c/fence-erectors

Still frustrated about that gate post alignment nightmare

I spent 4 hours trying to get a double gate post perfectly plumb on a sloped yard in Birmingham last month. Everyone says to just use a string line and a level, but the slope kept throwing my measurements off by almost 2 inches. I ended up having to dig the hole 3 times deeper and brace it with extra gravel before it finally held. Has anyone else dealt with gates sagging on an uneven grade like that?

That Tuesday my post hole digger snapped clean in half

Was on a job in Maplewood last week, setting posts for a 200 foot privacy fence. Ground was all clay and rock, really tough going. Second post hole in, my digger just gave out, handle split right down the middle. Had to drive 45 minutes to get a replacement, lost half the day. Anybody else ever had a tool fail at the worst possible time?

Why do so many crews still use post hole diggers instead of augers?

I was talking to an old timer named Jim at the supplier last Tuesday. He said he can set 50 posts a day with a manual digger and refuses to use a powered auger because 'you feel the ground better.' On the other hand, I see crews on big commercial jobs running augers and doing 200 posts a day easy. Is there really that much of a difference in accuracy or are some guys just stuck in their ways? What do you all use and why?

Just realized I should've gone with the pre-stained pickets instead of raw cedar

Started a 400 foot backyard job last week and had to decide between pre-stained pickets and raw cedar. I went with raw because it was $0.80 cheaper per board and I figured I'd just stain everything on site. Big mistake. Took me 3 extra days just to apply the stain and seal, and the weather was humid so the finish came out uneven in spots. The homeowner wasn't thrilled about the delay either. Has anyone else dealt with curing time issues after choosing raw wood?

Hit 250 post holes in one day with my new auger bit

I swapped to a 9 inch bit on my hydraulic auger last Tuesday and drilled 250 holes for a horse farm fence by 4 PM. Normally I'd be lucky to get 150 with my old 6 inch bit because it'd bind up in the clay. Anybody else notice a big jump in speed with a wider bit or was it just a good day?

That homeowner who asked me to dig post holes by hand instead of using my auger

Job out in Springfield last month. Lady insisted I use a manual post hole digger because she was worried about underground pipes. I told her my auger has a depth stop and I've got a utility locate ticket. She didn't budge. Took me 3 hours to dig 6 holes in clay soil. My back was wrecked for two days. Has anyone else had a customer micromanage your tools like that?

Ngl I had to pick between using a level or just eyeballing a 200-foot run of privacy fence

Client wanted the fence done in one day. I grabbed my 4-footer and started marking posts. About 50 feet in I realized the line was gonna take forever if I kept checking every single post. So I went full eyeball mode for the rest of it. Honestly it came out pretty straight but there's one section near the back corner that's like a half inch off. The client hasn't noticed yet but I keep looking at it. Has anyone else taken the gamble on a long run and regretted it?

Caught myself digging post holes wrong for 2 years until a contractor called me out on it

I always dug my post holes with the auger straight down, but a site inspector flagged my fence line in Austin last month because the bottoms weren't flared out enough. Turns out you're supposed to widen the base a bit so the concrete has a wider footprint to grip the ground. Anyone else skip that step early on in their career?

Can we talk about setting corner posts with concrete versus tamping soil?

My old boss always swore by tamping soil around corner posts, said concrete traps water and rots the wood. So I did that for five years, but last spring I had three corner posts shift after a big rainstorm in Austin. A new guy on the crew said I should pack concrete around the base with gravel underneath for drainage. He showed me his corners from a job he did two years ago, and they were solid as rock. Now I'm wondering if I've been doing it wrong this whole time, has anyone else had issues with one method over the other?

That week in Austin last July when we hit 105 and the concrete mix started setting before we could get the post holes dug

We lost three full days because the mud was curing in the bucket before we even got it in the ground, and the foreman just said 'get it done faster' like that was going to help anything.

Bought a used auger attachment for $150 and it almost wrecked my wrist

Picked up a used auger off Facebook marketplace last weekend to save some time on a backyard job. First two holes went fine but on the third one it hit a root and twisted so hard I nearly dropped the whole rig. Turns out the clutch was totally shot and the guy I bought it from knew it. Anyone else get burned buying used power tools from randos online?

Old timer at the supply house told me to pre-drill all my post holes

He said it saves time in the long run. Took me two extra hours on my first solo job outside of Austin, but that fence hasn't budged in four years. Anybody else swear by this or am I overthinking it?

Found out my gravel base was way overkill for residential gates

I saw a spec sheet from a supplier last week that said 6 inches of compacted gravel is enough for most driveway gates under 12 feet, but I've been laying 10 inches for years. Anyone else been told to use less and stick with what works?

Hit 100 fences installed last week and it changed how I think about post depth

I always went 30 inches deep because that's what I was told, but after number 100 I started wondering if 24 inches is enough for most residential jobs and now I'm checking soil types before every dig - anyone else adjust their depth based on ground conditions?

I used to think iron posts were always better than wood. A 30 year fence guy changed my mind.

Met an old timer named Mike up in Oregon last week. He told me he's seen iron posts rot out from the inside after 15 years because water gets in through the top cap. Said a good treated wood post in dry ground can go 25 years easy if you set it right. Has anyone else seen iron posts fail before wood?

Saw a huge difference in post spacing between a 2020 job and one last month

I did a fence in 2020 where we just eyeballed the spacing and it looked fine at the time. Last month I used a string line and a level on every single post for a 200 foot run in Austin. The straightness was night and day. Has anyone else gone back to old tricks and realized how sloppy you used to be?

Had a 6 foot post shift 3 inches after the concrete set. Here's what I did.

Worst Tuesday I ever had in fence work

Last summer I had a day where my auger hit a buried rock shelf at 3 feet deep on every single post hole on a 200 foot run in Denver. Took me 9 hours to get 12 posts in the ground instead of the usual 4. Has anyone else hit a rock shelf that killed your whole day like that?

Just compared post hole digger vs auger on a 50-foot run in Austin

I had to dig 20 holes for a chain link job last week in that rocky clay soil we get here. I used a manual post hole digger for the first 10 and it took me almost 4 hours. Switched to a rented auger for the rest and finished in under an hour. Has anyone else found the rental cost worth it for medium jobs like this?

Old timer told me to notch posts deeper. He was right.

Set 12 posts for a horse fence near Bozeman last spring. Kept the notches shallow like I always do. Dude named Rick who's been building fences 40 years walked by and said I'd regret it by winter. Sure enough, three posts pulled loose with the frost heave last month. Has anyone else had a veteran call them out on something that saved their work?

The thing with cedar posts that nobody tells you about straightness

I’ve been putting up fences for about 4 years now, mostly residential stuff around the suburbs. One thing I keep seeing new guys mess up is assuming cedar posts are straight just because they look good on the pile. Last summer I had a job in Clermont where the homeowner bought a whole pallet of 8-footers from a big box store. I set them all in concrete before checking the grain, and 3 of them bowed out nearly 2 inches each after a week of sun. Now I always lay each post on a flat surface and sight down it before I dig a hole, especially with cedar because it twists as it dries. Has anyone else dealt with that sudden curve showing up after you’ve already tamped the concrete?

Picked up a used post hole digger at an auction in Des Moines and it saved me 3 hours on a job last week

I was working on a 200 foot run for a horse property near Johnston and my old digger kept binding up in the clay. This used one has hydraulic downforce and it cut through like butter. Anyone else get a good deal on secondhand gear that actually worked better than you expected?

My foreman Ron swore by square post holes, I finally see why after 8 years

For the longest time I dug round holes with a clamshell digger like everyone else on our crew. Ron kept saying square holes let you pack the dirt tighter around the post and stop it from twisting over time. I laughed it off because digging square by hand takes twice as long. Last spring we pulled up a 6 year old fence I put in with round holes and half the posts had rotated maybe 10 degrees from wind pressure. The section Ron built with square holes using a shovel was still dead straight. Now I spend the extra 15 minutes per hole to square them up and I haven't had a single call back about crooked gates. Has anyone else switched methods like this or am I the last guy to figure this out?

Broke my auger bit on a hidden tree root in Topeka

I was digging post holes for a backyard fence last Tuesday and hit a massive root about 18 inches down. My brand new 12-inch auger bit snapped clean off at the shaft. Anyone got a good trick for finding underground roots before you start drilling?

Old timer on a job site told me to dig post holes deeper than the frost line

I was working a fence job up in northern Minnesota a few years back. Guy named Hank said go down 4 feet minimum, not the 3 I planned. I dug the first few at 3 feet anyway. Come spring, two of those posts heaved right out of the ground. Had to redo the whole section. Took me an extra day. Anyone else learn that lesson the hard way?