Fence Panel and Post Calculator

Who this is for

Count panels, posts and post-fix bags run by run. Enter your post width and the bags per hole from the bag, measure each run, then price the order.

Homeowners replacing a garden fence or putting up a new one, and anyone checking a fencer's materials list or a merchant's quote before paying.

What this helps you track

• Panels needed for each run, rounded up to whole panels
• Posts for each run, with gate and corner posts adjusted by you
• Post-fix bags from the bags per hole stated on the bag
• Gravel boards, caps, trellis and gates costed in one order

How to use it

1. Write the fence or boundary, the width of your posts in millimetres and the number of post-fix bags per hole from the bag.
2. Measure each straight run in metres and enter the panel width in millimetres; a gate or corner ends one run and starts the next.
3. Use extra posts to add a post or take one off, for example minus one where a run shares its first post with the run before.
4. Panels, posts and bags are worked out in the browser and the workbook; on paper, divide the run by panel plus post and round up.
5. Copy the totals into the order table, add gravel boards, caps, trellis and gates, and enter pack sizes and prices to cost it.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

How are panels per run worked out?

Each bay is one panel plus one post. The run length, less one post, is divided by the panel width plus the post width and rounded up, so a short final bay counts as a whole panel that you cut down or swap for a narrower one.

Why panels plus one for posts?

A straight run of panels has a post at each end and one between every pair of panels, which is always one more post than panels. Where two runs meet at a corner they share a post, so enter minus one in extra posts on one of them.

Where does the bags per hole figure come from?

From the post-fix or concrete bag, which usually states how many bags a typical post hole takes. The sheet supplies none. If you are mixing your own concrete, the concrete calculator works holes out by volume instead.

Do gravel boards and caps follow the panel and post totals?

If you are fitting them, there is one gravel board under each panel and one cap on each post, so copy those totals into the order table. Leave the rows blank if your fence does not use them.