Serving Plano & the North Dallas Suburbs
We are based in Plano, and most of our fence lines stand within a short drive of it. New fences, driveway gates, automatic gate systems, and staining across Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Carrollton, Lewisville, The Colony, and Richardson.
- Based in Plano
- Eight cities, one standard
- Whole streets carry our fence lines
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Two-minute form. Step 1 is all we need to get you a price.
Eight cities, one standard
The work does not change by ZIP code. Same materials, same crews, same itemized quotes, whichever side of the tollway you are on. These four have a page of their own. The other four are further down this one.
Plano, Texas
Our home base and our busiest service area. More of our fence lines stand here than anywhere else we build.
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Frisco, Texas
Right next door to our Plano base. Fences, driveway gates, and automatic gate systems, built to the same standard.
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McKinney, Texas
New builds and full replacements, built for Texas sun, wind, and North Texas clay.
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“I called you because all these fences in this whole neighborhood has North Texas Future Fence, so you must be good.”
A North Dallas homeowner, on why he called
That is how most of our work comes in. Not ads, not awards. A neighbor sees a fence we built, asks who did it, and calls. It has worked that way since 1995, and it only works if the fence holds up.
Four more cities, and what each one asks for
Carrollton, Lewisville, The Colony, and Richardson are inside our service area too. What changes between them is not the fence. It is what the city wants before you build one, and no two of these towns ask for the same thing. Every rule below is quoted from that city's own code, with the section number, so you can check it yourself. Cities do revise them, and we confirm the current version before we start.
Fence and gate installation in Carrollton, Texas
Carrollton is a replacement market. Close to half its houses went up before 1990, which puts most of them on their second or third fence. That is the bulk of what we do here: pull the leaning cedar and set a line that outlasts the one before it.
The ground is about as hard as it gets around here. Carrollton sits on Houston Black clay, which swells when it rains and pulls back when it dries. The city knows it, which is why post depth is written into the ordinance instead of left up to whoever is holding the shovel.
If a replacement is what you are planning, start here. See new fence installation and board on board fences.
What Carrollton requires
- A permit, every time
A new fence or a replacement needs a city permit. The only repairs that skip it are under 20 feet of fence in any rolling six-month stretch.
Ch. 154 - Post depth is in the code
Under seven feet tall, footings go down at least 24 inches. At seven feet or taller, at least 36. Of the cities we checked, Carrollton is the only one that puts post depth in the ordinance instead of leaving it to the contractor.
Sec. 154.14(D)–(E) - Height
Up to eight feet in a rear or side yard. Three feet in the front, and no more than half of that can be solid.
Sec. 154.10 - The finished-side rule is narrower than people assume
Carrollton only requires the posts and rails to face your own yard on fence sections running along an arterial street. It is not a city-wide rule, whatever your neighbor tells you.
Sec. 154.05(B)
Source: City of Carrollton Code of Ordinances, Chapter 154: Fences
Fence and gate installation in Lewisville, Texas
A big share of Lewisville went up in the 1990s, which puts those fences around thirty years old now. Most of what we build here is a full replacement rather than a patch: new posts, a new line, built to the same standard as everything else we put up.
Lewisville is also the one city around here with a rule written specifically for driveway gates, and it is the one that catches people. If the gate is wider than six feet, the City Engineer has to approve the driveway approach. Width gets decided at design, not on install day, so it is worth knowing before anything is ordered.
Both kinds of gate work are walked through here. See driveway gates and automatic gate installation.
What Lewisville requires
- The broadest permit requirement of the four
Lewisville wants a permit to build, enlarge, alter, repair or replace a fence. The only exemptions are painting and a repair under ten percent of the fence.
UDC Ch. VIII.6 - A gate over six feet wide needs the City Engineer
Any gate wider than six feet requires a driveway approach approved by the City Engineer. It is the only rule among these cities that regulates a residential driveway gate by its width.
UDC VIII.6.3.E.2 - Height
Eight feet from finished grade. A front-yard fence is capped at three and a half feet and has to be at least half open.
UDC VIII.6.3.C, VIII.6.4.A.1 - Corner lots have the strictest sight lines of the four
At a street corner, a 45 by 45 foot area measured back of curb to back of curb has to stay clear. Alley to street is 15 by 15. A driveway is 7.5 by 7.5.
UDC Exhibit VIII.6.3-2
Source: City of Lewisville Unified Development Code, Chapter VIII.6: Fencing
Fence and gate installation in The Colony, Texas
The Colony reads newer than it is. The median house here went up around 2001, but better than a third of the housing dates to the 1970s and 80s, and those are the fences we are usually replacing.
It also allows the tallest fence of the four cities on this list, eight feet six inches in a back or side yard. And if the lot backs onto the lake, there is a second permit almost nobody mentions until the application comes back.
More on what we build, and what it looks like finished. See new fence installation and fence photos by type.
What The Colony requires
- The permit turns on how much you are replacing
The Colony requires a permit to repair or replace more than half of an existing fence, or to build a retaining wall over four feet.
- A second permit on lake lots
If the property sits next to Corps of Engineers lake land, the city also requires a permit from the USACE Lake Manager's Office, and a copy has to come in with the city application.
- The tallest of these four
Eight feet six inches in any rear or side yard, measured from the finished grade on the inside. Four feet in a front yard.
- A fence on an alley needs a gate
Any fence next to or running along a public alley or utility easement has to carry at least one gate, three feet wide or wider, so fire and police can get through.
Source: City of The Colony, Fence and/or Retaining Wall Requirements (rev. 05/26) The Colony publishes these as a permit handout rather than a numbered ordinance section.
Fence and gate installation in Richardson, Texas
Richardson has the oldest housing stock of the four cities in this section. More than four in ten homes were built before 1980. A fence that has been up that long is usually past repairing, and what people want is a new line set to stay straight.
The ground here is the same Houston Black clay as Carrollton, which moves more than almost any soil in the country when the weather turns. On these lots that is a footing question before it is a fence question. Richardson also has the lowest permit trigger of the four cities here.
An older fence usually means a rebuild and then a color. See new fence installation and fence staining.
What Richardson requires
- The lowest permit trigger of the four
Any fence over two and a half feet tall needs a permit, and the city inspects the finished fence before it signs off.
Ch. 6, Art. IV - Height
Eight feet along the rear and side property lines. Three feet in front, decorative only, with the building official's approval.
Sec. 6-209(1) - Corner lots are spelled out
Where your back line meets a neighbor's side line, a 15 by 25 foot area at the street corner is held to four feet and has to stay at least half see-through.
Sec. 6-209(4) - Nothing attaches to a subdivision screening wall
Where rear or side yards back onto a street with a screening wall, no fence may be attached to that wall. It has to stand on its own posts.
Sec. 6-207(d)
Source: City of Richardson Code of Ordinances, Chapter 6, Article IV: Fences
House-age figures above come from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Soil descriptions come from the USDA soil survey.
Not sure which of these applies to your street? Tell us where the project is and what you are planning. We will walk the line with you and hand you a written, itemized quote. Projects with us start at $2,500, and the estimate is free.
A little farther out? Ask.
Our service area runs roughly ten to fifteen miles out from the eight cities above, and we take on projects past that line when the project is a fit. Estimates are free, so the worst case is a straight answer.