Sizu Home › Calculators › Pick Your Fence
Opens on the book's 7.2 m run and its route table. Change the run, the life and the prices to your own.
Compare two routes, each with its own life
Enter your fence and press Calculate.
The formula
- Per meter = per foot × 3.2808 (there are 3.2808 feet in a meter; never divide)
- Your run = price per foot × length in feet
- Cost per year of life = cost ÷ the years it lasts
- Break-even life = route 1's life × (route 2's price ÷ route 1's price)
The book's worked example, Chapter 4. Installed, a wood privacy fence at 30 per foot is 98.43 per meter and 708.66 for the book's 7.2 m run. Vinyl at 35 has to last 23.3 years to match wood that lasts 20. Built yourself, the book's Route A costs 32.95 per foot and Route B 47.32.
The 20-year life is a placeholder the book labels as one: published service lives for whole fences could not be verified, so put in what your climate, your supplier and your neighbors' fences tell you. Prices are mid-range figures from US cost guides; ranges are wide. Prices are illustrative US home-center prices from October 2026, shown without a currency sign; put in your own. Everything stays in your browser: no sign-up, nothing stored.