Yes, it can. The fence is built one of two ways. Racked means the rails follow the slope while the pickets stay plumb. Stepped means each panel is level and the line drops at every post. Racked fences sit closest to the ground.
Racked or stepped: which is better?
- Racked: works on gentle to moderate grades and leaves an even gap at the bottom. Choose it if you have a dog.
- Stepped: needed on sharp grades and with many pre-made panels. It leaves a triangle of open space under the low end of each panel.
- Cut to the ground on site: with redwood or cedar boards, each one is trimmed to the soil line, which looks cleanest on a hillside.
I have a dog that digs and a yard that drops. How do I avoid gaps?
Ask for a racked or site-cut fence so the bottom tracks the slope, and then deal with the soil line itself. Options are a pressure-treated kick board at ground level, boards scribed to the grade, or galvanized mesh buried a short way below the fence. Remember that clay settles and cracks in summer, so a gap can open where there was none in spring.
My yard is steep and rocky and two companies turned the job down. Who does this?
Ask us to look at it. We walk the line before deciding. Hillside lots are part of normal work in Almaden, the Evergreen and east foothills, Los Gatos and Saratoga. Expect it to take longer, since lumber and concrete go in by hand, holes are dug by hand, and downhill posts are set deeper. Rock is cored, or the post is pinned to it. Mention any retaining wall near the line. Cities often count the wall in the fence height, and a wall may need engineering.
Do installers dig by hand or with a machine?
Both. On level valley lots with room to work, a powered auger does most holes, though late-summer adobe can stall a small one. Hand tools take over on hillsides, along house walls and pool decks, near painted utility marks, around tree roots and in side yards too narrow for equipment.
We only give a firm price after measuring the line in person. The visit is free and you get the quote in writing. Call (408) 217-2790 or text a photo of the fence.