Fence repair, decided at the post

What is fence repair?

Fence repair covers resetting or replacing failed posts, swapping damaged boards, panels or mesh, and rehanging gates that have dropped. The diagnosis that matters is simple: push the fence at the top of a post. If the post moves in the ground, you have a post failure and patching panels will not fix it. If the post is solid and only the boards are gone, the repair is genuinely cheap and worth doing.

Signs you need fence repair

• A section leans while the sections either side of it stand straight
• You can rock a post at the top and feel movement at ground level
• Boards have gone soft, dark and spongy in the bottom few inches where they meet the soil
• The gate drags on the ground, or the latch no longer lines up with the keeper
• A storm or a fallen limb has taken out one run and left the rest intact
• Vinyl panels have cracked or popped out of their rails after a cold snap or an impact

Seeing something not on this list? Browse fencing problems by symptom →

How fence repair actually works

1. 1

   Walk the whole fence, not just the broken part

   A crew should test every post along the run before quoting, because the section you noticed is usually the first of several to reach the same age. Wood posts almost always fail at grade, where wet soil meets air.

   Watch forA quote written from a photograph. If nobody has pushed the posts, the quote is a guess and the second visit is a change order.

2. 2

   Decide post reset versus post replacement

   A post that is sound but has loosened in the ground can sometimes be reset. A post that has rotted through at grade cannot - and a post snapped inside a concrete collar has to come out with the collar, which is most of the work.

   Watch forBracing a rotten post rather than replacing it. Sistering a splint onto a failed post is a common quick fix that looks like a repair and buys a season at most.

3. 3

   Source the replacement material and check the match

   This is where fence repairs get decided. Weathered cedar, sun-faded vinyl and older powder-coat colours do not match current stock, and profiles get discontinued. Vinyl and composite manufacturers change tooling; a nominally identical panel can be a different rail height.

   Watch forNobody raising the match question. The standard trade workaround is to harvest matching material from a hidden elevation - behind the garage, under a deck, along a run nobody sees - and put the new stock there instead. If the crew does not suggest it, ask.

4. 4

   Do the repair and re-tension the run

   Posts are reset or replaced, panels rehung, mesh re-stretched and tied, hardware swapped. On chain link, the fabric is re-tensioned along the run rather than just fixed at the break.

   Watch forA repaired section that is now noticeably tighter or looser than its neighbours. On wood, check that the new boards are gapped the same as the old ones - new lumber shrinks and boards butted tight will open up.

5. 5

   Ask why it failed

   Repeated failure in one spot is usually a cause, not a coincidence: a downspout discharging at a post, a sprinkler soaking one section nightly, a grade that ponds, or a gate pulling its post over.

   Watch forA crew that fixes the same section twice without mentioning the sprinkler. Fixing the cause is often cheaper than the second repair.

What does fence repair cost?

Fence repair is usually priced per post, per panel or per gate, plus a call-out that covers the crew showing up at all. That call-out means one panel and four panels often cost far less than four times apart. Bundle everything you know about into a single visit.

See the full fence repair cost guide - by material, size and region →

If the number is the problem, here are the ways people pay for it →

Repair or replace? → Work the post count and the run length before you decide which conversation you are having.