Toronto Fence Cost Runs $45 to $110 a Foot for Cedar

Fences in the GTA are priced by the linear foot, and the companies selling them do not agree on what a foot costs. On September 7, 2026 we read the pricing pages of 20 fence operators that install across the GTA. Eighteen print a per-linear-foot figure. Nine publish a cedar rate that covers installation, and those run from $45 to $110 a foot. The middle of that group starts at $55 a foot and tops out at $85, which puts a 100 foot back yard at $5,500 to $8,500 (100 x $55 and 100 x $85). The spread is not all sales technique. Most of it comes from something a quote rarely spells out: what the per-foot number actually covers.

A per-foot price can mean three different things

Installed. The price covers materials, posts, concrete and labour. Deck Master Inc., CityWide Post Hole Digging, OCM Excavation, Project Landscaping and Fence and Deck Pros all label their tables this way.

Supply only. You get the wood, and the fence is still in a pile. One operator, running separate sites for Markham, Richmond Hill and Milton, prices wood at $30 to $50 a foot and vinyl at $40 to $60 with the words "not including labour" attached, then quotes $50 to $80 a foot on the same page for a 6 foot privacy fence. Both are real and they are not comparable.

All in. Magic Landscape describes its per-foot rate as covering design, materials, construction, and clean up including soil and rubbish removal. That is a wider promise than most, and its rates are correspondingly higher.

GTA Composite Fencing shows the gap best, publishing both sides: $75 to $80 a linear foot with installation and $42 to $45 supplied without installation. The lower figure is not a cheaper company. It is a different product.

One more habit to watch: some rates are a floor, not a range. Urban Fence and Deck advertises wood "from $55 per linear ft", and Magic Landscape starts one linear foot at $70 for pressure treated and $125 for cedar. A "from" price is the cheapest version of the job: flat ground, a straight line, easy access.

Cedar, per linear foot, with installation

Cedar is the default back yard privacy fence in the GTA. Seven of the nine rows below use the word installed. Green Side Up Contracting does not: its "installed" attaches to the pressure-treated line beside it. Absolute Home Services heads its column "Average Cost per Linear Foot" on a page about installation costs. Only three name a 6 foot fence. The Unit column says which is which.

The middle of those nine starting prices is $55 and the middle ceiling is $85. Only two companies open below $55, and only one carries its ceiling past $100.

Two cedar prices sit outside that table. Magic Landscape starts its 6 foot cedar single board fence at $125 a linear foot, all in, above every ceiling above. Art Metal Workshop lists cedar at $140 to $150 a foot in a table headed only "Cost per Linear Foot". It never says whether its figures cover installation, and the nearest it comes is a general remark that "Labor costs are often included in the final bill from contractors", so it cannot be ranked against the nine. Its chain-link figures sit two to three times over the set at the low end, and its composite figure sits at the top of the set rather than above it, at $65 to $85 for chain link and $180 to $200 for composite. Aurora's at $45 to $85 and Urban Fence and Deck from $55 both cover cedar, but each is one band for pressure-treated and cedar together, so neither publishes a cedar rate of its own and neither is in the table.

Pressure treated wood is the cheapest way to get privacy

Pressure treated pine or spruce buys the same height and privacy for less, and gives it up sooner. Deck Master puts pressure treated at 15 to 20 years against 20 to 30 for cedar.

The middle starting price across those nine rows is $40 and the middle ceiling is $65. Against the cedar table the honest gap between the two woods is about $15 a foot at the bottom and $20 at the top, not the doubling the marketing implies. Magic Landscape and Urban Fence and Deck publish floors here instead of ranges, at $70 and $55 a foot.

Vinyl, chain link and aluminum

Vinyl never needs staining. Chain link is the cheapest fence anyone installs. Aluminum is bought for looks.

The middle of those seven starting prices is $55 and the middle ceiling is $95.

The middle starting price is $25 and the middle ceiling is $50. The three-city operator quotes $10 to $30 a foot on both its Markham and its Milton page. The Markham heading, "What is the Cheapest Fence Per Foot?", says nothing about labour; the Milton heading, "What is the Cheapest Fence to Have Installed?", frames the same figure as installed. Privacy slats add $5 to $12 a foot at CityWide, which buys privacy without a wood budget.

Six companies, a middle starting price of $70 and a middle ceiling of $135. Art Metal Workshop quotes $140 to $160 for aluminum, again from the table that never says what is included.

Posts, gates and taking the old fence away

The per-foot rate covers the run of fence. Gates, extra posts and demolition are priced on their own, and that is where a quote grows after you sign.

Magic Landscape prices its upgrades one by one, which shows how a fence gets expensive. Every extra foot of height is $10 a linear foot, a lattice top another $10 a foot, and setting a post with a pipe above ground rather than at grade is $30 more per post. None of it appears in the headline rate.

Old fence removal is worth pricing before you sign, because the five companies that publish a rate span $3 to $18 a linear foot. On a 100 foot run that is the difference between $300 and $1,800 (100 x $3 and 100 x $18).

The minimum charge nobody quotes

A short run is not a cheap job. Digging and setting posts takes the same crew and truck whether the fence is 20 feet or 120, and several GTA companies say so in a figure.

CityWide's downtown premium is the only published price we found that charges for a narrow laneway and nowhere to park. Friendly Giant Fences and Decks sets its floor differently. It answers "How much do you charge to replace 4x4 fence posts?" with $350 a post and a three post minimum, so its smallest post job is 3 x $350 = $1,050. Post holes alone are billed at $250 for the first hour and $200 for each hour after, material extra.

Four operators out of 20 tell you about HST

Ontario charges 13 per cent HST on fence installation, so an $8,000 fence carries $1,040 of tax (8,000 x 0.13). We searched every page in the set for any statement about tax. Four operators make one.

That leaves 16 of the 20 saying nothing, and it matters most when you line two quotes up side by side. FencesDecks.ca prices cedar at $55 to $85 a foot with the tax already in it. Seven of the other eight in the cedar table say nothing about tax; the eighth, CityWide, says 13 per cent goes on top. If those seven are pre tax, FencesDecks.ca is cheaper than it looks. Treat a silent quote as pre tax until the company writes otherwise, and get it in the written estimate.

Two of the 20 print no per-foot figure. Evergreenz writes about per-foot pricing across two pages without giving one. Friendly Giant answers "how much do you charge per linear foot" with "Each job site is unique" and points at its estimate calculator.

The permit line you should not be paying for

Three of the pages we read tell you to put a permit in your fence budget. Green Side Up Contracting says Toronto's height rules and zoning "can add $150-400 to your project cost". CityWide says "Toronto building permits for fences over certain heights add $175-$500+". Project Landscaping budgets $100 to $500 in municipal permit fees.

For an ordinary Toronto fence, that line is not a cost. Chapter 447, the fence by-law consolidated to June 9, 2021, carries exactly one permit provision, § 447-1.3 B, and it is for swimming pool enclosures. The City's fences page sets out a zoning certificate and a pool fence enclosure permit and nothing else, and Toronto Building's list of work needing a building permit never mentions fences. Municipal Licensing and Standards told council the same: "the only private fences that require permits are pool enclosures". So no fence height on its own triggers a permit. Other work around a fence still can, and a retaining wall over one metre on or next to public property is the common one. A fence that breaks the height table is not a permit you buy, it is an exemption you apply for. Our guide to the Toronto fence and pool fence rules covers the heights and the pool enclosure permit in full.

Deck Master handles it better, telling readers that most residential fences within the by-law height limits need no permit and to confirm with the City first. OCM Excavation puts no dollar figure on it, but does open with "Most GTA municipalities require permits for fences over a certain height" before saying it checks the specific rules for your municipality. Checking per municipality is the right instinct in Vaughan or Milton, where the by-law and any fees are the town's own.