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Unilock Fence Installation: The Fort Lauderdale Owner’s Guide
Unilock fence installation in Fort Lauderdale typically runs $3,500 to $9,000 for a full project, including materials, base prep, and labor. We install Unilock fencing and posts throughout Broward County, and most residential jobs are completed within three to five working days once materials are on site. The way most Fort Lauderdale homeowners discover a problem isn’t subtle: a gate post starts leaning after a heavy afternoon storm, a fence panel shifts out of level because the base washed out underneath, or the concrete footer cracked from salt and humidity working into the joint year after year.
Fort Lauderdale is hard on fences in ways most product manuals don’t account for. The water table sits high in neighborhoods like Victoria Park, Rio Vista, and Sailboat Bend, which means post footings have to be dug deeper and drained better than a standard install would suggest. We’re an independent contractor, not affiliated with Unilock, but we work with their fencing systems regularly and know how they perform in South Florida conditions.
Which Unilock Models This Applies To
Unilock makes several fence and wall product lines, and the installation details change depending on which one you have. The Estate Wall system uses large-format concrete posts and panels that interlock with a tongue-and-groove profile. The Pisa and RomanPisa lines are structured around tapered units that step back course by course. Older Fort Lauderdale properties sometimes have Unilock’s Brussels Dimensional system, which combines posts, panels, and caps in a modular grid.
The practical part is identifying what you actually have before anyone picks up a shovel. Check the back of a panel or post for a stamped product code. If the stamp has worn off, which happens on coastal properties after a decade of salt exposure, take a photo of the top profile and a side measurement. The critical compatibility gotcha on Unilock fencing: post spacing is set by the panel module, not by your property line. If the original installer fudged spacing to make a corner work, replacement panels either need cutting or you accept a wider joint at one end. We see that constantly on older Fort Lauderdale lots where the fenceline follows an angled property boundary.
The OEM-versus-aftermarket question matters less for Unilock fencing than it does for machinery parts. Unilock panels are structural concrete, not moving components. What fails first is almost never the panel itself. It’s the footing, the base course, or the adhesive joint. When we do replace broken units, we always try to source OEM Unilock product first so the color and texture match. Aftermarket equivalents exist, but color matching is a risk, especially on older installations where the sun has faded the original surface.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Unilock Fence Installation Is Failing
- Posts leaning more than half an inch out of plumb. This usually means the concrete footing has cracked or the base underneath it has washed out. In Fort Lauderdale’s sandy soil, a slow leak from irrigation or a gutter downspout pointed at the fence line is the most common culprit we find.
- Panels separating at the joints. Unilock fence panels rely on adhesive and gravity to hold their course alignment. When water gets into a joint and the adhesive fails, panels start drifting. You’ll see inconsistent gaps from one end of the fence to the other.
- Hairline cracks running vertically through panels or posts. This is a stress fracture, often from ground movement or a vehicle bump. The crack itself isn’t always structural, but it lets water in, and once rebar inside starts rusting, it swells and blows the concrete apart from the inside.
- Rust staining bleeding through the surface. That orange-brown discoloration near the base of a post is rebar corrosion. It means water has been sitting inside the concrete for a long time. By the time you can see it, the post usually has years of hidden deterioration behind the stain.
- The gate no longer latches cleanly. A sagging gate is rarely a hinge problem on Unilock systems. It’s almost always a post that has shifted, which changes the geometry of the whole opening. Adjusting hinges is a band-aid. The post footing is the real issue.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
For Fort Lauderdale, a typical Unilock fence installation runs $3,500 to $9,000. The lower end covers a short run, maybe 30 to 40 linear feet, with basic demo and flat ground. The upper end gets you a full property line with gates, corner posts, and footings that have to go deeper because of the water table. Every job we price includes demolition and haul-away of the old fence, excavation, gravel base, concrete footings, panel and post placement, adhesive work, and cleanup.
What drives the cost most is the condition of what’s underneath. If the original installer poured shallow footings or skipped the gravel base, we’re not just swapping panels; we’re rebuilding the foundation for the whole run. You’ll get a written line-item price before a single tool comes off the truck, and the number on that sheet is the number on the invoice. If the work isn’t done right, our 365-Day Done Right Promise means we come back and fix it, in writing, on every job.
Quick price reference for Fort Lauderdale:
- Short run replacement (under 40 linear feet, no gate): $3,500 – $5,000
- Mid-size run with one gate, some footing repair: $5,000 – $7,500
- Full yard with multiple gates, deep footings, or drainage correction: $7,500 – $9,000
DIY or Call Us?
Unilock fence installation is not a high-tension hazard like garage door springs, but it will wreck your back and your weekend if you underestimate the weight. A single large-format fence panel can weigh 80 to 120 pounds. Setting posts level and plumb requires lifting, repositioning, and holding while the base settles. It isn’t dangerous in the catastrophic sense; it’s dangerous in the muscle-strain, dropped-panel, cracked-toe sense. We’ve also seen homeowners dig post holes without checking for irrigation lines, and that turns a $4,000 fence job into a $6,000 project with a sprinkler repair attached.
What you can safely do: identify the product line, take photos of the damage, and mark where the fence is failing. What we’d recommend you skip: digging out and resetting posts, especially anywhere near utilities. If you want an honest read on what’s failing and what it costs, call (754) 354-7423. Luca Romano will walk the site with you, and the estimate is free.
FAQs
A properly installed Unilock fence with deep footings and good drainage typically lasts 25 to 40 years in Fort Lauderdale, though surface fading and joint adhesive may need attention around year 15. Poor drainage or shallow footings can cut that lifespan in half. Call (754) 354-7423 for an honest site assessment and a free estimate.
Yes, when the issue is a single cracked panel, one shifted post, or a failed joint, we can often repair the fence for a fraction of full replacement cost. If footings have failed across multiple posts, patching gets expensive fast and replacement becomes the smarter spend. We’ll show you both options with written pricing before any work starts.
Most residential Unilock fence installations take three to five working days from demolition to final cleanup. Bigger jobs with gates, corners, or drainage work can run longer, but we give you a schedule upfront and stick to it.
We keep common Unilock fence profiles, post caps, and adhesives in our Fort Lauderdale inventory, and special-order nonstandard sizes or less common colors as needed. Order lead time usually runs one to two weeks. Call (754) 354-7423 and we’ll confirm availability before you commit to anything.
The work either holds up or it doesn’t – we make sure it does. That’s the whole job out here. Roots, salt air, afternoon storms, sandy soil. A fence that looks level on day one but drifts by year two isn’t done, it’s just standing there. We set footings below the washout zone, keep base courses straight, and don’t walk away until the gate closes square. If you’re in Fort Lauderdale and your Unilock fence is leaning, cracking, or separating, call (754) 354-7423. We’ll come out, tell you what’s wrong, and put the price in writing before any work starts.
Written by Luca Romano, Owner & Lead Contractor, Sawyer Remodel Fort Lauderdale at Sawyer Remodel Fort Lauderdale, serving Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas.
