Charlotte Fence Contractors: Fence Installation and Replacement Across Mecklenburg County

How Charlotte's Neighborhoods Change the Fence

Dilworth, Myers Park, Eastover and Elizabeth have the oldest lots and the biggest trees. Roots decide where posts can go, and a fence line often has to bend around a trunk that is older than the house. Styles lean toward picket, ornamental metal and privacy fence with cap and trim that suits the architecture. Parts of Dilworth, along with Fourth Ward, Wilmore, Wesley Heights, Plaza Midwood and Hermitage Court, are local historic districts, where the owner has to check with Historic District Commission staff before a fence goes up and get a Certificate of Appropriateness where one is required.

Plaza Midwood, NoDa, Villa Heights and the neighborhoods along Central Avenue are bungalow country: narrow lots, short setbacks and neighbors a few feet away. Horizontal board fences are popular there, and privacy matters because the houses are close. Access is the practical issue. Material often goes down a side yard only a few feet wide, so we plan the delivery and the tear-out before the crew shows up.

SouthPark, Cotswold, Barclay Downs, Foxcroft and Madison Park were built with larger yards. Many have pools, which brings the pool barrier requirements in the state residential code into play, and many back up to creeks. Near Briar Creek, Little Sugar Creek and McAlpine Creek, floodplain rules can limit what is built close to the water, so a fence near a stream is worth a call to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services first.

Steele Creek, Berewick, Ballantyne, Highland Creek and University City are the newer side of Charlotte. Nearly every lot there answers to a homeowners association with an approved fence list, and the lots were graded by the builder with swales and easements along the back. Vinyl privacy and black aluminum are the fences most often approved.

Then there is the commercial city: distribution buildings around the airport and along Westinghouse Boulevard, restaurants and breweries in South End, schools, churches and apartment communities everywhere. That work is chain link, ornamental fence, cantilever gates and dumpster enclosures, usually to a site plan and a schedule set by a general contractor.

Types of Fences We Install in Charlotte

Charlotte has room for almost every fence there is. These are the types we build here, grouped loosely from back yard privacy to commercial. Each one links to a page with the construction details, the trade-offs and the questions people ask about it. The full list is on our fence types page, and material choices are compared in the fence materials guide.

• Dog-Ear Fences
• Shadowbox Fences
• Board-on-Board Fences
• Horizontal Fences
• Semi-Privacy Fences
• Lattice-Top Fences
• Stockade Fences
• Wood Fences With Metal Posts
• Pressure-Treated Pine Fences
• Pool Safety Fences
• Dog Fences
• Garden Fences
• Trampoline Fencing
• Black Chain Link Fences
• Ornamental Steel Fences
• Masonry Fences
• Driveway Gates
• Sliding & Cantilever Gates
• Dumpster Enclosures
• Chain Link Privacy Slats
• Tennis Court Fencing
• Baseball Field Fencing
• Split Rail Fences
• Amish Fencing Alternative

Google Reviews for Our Charlotte Office

These reviews were posted by customers on the QC Fence Contractors Charlotte profile on Google and are quoted as written. The profile is rated 4.8 out of 5 on Google, 125 reviews.

Charlotte Fence Rules: Zoning, Certificates and Historic Districts

Fence height and placement in Charlotte are zoning matters under the city's Unified Development Ordinance, and the limits differ between front yards and side or rear yards. In the neighborhood zoning districts, Section 17.2.D of the ordinance limits a fence to five feet in the front setback, six feet in the side setback and eight feet in the rear setback. Building permits in Charlotte and the rest of the county are issued by Mecklenburg County Code Enforcement. Other zoning districts have different limits, so confirm the numbers for your address with the city.

The City of Charlotte says that any fence or wall built along a city street requires a no-cost fence and wall certificate from the Charlotte Department of Transportation, and that such a fence must stay out of the sight distance triangles at intersections. This applies to fences that border or sit near city-maintained streets and sidewalks. Back yard and side yard fences away from the street are not part of that program.

In the local historic districts, the ordinance requires owners to contact Historic District Commission staff before putting up a fence, and work that needs a Certificate of Appropriateness cannot start until it is issued. The city lists new and replacement fencing among the minor projects its staff normally review. That review looks at material, height and where the fence sits on the lot.

Three more things sit outside the city's process. HOA approval, where there is an association, is its own written application. Pool barriers are covered by the state residential code and inspected with the pool. And North Carolina requires three full working days of notice to NC811 before digging.

Rules change, and this page is not legal advice. Confirm the requirements for your address with the local office before building.

Should You Replace Your Charlotte Fence or Repair It?

Replace it when the structure has failed. In Charlotte that usually means wood posts rotted at the ground line after years in wet clay, or a run pushed over by a fallen limb with the posts snapped. New boards on failing posts buy a season or two. A fence that leans along its length, or one where several posts move by hand, is at the end.

Repair it when the frame is good. One crushed section, a gate that has dropped, a few split pickets: those are worth fixing, and we do that work. The test is cost against remaining life. If the repair approaches a large share of a new fence and the rest is the same age, replacement is the better decision, and it lets you fix the height, the style and the gate locations at the same time.