The owner of this residence in Sherman Oaks, Calif., needed a fence to replace one in poor condition and to provide privacy from the neighboring property. A crew of two from Garden By Design installed the structure and panels in one day. It took two days to construct the lattice, which was done off site, and half of a day to install it on top of the fence. Staining the fence and lattice with a Penifin Oil clear coat was done in a day and a half.

The fence was constructed on pressure treated posts and supports. The fence panels are 1-inch by 6-inch tongue and groove redwood. The lattice cap is a square style with 1-inch spacing and was also constructed from redwood.

For this fence in Valley Village, Calif., Garden By Design used 2-inch square, steel posts ranging from nine feet to 12 feet in length. The panels are tongue and groove redwood. They were connected to the posts with self tapping steep screws. The crew of five had to pre-drill the wood so as not to dull the tips of the screws and to stop the wood from splitting.

Acquiring the ability to build wooden fences was a natural step in the business-building process for Hadyn Lazarow, the owner of Garden By Design in Studio City, Calif.

As he puts it, "I put in a garden, what's next? Build a fence. It's an extension of what we do." His landscape company also installs turf, irrigation, lighting, fountains, waterfalls, barbecues, pergolas and more. They build all their fences, be they vertical, horizontal, slat, from scratch. Redwood and cedar are their preferred materials.

This fence in Westwood, Calif., was a replacement for an old chain link fence between two properties. To allow for the tree, the 16-foot-long redwood boards were installed in and around the trunk. The panels were left natural to weather.

An existing deck and railings were demo'd and new ones installed at this residence in Santa Monica, Calif. The new railings had to serve as a privacy screen from the next door property and still maintain an open feel and view to the ocean. The posts and railings are redwood and finished with a driftwood-colored stain. Since the railings were only 1-inch thick, the posts had to be set closer together to ensure they were sturdy enough.

In the Hollywood Hills, this homeowner wanted to better define their property, obscure the neighbor's driveway, and mask the flat dull wall of the residence so Garden By Design built and installed these panels of pressure-treated wood and brush screens.

The posts were dado-cut to allow the brush screens to be slid in to the two by four supports and then secured with deck screws. All work was done on site in one day.

"I started designing gardens a long time ago. I'm a landscape architect by qualification but I prefer to dig holes rather than draw pictures," Lazarow admits.

He feels that fences are not hard to build as long as you find the right line to put them on. "Anyone that can set posts in a straight line and have level can build a fence," says Lazarow. "The most important thing is getting them in a straight line."

Since most fences are built on property lines, and a lot of the times an old fence has to be pulled out first, designing where to build the fence is not a great undertaking. Lazarow is partial to the return on investment of fence building.

This installation in Santa Monica, Calif., was a replacement to an old and damaged fence. The back portion was made to reflect a weathered beach style. The topper and the bench matched the new railings on the deck. Garden By Design also did all of the concrete work including the fire pit.

To give the whitewash distressed finish, the crew of three brushed on the first color and then wiped it off with a cloth, allowed it to dry and then did the same with the second color. Each board was treated this way before installation.

For this fence in Westwood, Calif., Garden By Design set the four by four posts in concrete. They were dado-cut to allow the redwood slats to slide in since the neighbor did not allow the four-man crew any access. The boards were left to weather naturally. Pressure treated wood was installed along the bottom to prevent ground contact from the posts. Due to the neighbors' discord, the demolition and installation had to happen in one day.

Pressure treated four by four posts were set in concrete to provide the supports for this fence in Van Nuys, Calif., that conceals a 5-foot cinder block wall, which was painted olive green to blend in. The backs of the redwood slats were sealed with Cabot wood stain before installation and the fronts were sealed afterwards.

"They're not terribly expensive and if you can do it properly, they are fairly quick to build," he states. "You don't sub out stuff where you can make money."

Besides not making as much profit when a sub is involved, the extra costs to the customer may make the quote too high and the job will be lost according to Lazarow.

When the job is won, Lazarow gives his customers the option of steel or wooden posts. To set them, his crew usually digs the holes three feet deep. A lot of their jobs are in areas with soft sandy soil, so they just dig a deeper hole. And they pour concrete footings for all the fences.

"Never skimp on the concrete," says Lazarow. "Concrete is cheap."

As needed, the landscaping crew also installs pressure treated boards or a "gray beam", a 6-inch-wide concrete footing, along the entire length of the fence line.

"There's always the concern that wood touching dirt will rot," Lazarow says.

Lazarow admits that he has a couple of crewmembers who are very good woodworkers, which makes the process more trouble-free. If you don't have the skill set within your crew, and that is keeping you from building wooden fences instead of subbing them out, why not find or train crewmembers to do so, and build your company's revenue.

This fence in Santa Monica Canyon, Calif., designed by Eric Gomez and Brock Mayeux and built by Mayeux, demonstrates a couple of creative ideas.

First, a fence doesn't have to run the entire perimeter. According to the designers, this fence is meant to create structure & boundary within the front yard while still maintaining a sense of community and warmth by leaving a gap along the property line as well as not running the fence the entire length of the sidewalk and instead using plant material to continue the line of demarcation where the fence ends.

Alternative materials were used in its construction. The wood used is Douglas fir salvaged from a demolished railroad station and a demolished horse corral. The frames are built of powder-coated steel, which allowed the front panel to be curved.

Concerned with stability issues due to high winds, this fence, built by Jackson's Nursery out of Greenburg, Ind., relied on heavy-duty metal brackets that were custom fabricated at a local welding shop. A Bobcat auger dug the holes, concrete was poured, and the brackets were then set in the concrete.

The owner of this residence in Pacific Palisades, Calif., wanted the gate to the front of the house to stand out from the other three gates around the property so instead of making it flush, Mike Seo of Seo Construction recessed it into the walkway with an angular design to give it a distinctive look.