Fence removal in the Jersey Shore

Taking out wood, vinyl, or chain-link fence runs including the posts and footings, with the line backfilled and graded.

Homeowners here take this on regularly, and what it takes depends on size, access, and haul-off.

Signs that bring this up

• A fence that has rotted, rusted, or come down in a storm
• An old chain-link run you want gone before a new fence or landscaping
• Fence posts set in concrete that will not come out by hand
• A boundary fence you are clearing as part of a bigger yard project
• A run that has been patched so many times it is now three different fences
• Posts that have sheared off at ground level, leaving the footings behind

What a contractor will do

The crew takes the panels or fabric down first, then deals with the posts — pulled complete with their concrete footings where the ground allows, or cut below grade where a footing is too deep or too close to something else to disturb. Panels, rails, fabric and posts are separated for disposal, metal usually going for scrap rather than landfill, and the post holes are backfilled and the line raked out. What decides the day is almost never the fence itself. It is how the posts were set: driven posts and posts bolted to a slab come out in an hour, while a run set in deep concrete footings is a small excavation repeated every eight feet, and each of those footings is spoil that has to leave the site. Before any of that, two things get established — where the boundary actually is, and whether anything is buried along it. A fence line is exactly where irrigation, low-voltage lighting and utility laterals tend to run, and a boundary run usually has a neighbour on the far side of it who has an interest in what happens to it.

Fence work is measured in run, not tonnage, and the posts decide everything. Set in concrete, each one is a small excavation and the footings come out as spoil; driven or bolted to a slab, the whole run can come out in a morning. The other question is the line itself - a fence on a boundary usually has a neighbour on the far side of it, and agreeing who owns which run before the crew starts saves a conversation nobody enjoys.

$300 – $2,500 — typical range, not a quote. What your job actually costs can only be settled by a registered crew that walks the site and looks at it.