After signing a lease for a single family home, the tenants asked if I could put up a private fence in the backyard, and said they would be willing to split the cost. FYI, the monthly rent for that home is $1000.
I checked with a handyman whom I trust. He estimated that I would need to put up a fence of about 240 linear ft, and offered to install it for me for a labor fee of $5 per ft. This is very good rate for labor. However, his estimates for materials are completely off. He did not include the cost of concrete, brackets, etc.
To make a long story short, it turned out the actual cost of installing the fence is about $5200. (250 linear ft, white vinyl fence ). There is no way that my tenants could share the cost with me in any meaning way using out of pocket money. Nevertheless, I worked out a deal with them. They signed a three year lease with me with a rent raise of $50 per month. I figured that on top of the additional $1800 I am going to collect in 3 yrs, a three years' lease could also save me at least $2000 in tenant turnover cost. This is a win win for both parties involved.
I would also like to share some lessons I learned this time.
1 There are three most common types of fences: steel chain link fence, wood fence, and vinyl fence. Chain link fence is probably the cheapest one, and the vinyl fence the most expensive. Wood fence costs at least 1/3 less than its vinyl counterpart, but requires a regular maintenance of cleaning, staining, and replacement of lumber .
2: Do not trust the material estimates given by a handyman or lowes staff member. Math is never their strong subject anyway. Ask them what materials are going to be used, in how they are going to be used, and do the math yourself. Leave a 10% room in your budget for materials to account for the necessary change of the layout of the fence you originally planned.
