Johnson Fence builds the fence, gates and access control a Texas school, park or athletic field needs, with over 100 crews working out of Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio. We serve 42 cities and towns statewide.
Most public buyers have already lived the other version: a fence that leaned inside a year, a quote that left out the material grade, a contractor who stopped answering after the deposit. Those three failures are what a district or parks department is guarding against when it writes a bid.
Johnson Fence brings over 100 crews to Texas campus and ball field jobs
We run over 100 crews out of seven offices in four metros. That is the capacity a campus or ball field job draws on, whether it is one school or every campus in a district.
Jess C. gave five stars on Google in May 2026 and described a fence job that came in on time: “Johnson Services did a great job on my fence. Awesome high quality workmanship and timely! I would highly recommend!”
What fence and gates does a Texas school campus need?
A school campus needs chain link at the right gauge and height, gates, access control and whatever safety requirements apply to the site, plus windscreen or backstops where a field sits on the grounds. Chain link runs $12 to $28 a foot per HomeGuide and Angi.
Where the look matters more, as at a front entrance, ornamental steel or iron runs $45 to $90 a foot per HomeGuide and Angi. An automatic driveway gate runs $1,600 to $13,000 installed, most about $7,000 (HomeGuide, 2026), and $2,380 to $8,000 on Angi (2026).
Those are market ranges. We price every project by custom quote after a free on-site estimate and keep no fixed price list, so the number on your bid comes from your site, your footage and your gates.
What fencing does a Texas athletic field or park need?
An athletic field or park needs chain link at the right gauge and height, windscreen, backstops, gates and a way for maintenance crews to get in.
Our subdivision development work already covers park-type ground: land clearing, perimeter fence, monument, dog park and rec center. Commercial fence is an active growth priority for us, and we serve homeowners, businesses, ranches and developers across four metros from seven offices.
The price comes by custom quote, the same as any project we build.
How do Texas soil and weather shorten a field fence’s life?
Houston’s federal decay index is 77.2, the highest of the four big Texas metros and deep in the high-risk band, so wet climate wears wood and posts fastest there (Carll, USDA Forest Products Laboratory, 2009). Clay soil that swells and shrinks moves posts, so post depth and the grade of material on the quote decide how long a school or park fence stands.
The index calls anything below 35 low risk, 35 to 65 moderate and above 65 high. Dallas sits at 44.3, San Antonio at 52.2 and Austin at 55.2, all in the moderate band.
The soil is the other half. The NRCS classifies Houston Black, the official Texas State Soil, as a smectite-clay Vertisol of about 60 to 80% clay (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2023). It covers roughly 1.5 million acres of Blackland Prairie from Dallas south to San Antonio, and its very high shrink-swell potential is a recognized limitation for building-site development.
Picket wood comes in three grades, #1 through #3, and the price follows the grade. We name the material grade, #1, #2 or #3, in writing on the quote. Ask every bidder for the grade and the post depth on paper before you compare prices.
What does a Texas school district or city need from a fence contractor?
A Texas district or city needs a contractor who can show project history, bonding, enough crews, safety documentation and a specification that matches the bid. Above $100,000, a city must use a formal method such as competitive sealed bidding or competitive sealed proposals (Texas Local Government Code Chapter 252, 2025).
School districts follow a similar line. Contracts valued at $100,000 or more in the aggregate for each 12-month period go by the best-value method, except produce and vehicle fuel (Texas Education Code Section 44.031, 2026).
Before awarding work, buyers confirm current insurance, bonding, references, project capacity and geographic coverage. They look at financial capacity, meaning the ability to handle large projects, bonding and payment terms. They also look for OSHA documentation, background checks and jobsite safety programs. Our crews are trained to current safety and environmental rules, including OSHA standards, state environmental licenses and pesticide certifications.
The cost of a missing specification shows up in reviews. A one-star Google review of Austex Fence & Deck dated May 26, 2026 reads: “The post should be 2 feet underground but they only did 1 feet. I cannot imagine a fence professional company could do something like that. Now my fence is in bad condition and it is leaning because of that and they are not willing to come back to fix it.” A post depth written into the bid is a depth a district can check.
Why crew count decides whether a Texas campus fence finishes on time
Installation capacity means multiple crews and the ability to meet summer construction schedules, since a school has a short window between spring and fall classes. Last year we installed 2 million feet of fence, about 380 miles, across more than 20,000 projects.
From 2002 to 2019 we were the top choice for regional and national homebuilders in Houston. That work was homebuilder backyard privacy fencing, and we ran it more like a logistics-management company than a typical fence contractor.
Slow jobs are the complaint buyers write down. In a two-star Google review of Alamo Fence Company of San Antonio from March 25, 2026, a reviewer wrote: “Slow turnaround, uncompetitive pricing, lack of follow-through on follow-ups and revisions”
A bid with a date in it is meant to prevent delay and silence, and a date holds only when there are crews to keep it.
