The big box, a lumber yard, an installer who supplies and installs, the online metal-panel sellers in BC, and a factory-direct manufacturer: price, selection, lead time, delivery and who each one suits.
There are five ways to buy a fence panel in the Greater Toronto Area, and each one is the right answer for a different job. We are the fifth, a manufacturer selling from its own yard in Bolton, so read this knowing where we sit. The other four are described the way we would describe them to a friend who asked, with the same six questions put to each: price, selection, lead time, delivery, who it suits and where it wins.
Price: the lowest shelf price in the category is here, on the thin pressure-treated panel. On cedar and lattice-top panels the gap to a manufacturer narrows to very little; the dated figures, ours next to theirs, are in the comparison table on the price list, so we will not repeat them here. Selection: a few pressure-treated styles per store, cedar and metal by season, and you pick from the stack that is left, checking each panel for shipping cracks and staple blow-through. Lead time: today, if the stack is there. Delivery: varies by store and by order, so ask before you assume it is free. Who it suits: one panel blew down and you want it patched by Saturday afternoon, or the whole project is priced to the last dollar on a rental. Where it wins: same day, a parking lot, a credit card and easy returns. What you give up: a published spec (species, board thickness and rail count are rarely on the tag), consistency across forty panels from three deliveries, and anyone to call when a panel cups in July.
Price: on loose lumber, competitive with anyone, and the place to go for the sizes nobody else stocks: 12 ft posts for a deep frost line, 2×6 rails, rough cedar, a single odd board. On panels, a yard sells what its supplier sends, usually one or two styles, at or a little above the big-box price. Selection: lumber first, panels second. Lead time: stock, or a week or two on order. Delivery: most yards deliver by zone for a flat fee and will put the lumber in the driveway. Who it suits: a stick-built fence, a fence tied into a deck or a pergola, and anyone whose run needs odd lumber. Where it wins: odd lumber, a counter that knows lumber, and trade accounts with terms. What you give up: choice in panels, and a published price; you get a number at the counter.
Price: the installed price, with the panel inside it. Most GTA quotes in 2026 land between roughly $40 and $90 a linear foot, labour about half of that; what a wood fence costs in the GTA takes the number apart. Selection: whatever the installer builds or buys, and many still stick-build on site. Lead time: weeks in season, and the good crews book up by spring. Delivery: not your problem, which is the point. Who it suits: anyone who wants none of the work, one warranty and one phone number for the whole fence. Where it wins: exactly that. What you give up: the labour half of the invoice, and the choice of panel, unless you ask which one they hang and where it comes from. A crew can buy ours at the same published price you would pay, and some do.
Price: the panel is one number and the freight into Ontario is another, and the second is large; both are dated in the comparison table and taken apart in the corrugated metal post. Selection: this is why people look. Many sheet colours, wood or metal frames, and the pictures are good. Lead time: four to six weeks, then a freight carrier. Delivery: curbside on a pallet, and you unload it. Who it suits: someone who wants a colour nobody in Ontario makes, and has the time. Where it wins: colour choice. What you give up: the freight, the wait, and anyone local to look at a panel that arrives bent. Our Wood & Steel is the Ontario answer to the same look: black corrugated steel in a stained wood frame, $169.99, on the yard this week. One colour, and no freight.
That is us, so here is the same list. Price: published, on the price list and on every product page, the same number for a homeowner and a contractor, $94.99 to $169.99 a panel across 9 styles in Western Red Cedar, brown pressure-treated and wood and steel, all 6 ft × 8 ft, with the true height printed for each. Selection: those panels, plus the pressure-treated posts, rails and boards they hang on, and gates made to match on request. Lead time: in stock is on the yard this week; pickup is weekdays, 9 to 5. Delivery: $200 for up to 40 panels within about 100 km of Bolton, plus HST, to the curb or the driveway; posts and loose lumber are pickup only. Pay by card online or at the counter. Who it suits: anyone buying a run of panels rather than a patch, who can set posts or hire that half out, and contractors and landscapers who would rather hang a finished panel than build one. Where it wins: the price against the same spec, the consistency of a panel built in a jig, and a phone that rings in the building where the panel was made. What you give up: there is one yard, no showroom and no Saturday counter; no trade credit; we do not install; and a return is on our terms, not a big-box service desk.
If the fence is one panel, go to the big box today. If it is a whole yard and you want no part of the work, book an installer and ask which panel they hang. If you want a colour, look west, and add the freight and six weeks. If it is a run of panels and you can set posts or hire that part out, buy the panels from the people who built them and keep the difference. We are at 240 Ellwood Drive West in Bolton, Monday to Friday; come and stand a panel up before you order a stack of them.
