Fence Building School

eddymn

Does anyone know where such a school exists? It seems that our craft is one that you have to learn working for a big fence building contractor. As a new business owner, it sure would be nice to pick peoples brains and network with other fence builders for ideas, tips, time-savers, etc. The big contractors don't seem too interested in offering up information to a newbie. I know some fence building books exist and they are good, but they can't beat someone with years of experience. Any ideas? I know they have something in Oklahoma in the fall, but other than that, how did you all learn? Was it just on the job and from hard knocks? That is what I am doing now...

John Hyatt

Funny you should bring up fence building in Oklahoma. My dear ol State has no builder requirements at all a 9 year old could build a muilti million $ house but to be perfectly legal the state wants a fence building license, I am not kidding cost about a $1000 they have a textbook and an office downtown in okc. nothing in this book has much to do with fence building. Its A Funny World. J

TheFishGuy

Really?

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eddymn

John....that is very weird. Do you build fences? Oklahoma...the land of great college football teams AND required fence building licences. I would even consider traveling to Oklahoma to get training but not for a thousand dollars.

John Hyatt

It gets even better its $1000 per year, there is no training just pay the money get the ticket. One of the first questions on the test>> Are you on parole ? Kid..have you ever been arrested..you can get anything you want at Alices Rest to Ront.

I do real spendy fences, I call them Garden Walls , starting out at $85 a running ft the best I have done so far is $135 r ft this one had T&G ipe on both sides with a black allum pipe band on top to match the railing on the deck.

Dont take offense,,get the gate!!! John

lgoode

There is a fence school, and actually I think it's in Oklahoma! It's got a good reputation. Just google American Fence Association and you'll find the info. Also, I asked one of the AFA people to post further info here.

nywoodwizard

Maybe i should become an instructor,bring your diggers and $1000 and i'll teach you fencing 101. Classes start at my house this weekend, Sorry no checks.

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bcf

I know the AFA has schooling for a couple of weeks in the summer, somewhere out west. I've also heard of some schooling in NY( could that be you, nywood?) On the job experience really is the best, just stay away from those Suzie homemaker/American Builder type shows!

BTW, where are you located at? PM with any questions.

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eddymn

don't have the thousand yet and my wife might frown on me leaving for a few weeks to go to the wizard's fence building school; but that being said, do you ever use Home Depot, Lowe's, Menards as your lumber supplier? I'm trying to get business and keep my bids a little lower. Is that a good idea? or not....thanks.

eddymn

why do you say this? A waste of time and money? Don't they get contractors business?

nywoodwizard

You are correct,i also believe on the job experience is the best,alot of those home improvement shows hardly show you everything,including trouble shooting when you run into problems.

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dmrudy

Everybody is correct...the school is provided by the AFA and sometimes they have and sometimes they don't...all depends on participation...OJT and hooking up with somebody who wants to show you the ins and outs is your best bet...when you start off on your own, start with small jobs and work your way to the larger ones...that's what i did...each job I got more and more confident in my abilities and problem solving...good luck!

KennMacMoragh

I learned fencing when I first started in construction, learned it working along side more experienced people. Sure a couple schools exist, but I don't think you'll ever find one because it shouldn't take long to learn it. Posts, rails, pickets, cap?? Can't see there being much interest in a class for it.

jamesonthornton

I Believe that a fence contractor school would be helpful to someone wanting to learn who has extra time on their hands, however in real life most fence contractors especially in austin texas have bills to pay. Thus we go out in the field and learn from cold hard experience and apprenticeship under experienced fence companies and fence builders who know what they are doing. Long Story short a Fence school would be helpful, but in my personal opinion I would rather and rather hire a experienced person in fence contracting than a educated fence builder. For more info check out http://www.choosepatriot.com

FramingPro

does this bring back memories of my Framers skool thread

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ParamountFence

I am not sure if there is an actual 'school' for fence installing however, if you visit the annual FENCETECH meetings and go to your AFA chapters meetings, you should see tons of workshops that will give you some expert training.

cheers,

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