Need a few pickets replaced, a gate set right, a fresh coat of stain or a whole new fence? San Antonio Expert Fence handles fence repair, staining and installation in Universal City.
The name Universal City goes back to 1931, the year Randolph Field opened. The developer who named the tract had in mind what he hoped would be the universal importance of the neighboring airfield, and the city still sits across the railroad tracks from Randolph's main gate, with streets named Aero, Lindbergh, Wright and Curtiss. San Antonio Expert Fence builds and repairs fences here, from a handful of new pickets to a whole new fence, and we plan the work to what the city's own pages say about fences.
A few broken pickets or a gate that's started to drag can be fixed without touching the rest of the fence, and there's no reason to replace boards and posts that are still in good shape. In Universal City, the city has its own terms for that kind of work. When it rewrote its fence rules in 2023, it spelled out what counts as minor maintenance and what counts as major maintenance, and its permit fee schedule lists a fee of its own for major fence maintenance.
At the City Council's public hearing on the rewrite in September 2023, a resident told the council that neighbors were confused about major maintenance. They wondered why the cutoff for minor maintenance came at seventeen pickets, and why they would need to pay for city approval to keep up their own fence. The code that came out of that rewrite draws the line right there. Replacing fewer than 17 pickets, or fixing rails, trim, post caps, kickboards or gate parts, is minor maintenance and needs no permit. Replacing 17 or more pickets, more than one post, or the whole fence as it was is major maintenance, which takes a permit, the fee and an inspection. So before any work starts, we count what your fence needs and tell you which side of that line it falls on.
If the posts are holding and the trouble is a stretch of boards or the gate, a repair keeps the fence you have. If a new fence makes more sense, we'll give you both prices so you can weigh them. A new fence, or one that replaces the old, is on the city's permit list, and that's covered further down this page.
Typical prices for fixing up the fence you already have, from a repair to a coat of stain, and for a new wood fence in its place.
| Item | Typical price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Fence repair, typical job | $190–$870 | per job |
| Gate repair or rehang | $97–$390 | per gate |
| Staining, one side, 6–8 ft fence | $3.25–$7.25 | per linear foot |
| Pine privacy fence, 6 ft | $19–$39 | per linear foot installed |
| Cedar fence | $15–$42 | per linear foot installed |
Repairs are priced by the job or by the gate, and staining and new fences by the foot. The city's listed fees for a fence permit or for major fence maintenance aren't part of these prices. Try the cost calculator.
Parts of Universal City have residential alleys, and if your fence runs along one, the city has something to say about the trees above it. Its Code Compliance sheet says that where residents have alleyways, branches are to be trimmed to at least 13 feet 6 inches and cut back to the fence line. The city's tree clearance diagram shows the same thing: a residential alley with a fence beside it, the branches cleared back above the fence line, and 13 feet 6 inches marked over the alley.
The same sheet asks you to keep your neighbors in mind when you look over your trees, "to ensure that your family tree is not hanging on to their roof or yard area."
When we measure a fence line along an alley, we look at the limbs above it too. If branches hang low over the line, we'll point them out early, while the trimming is simple to plan and before a new fence is sitting underneath.
If privacy is what you're after, the city's Code Compliance sheet puts a limit on how tall a fence can be. Under the heading "Building a Fortress around Your House," it says: "Everyone likes to have privacy. However, a high fence barricade is prohibited." A fence, it goes on, "can only be 6 feet in height from natural grade and must be in good repair at all times."
A 6-foot wood privacy fence is right at that number, and we plan a privacy fence to the city's limit.
If it's a dog you're fencing in, mention the dog when you write, and we'll plan the fence and the gate with it in mind.
The sheet also says fences "can only be constructed of commonly used fence material," and it names scrap metal, tires and offensive materials as not allowable.
When a new fence makes more sense than another repair, Universal City's permit list covers it plainly. The list of work that needs a permit before it starts includes "Fences – new installation and/or replacement," so a fence where there wasn't one before and a new fence in place of an old one both need a city permit before work begins. The city's listed fees are among the figures near the top of this page, and they're separate from the price of the fence.
We work the fence out with you before anything is applied for: where the line runs, how tall it stands, where the gate goes and what it's made of. That way the fence the city reviews is the one you've already settled on, and no post holes are dug until the permit is in hand. If you know roughly how long your fence runs and where you'd like the gate, put that in the form here and we'll start from there.
Because a repair can be anything from a couple of loose boards to a long stretch of new pickets and a post or two. The price table above gives typical ranges for a repair job and for a gate. Where yours lands depends on how many boards and posts need replacing and whether the gate needs rehanging, and if the work counts as major maintenance with the city, the listed city fee comes on top. Once we've seen the fence, we'll give you a price for the work it actually needs.
No. Universal City's code lists power washing, painting and staining as minor maintenance, which needs no permit, fee or inspection. If your fence is sound and has just gone gray, a fresh coat of stain is one of the jobs we take on, and the table above has a price range for it.
A member of the Planning and Zoning Commission asked nearly that when the commission reviewed the 2023 rewrite: whether there was a time limit between replacing one batch of pickets and replacing another later. City staff said the amendment doesn't provide for that and such cases would be dealt with case by case, according to the draft minutes. Since those minutes give no set answer, we'll look over the whole fence with you and tell you what needs fixing now and what can wait.
You do, for the strip along the fence. The city's drainage page says its crews stay 2 feet away from all fences when they mow drainage areas, and that keeping up the grass and weeds along the fence line is the resident's job. If you're planning a new fence there, we'll go over where it sits against the drainage area with you before it's built.
Universal City's fee schedule says three plan reviews and the initial inspection fees are included in the price of a permit. Plan reviews after that, and re-inspections, are charged as additional fees.
Repairs and staining sit on this list next to new fences and gates.
Our fence jobs reach past Universal City to these towns as well.
A few loose pickets, a gate that drags, a fence that's ready for stain or one that's ready to be replaced: send us a note about it, and mention an alley or a drainage area behind the fence if there is one. We'll tell you what it needs and where it stands with the city before anything starts.
San Antonio Expert Fence is a fence company in San Antonio, Texas, for homes, businesses and HOAs. We repair fences and build new ones, and every job starts with a free visit and a written price.
Each city around San Antonio writes its own fence rules, and we plan every fence to the ones where your home is.
