Commercial Chain Link Fence Cost Calculator — Per Foot

With the defaults, 300 LF of 6 ft galvanized chain link with three strands of barbed wire, one walk gate and one double drive gate comes to $14,900, which is $49.67 per LF. The fence is $10,200, the barbed wire $1,200, the walk gate $1,000 and the drive gate $2,500. Without barbed wire it is $13,700, and the fence alone is $10,200, or $34.00 per LF.

Height raises the fence price. The same job is $17,900 ($59.67 per LF) at 8 ft and $21,200 ($70.67 per LF) at 10 ft. Vinyl-coated fabric adds 10% to the fence line, and vinyl-coated barbed wire is priced at $6 per LF instead of $4, so the 6 ft job becomes $16,520 ($55.07 per LF).

Gates are priced each, so they weigh more on a short run. With the default gates and barbed wire, 100 LF comes to $7,300 ($73.00 per LF), 500 LF to $22,500 ($45.00 per LF) and 1,000 LF to $41,500 ($41.50 per LF). Adding a cantilever gate to the default job brings it to $24,900.

Tearing out 300 LF of old chain link adds $1,500 at the fence removal calculator’s chain link rate up to 6 ft, $5 per LF, and brings the default job to $16,400. The calculator adds no disposal line for it. The $1,000 minimum is a floor that sets the price only when the job adds up to less: 20 LF of 6 ft fence with no barbed wire or gates adds up to $680, so the minimum sets the price at $1,000. At the default prices that happens for 6 ft galvanized fence alone below 30 LF.

The EstiCube fence calculator is built for homeowners, and its chain link is a residential price: $12 per foot of material and $8 per foot of labor at 6 ft, plus post concrete. For 300 LF of 6 ft chain link with no gates and its default 8 ft post spacing, it comes to $6,351, or $21.17 per LF. This page’s 6 ft fence line for the same 300 LF is $10,200, or $34.00 per LF, also with no gates or barbed wire.

The difference is where the prices come from. This page’s 6 ft rate is the median of installed prices from public commercial and highway bids, where the price per foot is for finished fence; Gwinnett’s contract says its installation price includes all labor and materials. The gates differ the same way: the fence calculator’s gate is $150, and this page’s walk gate is $1,000, from South Dakota DOT’s average low bid for a pedestrian swing gate.

Use the fence calculator for a backyard fence and this page for a fence around a lot, a yard, a utility or a commercial building. If you have a contractor’s price per foot, enter it in the pricing section of either one.

The 6 ft rate is the median of seven installed prices. Gwinnett County’s fence contract (BL076-21, renewal December 21, 2025 to December 20, 2026, prices held firm, one contractor) has 6 ft complete fence installation at $24.37 per LF in 9 gauge and $26.37 in 6 gauge, on 615 LF. Tarrant County’s 2022 tab (RFB 2022-217) had two bids of $32.00 and $38.50 per LF for 250 LF of 6 ft common chain link. Wisconsin DOT’s Average Unit Price List (dated 10/21/2025) gives $33.48 per LF for Fence Chain Link 6-FT in FY2025. South Dakota DOT’s 2024 report gives $51.52 per foot as the average low bid for 6' Chain Link Fence with Top Rail. The Perimeter Fence Package tab published by Four Rivers in Illinois had a low bid of $53.00 per LF for 2,170 LF of Chain Link Fence, 6', Special, against an engineer’s estimate of $45.00. The median, $33.48, is rounded to $34. Only the South Dakota item names a top rail; the others do not say how the top is finished.

That spread is wide. At $24.37 per LF the default job would be $12,011, and at $53.00 it would be $20,600. Gwinnett’s prices are a renewal from one contractor and Tarrant’s are from 2022, so a local quote matters more than the median.

The height factors rest on two buyers. Gwinnett’s 8 ft price is 1.47 and 1.43 times its 6 ft price, and Tarrant’s 1.25 and 1.10 times; the calculator uses about 1.3 for 8 ft. Tarrant’s 10 ft bids, $50.00 and $68.50 on 1 LF, are 1.56 and 1.78 times its 6 ft bids, and the calculator uses about 1.6. Gwinnett’s 6 gauge 10 ft price ($33.85) is below its 8 ft price, so Gwinnett’s 10 ft prices are left out. Its 9 gauge 10 ft price, $38.00, is 1.56 times its 6 ft price.

Three lines are thin. The vinyl coating step comes from one bidder: Gwinnett’s vinyl-coated 6 ft, 9 gauge installation is $27.00 against $24.37 galvanized, about 11% more, and 6% to 8% more at 8 and 10 ft. The barbed wire prices rest on Gwinnett’s $2.25 (galvanized) and $6.00 (vinyl-coated) per LF for 3 strand barb wire with support arms. Both sit in the part of its contract for material only, without labor, so installed barbed wire will cost more than the material price. The calculator’s $4 for galvanized is an estimate that adds an allowance for labor to the $2.25; its $6 for vinyl-coated is the material price alone. The cantilever gate is a single data point: Four Rivers’ low bid for a manual rolling chain link gate was $10,020 each, against an engineer’s estimate of $28,000, and the tab does not give the width. No public price was found for privacy slats, so the calculator does not price them.

In contractor bid mode the default job’s $14,900 becomes a customer price of $19,668 with 10% overhead and 20% profit. The unit prices come from public bids, which are contractors’ selling prices, so they already include overhead and profit. Replace them with your own costs in the pricing section before you add markup, or the markup counts them twice. A material tax applies to the barbed wire line only, because its price is material-based: at 7% it adds $84 to the default bid, for $19,752.

The estimate does not include permits, surveys, grading, rock or core drilling for posts, gate operators, privacy slats or disposal of the old fence. Add them as bid-mode extras, or price disposal loads in the fence removal calculator.