Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Fast, Reliable Fence Installation Across Millbrae
A new fence in Millbrae typically runs $3,500-$9,000, depending on material, linear footage, and whether your lot sits on the flat east side or climbs the western hills. Most jobs wrap in three to five working days, with permits handled by us from start to finish. If you’re weighing vinyl against wood or wondering how FAA clearance rules affect a fence on a flight-path property, we’ll walk you through it in plain language. Call (877) 610-1318 and we’ll come measure, give you a written line-item quote, and keep it honest from day one.
Why Barrett & Sons Construction Is Millbrae’s Preferred Fence Installation Company
Tom Barrett founded this company in 1998, and his sons run the crews that work in Millbrae. That means the person you talk to about a redwood privacy fence off Millbrae Avenue is the same person whose name is on the contract. We publish our license number, our address, and Tom’s name. Look them up before you sign anything. Ask anyone on your street, or call the office and a live person answers, including at 2 a.m. when a windstorm takes out a fence panel and you need someone to give you a straight answer.
Millbrae customers call us because they’ve already been burned. They had a national outfit quote one number over the phone, then hand them a change order at the door. We don’t work that way. Every scope item, every material allowance, every price change arrives as a written change order before work begins. No surprise invoices. The permit inspector works for you, not for us, and we like it that way. That’s the Barrett & Sons way, and it’s why we carry more repeat referrals in the 94030 zip than any marketing budget could buy.
Our Fence Installation Services in Millbrae
We’re the Fence Installation team homeowners call when they want a fence that stands up to Millbrae’s marine layer, winter downpours, and the occasional jet-blast wind off SFO’s approach path. Four materials cover most jobs in this city, each with its own fit for the terrain and the neighbor’s sightlines.
Wood Fence
Redwood and pressure-treated pine are the most common requests we get from homeowners near Taylor Middle School and along El Camino Real. A six-foot redwood privacy fence in Millbrae runs $3,800-$7,500 for a typical 80-100 linear feet. Wood gives you full privacy and holds up well, but Millbrae’s fog means you should expect to stain or seal every two to three years. We set posts below the clay line on hillside lots so the winter rains don’t push them out of plumb.

Chain Link Fence
Chain link makes sense when the goal is keeping kids and dogs in, not blocking a view. On Millbrae’s flatter east side, where lots are tighter and the ground sits closer to Bay mud, chain link with galvanized posts and a top rail runs $2,200-$4,800 for a standard backyard. We also handle the commercial version, including the six-foot galvanized fabric you’ll see behind shops near the Millbrae BART station parking structure.

Vinyl Fence
Vinyl is the best answer for Millbrae’s damp winters because it doesn’t absorb moisture the way wood does, and it never needs paint. Figure $3,500-$9,000 for a full vinyl privacy fence on a typical Millbrae lot. The trade-off is heat: vinyl expands and contracts, so we gap the panels for Millbrae’s diurnal temperature swings between foggy mornings and warm afternoons. That keeps the rails from bowing in July.

Aluminum Fence
Aluminum gives you the clean lines of wrought iron without the rust problem that Millbrae’s salt air and fog accelerate on steel. Pool enclosures, front-yard decorative fences, and the low sightline fences common on Hillcrest Drive hillside homes run $4,000-$10,000 installed. Aluminum posts hold up well in sloping terrain because we can step each panel to follow the grade without leaving large gaps underneath.

What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
- 3
A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
- 4
You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Millbrae
We install and service fence lines built with Simonton, Ply Gem, and PGT materials, among others. These are names you can look up, not mystery brands off a van. When a Millbrae customer has an existing fence that’s failing in sections, we match the profile where possible and source parts from our Bay Area suppliers, which cuts the wait time compared to ordering through a big-box desk. If your gate hardware came from a brand we don’t stock, we’ll tell you upfront and give you a written list of what we’ll order, what it costs, and when it lands. If Millbrae is a short drive from our Bay Area office, so a second opinion or a warranty follow-up never turns into a waiting game.
Common Fence Installation Problems We See in Millbrae Homes
- Leaners on the western hills. Millbrae’s postwar homes off Trousdale Drive and along the steeper streets near the hills sit on expansive clay. When the dry season cracks that clay and winter rain swells it, shallow posts heave. We set posts in concrete below the active soil line and, on flagged parcels, add a geotechnical note before we dig.
- Rust on metal fences near the bayfront flats. Airborne salt from San Francisco Bay and constant marine-layer moisture chew through cheap steel hardware in a few seasons. We switch those jobs to aluminum or powder-coated galvanized fittings, because replacing a rusted gate latch every year isn’t maintenance; it’s a money leak.
- Wind fatigue from the jet-blast corridor. Fences within a half-mile of the SFO approach path take repeated lateral gusts that loosen rails and pull screws. We use through-bolted rail brackets on those sections so the fence doesn’t start rattling like a loose muffler after the first winter.
- Post-rot at the soil line. Millbrae’s winter stormwater channels down from the coastal hills toward the flat east side, and many older fences were built with posts jammed straight into damp earth. We remove those, set pressure-treated or steel posts, and grade the base so water sheds away instead of pooling at the fence line.
Pricing for Fence Installation in Millbrae, CA
Here’s the straight honest math for Fence Installation in Millbrae. A full backyard replacement runs $3,500-$9,000 for vinyl, $3,800-$7,500 for redwood, $2,200-$4,800 for chain link, and $4,000-$10,000 for aluminum. These are real working numbers for the 94030, not a national teaser rate. Your final price moves with linear footage, gate count, whether the ground needs export or fill, and whether the city requires a soils report because your lot sits in a mapped slide hazard zone on the west side. Every quote we write is line-itemed, and every allowance shows up on paper before you sign. We offer a free second opinion on any written estimate you’ve already received, so bring us the other guy’s number and we’ll show you where the gaps hide. Call (877) 610-1318 and we’ll measure, quote, and hand you the paper.
We Also Serve Cities Near Millbrae
Crews from Barrett & Sons work throughout the upper Peninsula, so if your fence line straddles a property in San Bruno, backs up to a neighbor in Burlingame, or climbs a hill in Hillsborough, we can help. South San Francisco jobs are also in our usual rotation, including commercial fencing near the industrial corridor. And if you’re planning something bigger than a fence, we also handle Driveway & Pavers in Millbrae and Home Additions & ADU in Millbrae, which means one crew, one owner, one point of accountability for your whole property.
Serving Millbrae, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Millbrae area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Fence Installation in Millbrae
Most Millbrae estimates happen within two to four business days of your call, and we schedule around your commute. Tom or one of his sons typically handles the first visit, not a sales rep. Call (877) 610-1318, and a live person confirms a window before the end of that call.
Yes. We work from the BART corridor and the flat east side near the bayfront up through the hillside streets west of El Camino Real, including the terrain around Taylor Middle School and the neighborhoods off Trousdale Drive. Each side of Millbrae carries different ground conditions, and we quote them differently because they are different. If you’re not sure which side you’re on, we’ll tell you when we walk the site.
There’s no trip charge inside the county, and that applies to Millbrae for storm damage, fallen panels, or a gate that’s blocking your driveway. We may not carry every replacement panel on the truck, but the first visit gets you safe and gives you a written fix list before any money changes hands. For urgent cases, a live person answers the phone around the clock.
Millbrae pricing runs close to Burlingame and Hillsborough on a per-linear-foot basis, though hillside lots with geotechnical review add cost. The biggest swing factor in Millbrae’s 94030 is not geography, it’s whether the city flags your project for a soils report because your parcel sits in a mapped landslide zone. We include that possibility in the estimate up front so there’s no surprise after the permit application.
Every fence we install in Millbrae carries our 90-Day Done Right Promise, written on the contract. If it’s not done right, Tom comes back and makes it right. One call. On top of that, workmanship and material defects are covered as described in your written scope. We don’t hide that language in fine print, and we don’t make you chase a call center in another state.
Written by Tom Barrett, Owner at Barrett & Sons Construction, serving Millbrae and the Bay Area since 1998.







Before
After
Before
After
Before
After