Guide - Materials
Chain link versus wrought iron fencing in Encino
Homeowners often ask us to price chain link and wrought iron against each other, as if they were the same fence at two prices. They are not. This guide clears up five common myths and lands on where each one actually belongs on an Encino lot.
Both are metal, both go up in a straight line, and one costs a fraction of the other, so it is natural to treat wrought iron as the expensive version of chain link. In practice they solve different problems, and choosing by price alone is how a homeowner ends up with a chain link frontage that cheapens an estate, or an iron dog run that cost triple what the job needed. The myths below are the ones we hear most, with what is actually true on the ground here.
Five myths, and what is true
Reality. A fence either has to be seen, or it only has to contain. Wrought iron is a finished, secure, non-combustible boundary you put where it shows or where it protects. Chain link is an unobtrusive, low-cost barrier you put where it just needs to hold a line. Same shape, different jobs.
Reality. Iron is the strongest residential fence we build. Height, tight picket spacing, and spear or pressed-point tops make it a genuine deterrent, and because it does not burn it is the material the fire zone south of Ventura Boulevard calls for within the defensible space near the house. It is decorative and protective at once.
Reality. It has a very good place, just not at the street. A black vinyl-coated chain link line recedes into a hillside, secures a canyon-side boundary or a dog run for a fraction of the cost of iron, and encloses a large parcel affordably. The trick is to keep it off the visible frontage, where iron belongs.
Reality. The opposite. Open iron pickets secure a ridge or canyon lot south of the Boulevard while you look straight through to the view, which is exactly why iron dominates those lots. A solid wood or vinyl wall is what blocks a view; iron preserves it.
Reality. Chain link is fine as a boundary, but in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone the fence within a few feet of the house should be non-combustible iron, steel, or block, set to defensible space guidance. That stretch is where iron earns its price, and where chain link is the wrong tool.
Side by side
Chain link installs at about $18 to $40 per linear foot. Wrought iron and tubular steel sit at $50 to $120. What the gap pays for is a finished look, genuine security, a material that will not burn, and a line you can see through. Chain link delivers a quick, cheap, working barrier and stops there, which is frequently all a back line was ever asked to be. Neither wins in the abstract. Position and purpose settle it.
How it usually lands on an Encino lot
On most properties the answer is both. North of the Boulevard, on an Amestoy Estates or Clark Gable Estates frontage, we set ornamental iron with matching gates where the property meets the street, and reserve chain link for a hidden back line or a side dog run if one is needed at all. South of the Boulevard, on a canyon lot in Encino Hills or Rancho Estates, we put iron where the fence faces the house and the view, for the non-combustible defensible space and the open sightline, and run coated chain link along a back or canyon-side boundary where cost matters and no one is looking.
Steel, aluminum, and powder-coat options are worked through on the wrought iron fencing page. Finishes and gauges for a coated boundary sit on the chain link fencing page. To see the two prices against each other by the linear foot, go to the cost guide.
Not sure which goes where?
Someone walks the Encino lot, reads the frontage, the sightlines, and the fire setback, then marks out where iron is worth its price and where chain link is the smarter call. Written estimate, no charge, no obligation.
Request an estimateKeep reading
For pricing, permits, and materials together, see fence contractors in Encino.