Your West Chester, PA Fence Company Match

Inside West Chester Borough, many homes sit on narrow lots with twins, rowhomes and Victorian singles packed close together. Backyards often back onto alleys, share a property line with three or four neighbors and have little room for equipment. Installers here frequently hand-dig post holes, carry materials through a side gate and work around mature street trees, brick walks and old garden walls.

Step outside the borough into West Goshen, East Goshen, Westtown, East Bradford or Thornbury and the picture changes. Half-acre and acre lots are common, many built from the 1960s through the 2000s, and fence runs of 200 to 400 feet are normal. Those jobs are usually about containing dogs, screening a road or enclosing a pool rather than squeezing privacy into a small courtyard.

West Chester Borough and each surrounding township run their own zoning, so the rules for height, placement and permits are not the same from one street to the next. Front-yard fences generally face tighter height limits than backyard fences, and corner lots may have sight-line rules near intersections. Call the borough or your township office with your address before you finalize a design.

Parts of the borough sit inside a historic district, where visible exterior changes can require design review before work begins. If your home is in that area, ask about review timing early, since it can add weeks. Many township neighborhoods, especially around Hershey's Mill and newer developments, also have HOA standards for fence color, height and style that need written approval first.

With West Chester University close by, many borough properties are rentals, and landlords often want durable, low-maintenance fencing that tenants can't easily damage. Vinyl and aluminum hold up better than painted picket under heavy use. If you share a fence line with a neighbor, talk early about which side the finished face goes on, whether you'll split costs and where the survey pins actually are. A recent survey or located pins can prevent a fence ending up a foot onto someone else's land.