Chain-link fence cost in Lincoln, NE

Specs and site conditions that change a Lincoln bid

• Coating

  Black or green vinyl-coated mesh costs more than galvanized.

• Gates

  Gates are $80-$1,000+ before installation. Rolling or slide gates are the expensive end.

• Survey

  A land survey ($300-$900) is worth it before you put a fence near a boundary.

Add-ons priced for Lincoln

Extras are quoted nationally and then scaled to Lincoln by the average of the local wage index (0.92) and goods index (0.94), a factor of 0.93. Tick any of them in the estimator above to add them to your total. Treat these as planning figures: an add-on touches different trades than the main job, so the scaling is an approximation.

Climate in Lincoln: timing your chain-link fence job

We use NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals for Lincoln Muni Ap (5 miles from the city center). These are 30-year monthly averages, not forecasts.

March through November is the stretch where exterior installation runs into the fewest weather problems in Lincoln (9 of 12 months). January, February and December have an average daytime high under 45°F.

In January, February and December the average high stays below 45°F. Sealants, adhesives and some materials, such as vinyl, are harder to install well in the cold, and short daylight cuts the working day.

Lincoln gets about 29 inches of precipitation in a normal year, including roughly 26 inches of snow. The wettest months are May, June and August (4.9 inches in May). Inside the workable window, March and November are the driest, at 1.6 and 1.3 inches. The station averages about 42 days a year at 90°F or above.

Does the season change the price? Probably, but we do not have a sourced seasonal price curve, so the estimator shows a year-round figure and does not adjust by month. When you collect quotes, ask whether scheduling in a slower month gets a better rate.

Related projects, priced for Lincoln

Because every project leans on different trades, Lincoln's wage level does not move all prices equally. Against the US midpoint, gravel driveway runs −3% and wood fence −8%.

Lincoln: what basic, standard and premium work costs

Three bands are cut from the same cited range and localized for Lincoln wages and prices. They overlap on purpose: a good standard job and a modest premium job can cost the same. The grid below prices the same bands at 4 common sizes.

Is Lincoln cheap or dear? The local comparison

Contractors rarely work more than an hour or two from home, so the neighboring metros set a rough ceiling and floor for your quotes. Midpoints for 150 linear ft range from $3,550 to $3,850 across Lincoln and its five closest metros.

Across 300 US metros, Lincoln comes in at #191 from the top. The priciest is Honolulu, HI at $5,450; the cheapest is Brownsville, TX at $3,000 (midpoints, 150 linear ft). Statewide, Lincoln is 1% below the Nebraska figure.

Other Nebraska metros

Cities with a workforce like Lincoln's

Big cities and small ones price differently, so here is Lincoln against the 4 metros with the closest total employment.

Lincoln labor market for chain-link fence

Wages are the part of this estimate that changes most from town to town. 2 trades carry the job here, and each is compared with its US median. The weighted result for Lincoln is 0.92 times the national level.

Construction laborers (47-2061), 60% of the weighting: a median of $22.45 an hour, in line with the US median of $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $19.28 and $24.46 an hour. About 1,250 work in the metro. That is 68.4 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 70.5 nationally, so the supply of crews looks typical.

For carpenters (47-2031, weighted 40%) the local median is $24.00 an hour, which is 18% below the national $29.12. The middle half of them earn between $21.70 and $28.77 an hour. BLS counts 1,020 of them working in the area, 55.9 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 43.1), so the local bench is deeper than average.

Quotes come from real crews, not medians. If the construction laborers on your job are paid at the 75th percentile ($24.46 an hour) instead of the median, the labor line grows by about $120. At the 25th percentile ($19.28) it shrinks by about $200. The total moves by 3.5% or 5.5%, so wages alone rarely explain a quote that is far outside our range.

For context on the local economy, BLS counts 182,620 jobs in the Lincoln area. That makes it the 126th largest of the 300 metros we cover, with 0.12% of US employment.