After seven decades of building fences in Tulsa, we have seen every fence mistake there is, usually while replacing the fence it caused. The expensive part is that almost none of them show up on install day. They show up in year three.
Here are the ten mistakes we see Tulsa homeowners make most often when buying a fence, and how to avoid every one of them.
The Pattern Behind All Ten
Fence regret almost always traces to one root cause: deciding on the visible half of the fence and ignoring the invisible half. Pickets and panels are what you see. Posts, footings, gates, property rules, and the contractor’s process are what determine whether the fence is still standing straight when the pickets have silvered.
Keep that lens and the ten mistakes below are easy to spot coming.
Mistake 1: Buying on Price Alone
The cheapest bid is cheap somewhere, and you cannot see where from the driveway. Shallower posts, smaller footings, lighter framework, and thinner pickets all quote lower and all fail sooner, in exactly the ways Oklahoma weather punishes.
The fix: compare bids on specification, not just total. Ask what the posts are, how deep they are set, how much concrete goes in each footing, and what the warranty covers in writing. A bid that cannot answer those questions is not a lower price. It is a different product.
Mistake 2: Guessing at the Property Line
A fence built even a foot onto a neighbor’s lot is a dispute waiting for a closing date. Knowing where your boundary sits is the homeowner’s responsibility, and we install to the boundaries you direct, so guessing puts the risk entirely on you.
The fix: find your survey pins or your plat before the estimate. Our guide to fences and property lines covers setbacks, and our answer on what to do when you do not know the line covers your options if you are unsure.
Mistake 3: Skipping the Permit and HOA Homework
City rules and HOA rules stack, one does not substitute for the other, and both can force changes to a finished fence. Corner lot sight triangles and pool barrier requirements catch the most people.
The fix: one call to your city and one submittal to your HOA before the design is final. We wrote the full playbooks: our guide to fence permits in the Tulsa metro and our guide to HOA fence approvals.
Mistake 4: Undersizing the Gates, or Not Planning Them at All
The most common regret we hear is a gate too narrow for the mower, the trailer, or the future project. Gates are also the hardest-working part of the fence, and the first place cheap construction shows.
The fix: walk your routes before the build: trash carts, mowing, vehicle access, the far side yard. Size every gate for the widest thing that will ever pass through it. Our complete guide to fence gates walks through the whole plan.
Mistake 5: Choosing a Fence Type That Does Not Match the Job
Privacy, pet containment, curb appeal, and low maintenance pull toward different fences, and a fence chosen for the wrong job disappoints even when it is built well. A beautiful ornamental fence contains zero sightlines. A privacy fence closes off the view you bought the lot for.
The fix: name the fence’s top job in one sentence before you look at styles. Then match: cedar privacy for screening, chain link for economical containment, ornamental steel for definition with sightlines, and combinations where the yard needs more than one answer.
Mistake 6: Ignoring What Oklahoma Does to Fences
Northeast Oklahoma is a hard place to be a fence: sustained wind, ice storms, 100-degree summers, and expansive clay soil that works every post through the wet-dry cycle. A fence built to a milder climate’s standard ages fast here.
The fix: build for the conditions. Post depth and footing size matched to clay soil, construction that handles wind load, and materials with a track record here, like Western Red Cedar pickets and galvanized steel posts.
Mistake 7: Treating Posts and Footings as an Afterthought
Every sagging gate, leaning run, and wavy fence line in Tulsa traces back to the ground. Posts and concrete are the least interesting line on the quote and the most important part of the fence.
The fix: ask about the underground. On wood fences, galvanized steel posts remove the most common failure point entirely, and it is the upgrade we recommend most often per dollar.
Mistake 8: Surprising the Neighbors
Shared boundary lines mean shared interest, even when only one homeowner is paying. Surprise builds strain relationships, and confusion about money strains them more. The homeowner who contracts the project is responsible for the full cost; any cost sharing is an arrangement between neighbors.
The fix: a five-minute conversation before the build about dates, the open yard during installation, and pets. Our post on building a fence without building enemies and our answer on who pays for a fence between neighbors cover the details.
Mistake 9: Misjudging the Maintenance You Will Actually Do
Wood rewards periodic care and looks its best with it. If you know yourself well enough to know that staining will never happen, choose a fence that does not need you: vinyl-coated chain link, ornamental steel, or a framed system.
The fix: be honest about your maintenance appetite at the estimate. Our answer on low-maintenance fencing ranks the easy keepers.
Mistake 10: Not Vetting the Contractor’s Process
Anyone with a truck and an auger can quote a fence. What separates contractors is what happens when the crew thinks the job is done: who checks the work, against what standard, and what happens when something is not right.
The fix: ask three questions. Are you licensed and insured? What does your warranty cover, in writing? And who inspects the finished fence? At Empire Fence, our crews build to our exacting installation standards, and on residential projects the completed fence is reviewed by our QA inspector against our quality standards, with most qualifying new installations earning our Gold Seal Certificate of Excellence. New installations carry our 1-year workmanship warranty, with extended 3-year coverage on eligible steel-post components, subject to the written warranty terms.
The One-Week Version of Doing It Right
Avoiding all ten mistakes takes about a week of light homework, most of it in parallel.
- Day 1: write the fence’s one-sentence job, and walk your gate routes.
- Day 2: find your survey pins or plat, and flag your sprinkler lines.
- Day 3: call your city with the one-phone-call checklist from our permit guide, and pull your HOA’s fence rules if you have one.
- Day 4: talk to the neighbors on shared lines.
- Day 5: get your estimates, and compare them on specification with the five-line check below.
For the full sequence from first idea to finished fence, our guide to planning a fence project from start to finish walks every step in order.
How to Compare Two Bids in Ten Minutes
Most of the mistakes above hide inside the bid, so here is the fast way to surface them. Put the two quotes side by side and check five lines:
- Posts. Material, diameter, and depth. “Posts set in concrete” with no numbers is not a specification, it is a sentence.
- Footings. How much concrete per post, and whether gate posts get more. They should.
- Materials by name. “Cedar” is not a grade. #2 or better Western Red Cedar is a grade. The same goes for framework gauge on chain link and coating on steel.
- Gates. Count, widths, and frame construction, itemized, not implied.
- Warranty and process. What is covered, for how long, in writing, and who inspects the finished work.
A contractor who welcomes those questions is telling you something. So is one who dodges them.
The Bottom Line on Buying a Fence in Tulsa
Every one of these mistakes is avoidable before the first post is set, and almost none of them are fixable cheaply after. Sort the boundary, the rules, and the gate plan. Choose the fence for its real job. Then hire for the invisible half: posts, footings, process, and warranty.
Do that, and the fence you buy once is the fence you enjoy for decades, whether you are in Broken Arrow, Owasso, Jenks, or Sapulpa.
Ready to Buy Your Fence Right the First Time?
Empire Fence has built fences across Tulsa and northeast Oklahoma since 1955. Bring us the questions from this list and we will answer every one of them at your estimate.
- Get an instant quote for your project in about 60 seconds.
- Schedule your free estimate to walk your property with our team.
You can also reach us directly at (918) 437-1671.
Empire Fence installs fences across Tulsa and northeast Oklahoma. See our installation process for how we build, and our project gallery for what we build.
