Temporary Fencing in Virginia Beach

Soft sand and a high water table

Dig a post hole in Virginia Beach, or anywhere in Hampton Roads, and you may find water before you find anything solid. The ground is sandy in a lot of places, the water table is shallow, and a heavy rain can leave a lot sitting for days. Driven posts hold poorly in loose sand, and ballast on stand-mounted panel can settle. Ask the crew how they set the line on sandy ground and how they handle wet.

Wind is the second fact of life in Virginia Beach. Off the Atlantic and the Chesapeake Bay, a gust can lift an unbraced panel with screen on it and carry it a few lots. Salt air also eats thin hardware, so a provider with rust on the clamps is not worth the rate.

On a lot in Virginia Beach that is mostly fill over sand, a crew may use longer stakes or bracing legs on the stands rather than driving posts. None of that is unusual. If a quote does not mention how the line will be anchored, ask.

Fence for the Oceanfront and the resort strip

Work along the beach is its own category. Sand is soft and shifts. Hotels run all year, so construction has to be fenced from guests as well as from the public. Sidewalk traffic is heavy in the summer, and any fence that leans into the walkway gets noticed fast. Ask for a pedestrian-rated barricade where the public walks, and a solid screened fence around the work.

Residents and visitors are everywhere along the strip, so keeping fence tidy matters more than it does on a back lot in Chesapeake. Ask the provider about the condition of the panels and screen they plan to send.

Hurricane season is a contract question

From June through November, any fence rental that runs through storm season needs a plan. Providers usually want the right to pull panels before a named storm, and they may ask the contractor to help secure or take down screen. Ask what happens if a storm shuts down the site, whether the rental clock keeps running, and who sets the fence back up afterward.

That is not a reason to skip the fence. It is a reason to read the terms, and to have a call list ready.

Think about your own site rules too. A contractor in Virginia Beach should know where loose materials go before a storm, because a fence that holds still while a stack of sheeting flies is no help to anyone. Providers will often walk the site with you if you ask.

Who rents fence here

The Oceanfront drives events: the boardwalk, the Neptune Festival, the marathon and half-marathon weekends and the summer concert season all use barricade along streets and sand. Town Center has had steady midrise and mixed-use construction, and the resort strip adds hotel renovations on tight lots.

Across the line in Norfolk, the shipyards and the downtown waterfront bring industrial and government projects, and Chesapeake has warehouse, distribution and subdivision work. Military installations in the area, including the air station at Oceana, also have contractors working inside a controlled perimeter, so some fence jobs come with access procedures before a truck can even get through the gate.

If your site is on a base, ask the provider whether their crews have worked on one before.

Hampton Roads has a great deal of military and shipyard work, and a fence order on one of those sites comes with extra steps. Badging and vehicle inspection are common, and sometimes an escort rides in with the truck. All of it takes time, so tell the provider early.

Naval Station Norfolk and the shipyards along the Elizabeth River are examples of places where a contractor's schedule depends on gate hours. A provider who has done this before will plan around it.

Information to have on hand

• The address and which city it falls in, since each city handles street permits on its own
• Linear feet, and any places the fence has to turn or step around a utility
• Ground: sand, shell, asphalt or concrete
• Whether screen is needed for wind or sightlines
• Your start date and the longest the job could run

Hampton Roads traffic changes the delivery window. If a bridge or tunnel is between the yard and your site, build in extra time, and ask about it.

Ask how the screen holds up in coastal wind. If the answer is a pause, the screen will be the first thing to blow out. Ask also whether the panels are galvanized, since salt air is hard on bare steel. It is a simple question and tells you a lot.

The thing most contractors miss

Plenty of Virginia Beach contractors plan for the big storm and forget the small ones. A summer squall can drop a panel into a lot behind a restaurant on a Friday afternoon, and the first person to see it is a customer.

A site here can lose a fence line to a nor'easter in April as easily as to a hurricane in September. Put someone on the walk-through after every big blow, and keep the provider's after-hours contact somewhere your superintendent can find it.

Looking for a different city? Here are some nearby.

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