Repair is the one fence job that doesn’t price by the foot, because no two repairs are the same work. The calculator above prices it the way repair actually runs: hours times a labor rate, with an example rate of $75 per hour, parts extra.
Why hourly beats per-foot here
Per-foot rates work on new fence because a long production run averages everything out. A repair has no averages: you don’t know if the rot stops at one post or three, whether the old material can be matched, or what’s buried next to the footing until you’re in the hole. Hourly plus parts is honest in both directions. The customer doesn’t overpay when the fix is quick, and you don’t eat it when the second post crumbles in your hand. Quote the diagnosis, not a guess: “the labor rate is this, here’s what I expect it to take, parts on the invoice.”
The minimum charge protects you
At the example $75 rate, a two-hour repair is $150 in labor plus parts. Now subtract the drive out, the drive back, the loading, and the supplier stop for one post and a bag of concrete, and a small repair without a minimum charge can pay worse than staying home. Set a minimum that makes the truck roll worth it, tell customers up front, and let it filter the jobs. The reasoning is the same as everywhere else in fence pricing: the rate carries the overhead, and how to price fence repairs walks the whole method.
Leaning post triage
The most common repair call is a leaning post, and the first minute on site decides the quote. Grab the post and rock it. If a wood post moves at the ground line and feels soft there, it’s rotted where it enters the concrete, and it needs replacement; that’s the usual failure, because wood posts almost always die at grade. If the post itself is sound but the whole footing shifts, the fix is a reset: plumb it, brace it, re-concrete it. Same symptom from the street, very different hours, which is exactly why you look before you price. For a rotted run where post after post fails the rock test, stop quoting repair and quote replacement; the new-fence math is here.
Repair quoting is a labor rate, a minimum, and a fast diagnosis. PriceDesk keeps your rates on your phone so the number goes out from the customer’s yard, free for 14 days.