RSB Empire → Construction → Fence Installation & Repair
Sheet A-101 · Bell Engineering & Construction
Wood privacy, PVC, aluminum, chain link, and farm fencing across Palm Beach County — posts set plumb in concrete, gates that swing true, and lines pulled straight. Built by a licensed general contractor — the only Palm Beach County contractor who is also a certified energy engineer, not a fly-by-night crew.
Scope of Work
Buyer’s Guide
A Palm Beach County fence fights blazing sun, salt-laden air, driving summer rain, and hurricane-force gusts — all in the same year. The right material depends on what the fence is for (privacy, security, keeping pets or livestock in, or curb appeal), your budget, your soil, and your HOA’s rules. Here is how the common options actually hold up in Loxahatchee, The Acreage, Wellington, and the coast.
The warmest look and the most private. Pressure-treated pine and cedar resist rot, but Florida humidity still asks for a seal or stain every two to three years to fight warping and graying. A shadowbox layout — boards alternating on each side of the rail — looks finished from both yards and lets storm wind pass through instead of pushing on a solid wall.
Nearly maintenance-free: it will not rot, rust, or feed termites, and UV-stabilized panels hold their color for years under our sun. It costs more up front than wood but earns it back in privacy fencing you rarely have to touch — a hose-down is usually all it needs.
Powder-coated aluminum gives you the wrought-iron look without the rust that eats real iron and steel near the coast. Because you can see through it, it never blocks a breeze or a view, which makes it the go-to for front yards and for pool enclosures that have to meet Florida’s pool-barrier safety code.
The most economical way to secure a boundary, a dog run, or a commercial yard. Galvanized or vinyl-coated mesh stands up to weather for decades; add privacy slats or screen where you want to block the view.
Out on the acreage in Loxahatchee and The Acreage, we run field fence, no-climb horse fence, and wood post-and-rail for livestock, pastures, and agritourism property. Long straight runs pulled tight and braced at the corners so they stay tight.
How We Build
A fence is only as good as the ground it stands in. Before we dig we call Sunshine State One Call (811) for a free utility locate — required by Florida law and the thing that keeps a post hole from finding a gas or cable line. We confirm your property line, check the municipality’s height and setback limits, and, where your neighborhood requires it, help you clear the design with the HOA.
Then the fence gets built to last: line posts set plumb in concrete footings sized to the fence height and wind load, with wider, deeper footings at corners and gates where the strain lives. Gates hang on rated hardware so they swing true and latch clean for years, not weeks. As a licensed general contractor we pull the permit when one is needed and carry the job through final inspection — so the fence is never a problem when you sell or file an insurance claim.
Code & Compliance
Florida doesn’t set one statewide fence height limit — every Palm Beach County municipality, and every zoning district within it, writes its own. What they share is a common pattern rather than a single number: a lower maximum height at the front-yard setback line, where sightlines for drivers and pedestrians matter, and a taller maximum allowed toward the side and rear yard, where privacy matters more than visibility. Corner lots usually carry an extra visibility-triangle restriction near the street on top of the base height rule. Because the exact figure changes from one zoning district to the next — and sometimes from one HOA overlay to the next — we pull the zoning for your specific address before we quote, so the height on the permit application is the height that passes final inspection, never a guess.
A fence generally has to sit entirely on or inside your recorded property line, and it can’t encroach into a recorded easement — a utility easement, a drainage easement, or a swale — even by a few inches, even though that strip is still legally yours to mow and maintain. That’s a separate compliance layer from HOA design review, and it’s covered in more detail just below, in property lines, surveys, and easements.
Palm Beach County sits inside Florida’s Wind-Borne Debris Region, and depending on the material, the height, and the design, a fence section, a gate, or a post-and-footing assembly can trigger an engineering letter or a Florida Product Approval / Notice of Acceptance number before a permit gets issued. Where that threshold sits moves with material and design, so we confirm the exact requirement for your fence and your address rather than quoting a blanket number here — the specifics we’ve confirmed for particular cities live on the city pages further down this site.
Most Palm Beach County municipalities require a building permit before a new fence goes up, though a number of them exempt very low fences from that requirement — the exact cutoff varies by jurisdiction, so we confirm it for your address rather than assume. Whether or not a permit ends up being needed, every post hole on every job gets a free Sunshine State One Call (811) utility locate first, with time given for the lines to be marked before the crew breaks ground — it’s required by Florida law, and it’s the difference between a clean install and a digging bar finding a buried gas, power, water, or cable line.
Before You Build
A lot of Palm Beach County neighborhoods — Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, the gated communities off Southern Blvd, plenty of subdivisions in West Palm Beach and Boynton Beach — sit inside a homeowners association, and a fence is an exterior modification almost every HOA reviews before you break ground. Florida law (F.S. 720.3035) requires those architectural standards to be written down and objective — approved materials, approved colors, a maximum height — not just a board member’s taste on the day you apply. We ask for the community’s written standard up front and build to it, so the Architectural Review Committee sign-off happens before the crew shows up, not after.
A fence has to sit entirely on your side of the line, and most municipalities want a current boundary survey with the permit application to prove it. If you don’t have a recent survey, that’s the first thing we help you sort out — it’s cheaper to confirm the line before digging than to move a finished fence because a corner was two feet off.
Plenty of Palm Beach County lots carry a recorded utility or drainage easement across part of the yard, and building a fence inside one usually means getting the easement holder’s written permission first — the strip is still yours, but someone else has a legal right to get into it. We check the recorded plat before we quote so an easement shows up on the estimate, not as a change order halfway through the job.
Questions, Answered
Most fences in Palm Beach County require a permit, and height and setback rules vary by municipality and zoning. As a licensed general contractor we handle the permit and build to code, so the fence never becomes a problem when you sell or file an insurance claim.
PVC and aluminum handle Florida sun, rain, and humidity with almost no maintenance. Pressure-treated wood looks warmer but needs sealing every few years. We'll walk the property line with you and give a straight recommendation for your budget.
Yes — storm-damage fence repair is one of our most common calls. We can often re-set leaning posts and replace damaged sections without rebuilding the whole run, and we document the damage for your insurance claim.
It depends on material, length, and gates. Every estimate is free, in person, and good numbers — call (561) 779-3213 and we'll measure it properly.
It varies by municipality and by where the fence sits. In much of Palm Beach County residential rear and side fences can go up to 6 feet, while front-yard fences are usually held lower — and corner lots have visibility-triangle rules near the street. We check your zoning before we quote so the height is approved, not a surprise at inspection.
Yes. Florida’s residential pool-barrier law requires an enclosure at least 4 feet tall with self-closing, self-latching gates that open away from the pool. Powder-coated aluminum is the usual choice — it meets code, resists coastal rust, and keeps the view open. We build and permit it to pass inspection.
Always. We call Sunshine State One Call of Florida (811) for a free utility locate before any post hole — it’s the law, it’s free, and it’s what keeps a digging bar away from a buried gas, power, water, or cable line.
Line posts are set in concrete footings, with the depth and footing size scaled to the fence height and the wind load. Corner, end, and gate posts carry the most strain, so they get wider, deeper footings. That’s the difference between a fence that shrugs off a storm and one that leans after the first big blow.
Usually, yes. We can tie new sections into an existing run, replace storm-damaged panels, or extend a line as your needs change — matching material and height so it reads as one fence, not a patch.
In most Palm Beach County communities with a homeowners association, yes — a fence is an exterior modification that almost always needs Architectural Review Committee approval before you break ground. Florida law (F.S. 720.3035) requires those standards to be written and objective, covering approved materials, colors, and height, rather than a board's personal taste. We build to the HOA's written standard and get that paperwork lined up before we schedule the crew.
Then the easement holder — the utility company, drainage district, or sometimes the HOA — has to sign off before we build in that strip, even though it's still your property. We check the recorded plat and survey up front so an easement doesn't turn into a fence you have to move later.
No — height limits are set municipality by municipality and zoning district by zoning district, not countywide. The general pattern is a lower limit at the front-yard setback and a taller limit toward the side and rear yard, but the exact number changes lot to lot. We confirm the number for your specific address as part of every fence estimate.
A fence has to sit on or inside your property line, and it can't run through a recorded utility or drainage easement even though that strip is still legally yours. Most municipalities want a current boundary survey with the permit application — we help you confirm the line before anyone digs.
It can, depending on the material, height, and design — Palm Beach County sits in the Wind-Borne Debris Region, and some fence and gate assemblies need an engineering letter or a Florida Product Approval number before a permit is issued. We confirm the exact requirement for your material and your address rather than quoting a generic number.
Some municipalities exempt very low fences from permitting, but most require a permit for new fence installation, and the exemption height varies by jurisdiction. We pull the correct requirement for your address and handle the permit application either way.
We call Sunshine State One Call of Florida (811), which is free and required by law, and give it time to mark any buried gas, power, water, or cable lines running through your yard before a single post hole gets dug. It's a routine step on every fence job, not an extra we bill for.
Serving Wellington
Village-permitted fencing for Binks Forest, Olympia, the Equestrian Preserve Area and every other Wellington community — paddock rail, pool-safety barriers and HOA-cleared installs. See our Wellington fence page →
Town-permitted fencing for Abacoa, Jupiter Farms, Jonathan's Landing and every other Jupiter community — HOA/ARB-cleared installs and agricultural fencing for acreage lots. See our Jupiter fence page →
Village Hall e-permitted fencing for Madison Green, the Colony, and every other Royal Palm Beach community — Wind-Borne Debris Region rated posts and HOA-cleared installs. See our Royal Palm Beach fence page →
Serving Loxahatchee
Paddock rail, field fence and property-line fencing across The Acreage, Loxahatchee Groves and Westlake, permitted through whichever office covers your parcel and cleared with ITID or easement approval near a swale or canal — from a crew whose own shop sits right here on Okeechobee Blvd. See our Loxahatchee & The Acreage fence page →
Chapter 16 permitted fencing for Cresthaven, Lucerne Lakes, Covered Bridge and every other Greenacres community — Wind-Borne Debris Region rated posts and HOA-cleared installs. See our Greenacres fence page →
Serving Palm Beach Gardens
City-permitted fencing for PGA National, BallenIsles, Frenchman's Creek, Mirasol and every other Palm Beach Gardens ARB community — architectural-review submittals prepared alongside the City permit, and standard permitting for the older MacArthur-era garden-city streets. See our Palm Beach Gardens fence page →
Serving Boynton Beach
SagesGov e-permitted fencing for Leisureville, Hunters Run, Quail Ridge and every other Boynton Beach community — Wind-Borne Debris Region posts rated to the City's roughly 170 mph design speed and HOA-cleared installs. See our Boynton Beach fence page →
Serving Delray Beach
City-permitted fencing for Del-Ida Park, Lake Ida, Osceola Park, Tropic Isle, Kings Point, Rainberry Bay and every other Delray Beach community — Historic Preservation Board Certificate-of-Appropriateness review where a historic district requires it, condo/HOA-cleared installs in the gated 55+ communities, and Wind-Borne Debris Region posts rated to your parcel. See our Delray Beach fence page →
Free estimate, 24-hour response, and a licensed contractor who answers his own phone.