New home owner who has never had to hire a contractor before. Want to have chain link fence replaced and want to have put in white vinyl fence to match connected town home.

It is just a 40 foot length I need replaced and will need to have one gate. As I get quotes, what kind of price should I expect to pay? What’s considered fair and what’s considered a rip off?

EDIT: Thanks for all the feedback! I think I’m not in the right tax bracket to hire people to do this, so probably going to try to do it myself.

  • BombOmOm
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    2 months ago

    I don’t have a number for you, but get 2-3 quotes. Labor is expensive, it’s going to be your main cost here, not materials.

    Basically every quote I have gotten for anything has been a much higher number than I would have liked by a good margin. Been doing more and more stuff myself as a result. If you get sticker shock at your quotes, a fence replacement is very much so in the realm of something you can do yourself.

    • Rhynoplaz
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      2 months ago

      Holy shit. Is late stage capitalism regressing?!?

      The more unaffordable services are, the more we DIY, the more we become self sufficient, the less we need to buy, the more companies have to do to gain our business, the lower prices get, the more we buy, the lazier we get, the oh fuck, we’re back where we started. Nevermind.

      • BombOmOm
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        2 months ago

        Supply and demand! Everyone went to college and is looking for white collar jobs, thus there is a labor shortage in the construction/contracting industry that is leading to rising prices. Getting a job in the trades is pretty solid right now.

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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      22 months ago

      Labor costs are insane. I know these laborers aren’t getting paid $200 an hour, but that’s what I get charged for them.