c/fence-erectors

Found a trick for setting posts in rocky soil without a digger

Been working a job up near Flagstaff last week and the ground is basically solid rock mixed with gravel. My normal auger kept bouncing off and I was getting nowhere. Tried filling the hole with water and letting it soak overnight before digging, and it softened the clay enough to get through. Has anyone else used this trick for tough soil or do you just switch to a different method entirely?

Broke a brand new auger bit on a frost line in Vermont last Tuesday

I was digging post holes up near Burlington and hit a rock shelf about 18 inches down. Snapped the tip right off my 12 inch bit on the third hole. Had to switch to a manual digging bar and a shovel for the rest of the afternoon. Anybody have a go-to brand for bits that can handle rocky ground?

Found out my granddad's old post hole digger is worth more than my whole truck

Was cleaning out my dad's shed last weekend and found this old post hole digger my granddad used back in the 60s. Looked beat to hell, rust everywhere, handle wrapped in electrical tape. I almost threw it in the scrap pile but decided to look it up online first out of curiosity. Turns out it's some rare model made by a company that went under in the 70s, and there's a guy on eBay asking $450 for one in worse shape. Made me wonder how many old tools I've tossed without checking first, any of you guys ever find something valuable in a junk pile?

Had a digger hit my line last Thursday and it was a mess

I was about halfway through setting posts for a 200 foot run of split rail up in the hills near Boise when I hear this grinding noise from the rental mini excavator I was using. Turns out I hit an old irrigation pipe that wasn't on any of the utility maps I checked. Water started shooting up like a geyser and I had to shut everything down fast. Spent the next two hours digging out the broken section by hand and patching it with a coupling and some PVC cement I had in my truck. The homeowner came out and just stood there watching with his arms crossed the whole time. Has anyone else had to deal with hidden pipes or lines that weren't marked?

Got cursed out by a homeowner in Denver for a gate I didn't even install

I showed up to fix a sagging gate on a property in Denver last Tuesday. The lady came out screaming about how I left a 4 inch gap under the bottom. I told her I was just there for the repair and didn't build the original fence. She didn't care, kept yelling about her dogs getting out. Turns out the old crew used cheap pressure treated that warped after one season. Now I take pictures of EVERY existing gap before I touch a single screw. Has anyone else had to deal with blame for somebody else's shoddy work?

TIL my old way of measuring posts was off by 3 inches

I was putting up a 6 foot privacy fence near Austin last week and a kid fresh out of trade school showed me his laser level. Turns out I had been eyeballing it for 15 years and my last three fences were all slightly crooked. Anybody else switch to newer tools and feel silly about it?

Drove past a fence job in Tucson that looked wrong after one storm

I was heading to a supply run last week off I-10 near Tucson and saw a privacy fence that was already leaning bad. Looked like they set the posts in concrete but didn't go deep enough past the frost line, maybe 18 inches tops. Bunch of the pickets were already popped off too, probably from wind loading. Anyone else run into jobs where the previous crew cut corners on depth that you had to fix later?

Old timer at the lumber yard said my auger was too small

Was grabbing posts for a 6ft privacy fence yesterday. Guy probably 70 years old watches me pick a 6 inch auger bit. He just shakes his head. Says "gonna be digging all week with that thing." Told him I used it fine on a 4ft fence last month. He laughed and walked off. Then I hit clay at 3ft down. Took me 45 minutes per hole. Did 8 holes. Felt like an idiot. Anyone else run into an old timer who knew your setup was wrong before you did?

Went with galvanized over vinyl for a chain link gate last week

I had to pick between galvanized and vinyl coated chain link for a 6 foot gate on a customer's property out in Lancaster. The customer was leaning toward vinyl because it looks cleaner, but I talked him into galvanized since that gate gets a lot of sun exposure and I've seen the vinyl crack and peel after a few years around here. Ended up saving him about $180 on materials too since galvanized is cheaper per roll. The real test came when we hung the gate and the galvanized wire held the tension way better than I expected. No sagging after a week of use and the customer texted me saying he's glad we went that route. Anyone else find galvanized holds up longer in direct sun areas?

TIL from a old timer at the supply yard that I've been digging my post holes way too deep for years

He said 3 feet for a 6 foot fence is overkill in most soil and now I'm cutting my dig time almost in half, has anyone else been overdoing it on depth?

Got tired of wrestling fence posts solo so I built a jig last weekend

Honestly I used to dig every post hole by hand with a clamshell digger and it took forever. Took me like 8 hours to set 15 posts for a paddock fence last spring near Albany. Finally got sick of it and threw together a simple A-frame jig with some scrap 2x4s and a come-along. Now I can set a post in about 4 minutes without needing a second guy to hold it straight. Has anyone else rigged up a homemade post setter that actually works decent? I'm thinking about adding wheels to mine.

PSA: Picked T-posts over wood for a 200 foot run and saved 3 hours

Had to decide between steel T-posts and pressure treated 4x4s for a cattle fence outside Amarillo last week. Went with the T-posts and got it all hammered in before lunch, but the corner braces are a pain to keep tight. Anyone else find a trick for keeping the wire tension consistent on steel posts?

I finally bought a decent post hole digger attachment for my skid steer

Spent $1,200 on a Danuser E-2 auger drive and it cut my install time on a 60-post job from three days to one. Anyone else find that upgrading one tool just changes everything about how you work?

Old timer told me to use a string line instead of a level for long runs

He said levels lie over distance because the ground is never truly flat, and I thought he was just being old fashioned. After fighting a 150 foot vinyl fence for two days straight, I tried his method and had it perfectly straight in under 3 hours. Has anyone else had a seasoned guy give you advice that felt wrong but actually saved your hide?

Took me 3 years to realize I was digging post holes wrong

I always dug my holes straight down with straight sides. Every hole the same. Then on a job in Austin last spring this older guy walks up and watches me for a minute. He says you need to flare the bottom out like a bell shape. I thought he was crazy. But he showed me how that extra width at the bottom gives the concrete way more holding power against frost heave. Ever since I started digging that bell shape I've had way fewer callbacks for leaning posts. Anyone else grow up doing it the straight way and get set straight by some random old timer on site?

Rant: Why I finally ditched galvanized nails for stainless on all my cedar jobs

I used to think stainless was just a upsell gimmick until last month when I had to pull a 3-year-old fence near Portland where the galvanized heads were already staining the wood black. My supplier talked me into spending the extra $40 a box and honestly I havent looked back. Anyone else had that moment where you realized the cheap stuff costs more in callbacks?

Had a customer chew me out about post hole depth last summer and I actually changed how I dig

This guy insisted his 5 foot tall privacy fence needed 4 foot deep holes because his neighbor's fence fell over in a storm. I told him 30 inches was plenty for our area but he got real loud about it. After he sent me a video of a blown over fence in the next town over I decided to just do 42 inches deep on every job now. It takes an extra 15 minutes per hole but I haven't had a single call back about leaning posts since. Anyone else have a client who pushed back hard and turned out to be right?

Spent $400 on a hydraulic auger attachment and it nearly tore my arm off

Just realized most guys are setting post holes way too shallow for 6 foot privacy fences

Saw a crew dig 18 inch holes for a 6 foot cedar fence last week and tried telling them you need at least 30 inches here in clay soil or the frost heave will wreck it by spring, has anyone else had to redo a job because someone skimped on depth?

Tried a new post driver for a job in Phoenix and it was a game changer

We had a big chain link job last week with over 200 posts to set in that hard desert ground. I usually use my old manual driver, but my buddy lent me his new Rhino gas powered driver. It cut our time in half and my back didn't feel like it was broken at the end of the day. Anyone have a brand they like for these, or is the extra cost worth it for a full time crew?

Hot take: I thought those plastic post sleeves were a waste of money until a job in Spokane

We had to put in a fence line right next to a busy road where salt spray in winter is a real problem. The customer insisted on these white plastic sleeves that slide over the pressure-treated posts, and I figured it was just extra cost. After three winters, those posts look brand new while the ones we did without them a block away are already showing rot at the base. Has anyone else had a client push for a product you doubted that actually worked out?

Got schooled on post hole depth at a job in Duluth last winter.

We were setting a line of cedar posts on a slope, ground was half frozen. I was going by the old 'one-third in the ground' rule. The homeowner, an older guy who used to build docks, came out and said, 'You're gonna get heave. Go another eight inches, hit solid.' We argued for a minute, but I did it. That extra depth made all the difference come spring thaw. Anyone else run into a local who knew the land better than the book?

Tried a new post hole digger on a rocky job and got a surprise

Got a contract for a fence line in the hills outside Boulder, ground looked tough. My old two-man auger was acting up, so I rented this new hydraulic drive unit, the kind with the separate power pack. Figured it would chew through anything. First few holes went fine, then we hit a patch of what felt like solid rock. The machine started shaking like crazy, then just stopped dead. Turns out, the shear pin was gone, but the real shock was finding a smooth, round river stone about the size of a bowling ball right where the pin sheared. It was perfectly buried. Learned that even the fanciest gear can't beat old ground, and you always need a digging bar and a spare pin kit on the truck, no matter what. Anyone else hit a hidden rock that completely stalled a machine?

Appreciation post: The guy at the Louisville supply yard who saved my day with a bent post

I was setting a line of 6-foot cedar posts for a client in Oldham County last Tuesday, and one of them had a slight bow I didn't catch. I was about to force it into the hole when the yard manager, Frank, stopped me. He grabbed a scrap 2x4 and a heavy mallet, showed me how to tap the high spot while bracing the base against my truck tire, and straightened it in about a minute. I would have cracked the post or had a weak corner. Anyone have a different trick for fixing a bowed post without taking it back to the shop?

PSA: Tried a new way to set corner posts on a sloped job last week

I had a job in the hills near Bakersfield with a nasty 15 degree slope. I used to set the end posts first and run a line, but this time I set the high corner post, then used a laser level to mark the exact height for the low corner before digging its hole. It cut my measuring time in half and the line was perfect on the first pull. What's your go-to method for keeping a fence straight on a big hill?