We help Ottawa homeowners find local fence installers, understand what fences cost according to published pricing, and know what the City's Fence By-law allows before the first post hole is dug.
A fence looks simple until the rules come up. Ottawa's Fence By-law caps a residential fence at 1 m in the front yard and 213 cm in the other yards, measured from the grade at the base. Corner lots and driveways add triangles where nothing over 75 cm is allowed, and the City's zoning by-laws add a larger sight triangle on corner lots. A fence on the road allowance can be removed. These are the questions that come up when a quote lands on the kitchen table, or when a neighbour asks who is paying.
Some of the answers surprise people. A residential fence that does not enclose a pool needs no building permit in Ottawa, but it does need a free locate before any digging, under Ontario law. The City does not license fence contractors; its hardscaping licence specifically excludes fences, and we found no Ontario licence for fence installers either. Shared boundary fences have their own process under Ontario's Line Fences Act. None of that is explained on a quote, so we explain it here.
Ottawa Fences is a matching service, not a fence company. We do not measure, dig, build or repair fences and we do not employ installers. You tell us about your fence, and we send your request to local fence installers listed in the Ottawa Construction Network directory. They reply to you by email. We do not screen or verify them, and we say so, which is why every page tells you what to check yourself.
Choose the job type and add what you have in mind: the material, roughly how long the run is, how many gates, which yard it is in, or a quote you want to compare. No phone number needed.
We send your request to local fence installers in the Ottawa Construction Network directory. They contact you by email to arrange a look at the yard and a written quote.
Compare quotes line by line: material and height, length, how the posts are set and how deep, gates as their own line, removal of the old fence, and who requests the locate. Check where your property line is before the work starts.
This site covers one trade. Your request goes to fence installers, not general contractors or other trades, for wood, vinyl, chain link, ornamental and composite fences, gates, repairs and replacement. Pool enclosures are covered by ottawapoolinstallation.ca.
A service page gives a range only where at least two independent published Ontario installer price pages agree, labelled and dated. Where prices vary too widely or too few are published, such as ornamental aluminum and repairs, we say so instead of inventing one.
We explain the protections that matter when you hire here: a written direct agreement over $50, the 10-day cancellation right on a direct agreement, the 10% limit over an estimate, the Construction Act holdback, and when a WSIB clearance applies.
Our free knowledge base answers Ottawa fence questions: how tall a fence can be, what the corner and driveway triangles mean, what fences cost according to published pricing, locates and property lines, and how to compare quotes.
The jobs we match, with the published range where one exists:
Pressure-treated and cedar board, picket and privacy fences, built to Ottawa's Fence By-law heights and with the finished side facing out.
Pressure-treated about $30–$65 and cedar about $45–$85 per linear foot installed (published Ontario installer pricing, 2025–26; yours will differ). Gates and removal of an old fence are priced on top.
PVC privacy, picket and semi-privacy fences for Ottawa yards, with the height, corner and driveway rules checked before the posts go in.
About $45–$90 per linear foot installed; premium styles cost more (published Ontario installer pricing, 2025–26; yours will differ).
Vinyl-coated or powder-coated chain link for Ottawa yards. Plain galvanized chain link is not allowed on residential property.
Roughly $15–$50 per linear foot installed, a wide spread; coating adds a few dollars a foot (published Ontario installer pricing, 2025–26; yours will differ).
Powder-coated aluminum and wrought-iron style fences for fronts, sides and backs of Ottawa homes, within the by-law heights.
Published prices for ornamental aluminum vary too widely to quote a range, and we found only one source for wrought iron. Compare quotes on the same style, height and gate count.
Composite board privacy fences for Ottawa yards, with the same height, triangle and locate rules as any other fence.
About $55–$95 or more per linear foot installed (published Ontario installer pricing, 2025–26; yours will differ).
Walk gates and drive gates for Ottawa fences, sized to the by-law's gate allowance in side and rear yards.
Walk gates about $500–$1,500 and driveway gates about $800–$2,200 installed (published Ontario installer pricing, 2025–26; yours will differ). Priced on top of the fence itself.
Leaning posts, broken boards, sagging gates and storm damage repaired so the fence stays stable and vertical, as the by-law requires.
Too few published repair prices to quote a range. Ask whether posts and boards are priced separately.
Old fences taken down and hauled away, and a new one built on your side of the line, to today's by-law heights.
Removal and disposal roughly $5–$15 per linear foot (published Ontario installer pricing, 2025–26; yours will differ), on top of the new fence. Concrete-set posts cost more to pull.
Ottawa Fences is part of the Ottawa Construction Network, the directory your request is matched from:
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