The Cheapest Way to Build a Fence

Ever since I was little, I dreamed of a white picket fence in front of my house. Growing up, my best friend had one and I thought it was so cute. They just have a way of making a house look special. Then we bought our home, and I knew it’d be perfect here. Especially after we finished painting the exterior! So I started brainstorming the cheapest way to build a fence.

See, right now we have a field fence out front. We have a SUPER busy street in front of our house so it is essential to have a fence for the safety of our dogs and son. It was the first thing we put up when we moved in, but I’d like a more permanent solution with a functional gate.

Once the house was painted, I priced out a picket fence. To buy everything for as cheap as possible from a hardware store, it came out to $400 for a 32′ fence. Ugh, that was too expensive for me. See, we’re saving up for a BIG project in January (it’s top secret what it is for now) so we’re trying to save our pennies.

the cheapest way to build a fence

How great is this little house with the picket fence in Key West, Florida?!

After I was discouraged about not being able to afford a new fence, I asked my friends on Instagram for ideas. And, well, it turns there’s lots of places to find used pickets and fence parts! The beauty in reusing a fence is that it is more affordable AND it’s good for the environment.

shop online

look on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, Letgo, or Offerup
Place an ad that you’re looking for fence parts. Who knows what people have laying around!

shop in person

look in an antique shop. Above, I found these vintage fence panels at $100 for each 8′ section
go to a Habitat for Humanity. It’s a thrift store for building supplies! Plus the proceeds go to building houses.
shop at an architectural salvage store

how about a free solution

Did you know that you can get free pallets and then cut them into pickets?! It’s a lot of work to cut the wood apart, but it is a free way to get pickets!

get creative

Call fence companies and ask for the old pickets that they take down. Then you save them a trip to the landfill!
You can also look at the landfill/junkyard to find fence parts

use what you have

Look around your house and see if there’s something you can use. Maybe you have some pallets on hand?

For me, we took down the shutters on our house to replace them with new ones. I didn’t like that these looked like fence parts. Well, turns out, they are fence pickets. As the pile got higher and higher, we thought- maybe this is our picket fence?!

So that’s what we’re doing! Re-using the shutters as a picket fence! We’ll cut them down since they are 6′ high. We bought the cedar posts and concrete and we’re trying to get the fence in before it gets too cold! Stay tuned, I can’t wait to see how this turns out!

p.s. turns out that I love pink houses with white fences. I had all these pictures in my camera roll- lol! Pretty much, it’s meant to be! I have a type- pink house, white fence, flowers, pretty trim. Hubba hubba.

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