Metal Fence Repair: What Gets Fixed, What Gets Replaced, and What It Costs
Pickets welded in, a bent rail cut out, a post reset or replaced: $800 to $3,000. A run rusted through at the base gets replaced at $40 to $120 a foot.
An iron fence gets hit more often than it wears out. A truck backs into a panel, a picket gets kicked out, a post gets pushed over at the base. Age shows up as rust along the bottom rail, where the ground and the sprinklers keep it wet. Almost all of that is a repair at $800 to $3,000, and the fence around it stays where it is.
What breaks
- Pickets, bent or missing.
- A panel bent by a vehicle, usually with the rail kinked where it meets the post.
- A leaning post, where the footing cracked or the post bent at grade.
- Rust through at the bottom rail or the base of a post.
- A cracked weld where the rail meets the post.
- The finish, gone on a section that got hit or scraped.
How it gets fixed
New pickets get welded in at the same size and spacing as the rest, and the section gets primer and paint. A bent rail gets cut out past the kink and a new length welded in. A leaning post gets re-set, with the footing dug out and re-poured, or replaced if the post itself bent or rusted at the base. A rusted bottom rail can be cut out and re-welded when the posts and the pickets above it are still sound.
We match the picket size, the rail size, the height and the finish from the fence that is standing, and weld the new steel in our own shop.
Repair or replace
How much of the line is still straight and sound decides it. New steel has to be welded to sound steel, so a run that is bent gets repaired and a run that has rusted through at the base gets replaced.
When enough of the run is bent that new steel costs about the same as the repair, the money goes into a new line. On a long run the answer is often both: part of it repaired, part of it replaced. We price both so the comparison is in front of you.
What it costs
What broke, how many feet of it, and whether the posts and footings have to come out.
Picket and panel work stays at the bottom of the repair band. It climbs once posts come out of the ground and new footings go in, or the damaged run is long enough to keep a crew on site for days. What moves the price of a new run is on our fence repair and ornamental iron fencing pages.
What to send us
- What happened, and how many feet. A vehicle, a break-in, or age. The length of the damaged run sizes the job.
- Photos of the break and of the fence next to it. The undamaged run is the spec we match.
- The fence and the site: iron or steel panel, the height, and the city. A leaning post means footing work, which is a different job than panel work.
We price most of them from the photos.
Frequently asked questions
Can you match a fence somebody else built?
Yes. The picket size, the rail size, the height and the finish come off the fence that is standing, and the new section gets built to those.
Can a leaning post be reset, or does it have to be replaced?
Reset, if the post is sound and only the footing failed. Replaced, if the post bent or rusted at grade.
How long does a repair take?
Most picket and panel repairs are one visit. Post work takes longer, because a new footing has to cure before the panel goes back on it.
Do you take emergency work?
Yes. Call us and we will tell you what we can do and what it costs. Every emergency is different, so the price depends on the job.
Is chain link repaired the same way?
No. Chain link is mesh on a pipe frame, and it gets repaired by section: new fabric tied and re-tensioned to the existing posts and rails. That is its own guide, how to fix a chain link fence.
Do you do this on houses?
Yes.
Fence repair?
Send what happened, how many feet, and photos of the break and the fence next to it, and we will price it.
REQUEST A QUOTE