Sharing cost of fencing with neighbors - WWYD?

SO... My premonition came true.

Short questions I need answered: if you shared the cost of a new fence section with a neighbor, how much of the total did you pay? How did you determine the cost of that one section? And did you ask for proof of price or a receipt or something? Is the old fence removal typically included in the price of the new fence installation?

Long explination on why I ask:

The longest section of rundown stockade fence I have backs up to neighbors who weren't that friendly to us when we moved in. They don't go out of their way to say hi, would go so far as to "dissapear" when we were both outside in our backyards.

The mother of one of them struck up a conversation with me once, months ago and mentioned they will be replacing the fence. I wondered if they would outright ask us to chip in when the time came, even though they barely speak to us.

That time came tonight. She didn't outright ask for $ but did ask if we would want the old fence to stay and have both of them up? Or could our husbands remove it themselves so that they can replace the stocade with the PVC?

I said I thought removing the fence would be a better solution so they don't lose any property space with the new one. She said the fencing company is coming tomorrow to give them an estimate and she would ask them how much it would cost to remove the existing fence. While we were talking, I made mention that we had actually planned on refencing the property but with the cost of a new cesspool we put in, it was on hold.

So she knows our money is thin. Her purpose for asking, she said, was whether we wanted to keep the old fence. I really got no vibe from her that she was asking for help paying for it.

But the need to be a good neighbor in me is thinking I should offer something. We actually WERE planning on fencing the whole backyard before the end of fall but can't afford to right now. I mean, who knows, maybe I offer and she refuses. Stranger things have happened. I just don't know what to do. What would you do?

Re: Sharing cost of fencing with neighbors - WWYD?

I have premonitions with our back neighbor as well -- only the bad part is that the son mentioned that his mother wants to replace the fence with the same type of fence -- low and open so that our dogs "can see each other"....and of course, we want a tall PVC fence for privacy.

That said, when he said they were looking into doing it, I didn't offer any money whatsoever. If I were you, I'd play it by ear.

If she comes back and says, "its going to cost X amount" then she's probably telling you because she wants you to split it. If she doesn't mention how much, I would leave it alone.

Our other neighbor keeps telling us how much this old tree he has (that is near our house) will be to cut down and we keep going "oh...really..." cause we will not be giivng money whatsoever! LOL.

Good luck, but I'd say, keep mum!

Re: Sharing cost of fencing with neighbors - WWYD?

honestly, i wouldn't offer. you have other things on your plate right now... and i think it was a bit rude of them to ask, but not really ask, if that makes sense! if anything, i might help remove the old fence for them, but that's it.

Re: Sharing cost of fencing with neighbors - WWYD?

in all honesty, I wouldn't get involved.

If your DH wants to take down the fence fine, but
A how do you know she got a good price if you pay half or even pay to have your piece taken down
B who gets the ugly side of the fence then?
C how do you know she is being honest in the price, and I wouldn't want to ask for reciepts.

Its not like its your friend or anything, I think its just asking for problems. If she wants to replace her fence so be, if she wants the old fence taken down so she gets all of "her" property i would offer the take it down, but thats all i would do.

Re: Sharing cost of fencing with neighbors - WWYD?

We got along fine with our neighbors & they asked if we would chip in for a new fence. We split cost the sections on their side.

Didin't even think twice about it. It was a fence I wanted anyway.

I would give her something toward if particularly if you were going to replace it anyway.

Re: Sharing cost of fencing with neighbors - WWYD?

I say no... what happens if they move and then the new people want to put up a diff. fence, who would this fence belong to? My parents' neighbors all replaced their fences over the last year and never asked them for a penny...

Re: Sharing cost of fencing with neighbors - WWYD?

Neighbors on one side replaced the fence - didn't ask for any money, just asked if they could remove the old fence. I didn't pay them anything and there are no bad feelings about it.

Neighbors on the other side replaced the fence, asked if they could take down the old fence, and asked for half the cost of that section. Since it wasn't too much money, and they took down the old one for us (it was ours) we just paid. But, I would not have chosen the fence they did if I was buying it, I would have chosen a different one. Other than leaving our fence up (which I wanted to do but DH told him to take it down ) we had no choice in the matter.

We have no neighbors to the back so if we change that fence it's all on us.

Re: Sharing cost of fencing with neighbors - WWYD?

i wouldnt get involved and heres why. when the new fence is installed, where does it go? if its on the neighbor's property it belongs to them. if its on the property line, who owns it? if one of you should ever move who gets custody of the fence? this could potentially be more trouble than its worth. i'd let them do what they want and enjoy THEIR new fence. its alot easier that way.

Re: Sharing cost of fencing with neighbors - WWYD?

We have neighbors on both sides and we put a partial fence up 2 years ago. We put one on the one side but we only asked the neighbor if we can use his chain link as a guide. They eventually took the chain link down and we didn't ask them to pay to use our fence for privacy. Our other neighbor put a fence in before we moved in and he hasn't said anything yet that we used his fence for privacy so we didn't put a fence up there. it saved us money just to do the one side and we also did the front sections . The community all ready had a fence on the back part so we saved alot. It was all PVC so it all matched.

I would not say something until it is mentioned when she asks. That is what I would do. It seems like a awkward moment since you aren't close neighbors.

Re: Sharing cost of fencing with neighbors - WWYD?

at my new house last week, the neighbor was so thrilled that all the yucky brush was being taken down that he offered to split a fence with us! didn't even have to ask! how awesome is that?