The Six Criteria That Separate Texas Fence Companies

Ask how to choose a fence company in Texas and you get the same six-item list every time. Check insurance. Get it in writing. Look at past work, call references, read the contract, ask about permits. None of that is wrong.

It just leaves you guessing. Every company you call will say yes to all six, and you will not know who was telling the truth until a crew is standing in your yard. So ask each criterion for a number the company can actually show you.

Texas Never Licensed Your Fence Contractor, So Ask for Dates

Texas has no statewide fence contractor license. The state licensing authority regulates about 40 occupations, electricians and air-conditioning contractors among them, and fence building is not one of them (Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, 2026). Any licensing sits at the county or city level. So the word “licensed” on a Texas fence website is not a fact you can check by itself.

What you can check is coverage and dates. Ask for a current certificate of insurance showing general liability and workers’ compensation, and ask for it as a document, not a yes over the phone. The Federal Trade Commission tells homeowners to confirm licensing with local government and require proof of insurance before any work starts (Federal Trade Commission, 2024). Then ask how long the company has held whatever accreditation it advertises. We are licensed, bonded, and insured, and we have held BBB accreditation with an A+ rating since March 2003. That is a date you can look up.

Time the Callback, Because the Estimate Is the First Test

The estimate is the only part of a fence company’s work you can measure before you hire it. We call back the same day the lead comes in, put a quote out the same day on 95% of real leads, and start work within about 4 days of that quote being accepted. Ask every company you call for those same three numbers, then time them against their own answer.

The order matters as much as the speed. A rough estimate comes over the phone from your address. Then a salesperson meets you at the property, measures the linear footage, and confirms the fence type and the picket grade before anything is priced. Footage should come from someone standing in your yard.

In a June 2026 SoTellUs review, a customer wrote: “Their price was competitive and lower than the other 2 but what sealed the deal was Matt called back the same day I initially contacted them for an appraisal. It was a good decision and Matt was quick to reply with the cost estimate and each time I had a question. In addition the crew showed up promptly per schedule and Matt came by early to coordinate some changes I requested after accepting the original quote. The fence was installed in just 2 days and looks great! The job site was cleaned up well b4 the crew left. The original cost was revised making the total cost much less than I expected.”

Judge Past Work One Dimension at a Time

A star average tells you people were happy. It does not tell you what they were happy about. 97% of consumers read reviews when sizing up a local business, and the average shopper consults six different review sites before deciding (BrightLocal, 2026). Read them for the dimensions you are actually buying: price, callback speed, schedule, cleanup, and whether the final number matched the quote.

Then ask for addresses. Photos from last week show you a fence nobody has tested yet. Ask for two or three jobs built four or five years ago in your area, drive them, and look at the posts at the ground line and the sag in the gates.

A Contract Should Name the Scope, the Date, and Who Pulls the Permit

A fence contract earns its keep on the lines that say what happens when reality moves. In Houston, a residential fence needs a building permit only when it goes over 8 feet, or when any part of it is masonry or concrete at any height (City of Houston, 2026). Your contract should say who checks that rule for your city, who files, and who pays if it applies.

Five things belong in writing before anyone digs.

• The materials, by grade and species. “Cedar” names a tree. The quote should name the picket grade too.
• Old fence removal and haul-off, with the day it happens. A pile of rotten pickets left in the driveway for a week is a scope gap, and it is avoidable.
• Start and finish dates. Not a season. Dates.
• Permit and HOA responsibility. Since September 1, 2025, a Texas property owners’ association may not prohibit a perimeter fence, keeping only limited authority over type and material plus a 10-foot driveway gate setback from a laned right-of-way (Texas Property Code, 2025). Your contract should still say who submits the packet.
• The payment schedule. Tied to milestones, with the balance due after the walkthrough.

On commercial work we determine whether a permit is required and file it. A residential fence in Texas rarely needs one, but the answer should come from the contractor before the contract is signed.

Ask Which Picket Grade the Price Was Written Against

Two wood fence quotes for the same 150 feet can differ by hundreds of dollars and describe two different fences. The gap is usually grade. We name the picket grade, #1 through #3, on the quote, so the number you are comparing is attached to the wood you are getting. A quote that says only “cedar” has told you almost nothing.

Published survey ranges from Angi and HomeGuide put Texas installed pricing in these bands for a standard 6-foot residential fence on flat, clear ground (Angi and HomeGuide, 2026). They exclude old-fence removal, gates, permits, and rocky clay.

Where our price advantage comes from is worth saying out loud, because it is not thinner wood. Master Halco named us its Largest Volume Customer for both the Southwest Region and the World in 2026, and we are a top customer of Solid Wood. That buying power sets our picket cost, and it goes to the customer as a lower number on the same spec.

Count the Crews Before You Trust the Install Date

Ask how many crews the company runs, then ask how many of those work in your metro. Most trade work in this country is done by very small outfits: about 599,000 specialty trade contractor establishments employ roughly 5.26 million people, fewer than ten per establishment on average (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). At one to three crews, a single sick day becomes your install date.

We run over 100 crews. Houston carries 25 to 30 of them, and every other market runs 5 to 15, working within about 30 miles of one of our seven offices. That depth is what turned into more than 2 million feet of fence and over 20,000 completed projects in the last year, about 55 finished jobs every day. Crew depth is local, so ask about the crews in the market you are buying in.