Fence replacement is more involved than new installation because of the removal step. Old posts are buried in concrete that has had years to set, old fabric is brittle and breaks in your hands when you try to handle it, and old fasteners rarely back out clean. A clean, on-time replacement comes down to whether the contractor brings the right removal equipment and disposes of the debris properly — not just whether they can build a new fence on top of where the old one stood.
Tearing Out and Hauling Off the Old Fence
Every replacement starts with a removal and disposal plan. Old wood fence is hauled to the local C&D landfill — not stacked behind your garage for you to deal with later. Vinyl is broken down and recycled where local programs accept it.
Chain link is cut into manageable lengths and recycled at scrap yards. Disposal is included in every quote we write. You should never see it as a surprise add-on the day the truck shows up.
Pulling Old Posts and Concrete Footings
Old post removal is the time-consuming part. Posts set thirty-six inches deep in concrete take real effort to extract — they have spent a decade or more bonding to the soil. The contractor we match you with use a hydraulic post-puller for most posts, and a small excavator for exceptionally large concrete footings.
Posts that genuinely cannot be pulled are cut at grade and the concrete footing is ground or buried, depending on the new fence layout. We do not leave concrete footings exposed in your yard.
Replacement Is the Right Time to Upgrade Specs
Most homeowners across Alpharetta and Roswell ask for the same fence they had, and that is fine. But if the original failed because of inadequate post depth, light-duty hinges, or wrong material for the application, replacement is the moment to fix that — not the moment to repeat it. In some cases a targeted fence repair is the smarter call, and we will tell you when it is.
We talk through the failure mode of the old fence on every estimate so the new fence does not run the same trajectory. Sometimes the upgrade is a hundred bucks. Sometimes it is the difference between fifteen years and twenty-five.
Building the New Fence to Our Standard, Not Yesterday's
On the new build, we follow the same standards as our new fence installation work: every post in concrete, every fastener galvanized or stainless, every gate with heavy-duty self-closing hardware, every fence with a 2-year workmanship warranty. The only difference between a replacement and a new install for us is the removal scope. Once the old fence is gone, the new one goes up the same way every other one contractors in our network build does.
Recent Fence Replacement Projects
Hands-On Experience With Fence Replacement
A contractor in our network replaced a fourteen-year-old vinyl privacy fence on a Johns Creek property in 2023 that had been installed without post stiffeners. About half the panels had cracked at the rails after the post wobble accumulated over the years. The homeowner had been told by another contractor that the entire fabric was failing and needed full replacement.
We took a closer look and identified that the panels themselves were structurally fine — the failure was at the post connections. A contractor in our network replaced the posts with steel-sleeved stiffeners, salvaged eighty percent of the original panels, and rebuilt the fence for about sixty percent of full-replacement cost. Two years later, no further panel failures.
The homeowner thanked us for not selling her a job she did not need.
Craftsmanship & Quality Standards
Concrete footings from old posts are heavy — a twelve-inch diameter, thirty-six-inch deep footing weighs about two hundred eighty pounds. They are also extremely well-anchored after a decade of soil compaction in Georgia clay. Hydraulic post-pullers exert four thousand to eight thousand pounds of vertical pulling force, which is usually enough to free the footing without breaking the surrounding ground.
Where the footing is deeper or larger (commercial gate posts), we bring a mini-excavator. Removal cost is roughly twenty to thirty percent of total replacement cost on most jobs.
Why Homeowners Choose Our Fence Replacement
Removal and disposal included
Old fence hauled off and recycled where possible. Never your problem after we leave.
Failure-mode review
We diagnose why the original fence failed so the replacement does not repeat it.
Spec upgrades available
Right time to add post stiffeners, upgrade to cedar, or move to a longer-life material.
Footing handling
Old concrete footings pulled or ground — never left exposed in the yard.
2-year workmanship warranty
Full new-install warranty applies to every replacement.
How We Install Your Fence Replacement
- 1
Removal scope and disposal
Old fence pulled, panels and posts hauled off, footings pulled or ground.
- 2
Spec review
Match existing or upgrade — and why.
- 3
New post setting
All posts set fresh in concrete, regardless of whether old footings can be reused (they almost never can).
- 4
New panel and gate installation
Same standards as new construction.
- 5
Warranty card and walk-through
2-year workmanship warranty on the replacement.
Licensing, Insurance & Credentials
All of our contractors are licensed and insured, members of the American Fence Association, and have been replacing residential fence since 2020.
Fence Replacement Questions, Answered
Can you reuse my old posts?
Almost never. Above-ground portions may look fine, but the buried portions are usually the failure point. We discuss it on the estimate visit but recommend new posts in 95% of replacement jobs.
Do you haul away the old fence?
Yes — included in the quote. We do not leave material on the property.
How long does a replacement take?
Removal day plus 2 to 3 build days for most residential lots. Larger jobs may run 4 to 5 working days.
Will you damage my landscaping?
We protect plantings near the fence line and walk the property with you before and after. Some sod disturbance is unavoidable along the post line; we replace sod where the disturbance is on a finished lawn.
Is replacement cheaper than building from scratch?
Replacement is typically 15 to 25 percent more than a new install of the same fence — the difference is removal and disposal labor.