Most of what can go wrong with a new fence is hidden: underground, or in a town ordinance. Gas lines and buried electric run under front yards in Cranston and Warwick. Ledge and glacial boulders sit a few inches down in Coventry and Smithfield. Zoning sets heights, and lot lines on old parcels are often less certain than owners think. A fence company that takes those seriously will save you more than one that is a few hundred dollars cheaper.
The Dig Safe clock before the first post hole
Every fence post is an excavation, and Rhode Island treats it that way. Under RIGL 39-1.2-5, anyone excavating within 100 feet of a utility facility has to notify Dig Safe at least 72 hours beforehand, not counting weekends and holidays, and no more than 30 days ahead. Utilities then have 72 hours to mark their lines. In practice, you dial 811.
What that means for scheduling:
- Because Saturday and Sunday do not count, a request made late in the week runs into the next one before digging can begin.
- Marks fade and get mowed. If the crew is delayed past the ticket's life, a new ticket is needed.
- Utility marks show only the utility's lines up to the meter. Your private lines, like a buried cable to a garage light, an irrigation line or a pipe to a detached shed, are not marked. Tell the installer where they are.
Ask the fence company for the Dig Safe ticket number before installation day. A crew that shows up and starts augering without one is breaking the law, and you are the one standing next to a gas line.
Registration, insurance and the $500 exception
Fence companies working on residential property should give you a Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board number, which you can search on the CRLB contractor search. Registered contractors carry $500,000 in liability coverage plus workers' compensation under RIGL 5-65-7. Ask for a certificate of insurance sent directly from the insurer.
The law's exemptions in RIGL 5-65-2 include work of a casual or minor nature totaling under $500 on one project. That does not cover a person who advertises as a contractor, and almost no real fence job falls under $500. A crew offering a cash price for a full yard of fence with no registration number is not exempt; it is unregistered.
Height, setbacks and the town zoning office
Fence rules in Rhode Island are local. Height limits, how close to the line a fence may sit, whether the finished side must face out, and what is allowed in a front yard or on a corner lot where drivers need to see around it are set by each city or town's zoning ordinance. Lincoln, Cumberland and North Kingstown each write their own. Some towns want a permit for a fence over a certain height; others do not.
Before you sign:
- Read your town's fence and accessory-structure rules, or call the zoning office.
- Ask the fence company whether it will apply for any permit the town requires, and whose name goes on it.
- If a pool is involved, ask what the barrier rules require for gates and latches.
Neighborhood associations and condominium rules in some newer developments add another layer. Check those too.
Ledge, boulders and frost in the western towns
The rocky ground of western Rhode Island makes post holes unpredictable. In Exeter, Hopkinton, Richmond and Scituate, an auger can hit ledge or a boulder at a foot down. A good contractor will tell you how they price that before they start:
- Is drilling into ledge and pinning the post included, or charged per hole?
- What happens if a post has to move because of a rock, and does that change the panel layout?
- How deep will the posts go, and will they be set in concrete or tamped gravel?
Frost heave is the other inland problem. Posts that are too shallow lift over a few winters, and gates stop latching. Ask how deep the posts will be set and why.
Fences near the water
On a shoreline lot in Portsmouth, Tiverton or Warwick's coastal neighborhoods, a fence can fall inside the area the Coastal Resources Management Council regulates. CRMC permits work in the state's coastal zone, and coastal buffers and features can limit what goes where. If your property touches a beach, a bluff, a salt marsh or the bay, ask the town building official or CRMC before planning a fence, and ask the fence company whether it has done coastal work before.
Materials on the shore also need more thought. Salt eats ordinary steel hardware, so hinges, latches and fasteners should be stainless or hot-dip galvanized. Vinyl and aluminum resist corrosion but need the posts set well against wind. Cedar weathers gray and holds up near the water if it is well drained at the base.
Boundaries on old Rhode Island lots
Many parcels in this market were laid out long before modern surveys. Stone walls in Scituate and Foster may or may not follow the deed line, and in older city neighborhoods a chain-link fence put up decades ago is often taken as the line by both neighbors when it is not. Building a new fence on the wrong side of a boundary can mean taking it down.
If the line is uncertain, have a licensed surveyor set or confirm the corners before the fence company lays out posts. Ask the installer to build a few inches inside the line, and talk with the neighbor before work starts. A shared fence with a shared cost is common in tight Providence and Pawtucket yards; put that agreement in writing too.
The contract for a fence job
Most fence jobs pass $1,000, and above that line Rhode Island's contractor law requires a written contract carrying the board's disclosures and the lien notice. For a fence, the contract should list the linear footage, height, material and style, the number and width of gates, post depth and setting, removal of any old fence, who confirms the line, and the Dig Safe ticket. The state sets no deposit limit, and fence materials are often custom-ordered, so many companies ask for a deposit to cover them. Keep the final payment until the last gate swings and latches.
Picket in Pawtucket, privacy fence in Coventry: the price spread
For this market the calculator's default for a typical installation is about $3,800 to $7,400; adjust length and material on the fence cost estimate for this market. A short run of picket fence in a Pawtucket yard sits below the range. Two hundred feet of privacy fence on a wooded lot in Coventry, with gates and some ledge, sits well above it.
