[FungusMudGrub]

What about a wire mesh fence with something woven through it, like driftwood, or rustic sticks, or something. The basic fence could be done by pros, but the client could weave the stuff in, thus saving money. Or what about some fabric panels, like shade cloth - that could be pretty avant garde if done right. Also, I've always wanted to do a fence of old raised panel doors. My local junk shop always has a stack of them, although I guess you'd need about 40 for that long a fence. Don't think that would be cheaper than the cedar, but maybe.

Anyway, thats my brainstorm of the day.

[tfld]

Yeah, thanks, I was thinking about canvas panels. The touble with all this is I haven't worked with the materials suggested before so it's difficult to price let alone spec.

[jshilan]

Here's a couple of thoughts and my spin.

Since you are in school, what better time then now to experiment with different materials and solutions. I made very little money (if any) doing installations while in college, but learned a lot about how things are built and how long things take to build them. It's also usually the time when you don't need a lot of money to live on, so why not try to do some interesting things.

If you have the right tools, and if experience is your goal and not profit, you can build your own lattice pantels by ripping down 1x material making the lath for the lattice. It's a fair amount of work, but materials will be lower. You can keep it simple or detail the panels as much as you would like.

If you want something funky, you can try using snow fencing. It's relatively inexpensive, it can probabaly be installed on fewer 4x4 posts then other fencing, it comes in other colors (besides orange), you can grow something on it, it comes in 4' and 6' heights, it comes in rolls, and I'm pretty sure no one else has it. It is also plastic so it should last as long as any other fence, although I really can't vouch for it's longevity. (I always wanted to do it but never found the right application or customer).

I attached a few pictures for ideas and some clarification.

I've also used galvanized wire and turnbuckles to create lattice type panels (similar to what they grow grapes on - are they into grapes or wine) but then you really need plant material to create the screening. Again, material costs are low and but the labor is higher.

By the way all of the things I am discussing or presenting were built or conceptualized while I was in school.