Aluminum is the ornamental fence most crews actually install: the iron look without the rust, sold by the linear foot at a rate per height. Punch the run into the calculator above, pick the height, and you have a working ballpark while the customer is still walking the line.
What the per-foot rate carries
The example rates loaded above ($48 per linear foot at 4 ft, $56 at 5 ft) are placeholders in a sensible range for installed residential-grade aluminum. The rate has to carry the panels, the posts and concrete, the hardware, and the labor to set it all plumb. Commercial-grade panels with heavier rails cost more per foot, and your supplier pricing sets the real floor.
Two things make aluminum quoting different from wood:
- It racks. Aluminum panels rack to follow a slope, so a graded yard doesn’t force stepped panels and the triangle gaps under them. That saves layout headaches on hills, but a steep grade still slows the digging, so walk the line before you commit to a flat rate.
- It’s panelized. You’re setting pre-built panels, not sticking pickets. Post spacing is fixed by panel length, which makes material takeoff fast, and makes odd-length runs a cut-panel problem worth catching at quote time, not delivery time.
Pool fences are their own quote
A lot of aluminum goes in as pool fence, and pool barrier codes are strict about height, picket spacing, and self-closing, self-latching gate hardware. The rules vary by state and county, so check your local code before you quote, and price the compliant hardware in. A pool fence that fails inspection gets rebuilt on your dime.
The maintenance pitch, and a sanity check
Powder coat is why aluminum wins bids against iron: the finish is factory-applied, so there’s no rust prep and no repaint cycle to warn the customer about. If they’re weighing the two metals, send them the aluminum vs wrought iron comparison. If they’re weighing it against vinyl, that’s a different trade-off.
Sanity check the math: a 120 ft backyard run at the example 4 ft rate of $48 is $5,760 before gates and add-ons. If that number feels wrong for your market, that’s the point. The rates should be yours.
The method behind the rate is in how to price a fence job. Once you’ve built your numbers, PriceDesk runs this same calculator with your rates on your phone, free for 14 days.