A fence rarely fails all at once. It gives you warning: a post that moves when you push it, a gate that starts to drag, a picket that pops loose after a storm. Catch those early and the repair is small. Leave them and the next front takes the section down. We’ve repaired fences across Austin for over 9 years, and the honest truth’s that most of the fences we replace could have been repaired a year or two earlier. Here’s how to spot fence damage early, and here’s what we fix when you call us.
Fence Repairs We Handle
Leaning and shifting posts
The most common repair in Austin, and almost always a soil problem rather than a wood problem. Our clay swells when it rains and shrinks in drought, and that seasonal cycle works posts loose from below. If the post is sound below grade, we pull it, deepen the hole, and reset it properly so it sits below the zone where the soil actually moves. If it has rotted at the ground line, resetting will not hold and we’ll say so. Here’s more on why fences lean in Austin.
Storm damage
Spring fronts find the weak points that were already there. We handle blown-down sections, snapped posts, racked panels, and the partial failures that are easy to miss until the next storm finishes them. We triage honestly: what’s cosmetic, what’s structural, and what is beyond saving. Here’s our guide to repairing storm damage to a wood fence.
Sagging and dragging gates
Gates fail first because they’re the only moving part. Wood shrinks and swells with the season, hinge screws loosen, and the frame slowly goes out of square until the latch stops catching. We rebuild gates on steel frames where the span or the traffic justifies it, rehang on proper hardware, and adjust the latch so it keeps working through the year. We also handle gate installation and replacement when a gate is past rebuilding.
Rotted pickets, rails, and bottom boards
Ground contact and sprinkler splash rot wood from the bottom up. We replace affected pickets and rails, match the existing material as closely as the weathering allows, and fix the cause where we can, usually by adjusting irrigation or clearing soil built up against the fence line. Replacing boards without addressing what rotted them just resets the same clock.
Loose, popped, and failed fasteners
Nails back out as wood moves through Austin’s wet and dry cycles. We refasten with screws where it makes sense, because they hold through the seasonal movement in a way smooth nails don’t, and we check the full run rather than only the boards you noticed.
Repair or Replace: How We Decide
We give the same answer whether it is the bigger job for us or not. If less than roughly a third of the fence is affected and the posts are sound below grade, repair is usually the right call and buys years. If the posts have rotted at the ground line, no amount of new pickets will hold, because everything above depends on what is below. The gray zone is a fence taking damage in instalments, where three repairs across three years quietly cost more than one rebuild would have. Here’s our full guide to deciding between repair and replacement, and here’s our fence replacement service if that is where you land.
How a Repair Visit Works
We come out at a time that works for you and walk the whole fence, not only the section you called about, because the damage you noticed frequently isn’t the only damage. We push every post, sight the runs for lean, check the gates, and look at where the fence meets the ground. Then we tell you what needs doing now, what can wait a season, and what we’d leave alone. You get an itemized quote with the work broken out, so you can see exactly what you’re paying for. Most residential repairs are completed in a day, and larger jobs get a clear timeline before we start.
What Austin Soil Does to a Fence
Repair work here’s soil work. Much of Austin sits on Blackland clay, which expands and contracts dramatically with moisture, and that movement is the leading cause of the post failures we fix. West of the city the ground turns to limestone and caliche, where the problem is not movement but depth: posts set too shallow in rock never had the purchase they needed. We set repair depth by the lot rather than to a single default, which is why two fences a few miles apart can need different work for the same symptom. Here’s more on how Blackland clay affects your fence.
Fence Repair Across the Austin Metro
We repair fences throughout Austin and the surrounding communities, including North Austin, South Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park, and Pflugerville. Soil, age, and exposure differ across the metro, and so does the repair. Older central neighborhoods bring mature trees and long-settled fences. Newer suburbs bring builder-grade construction that leans early. We know which we are walking into before we arrive.
Materials We Repair
We repair every fence type we install: cedar and wood privacy fencing, ornamental iron, chain link, vinyl, composite, and horizontal designs. Matching an existing fence is its own skill, particularly with weathered cedar, and we will tell you plainly when a repair will be visible rather than letting you discover it afterward. Where a repaired section will not blend, staining the full run afterward usually evens it out.
Why Austin Homeowners Call Us for Repairs
We are fence-only specialists, so this is the work we do every day rather than a sideline to something else. We’re fully insured and every job carries a 1-year workmanship warranty. When you call, you reach our in-house team, not a call center, and the person who quotes your repair understands how it will be built. We have served Austin for over 9 years, and most of our work now comes from homeowners who were referred by someone we built or repaired a fence for.
What We Check That Others Skip
A repair quote is only as good as the walk that produced it, and plenty of them are produced from the driveway. We check the things that decide whether a repair holds. Post condition below grade, not just above it, because a post can look fine at eye level and be gone at the soil line. Rail attachment at every post, since a rail pulling loose takes the pickets with it. Gate post plumb, which drifts before the gate visibly sags. Grade and drainage along the run, because standing water at the base is what rotted the last set of boards. And the fasteners, which tell you how the fence was built and how much life the wood has left. None of that takes long, and it’s the difference between a repair that lasts and one you call us back about next spring.
Repairs we’ll advise against
We turn down repair work fairly often, and it’s worth knowing when. Patching pickets onto posts that have rotted below grade is money spent on a fence that’s already failing. Resetting one post in a run where three others are moving buys a season at most. Re-hanging a gate on a post that won’t hold the hardware is a callback waiting to happen. In each of those cases we’ll tell you the run needs replacing instead, even though the repair would’ve been the easier sale. You’ll get the reasoning, not just the verdict, so you can decide with the same information we have.
After the Repair
Every repair carries a 1-year workmanship warranty covering what we did, and we’ll tell you plainly what it does and doesn’t cover before we start. A reset post is warranted against our setting of it, not against the next drought. Two things extend the life of a repair more than anything else: keeping soil and mulch from banking up against the boards, and adjusting sprinkler heads so they stop spraying the fence. Both are free. If the repaired section stands out against weathered boards around it, staining the full run evens the colour out, and it’s the right moment to do it since the wood is already exposed and dry. Here’s our storm season prep checklist for keeping the rest of the fence out of the repair queue.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does fence repair cost in Austin?
It depends on what failed and how much of the fence is affected. Post resets, picket replacement, and gate rebuilds all price differently. We quote on site and itemize every line so you can see exactly what the work covers.
How long does a fence repair take?
Most residential repairs are done in a day. Larger jobs, full runs, or repairs needing concrete to cure take longer, and we give you a clear timeline at the estimate.
Can a leaning fence be fixed or does it need replacing?
If the posts are sound below grade, a reset usually straightens the run and buys years. If the posts have rotted at the ground line, replacement is the honest answer. We check before we quote.
Do you repair fences you did not build?
Yes. Most of our repair work is on fences built by someone else, including builder-grade fences in newer subdivisions.
Do you repair storm damage?
Yes. We handle blown-down sections, snapped posts, and racked panels, and we assess the whole fence rather than only the obvious damage.
Are you insured?
Yes, we’re fully insured for every job, and each repair carries a 1-year workmanship warranty.
Get Your Free Fence Repair Estimate
Call (512) 566-7567 or request your free estimate. We’ll walk the fence with you, tell you honestly what needs doing, and hand you an itemized quote. Fully insured, 1-year workmanship warranty.
