Calculator · Fence

Fence Calculator: How Many Pickets, Posts and Rails Do I Need?

Enter the sides of your fence, its height and the style, and get how many fence boards, posts and rails to buy, the bags of concrete and gravel for the post holes and the nails or screws. The posts are spread evenly, and the holes are sized the way Quikrete recommends.

Your fence

Enter each straight side of the fence, gates included. Posts are spread evenly along each side.

Side 1

Length

Fence height

Style

Fence boards

Posts no more than

Gates

Lowe's: 6 to 8 ft on center. Family Handyman: 8 ft is the standard for wood fences, and wider spans sag. Each gate adds a post and a hardware kit. Its boards and rails are already in the length.

The fence closes on itselfA full enclosure, where the last side ends at the first post. It takes one post less.

Rails, hole depth and your prices

Rails per section

Lowe's: one rail for every 2 ft of post height.

Post in the ground

Default: 1/3 of the post's total length (Quikrete). Lowe's gives 1/3 to 1/2 of the height above ground, and below the frost line where it freezes.

Each fence board

Each rail

Each post

50 lb bag of concrete

Gate hardware kit

Lumber prices change by store and week, so we do not guess them. Type yours to get your own total; without them you still get the HomeGuide ranges per foot.

YardaCalc

Materials ticket · Fence

Enter the length of your fence and your shopping list prints here.

How to calculate the materials for a wood fence

Posts. Divide each straight side into equal sections no longer than 8 ft. You need one post more than sections, plus one for each gate.
Rails. One for every 2 ft of fence height in each section, as Lowe's recommends: 3 for a 6 ft fence.
Boards. Divide the length of the fence, in inches, by the width of a board, or by the width plus the gap if you leave one.
Concrete. Size the hole the way Quikrete says, 3 times the width of the post and one third of the post in the ground, and divide its volume, minus the post, by what a bag yields.

Sections = fence length ÷ maximum spacing, rounded up Posts = sections + 1 + gates Rails = sections × (height ÷ 2) Boards = length in inches ÷ (board width + gap), rounded up Bags = posts × concrete per hole ÷ 0.375 ft³ per bag

Example: 100 ft of 6 ft privacy fence with one gate. The side splits into 13 sections of 7 ft 8 in., so it takes 15 posts, 39 rails (3 per section) and 219 boards 5-1/2 in. wide. Each post goes 36 in. into a hole 10-1/2 in. wide: 56 bags of 50 lb fast-setting concrete in all, 10 bags of gravel for the bases and 1,314 nails or screws for the boards.

Materials by fence length

A straight 6 ft privacy fence with 5-1/2 in. boards side by side, posts no more than 8 ft apart, 3 rails per section and one gate.

Length	Posts	Rails	Boards	Concrete, 50 lb bags	Nails or screws
50 ft	9	21	110	34	660
100 ft	15	39	219	56	1,314
150 ft	21	57	328	79	1,968
200 ft	27	75	437	101	2,622
300 ft	40	114	655	150	3,930

Fence boards per 100 feet, by style

Style	Boards per 100 ft
Privacy, 5-1/2 in. boards side by side	219
Privacy, 3-1/2 in. boards side by side	343
Shadowbox, 5-1/2 in. boards with 3-1/2 in. gaps on both sides	267
Picket, 3-1/2 in. boards with a 1 in. gap	267
Picket, 3-1/2 in. boards with a 2 in. gap	219
Picket, 3-1/2 in. boards with a 3 in. gap	185

A fence board sold as 1 × 6 really measures 5-1/2 in. across, and a 1 × 4 measures 3-1/2 in. In a shadowbox fence the boards alternate on the two sides of the rails: Lowe's plan uses 5-1/2 in. boards with 3-1/2 in. between them on each side, which gives some privacy and still lets air through.

Post holes and concrete by fence height

Quikrete's rule for setting posts: a hole 3 times as wide as the post, one third of the post's total length in the ground, 6 in. of gravel under the post and dry fast-setting mix poured to 3–4 in. from the top. For a 4 × 4 post, which really measures 3-1/2 in., that is:

Fence height	Post in the ground	Hole to dig	Post to buy	50 lb bags per post
3 ft	18 in.	10-1/2 × 24 in.	6 ft	1.7
4 ft	24 in.	10-1/2 × 30 in.	6 ft	2.4
5 ft	30 in.	10-1/2 × 36 in.	8 ft	3
6 ft	36 in.	10-1/2 × 42 in.	10 ft	3.7
8 ft	48 in.	10-1/2 × 54 in.	12 ft	5.1

A 50 lb bag of Quikrete Fast-Setting Concrete yields 0.375 ft³, and takes about 1 gallon of water poured over the dry mix in the hole. It sets in 20–40 minutes; wait 4 hours before putting any load on the post. Lowe's accepts shallower holes, from one third of the height above ground, but where the ground freezes the post has to reach below the frost line. Type your own depth under "Rails, hole depth and your prices" and the concrete and the post length update.

What a wood fence costs

HomeGuide's national prices per linear foot (December 2025). Lumber prices move too much to give a price per board, so the calculator shows these ranges and lets you type the prices from your store.

Fence	Materials per ft	Labor per ft	Installed per ft	100 ft installed
Privacy, up to 6 ft tall	$10–$30	$15–$20	$25–$50	$2,500–$5,000
Privacy, 8 ft tall	—	—	$50–$75	$5,000–$7,500
Picket, 3 to 5 ft tall	$10–$25	$5–$15	$20–$40	$2,000–$4,000

Extras HomeGuide lists: $2–$14 per foot to stain or paint the fence, $10–$20 per foot to remove an old one, $40–$150 for a permit and $200–$1,200 for a survey to mark the property line. A crew takes 13 to 16 hours per 100 ft of picket or privacy fence.

Before you build

Call 811 before you dig, so underground utilities get marked.
Check the rules and the property line. Quikrete's guide recommends asking the local authority about height, location and materials, and having the lot surveyed if you are not sure where it ends.
Leave clearance at the bottom. Lowe's keeps the bottom rail at least 6 in. above the ground and the boards about 1-1/2 in.
Fasten each board twice at every rail, and each rail with 2 screws at every post, with fasteners rated for pressure-treated lumber.
Stagger the rail joints on different posts so the fence is stiffer.

Frequently asked questions

How many pickets do I need for 100 feet of fence?

219 boards for a privacy fence with 5-1/2 in. boards (a nominal 1 × 6) set side by side: 100 ft is 1,200 in., divided by 5-1/2. With 3-1/2 in. boards it is 343. A picket fence with a 2 in. gap between 3-1/2 in. boards takes 219, and a shadowbox fence with boards on both sides takes 267.

How far apart should fence posts be?

6 to 8 ft from center to center, according to Lowe's. Family Handyman calls 8 ft the standard for wood fences and warns that with wider spans the rails sag. Quikrete suggests dividing each side into equal intervals so you can use precut rails. That is what the calculator does: a 100 ft side is split into 13 sections, each 7 ft 8 in. long.

How deep should a fence post be?

Quikrete says to bury one third of the post's total length, plus 6 in. of gravel under it. For a 6 ft fence that is 36 in. of post in the ground and a hole 42 in. deep, with a 9 ft post. Lowe's gives a range of one third to one half of the height above ground (24 to 36 in. for a 6 ft fence) and adds that where the ground freezes the post has to go below the frost line or as deep as the local code says.

How many bags of concrete do I need per fence post?

About 3.7 bags of 50 lb fast-setting concrete for a 4 × 4 post of a 6 ft fence set the way Quikrete describes: a hole 10-1/2 in. wide, 36 in. of post in the ground and concrete up to 3–4 in. from the top. Quikrete's own example is 2 bags for a 3 in. post in a 9 in. hole 30 in. deep, and the calculator gives the same.

How many rails does a 6 ft fence need?

Three. Lowe's rule is one rail (it calls them stringers) for every 2 ft of post height, so 2 for a 4 ft fence, 3 for a 6 ft fence and 4 for an 8 ft fence. Keep the bottom rail at least 6 in. off the ground.

How much does a wood fence cost per foot?

HomeGuide puts a wood privacy fence up to 6 ft tall at $25–$50 per linear foot installed, of which $10–$30 is materials, and a picket fence at $20–$40 installed. An 8 ft privacy fence runs $50–$75 per foot. For 100 ft of 6 ft privacy fence that is $2,500–$5,000 installed, or $1,000–$3,000 in materials if you build it yourself.

Sources

How we calculate and check our numbers →