Temporary Fencing in Saint Louis

Two states, one river, and a fence that has to be on the right side of it

A lot of Saint Louis fence jobs start with a short conversation about which side of the Mississippi the site is on. Downtown, Soulard and the Central West End are Missouri. East Saint Louis, Granite City, Belleville and Edwardsville are Illinois. In Saint Louis each side has its own permit office and its own habits about closing a sidewalk. A provider who works both banks will tell you what to expect before the panels leave the yard.

The mix of work here is wide. Hospital and university construction around the medical campus in the Central West End and the Cortex district keeps crews fencing off lots next to patient entrances and busy streets. North of downtown, vacant brick buildings are coming down, and each demolition needs a closed perimeter with the sidewalk protected. Out in Hazelwood and Maryland Heights, warehouse and industrial pads go up on big open parcels where the fence is mostly about keeping equipment and materials from walking off at night.

Then there are the events. Baseball season brings crowds to the stadium blocks, and the festivals along the riverfront and the Arch grounds need barricades and queue lines that can be moved quickly. Those jobs are measured in days, not months, and the crew that delivers should also be the crew that comes back to take it all down.

Across the river, Granite City has the steel and industrial yards, and Edwardsville has a steady run of university and commercial construction. Saint Charles has grown along the Missouri River for years, with new retail and office pads going in on what used to be open ground. Each of those places has its own mix of dirt, pavement and traffic, so the fence plan changes with the address.

What changes the quote in this part of the country

Fence is priced by the linear foot, so the first question is always how far your perimeter runs. Add up every side, then add the gates. A site with one vehicle gate and a pedestrian gate is a different job from a long straight run with nothing in it.

Ground matters more than people expect. Downtown and in the old industrial blocks you are usually standing panels on asphalt or concrete, which means weighted stands or sandbags. On open ground out toward Saint Charles you may be able to drive posts, but clay holds water through a wet spring, and freeze and thaw can heave a post line over a winter. Say how long you expect to keep the fence up, because a four-week job and a fourteen-month job are quoted differently.

Windscreen is the other line to think about. Screen on a chain-link panel catches wind like a sail, and the weather coming across the Missouri and Illinois plains can be rough in spring. If you want screen for dust control or to hide a site from the street, ask how the panels will be braced and what the provider does when a storm is forecast.

Permits and neighbors

If the fence is going on a public sidewalk or into a lane of traffic, check with the city or county before you order. Closing a sidewalk usually means a pedestrian route around the work, and some municipalities want to see a plan. Site security requirements also vary with the type of project, and a general contractor or owner may have its own. Share those requirements when you call so the quote is built around them.

Properties that sit empty are a separate problem. A vacant building with open doors invites trouble and liability, and a fenced perimeter with locked gates is a fast way to close it up while the owner decides what comes next. Fencing is a stopgap there, not a fix, and it is fine to say so when you ask for a rental period.

Event work in a city with this many old streets has its own wrinkles. Barricades near the stadium or the riverfront often go up the night before and come down late, and crews have to work around road closures that someone else controls. Ask early whether the provider has moved fence on a game day or festival weekend before, and how many people will be on the crew.

Before you pick up the phone

• The address, including the cross street. Saint Louis has plenty of one-way blocks and alleys, and the truck driver needs to know where to stop.
• Dates: the delivery day and how long you will keep it. If the end date might slide, say so now.
• Length and height, even a rough count of the perimeter. Six foot is common for sites, eight for places that need more deterrence.
• Gates and screen, and whether any need to be locked.
• Surface and access: asphalt, dirt, slope, overhead wires, anything parked in the way.

Providers can often tell you within a few minutes whether they can serve a site in Kirkwood or University City without a trip charge, or whether a job on the Illinois side puts you in someone else's territory. That is the real benefit of calling instead of ordering off a catalog page.

Questions worth asking before you say yes

Ask who sets the fence and who takes it down. Ask what happens if a panel is damaged or a section is knocked over by a delivery truck. Ask whether the monthly rental period starts on delivery or on the day the install finishes, and what the cost is if the job runs past the date you gave. A good provider answers all of that without hesitating.

Call with the address and the dates, and say early which bank of the river the site is on in Saint Louis. That one detail sorts out who can quote you.

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