Ornamental fence for the twenty first century

Twenty years ago, the majority of residential ornamental fences were stick built.  Stick built is a crude terminology for welding ornamental fence panels in local fabrication shops after attempting to field verify elevations and length of fence runs.  This method was very time consuming and rarely perfect.  Worst yet, the panels were shop painted with crude paint methods or even hand brushed.  All of this shop labor was expensive and resulted in a per foot price that was out of reach for even the discriminating home owner.   For those customers who were willing to pay the price; they often suffered an even greater cost.  Most of these fences had to be repainted within five years.

Today’s residential ornamental fence is a complete flip of those old school fabrications. Today’s prefabricated ornamental fences are affordable, flexible and reliable.  There are dozens of quality manufacturers. All of these products have three critical qualities in common.

Rackable.  All of these fence panels use some form of hinge between the picket and panel.   This means that the fence panel rail may travel on a slope while the pickets remain fully attached and plumb. No field verification required

Coatings.  Powder coated or E-coated are popular forms of ten year plus coatings when placed over galvanized rails, pickets and posts.  Most manufacturers offer at least a ten year warranty.

Cost effective.  Manufacturers have refined and automated the manufacturing process, building thousands of panels every year.  Utilizing economics of scale philosophy, manufactures have been able to produce a much greater volume for less.  The price point today is less than what it was decades ago.

Our advice to home owners is to price an ornamental fence.  You may be surprised to discover that the price is competitive with vinyl and slightly higher than wood.  American Fence Company uses only quality products with reliable manufacturer warranties.