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PGT Fence Installation: The Fort Lauderdale Owner’s Guide
PGT fence installation in Fort Lauderdale typically runs $3,500 – $9,000 installed, depending on the fence style, footage, and whether we’re matching an existing PGT aluminum panel profile or starting fresh. Most owners call us after a storm or a few humid summers when a gate sags, a post wobbles, or a panel doesn’t line up anymore. We stock PGT-compatible hardware and panels on the truck, and the first thing we do is figure out whether the issue is the fence itself or what it’s anchored into.
Here’s the pattern we see on nearly every call. A homeowner notices the gate drags on the paver driveway. Then they spot rust bleeding from the bottom of a post. Then a panel is loose where the screws pulled out of the concrete. What started as “the fence is getting old” is usually three separate failures happening at once: the post footing, the bracket hardware, and the panel alignment. None of them are complicated to fix on their own. Ignoring them together is how a $600 gate repair becomes a $6,000 section replacement.
Which PGT Models This Applies To
PGT’s aluminum fence lines are common across South Florida residential and light commercial properties, and the two most frequent series we service in Fort Lauderdale are the PGT Estate and PGT Classic aluminum profiles. Estate panels use a heavier-gauge rail with reinforced corner brackets. Classic panels are lighter, with a narrower top rail and standard picket spacing. They are not interchangeable at the post level: the bracket cutouts and post wall thickness are different, so a Classic panel will not seat cleanly into an Estate post without modification, and the result fails faster in salt air.
The fastest way to identify your part is to look at the inside face of the gate frame or the bottom rail on a panel. PGT stamps a series code near the corner bracket, and the picket spacing tells us the rest. Estate runs roughly 3¾ inches on center. Classic runs closer to 3⅝. If there’s no stamp, we measure the rail channel and post wall thickness on-site. OEM PGT panels and brackets are the right call when the fence is under 10 years old and the goal is a clean match. Aftermarket aluminum extrusions from established Florida suppliers can run 20-30% less and perform fine on older fences in non-structural sections. Trevor Nash and the team will tell you straight which one makes sense for your situation, because putting an aftermarket panel next to original PGT white aluminum on the front of your house is a look you’ll notice every time you pull into the driveway.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your PGT Fence Installation Is Failing
- Gate drags on the concrete or pavers. The most common issue in Fort Lauderdale is the post pulling out of a shallow footing. Heat and rain cycles expand the top layer of concrete, the wedge anchor loses bite, and the post leans until the gate scrapes.
- Rust trails running from post bases. Aluminum doesn’t rust, but the steel wedge anchors and bracket screws do. That rust means moisture is sitting against the hardware, and the post is moving microscopically with every gate swing. It’s the first sign the footing needs a reset, not just new screws.
- Panel rattles inside the post channel. PGT panels are held with a compression fit inside the post extrusion. When the bracket loosens or the panel was cut a half-inch short, wind and gate vibration work the panel free. You’ll hear it before you see it, especially on the east side of the house in afternoon sea breeze.
- Gate won’t stay latched or the latch slots sloppy. Salt corrosion eats the striker plate and the self-tapping screws holding it. Eventually the latch doesn’t overlap the catch, and the gate bounces open in a gust.
- Post wobbles when you grab the top rail and shake it. A post that moves more than a quarter-inch in any direction has lost its bond to the footing. That’s a reset job, not a shim job. Leaving it lets the whole section lean and puts torque on the neighboring panels.
Replacement Cost & What’s Included
For a typical Fort Lauderdale single-family lot, full PGT fence installation runs $3,500 – $9,000. At the lower end, you’re looking at a straight run of Classic panels on flat ground with existing posts in good shape, roughly 50-60 linear feet, reusing what’s solid. At the upper end, you’re replacing all posts, pouring new footings for an Estate profile, and dealing with an irregular lot line or existing pavers that have to be cut and re-laid around the posts.
Every quote includes the panels, posts, hardware, footing work, gate hanging, and haul-away of the old material. What moves the number: footage, series (Estate costs more than Classic), gate count, and whether the concrete has to be cored out or the pavers reset. We don’t re-quote the job after we hit soil conditions, because the written number you get before work starts is the number on the invoice. Every installation carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If the gate sags or the panel works loose inside that year, we come back and fix it at no charge.
See the difference
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After
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AfterDIY or Call Us?
There’s one honest piece of DIY advice for a failing PGT fence in Fort Lauderdale: tighten the bracket screws and check them again next month. That’s it. The things that actually fail here, post footings and gate compression, aren’t a weekend fix. Cutting aluminum cleanly without the right blade makes a burr that chews the post channel from the inside. Mixing a footing in Florida’s wet season means waiting three times longer for concrete cream to cure, and if you don’t get the post plumb before it sets, you’re cutting it back out. Aluminum fence work isn’t high-tension danger like a garage spring, so no one’s going to get hurt doing it poorly, but the “saved” money disappears fast when a gate that should last 15 years sags again in 14 months.
FAQs
A properly installed PGT aluminum fence lasts 15-25 years in Fort Lauderdale’s salt-air climate, with the gate hardware being the first component to need attention, usually around year 8-10. The aluminum panels themselves will outlast the post footings and bracket hardware if the original install was done correctly. If you’re on a canal or within a half-mile of the Intracoastal, expect the hardware cycle to be shorter because the salt spray settles on everything. Call (754) 551-2922 and we’ll walk the fence line with you and tell you honestly how many years are left in it.
Yes, in most cases we can repair the failed section, the gate, or the post footing without replacing the entire fence, and a repair usually runs a fraction of full installation cost. The exceptions are when the panel profile is discontinued, posts are corroded from the inside where you can’t see it, or multiple sections have shifted out of alignment. We’ll quote the repair and the replacement and let you decide with both numbers in writing.
Most PGT fence installations in Fort Lauderdale take two to three working days from demo to final gate adjustment. The variable is the footing cure time, which runs a day longer in the rainy season because we don’t rush concrete. You’ll get a defined arrival window before we start, not a two-week “we’ll be there sometime” range.
We stock PGT-compatible panels, post channels, brackets, and gate hardware on the truck for same-week installations in Fort Lauderdale. For a proprietary PGT stamped section that’s no longer in production, we order the closest current-profile match and confirm the fit on-site before anything gets cut. If your fence needs a part we don’t have, you’ll know that on the first visit, not the third.
Get Your PGT Fence Fixed Right, With a Number in Writing
If your PGT fence is sagging, dragging, or rattling in the Fort Lauderdale heat, the fix starts with a phone call, not a wait-and-see month. We’ll come out, measure the sections, check the posts, and hand you a written price before any work starts, not after the pretty number has already climbed. Tell me what you need, I’ll tell you what it costs, then we’ll get it done. Call (754) 551-2922 or reach out through our contact page for a free estimate. Same team on the job, background-checked and in uniform, every visit. We also handle kitchen and bath remodels, and if you’ve got a KraftMaid cabinet line or Cambria or Silestone countertops you’re trying to match, we can help with that too.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner, Penhallow Remodeling Fort Lauderdale at Penhallow Remodeling Fort Lauderdale, serving Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas.
