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Pre-Built Wood Fence Panels: Why We Don’t Sell Them, and What to Buy Instead
You searched for fence panels. All-State Fence & Supply doesn’t sell them, and our installation crews don’t build with them. We’ve built wood fence across West Texas since 1979, and every one of those fences went up the same way: posts, rails, and one picket at a time. Here’s why, what goes into a picket-built fence, and when a panel is honestly fine.
Why don’t fence builders use pre-built panels?
Because a panel is built square on a flat floor, and almost no yard is level: builders grade every lot so rain runs away from the house and toward the street or alley. Put a square panel on a slope and it can do one of two things. It can rack — tilted to follow the ground, so the pickets lean off plumb and the top line wanders. Or it can step — each panel set level and dropped down from the one before, leaving a wedge of daylight under every section for dogs and wind to find. Either way, the fence looks off from the street, and it keeps looking off.
A fence built rail by rail follows the ground. The rails run with the grade, each picket hangs plumb, and the bottom edge stays close to the dirt along the whole run. That’s the only difference that matters on most West Texas lots, and it’s why our crews don’t build any other way.
Why does a panel fence have extra strips at the posts?
Panels come in fixed widths, and your property line doesn’t. Posts rarely land exactly where a panel ends — especially at corners, gates and where the fence meets a house — so a panel fence ends up with cut panels and filler pieces at the odd spots. With individual pickets, the last board in any run is just another picket.
Where panels come up short
A panel has to be built, stacked, shipped and stored before it reaches your yard, and it’s built to a price point. That leaves the buyer with little say over the wood grade or how the pickets are fastened to the rails. When you buy pickets, rails and posts separately, you see every board before it goes up, choose the species — Western Red Cedar, in our case — and fasten it the way you want.
Our crews see the same failures over and over. Box-store panels are held together with too few fasteners, and cheap ones, so the pickets warp and work loose from the rails after a short time in West Texas wind. On a sloped yard, people often stand on the rails to rack a panel to the grade, which tilts the pickets off level and strains the fasteners until they crack. Panels rarely land exactly on the posts, so pickets get spliced in where two panels meet. We think of a panel fence as temporary, and it’s common for someone who built one to call us within a month to a year to rebuild it picket by picket.
What does it take to build it picket by picket?
Here’s the material on a common job: 100 feet of 6-foot side-by-side privacy fence.
| Material | For 100 feet |
|---|---|
| Western Red Cedar pickets, 1" x 3½" x 6' | about 343 |
| Steel posts on 8-foot centers | 14 on a straight run, plus corners and gates |
| Rails, three per section | 39 (13 sections) |
At 3½ inches per picket, 100 feet (1,200 inches) takes about 343 pickets. Board-on-board, taller fences and heavier-wall posts add material; the counter prices each of those before you buy. Lumber and steel prices change with almost every truckload, so the counter prices the list on the day you buy. Contractors, schools, government buyers and larger orders pay less.
What to buy instead of panels
- Pickets: Western Red Cedar cut from Canadian logs from the West Coast and milled in Washington, the same pickets our crews install. Standard size is 1" x 3½" x 6' (⅝" actual thickness), and we also stock 4-inch and 6-inch pickets in 6, 7 and 8 feet. Cedar fence pickets →
- Rails: cedar 2x4s, three per section on a standard 6-foot fence. We don’t sell treated lumber.
- Posts: Schedule 40 steel, set at least 3 feet deep in concrete. Our steel posts all look the same from the outside; the wall thickness is what holds a fence up in the wind. We also stock 4×4 cedar posts, but we recommend steel.
- Fasteners: we recommend aluminum screw-shank nails, which won’t rust and hold pickets well. We also sell steel ring-shank nails and Phillips screws.
- Gate hardware: a wood gate hardware kit starts at $30.80 (October 2026 price).
- Stain: Wood Defender, full line at all three Fence Supply Centers, from $183.41 a 5-gallon bucket (October 2026 price). See every color on cedar →
Delivery starts at $75 ($150 from Midland) with no minimum order, or pull into any of our three Fence Supply Centers and we’ll load you. Comparing quotes? Read Japanese Cedar vs. Real Western Red Cedar first.
Can you tell me exactly what to buy?
Yes, and it costs nothing. Bring your measurements or a rough sketch to the counter — total length, height, style, where the gates go and where the fence meets the house — and you leave with the complete list and a price, the same kind of list our crews build from. Or send it through the form below and the nearest Fence Supply Center will build it for you.
When is a panel fine?
A temporary screen, a dog run, a fence you plan to take down in a year or two — a panel does the job, and the big-box stores carry them. For a fence you want standing straight in ten years, build it picket by picket.
Would you rather we build it?
All-State’s crews install wood fence in Lubbock, Amarillo and Canyon, and Midland–Odessa, the same way this page describes: Schedule 40 steel posts, cedar rails, and Western Red Cedar pickets hung one at a time. Every new fence is priced after a free on-site estimate. Get an estimate →
Get a materials list for your fence
Tell us the length, height, style and number of gates. The nearest Fence Supply Center builds the list with a price, and you pick it up or we deliver.
Three Fence Supply Centers, open to the public
Lubbock Fence Supply Center
12116 Slide Rd
Lubbock, TX 79424
(806) 799-3729
Mon–Fri 7:30 am – 5:30 pm
Sat 8:00 am – 1:00 pm
Amarillo & Canyon Fence Supply Center
16500 I-27
Canyon, TX 79015
(806) 655-5700
Mon–Fri 7:30 am – 5:30 pm
On I-27 at Rockwell Road, between Amarillo and Canyon
Midland & Odessa Fence Supply Center
10200 TX-191
Midland, TX 79707
(432) 563-1111
Mon–Fri 7:30 am – 5:30 pm
On Highway 191 between Midland and Odessa
Questions
Do you sell pre-built wood fence panels?
No. We sell pickets, rails and posts, and our crews build every fence picket by picket.
Why don’t professional fence builders use panels?
Yards aren’t level. A square panel either racks or steps on a slope; a fence built rail by rail follows the ground.
How many pickets do I need for 100 feet of fence?
For a 6-foot side-by-side privacy fence with 3½-inch pickets, about 343. Board-on-board takes more. The counter will count it exactly for your layout.
How much are cedar pickets?
Our Western Red Cedar picket, 1" x 3½" x 6', changes in price with almost every rail car of lumber, so call the nearest Fence Supply Center for today’s price.
Is a panel fence cheaper?
The panel section often is. Compare the whole fence — posts, hardware, filler pieces at the odd spots, and how long it stays straight — before deciding.
Will you tell me how much material I need?
Yes, free. Bring measurements to any of our three Fence Supply Centers or send them through the form on this page.
A note on sizes: lumber is sold by its nominal size. A picket sold as 1 inch measures closer to ⅝ inch, and a rail sold as a 2×4 measures about 3⅝ inches across its 4-inch side.