Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

I need a fence. I need a fence for several reasons, primarily because my wife wants one for privacy. That falls into the need category because I promised we would buy a fence shortly after moving in. To be fair to her, there are a number of other reasons to get the fence too. They include my desire to get a dog, the poorly supervised kids from down the street that tramp through our yard, the construction work that will soon begin directly behind our house, and the fact that most of the neighbors have one so it is an expected feature of homes in our subdivision. It has now been six months, and I've continuously put off the purchase. Finally today I got off my butt and had a guy come out and do a full estimate for how much is it going to cost. The problem is I'm afraid I bit off more than I can chew because I don't have the cash.

The number on that harmless piece of paper nearly took my breath away. It was more than double the already inflated amount I had in mind. I figured that it would take a small team (2-3 workers) two days to install. I thought the labor would work out to be $500, the materials three times that ($1500) and then the company would take a 10% or 15% cut on the top. In other words I think a reasonable cost would be $2200 and a wildly inflated price might run up near $3k. Boy was I wrong.

The total estimate I was given was $6,625.70. Wow, that is a lot of money (for me anyway). I had budgeted for my tax refund (likely $700-900) and my next non-bonus bonus, plus maybe a few hundred out of my savings would cover it. Now I'm about $4,000 short and trying to figure out how I'm going to make good on my promise.

A quick aside about my non-bonus bonuses. I get paid every other week. That works out to 26 paychecks every year with two months that get an 'extra' check. When I make my budget I don't include those extra checks and live on what I net from two checks. That means that twice a year I get a nice chunk of change for a big purchase. One day as I'm getting ready to retire I will use them to pay down my mortgage and as I become more disciplined about being frugal I can use them for investments (and in this case purchases that retain their value like a fence). Back to the story...

The guy who did the estimate was very happy to explain how they use a whole 80 lbs of concrete for every post hole and use triple pressure treated, kiln dried, defect free wood. He explained that their employees are workers comp insured, criminal background checked, and legal (made a really big deal about this one). Mr. Fence also explained the two different warranties that are included and a dozen other things to justify the costs that have nothing to do with giving me privacy. I'm not a fence expert but it still seems like a ton of company overhead that adds up to a ton of dough. Finally, the one year no-payments no-interest financing was explained to me in great detail. The guy seemed honestly surprised that I was more interested in how much the fence cost as opposed to how much the minimum monthly payment was going to be.

Now I have difficult choice, do I go back on my word and wait about another 18 months to install the fence. OR I can postpone my debt repayment plan (not taking on any more debt) and buy the fence. OR I can take out a loan from my local credit union to pay for the fence and all of my cc debt in one swoop and pay it off over 36 months at roughly the same dollar amount I'm paying on my cc's now. None of these options work. It may be time to show my commitment to building wealth and take the tough medicine. I just don't know if I can do it. Thoughts?