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Quikrete Fence Installation: The Los Angeles Owner’s Guide
We install and repair Quikrete-based fence posts and footings across Los Angeles, with most full fence installations running $4,130 to $10,620 depending on footage, post count, and whether we’re pulling failed posts or starting fresh. If your fence post is leaning, wobbling at the base, or the concrete collar around it has cracked away from the post, that’s a footing failure, and it’s the most common Quikrete-related fence issue we fix. Most owners discover the problem after a heavy rain or a wind event, when the post finally shifts and the panel starts to sag. Call (213) 277-6578 and we’ll give you a written price before any digging starts.
Which Quikrete Models This Applies To
Quikrete doesn’t make fence panels or posts, it makes the concrete products you set posts in. The two products that matter for fence work in Los Angeles are Quikrete Fast-Setting Concrete Mix and Quikrete High-Strength Concrete Mix, and they behave very differently in the ground. Fast-Setting is what most DIYers grab because you pour it dry into the hole and add water, and it sets in 20 to 40 minutes. The catch: it’s rated for posts up to about 4×4 inches, and in Los Angeles clay-heavy soil, it doesn’t always bond well if the hole wasn’t over-dug at the bottom. High-Strength is the better choice for 6×6 posts, gate posts, and any fence line that takes wind off the San Gabriels.
A compatibility gotcha we see all the time: if your original post was set with Fast-Setting mix and it’s now leaning, the fix isn’t just re-pouring. The old concrete plug usually has to come out whole, because new Quikrete won’t bond to the old fast-set surface. You can identify what’s in the ground by chipping a small piece off the collar at ground level. Fast-Setting has a rougher, grainier texture and tends to be lighter gray. High-Strength is denser and darker.
Penhallow Remodeling Los Angeles is an independent service provider. We’re not affiliated with Quikrete, but we work with their products every week, and we stock both mix types on the truck along with gravel for proper drainage at the base of each hole.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Quikrete Fence Installation Is Failing
- Post leaning more than 5 degrees out of vertical. This means the concrete collar is intact but the soil around it has loosened, or the post has rotted at ground level inside the concrete. In Los Angeles, winter rains saturate the clay, it expands, then dries and contracts, leaving a gap the post slowly settles into.
- Visible crack between the concrete collar and the wood post. Water has worked its way down between the two materials. The freeze-thaw cycle we get in the foothills (not as dramatic as back east, but real in Tujunga and Sunland) widens that crack every season.
- Concrete collar is loose in the ground and can be wiggled by hand. The hole was dug too narrow or without a bell-bottom flare at the base. Quikrete doesn’t fail, the installation geometry does.
- Fence panel sags or the top rail pulls away from the post. The post is moving at the base, even if it looks straight. Gravity is doing the rest. This is a footing problem, not a panel problem.
- Gate post shifts when you open or close the gate. Gate posts carry twice the load of line posts. If the post rocks even a quarter inch, the concrete footing has already lost its grip. Keep using it and the gate hardware starts tearing out of the wood.
See the difference
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After
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After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
In Los Angeles, Quikrete fence installation and post replacement runs $4,130 to $10,620 for a typical residential job. On the low end, you’re looking at a few failed posts, standard 4×4 line posts, and existing panels that can be reused. On the high end, the whole fence line comes down, every post gets a properly over-dug hole with gravel drainage, new posts go in with High-Strength mix, and the panels get replaced or rebuilt.
What drives the number up: total linear footage, post count, post size (6×6 costs more than 4×4), access for digging (retaining walls, tight side yards, hardscape), and whether we’re hauling out old concrete. What drives it down: simple post swaps, good access, and panels that are still in decent shape.
Every job includes the concrete and gravel, the post hardware, and a written line-item price before we start. You get the 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing: if a post moves or the concrete fails inside a year, we come back and re-set it at no charge.
DIY or Call Us?
If the post is leaning but still solid in the ground, you can safely check whether the wood itself is rotted by probing at the base with a screwdriver. Soft, spongy wood means the post is done. If the concrete collar is cracked but the post is straight and solid, leave it alone and keep an eye on it. What we don’t recommend is digging out and re-setting a failed post yourself. You’re fighting Los Angeles clay, and removing an old concrete plug without destabilizing the panel is a two-person job with real risk of the panel coming down on you or a helper. It’s not a skill problem, it’s a physics problem. Give you a number first, then pick up the tools. Call (213) 277-6578 and we’ll tell you exactly what it costs.
Key Takeaways
- Quikrete fence failures in Los Angeles are almost always footing geometry, not concrete failure.
- Fast-Setting mix is fine for 4×4 posts. High-Strength or a bell-bottom hole is what you want for gate posts and 6x6s.
- Installed cost runs $4,130 to $10,620, and you get a written price before we dig.
- The 365-Day Done Right Promise covers the footing and post in writing.
FAQs
A properly installed Quikrete footing with a bell-bottom hole and gravel drainage should hold a fence post for 20 to 30 years in Los Angeles soil. What fails first isn’t the concrete, it’s the wood post at ground level, especially if the concrete collar was finished flush with grade instead of sloped away. Call (213) 277-6578 for an inspection, estimates are free.
Sometimes. If the concrete plug is still solid and the post is sound inside it, we can straighten the post and re-pack the soil around the collar. That’s a repair. If the concrete has cracked away from the post or the plug is loose, the whole assembly comes out and gets re-set. We’ll tell you which one you have before any work starts.
Replacing and re-setting 2 to 3 failed posts typically takes a day, including haul-out and concrete work. A full fence line of 10-plus posts usually runs 2 to 3 days in Los Angeles, depending on access and weather. You’ll have a real arrival window in writing before we show up.
Yes. Our trucks carry both Fast-Setting and High-Strength Quikrete mixes, plus gravel, post hardware, and treated lumber for post replacement. We also work with other trade brands on remodel projects, including KraftMaid cabinetry, Cambria quartz, and Silestone surfaces. For fence work, it’s Quikrete and whatever the job calls for.
We’re Trevor Nash and the Penhallow Remodeling Los Angeles crew, and we’ve been setting fence posts in this city’s clay long enough to know exactly what the ground does to a footing after a wet winter. Call (213) 277-6578 for a free estimate. A real person answers, we’ll give you a written number, and we’ll show up in the window we gave you.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner, Penhallow Remodeling Los Angeles at Penhallow Remodeling Los Angeles, serving Los Angeles and nearby areas.
