A brick fence and its columns stand on a concrete footing, not on the wall, and in Alamo Heights the depth that footing needs is set by San Antonio’s limestone-and-clay ground and the local building rule, so the quote should state it before any brick is laid. The market cost for a 3 to 6 ft brick fence is $60 to $240 a foot (HomeGuide, January 2026), and brick or stone columns run $500 to $3,000 each (HomeGuide, January 2026).
Most homeowners asking this have already seen a fence fail too soon, a quote that left out the grade, or a crew that never came back. The questions below are the ones that keep those three from happening on a masonry job.
How deep a footing does a brick fence need in Alamo Heights?
San Antonio’s building code sets a floor of 12 inches for footing depth below undisturbed ground and 12 inches for footing width (San Antonio Building Code, 2024). A tall masonry fence needs more than the floor. The masonry industry’s standard puts the top of the footing 18 inches below grade for 4 and 6 ft cantilevered fences and 24 inches below grade for 8 ft fences (CMHA, TEK 14-16B).
The same standard sizes the footing to the wind. An 8-foot fence in the 20 psf wind tier stands on a 12-by-42-inch footing with No. 4 vertical bars at 16 to 24 inches on center (NCMA/CMHA TEK 14-16B, 2007). Columns follow their own line in the code: vertical masonry elements that are not foundation piers are designed as piers, walls or columns under TMS 402 (San Antonio Building Code, 2024). A masonry-unit footing must also run at least 8 inches wider than the wall it carries (San Antonio Building Code, 2024).
The code floor is where the conversation starts. The depth on your quote should come from the wall height and the ground under your lot.
How does San Antonio’s limestone ground change a brick fence footing?
Clay swells and shrinks with the seasons and moves whatever sits on it, while limestone stays put. A brick wall cracks and leans when its footing rides on ground it was not sized for. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service classes Houston Black, the Texas State Soil, as a smectite clay whose very high shrink-swell potential is a recognized limit on building sites (USDA NRCS, 2023).
Both ground types show up around San Antonio. Bexar series soils sit on hard limestone at 20 to 40 inches (USDA NRCS). Houston series clays reach bedrock at 4 to 9 feet, and the same survey calls their shrink-swell potential very high (SWCA, 2012).
That mix decides the method. Because limestone and caliche sit near the surface, the footing hole has to be drilled through the rock to the depth the post requires, and stopping at the rock in a shallow hole is the most common cause of leaning fences (Cityline, 2026). A footing set into bedrock does not heave with the seasons the way clay does (Cityline, 2026). Ask your builder which ground your lot has and how deep the footing goes in it.
How do brick and limestone columns differ on an Alamo Heights fence?
Limestone is the heavier, thirstier material, and brick gives the cleaner, more classic look. Limestone weighs 144 lbs a cubic foot and absorbs up to 7.5% of its weight in water (Corinthian Cast Stone, 2025). A 24-by-24-by-2-inch limestone cap weighs 100 lbs and a 28-by-28-by-2-inch cap weighs 136 lbs (Lampus). Every pound lands on the column footing.
Porosity varies by stone. A 1927 study of commercial building limestones measured porosity from 31 per cent at the low end of density to just over 1 per cent at the high end (Physical properties of the principal commercial limestones, 1927). Full natural stone, including the limestone and cantera tied to this region, gives genuine masonry character, brick has a clean classic look, and stone veneer over a structural core gives the look of stone at a lower cost (Cityline Fence Co). Stone, brick and block do not rot, warp, rust or fade (Cityline Fence Co).
How much does a brick fence with columns cost in San Antonio?
A brick fence 3 to 6 ft tall costs $60 to $240 per linear foot installed (HomeGuide, 2026). A brick privacy wall 6 to 8 ft tall costs $200 to $360 per linear foot (Angi, 2026). Ornamental brick columns run $500 to $1,800 each (HomeGuide, 2026) or $500 to $2,000 each (Angi, 2026), and structural columns run $2,000 to $7,000 or more (Angi, 2026).
For comparison, a wood fence costs $20 to $50 per linear foot installed (HomeGuide, 2026), and ornamental iron runs $50 to $85 per foot (HomeGuide, Angi, 2025 to 2026). Angi puts footings at $15 to $55 per linear foot and a mason’s time at $70 to $110 an hour (Angi, 2026).
Those ranges are the market’s, and no range can price your yard. Every Johnson Fence project is priced by custom quote once we have walked the site. We publish no price list, because cost depends on fence type, materials, length, gates and site conditions.
What permit and height rules apply in Alamo Heights?
Alamo Heights requires a permit for fences, walls and retaining walls on single- and two-family dwellings (City of Alamo Heights, Building & Construction Permits). The city sets the rule, so the answer comes from Alamo Heights and not from San Antonio. Its code caps a fence or wall at 3 feet in the minimum required portion of a front yard, 6 feet in the rest of the front yard, 6 feet in a side yard, and 8 feet in a rear yard, each measured from the lower side (City of Alamo Heights, Article X).
Texas811 describes a two-working-day wait while locators travel to the site (Texas811). A line locate ticket lasts 14 days (16 Tex. Admin. Code § 18.1).
We determine whether a job needs a permit and file it.
