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?

2 comments

2 Comments

jones.angela1mo ago

Are we really acting like a few degrees of post rotation is the end of the world though? lol I mean, unless you're building a fence for a nuclear bunker, a slightly crooked gate after 6 years sounds like a pretty solid run to me. It just seems like a lot of extra elbow grease for something that probably nobody else even notices. I bet Ron's the kind of guy who also insists on leveling his gravel driveway with a laser level.

park.riley1mo ago

Gasping at the laser level for gravel. That is a whole other level of commitment. I just throw rocks down and call it a day, maybe give it a few good stomps with my boots. A laser level for gravel sounds like something a person does when they've run out of actual problems to solve.