corner and gate jamb | End, corner and gate posts. Everything the fabric pulls against, in heavier pipe and a deeper, wider footing — and the reason the shape of a yard costs more than its perimeter. |
| 1 5/8 in line post | Every 10 ft between terminals | Holds the fabric up between terminals and takes no tension at all. Set every 10 ft at most. |
| 1 3/8 in top rail | 21 ft lengths, joined with sleeves | Runs the whole fence and passes through the loop caps on the line posts. It is what stops the fabric flapping, and a fence without it is a fence that waves. |
| Fabric | 50 ft rolls by height and gauge | The mesh. Sold in rolls, joined invisibly by unscrewing one strand and marrying the ends. |
| Tension bar | One per fabric end at a terminal | Woven down the last row of mesh so the fabric can be bolted rather than hooked. |
| Tension bands | One per foot of height, less one, per bar | Clamp the bar to the terminal post. Pennies each, and dozens of them. |
| Brace bands | One per terminal | Carry the top rail into the terminal. The piece most often missing from a kit. |
| Caps | Loop on line posts, dome on terminals | The loop cap is what the top rail passes through. They are not interchangeable. |
| Ties | Every 12 in on posts, 24 in on rail | Twist the fabric to the frame. Sold by the hundred and used by the hundred. |
Chain Link Fence Manufacturers Institute, CLFMI Product Manual and residential installation guidance · checked 2026-09-17
What chain link fence installation costs per linear foot
About $19 a foot for a straight 4 ft run and $25 for the same footage round a yard with two gates. On the enclosed 200 ft the page opens with, the split is worth reading slowly: the fabric everyone shops for is about $500 of a $4,900 job.
Labour is more than half. Posts and hardware together are more than the fabric. And the single biggest lever a homeowner has is not the gauge of the mesh — it is how many times the fence turns and how many gates it has, both of which are decided on a sketch before anybody quotes.
$19
Per foot, straight
4 ft, 11 gauge, top rail
$25
Per foot, enclosed
same footage, two gates
~10%
Of the bill is fabric
the part people shop for
2×
Terminal against line post
before the hardware
terminal posts = ends + corners + 2 × gates
- ends
- where the fence stops dead against a wall, a house or nothing
- corners
- every change of direction, however slight
- 2 × gates
- every gate hangs between two of its own terminal posts
Worked through — A rectangular yard with a walk gate and a drive gate: 0 ends + 4 corners + 2 × 2 gates = 8 terminal posts. The same footage in a straight line down one boundary is 2. Six extra terminals is six deeper, wider holes, six bars, eighteen bands and six caps.
Gauge, coating, and what the differences buy
| Fabric | Relative price | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| 11.5 gauge, galvanised | −15 % | The thinnest sold for residential work and what the big-box kits contain. It fences a garden; it does not contain a determined dog. |
| 11 gauge, galvanised | baseline | The residential standard, and the one to assume a quote means unless it says otherwise. |
| 9 gauge, galvanised | +45 % | Commercial weight. Noticeably heavier wire, and the difference you can feel by pushing on it. Worth it on a long run that will be leaned on. |
| 11 gauge, vinyl coated | +40 % | Black or green PVC over galvanised wire. It costs about 40 per cent more, it disappears against a hedge instead of glaring, and the coating is what fails first. |
Gauge runs backwards: a lower number is a thicker wire. Heights made are 3 ft, 4 ft, 5 ft, 6 ft.
Because the fabric is around a tenth of an installed fence, moving up a gauge costs very little across a whole job and changes how the fence feels for its entire life. Going from 11.5 to 11 gauge on 200 ft is tens of dollars, not hundreds.
Vinyl coating is the one upgrade that genuinely divides opinion. It makes the fence visually disappear, which is the only thing chain link is really bad at. It also fails before the galvanising does, and a split coating traps water against the wire.
The order it goes up, and the two steps people rush
- 01Walk the line and count the stopsEvery end, every corner and every gate jamb is a terminal post. That count, not the footage, is what sets the price.
- 02Divide the runs between terminals into baysNo more than 10 ft between line posts, spaced evenly across each run rather than measured from one end.
- 03Set the terminals first and let them cureEverything gets stretched against them. A terminal set on Saturday and stretched on Saturday will lean.
- 04Run the top rail through the loop caps21 ft lengths joined with sleeves, and into a brace band at each terminal.
- 05Hang the fabric, bar it and stretch itTension bar woven into the end of the roll, bolted to the terminal with bands, then pulled taut before anything is tied.
- 06Tie it off and hang the gates lastGates are fitted to the posts as built, not to the drawing, because posts move slightly as they set.
What separates a fence that stays straight
- Terminal posts set, plumbed and left to cure before anything is stretched against them.
- Line posts spaced evenly across each run rather than measured from one end.
- Post tops levelled to a string line, not to the ground — ground is never level and the fence will show it.
- Top rail cut so joins fall between posts, not at them.
- Fabric stretched with a come-along until the diamonds visibly change shape, then tied.
- Bottom of the fabric an inch clear of soil, or it rusts there first and fails there first.
- Gates hung last, to the posts as built rather than to the plan.
- Buried services located before a single hole is augered.
Against the alternatives
| Chain link | Wood privacy | |
|---|---|---|
| Installed cost | $19–25 a foot | Two to four times that |
| Privacy | None at all | The whole point of it |
| Maintenance | None | Stain or paint every few years |
| Lifespan | 20–30 years | 15–20, less at the posts |
| Containing a dog | Excellent, at 11 gauge or heavier | Good until a board goes |
| Pool code | Meets it, with the right height | Meets it |
| Wind | Passes straight through | A sail, and posts fail because of it |
Those are built from panels rather than a stretched frame, so they price by the foot in a way chain link does not. The fence calculator handles all four materials side by side.
Comparing against wood or vinyl?Five ways this goes wrong
01Accepting a price per foot before anyone has seen the yard
The same footage varies by nearly a third depending on corners and gates. A phone quote is an average over a shape the quoter is imagining.
Instead — Sketch the run, count the ends, corners and gates, and ask for the terminal post count in the quote.
02Line posts where terminals belong
1 5/8 in line post pipe has no business taking tension. A corner built on a line post bends visibly within a year and takes the fabric out of line with it.
Instead — Terminal pipe at every end, corner and gate jamb, without exception, however short the return.
03Stretching against green concrete
A terminal post pulled hard the same day it is set moves, and once out of plumb it stays out. It is the commonest failure on a DIY fence.
Instead — Set terminals first, do something else for a day or two, then stretch.
04Leaving off the top rail to save money
It is a real saving and the fence waves in wind, folds when leaned on and looks tired in its second season.
Instead — Keep it. If the budget genuinely will not take it, fit a tension wire along the top instead — not nothing.
05Fabric sitting on the soil
The bottom selvage stays wet, and that is where galvanising fails first. The fence then rusts from the ground up while the rest of it is fine.
Instead — An inch of daylight under the fabric, and a tension wire along the bottom if the ground is uneven.
How the calculator works it out
The distinction between terminal and line posts, the pipe sizes each takes, the maximum spacing, fabric gauges and the schedule of bars, bands and ties follow the chain link manufacturers’ product manual. Prices are a component survey — fabric by the roll, posts by the piece, rail in 21 ft lengths, hardware by the item — rather than a per-foot average, because the per-foot average is precisely what this page exists to take apart. Post depth uses the same frost-line data as the fence calculator. All of it is on the sources page, dated.
Two things stated plainly. The line-post count distributes the run evenly between terminals rather than modelling your exact bay layout, so on a very irregular boundary it can be a post out either way. And the “same length in a straight line” comparison strips the extra terminals, their hardware and the gates — it is there to show what the shape costs, not to quote a fence you are not building.
Nothing you type is sent anywhere — the whole calculation runs in your browser.
The words on a chain link quote
Two are worth knowing before you read a quote: terminal post, because the count is the price, and gauge, because it runs backwards and the cheap kits rely on you not noticing.
- Terminal post
- Any post the fabric pulls against: an end, a corner, or either side of a gate. 2 3/8 in terminal post in a 10 in hole, and the single biggest variable in what a chain link fence costs.
- Line post
- The posts between terminals. 1 5/8 in line post, no tension on them at all, set no further than 10 ft apart — they hold the fabric up and nothing else.
- Fabric
- The mesh itself, and the trade word for it. Sold in 50 ft rolls by height and gauge, which is why you buy rolls and not feet.
- Gauge
- Wire thickness, and it runs backwards: 11.5 gauge is thinner than 11, which is thinner than 9. Lower number, heavier wire, higher price.
- Top rail
- 21 ft lengths of 1 3/8 in top rail running the whole fence through the loop caps. It is what stops the fabric waving, and the first thing a cheap quote leaves out.
- Tension bar
- A flat bar woven vertically through the last row of mesh so the fabric can be bolted to a terminal post rather than hooked to it. One for every fabric end that dies at a terminal.
- Tension band
- The clamps that hold the tension bar to the terminal post — roughly one per foot of height, less one. They are pennies each and there are a lot of them.
- Brace band
- The band that carries the top rail into a terminal post, with a rail end cup. One per terminal, and the piece most commonly missing from a kit.
- Loop cap
- The cap on a line post with a hole through it for the top rail to pass. Terminal posts get a solid dome instead, because nothing passes through them.
- Ties
- Aluminium wire twisting the fabric to the frame — every 12 in up a line post and every 24 in along the rail. Sold by the hundred, and a fence uses more than anyone expects.
- Stretching
- Pulling the fabric taut with a come-along against a terminal post before tying it off. Under-stretched fabric sags within a season; over-stretched fabric pulls a terminal post out of plumb.
- Knuckled and barbed
- How the wire ends are finished at the top and bottom of the roll. Knuckled is smooth and what goes on a residential fence; barbed is sharp and belongs on top of a commercial run, if anywhere.
Common questions
- How much does chain link fence installation cost per foot?
- About $19 a linear foot installed for a straight 4 ft run, and about $25 for the same footage enclosing a yard with two gates. The spread is not the fabric — it is the terminal posts. Every end, corner and gate jamb needs heavier pipe, a wider and deeper hole, a tension bar, three bands and a cap, and a quote given per foot before anybody has seen the yard is an average over somebody else's shape.
- What is the difference between a terminal post and a line post?
- A terminal post is anything the fabric pulls against — ends, corners and gate jambs — in 2 3/8 in terminal post pipe set in a 10 in hole. A line post is 1 5/8 in line post in a 8 in hole and carries no tension at all. The terminal costs roughly double the pipe, needs about half again the concrete, and brings a bar, bands and a cap with it.
- How far apart should chain link fence posts be?
- Line posts go no more than 10 ft apart. The better practice is to divide each run between terminals into equal bays rather than measuring 10 ft from one end and leaving a short one at the other — an odd bay is the clearest tell of an amateur fence.
- How much does a chain link gate cost?
- A 4 ft walk gate is about $120 for the leaf, and then two terminal posts, four hinges' worth of hardware and a latch — so it lands nearer $300 fitted. That is why a gate costs several times its own width of fence, and why putting a gate at a corner, where a terminal post already exists, is genuinely cheaper than putting one mid-run.
- What gauge chain link should I use?
- 11 gauge is the residential standard and what a quote means unless it says otherwise. 11.5 is what the big-box kits contain and it is noticeably lighter. 9 gauge is commercial weight and you can feel the difference by pushing on it. If there is a dog on either side of the fence, do not go above 11.
- Do I need a top rail on a chain link fence?
- Not structurally, and you want one anyway. Without it the fabric is held only at the posts and it waves in wind and folds when leaned on. On an agricultural or temporary run a tension wire along the top is the accepted substitute — but leaving off both is how a fence ends up looking tired in its second year.
- How deep should chain link fence posts be?
- A third of the above-ground height, or below your frost line plus a few inches, whichever is deeper. In much of the northern half of the country the frost line is the governing number, and a post that heaves does not fail alone — it pulls the whole run out of line with it.
- Is vinyl coated chain link worth it?
- It costs about 40 per cent more than galvanised. What you buy is that it disappears — black mesh against a hedge is close to invisible where galvanised glares. What you accept is that the coating is what fails first, and once it splits the wire underneath rusts faster than bare galvanised would have.
- How many rolls of chain link fabric do I need?
- Fabric comes in 50 ft rolls, so divide your run by 50 and round up. Rolls join by unscrewing one strand of wire out of the mesh and marrying the two ends together — it is invisible when done properly, so there is no reason to buy long rolls to avoid joins.
- Can I install chain link myself?
- Yes, and it is the most DIY-able fence there is once the holes are dug. The two things that separate a good job from a bad one are setting the terminal posts plumb and letting them cure, and stretching the fabric properly with a come-along rather than pulling it by hand. Both are cheap to hire and expensive to skip.
- Is chain link cheaper than wood?
- By a wide margin — roughly a third to a half of a wood privacy fence for the same run, and it lasts longer with no maintenance. What you give up is privacy, which is the whole reason people pay for wood. For enclosing a large area, containing a dog or meeting a pool code, chain link is not the compromise, it is the answer.
- How long does a chain link fence last?
- Twenty to thirty years for galvanised, and longer where it is dry. The failure is almost never the fabric: it is posts heaving out of plumb, or the bottom of the fabric rusting where it sits in wet ground. Keeping the bottom rail or tension wire an inch clear of the soil buys years.
Send this to whoever is paying
The link carries your measurements, so whoever opens it sees the same numbers you are looking at — and you can come back to it yourself tomorrow with the delivery note in front of you.
Plain links, no tracking scripts. Nothing here reports back that you shared it.
About the author
Pablo Ruiz Quintero — Editor
Editor of MaterialsEstimator. Decides which documents count as a source, what every default value is, and where the line sits between what the reader parses and what the engines compute.
More about how this site is edited