Fence & Gate Installation in Iowa Colony, TX

What we install for Iowa Colony customers

We build and repair the full range of residential and commercial fencing and gates, served from our Galveston office:

• Wood fences in cedar and pine, as privacy, dog-ear, capped or rail styles.
• Vinyl privacy, picket and ranch-rail fencing.
• Aluminum and wrought iron fencing and walk gates.
• Chain link, including black vinyl-coated, for rear yards, acreage and commercial use.
• Gates: walk gates, driveway gates, and automatic gate openers and access control.
• Fence and gate repair, and commercial and HOA fencing.

We do not have an Iowa Colony office, and we are not showing Iowa Colony jobs on this page. The photos below are from our project archive and are captioned for what is visible. Financing is available through the providers on our financing page, subject to credit approval.

Front yard, side yard and rear yard rules

Iowa Colony treats the street side of a lot very differently from the back. Under the Unified Development Code, no fence or wall is permitted within the required front yard of a single-family or duplex lot that is adjacent to a public street. The exception is a decorative fence: one with openings of at least 50 percent of the fence area and a height of 4 feet or less. Chain link, woven wire mesh, metal panel and similar materials are expressly not considered decorative. No residential fence may sit closer than 15 feet to a public street, though on continuous corner lots whose side or rear building lines adjoin, the fence may run out to the side yard’s property line.

In side and rear yards, fences may not exceed eight feet. The older Zoning Ordinance (Sec. 55) agrees on eight feet and adds that any fence portion in front of the front wall of the main building, or closer to a street than the building setback line, may not exceed four feet. The two parts of the code overlap, so when your plan is near the front of the lot, ask the city which applies and follow the stricter reading.

Materials, easements and permits

Materials. Iowa Colony’s code lists approved wood, decorative metal, chain link and woven wire mesh as permitted residential fence materials. New materials such as plastics, PVC and metal panel may be approved by the city’s building official if they are proven sturdy, durable and relatively maintenance-free, so ask before ordering a vinyl fence. On residential lots, above-ground electric fencing, wire mesh such as hog wire or chicken wire, and barbed wire are prohibited as perimeter fencing unless the lot is two acres or more in the single-family/agriculture district. Concertina wire needs a specific use permit from city council, and no sharp or broken glass may protrude from a fence.

Easements. A fence in a public easement needs approval from the building official and the city engineer, and must include a gate or removable panel for maintenance access. Nothing that restricts drainage flow is allowed in a drainage easement.

Permits. A building permit is required for any new fence where the market value of the work, materials and labor combined, exceeds $300. Repair or replacement of an existing fence does not need one if it stays within the original fence criteria. In a single-family development, a fence over eight feet needs engineer-approved plans and a building permit. We did not find a permit fee in the code text, so we do not state one.

Gates, access control and subdivisions

For single-family developments on private streets, the code puts access-control gates at least 24 feet back from the intersecting public street right-of-way, so waiting vehicles stack off the public road. That shapes where a gate operator, keypad or call box can go, so settle the gate line with the city before you order. The code also requires multi-lot single-family subdivisions that are not planned unit developments to provide an eight-foot-high opaque wood or masonry perimeter fence around the outside boundary of each subdivision section. Newer neighborhoods in and around Iowa Colony often also have their own deed restrictions or HOA rules, which are separate from city code and can be stricter. We have not reviewed any specific subdivision’s rules, so check yours before ordering.

Commercial and industrial owners should note Zoning Sec. 55.b: where nonresidential land shares a side or rear line with single-family land, the nonresidential owner is to build a screening fence between 8 and 10 feet high forming a solid continuous screen, unless the nonresidential use arrived after the residential one was already there.

Questions we get about this