Two separate approvals, not one

The mistake we see most often is a homeowner who gets one approval and assumes they are finished. In most of Northern Virginia there are two gates to clear, and they are completely independent of each other.

The first is the county. The second is your homeowners association. Clearing your association tells you nothing about the county, and a county permit does not protect you from an architectural review committee that wants the fence taken down. You need both, and they should be running in parallel, not one after the other, or you add weeks to your timeline for no reason.

What the county cares about

County requirements turn on height, placement relative to your property line and any right-of-way, and whether the fence is acting as a pool barrier. Pool enclosures are the strictest category by a wide margin, because the barrier rules exist to keep a toddler out of the water and are enforced accordingly: minimum height, maximum gap beneath, limits on anything climbable on the outside face, and gates that are both self-closing and self-latching with the latch above a set height.

If your fence is going up because you are putting in a pool, treat the barrier requirements as the design constraint from day one rather than something to reconcile later. It is far cheaper than rebuilding a run that fails inspection.

What your homeowners association cares about

Neighborhoods around Gainesville, Haymarket, Bristow, and Aldie commonly restrict height, material, color, and style, and a great many of them specify which way the finished side has to face. That last one catches people constantly: many covenants require the good side to face your neighbor and the street, which means the rails and posts face into your own yard.

This is exactly the case for board-on-board or shadowbox construction, which looks finished from both sides. It costs somewhat more in material and solves the problem permanently.

How long it really takes

Plan for the approvals, not the build. The physical installation of an average residential fence is one to three days. Permit review and architectural committee approval are each commonly a few weeks, and committees often meet on a fixed monthly schedule, so missing a meeting by two days can cost you a month.

When we quote a project we give you a calendar that includes the approval window, because a start date that ignores it is not a real start date.

We do this part for you

Permits and covenant approval are included in what we handle. We prepare the drawings and material specifications, submit the applications, and if the review committee pushes back on a detail we adjust the design and resubmit, all before anything gets built. You should not have to learn county code to get a fence.

Want this looked at in person?

We will come out, walk the line with you, and give you an itemized estimate with no obligation. We answer every request within one business day.

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