What a cedar fence costs in Toledo

Cedar privacy fence runs $35 to $55 per foot installed. That band is published by an Ohio fence contractor and it covers materials and labor.

Be clear about what that number is. No fence company in Toledo publishes a cedar rate. The one Toledo contractor who publishes anything lists wood privacy, vinyl, chain link and aluminum, with no cedar line at all. So the honest local answer is an Ohio price used as a guide, and you should treat a Toledo cedar quote inside or near that band as normal.

Worked examples

Cedar privacy fence at $35 to $55 a foot, no gates, no removal of an old fence.

A fuller job. 150 feet of cedar with one walk gate, and the old fence taken away:

• Fence, 150 feet at $35 to $55: $5,250 to $8,250
• One walk gate at the Ohio range of $200 to $600: $200 to $600
• Tear out and haul away 150 feet at $5 to $10 a foot: $750 to $1,500
• Total: about $6,200 to $10,350

Cedar against treated pine

Same 150 feet, side by side:

• Treated pine privacy, Toledo published rate: $3,750 to $5,250
• Cedar privacy, Ohio published rate: $5,250 to $8,250

So cedar costs roughly $1,500 to $3,000 more on a typical back yard. The gap starts at the lumber rack. National material lines put cedar at $12 to $16 a foot against $8 to $10 for treated pine, and at a contractor supply house a treated dog ear picket was priced at $2.35 against $2.86 and up for cedar. Multiply a dollar a picket across a couple of hundred pickets and you can see most of the difference.

Ohio contractors say the same thing in plainer words. Scheiderer Fence writes that cedar costs more up front than pine, and publishes no cedar rate at all.

What the style does to the price

Cedar prices move with the build, not just the wood. National figures by style, which we treat as directional rather than local, run like this:

• Board to board, the standard side by side picket fence: $25 to $45 a foot
• Shadowbox, boards alternating on either side of the rails so both yards see the same fence: $28 to $48 a foot
• Board on board, pickets overlapping so no gap opens as the wood dries: $30 to $50 a foot
• Horizontal boards: $35 to $60 a foot, the most expensive of the four, and it needs posts closer together

If a quote comes in near the top of the cedar band, ask which of those you are buying. Board on board uses 15 to 20 percent more boards per foot than a standard privacy fence, and horizontal needs more posts, so both have a real reason to cost more.

What else moves the price

Gates. Ohio contractors quote $200 to $600 for a walk gate and $600 to $2,500 for a double drive gate.

Removal. Taking out and hauling away an old fence runs $5 to $10 a foot in Toledo.

Slope and heavy clay. Both slow a crew down, and the hours land in your quote.

Height. Toledo allows 6 feet along the side and rear and 3.5 feet in a front yard. Over 6 feet you are into a building permit and a plan review.

Posts. Toledo’s code says wood fence posts must be treated lumber. A cedar fence here is normally cedar rails and pickets on treated posts, and that is code rather than a corner being cut.

Finish. We could not verify any supplier near Toledo selling pre-stained ready-built privacy panels. An Ohio yard three hours east lists cedar panels but does not publish prices. If you want the fence stained, treat it as a separate line and ask when it can be done.

Get more than one quote

Twelve fence companies serve the Toledo metro area, and half of them run on two to six people. A two person shop with no website holds an A plus accredited record with the Better Business Bureau, and one of the oldest names in town carries the weakest customer rating of the group. Size tells you very little here.

Since only one of the twelve publishes prices, the only way to know where your cedar quote sits is to collect two or three of them for the same yard and the same build. Write down the footage, the height, the number of gates and the picket style before you call, so every company is pricing the same fence.

Sales tax

Ohio treats a fence set in the ground as an improvement to real property. Under Ohio Administrative Code 5703-9-14 the contractor is the consumer of the materials, so he pays sales tax on the cedar when he buys it and does not charge you tax on the job. Your invoice should be a single lump sum with no tax line on the bottom.

Before you sign

Ask three questions. Which grade and style of cedar, since the word covers a lot of different boards. What the posts are, and how deep they go. And whether the price includes the permit, which in the City of Toledo is a $50 Certificate of Zoning Compliance.

Ohio code also requires the finished side of the fence to face your neighbor and the street in Toledo, so if you want to see the smooth side yourself, that is a conversation to have before the posts go in, not after.

See your price range

Put your footage into the estimator, pick cedar, add your gates, and see the range for your own yard. If it looks right, request a quote and up to three local fence pros will come and measure.