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CGI Fence Installation: The Orlando Owner’s Guide
CGI fence installation in Orlando typically runs $3,500 to $9,000 installed, depending on linear footage, post spacing, gate count, and access. Most CGI panel and post replacements are a one-day job once we’re on site, and we carry common CGI-compatible components on the truck so we’re not making you wait for a special order. The typical call starts the same way: a homeowner noticed a leaning post after a storm, a gate that won’t latch square anymore, or rust blooming around the bottom rail where irrigation water has been hitting it for years. By the time someone calls us, they’ve usually already confirmed the panel hasn’t failed, but the frame around it has.
CGI, or Commercial Grade Iron, is a specific style of ornamental steel fencing with vertical pickets, horizontal rails, and a top and bottom frame welded or mechanically fastened into a panel system. It’s not the same thing as lightweight aluminum fence or chain link with slats. The steel is heavier, the picket spacing is tighter, and the finish is usually a powder coat or baked enamel. In Orlando’s humidity and afternoon thunderstorm cycles, that finish is what separates a fence that still looks decent after eight years from one that’s rusting at every weld by year three. We install and service CGI fence panels, posts, gates, and hardware for homeowners across Orlando, including College Park, Baldwin Park, Winter Park, and the Conway area.
One thing up front: Penhallow Remodeling Orlando is an independent contractor, not a factory branch or authorized dealer for CGI. That actually works in your favor when it comes to parts, because we’re free to match your existing panel with the best available option rather than pushing one brand line. We’ll talk through exactly what that means below.
Which CGI Models This Applies To
CGI fence systems in the Orlando market generally fall into three categories: residential ornamental steel panels, commercial-grade perimeter panels, and the older site-fabricated steel fences that predate the modern panel systems. The residential panels you’ll see around College Park and Baldwin Park are usually 6-foot tall with 5/8-inch or 1-inch square pickets set on 4-inch centers, welded to a top and bottom rail. The commercial-grade line uses heavier wall tubing, often 1.5-inch or 2-inch posts, and tighter picket spacing. If your fence was installed more than about 15 years ago, it may be a custom-fabricated steel fence rather than a true CGI panel system, and that changes how we approach the repair.
The most reliable way to identify what you have is to look at the top rail. Most CGI-style panels carry a small welded tag or stamped marking near one end of the top horizontal rail, often with a series code or panel dimensions. If the tag is gone, we measure the picket size, the spacing between pickets, and the outside frame rail dimensions. Those three numbers get us to the right replacement panel or post about 95% of the time without having to pull the old one first. The compatibility gotcha most owners run into: panel width is not universal. Some Orlando developments were speced with 6-foot-wide panels and some with 8-foot-wide panels, and they don’t interchange cleanly because post spacing was set for one or the other. If you buy a panel assuming it fits and the posts are 8 feet on center, you’re in for a long afternoon.
On the OEM-versus-aftermarket question, here’s the honest version. For posts and gate frames, a good domestic aftermarket steel post with the same wall thickness and a quality powder coat will outlast what a lot of Orlando fence contractors were installing 10 to 15 years ago, because the coatings have improved. For decorative finials, cast scroll work, and custom gate arch sections, OEM CGI parts are usually worth the extra cost if you want the profile to match exactly. We stock common aftermarket steel posts, top and bottom rails, pickets, and gate hardware on the truck. For odd-size or ornamental pieces, we order and have them on the next truck, usually within a week.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your CGI Fence Installation Is Failing
In Orlando, fence failures follow a predictable pattern. Here’s what we see most often, and what’s actually going on underneath each symptom.
- Leaning or tilting posts. This is almost never the post itself failing. It’s the concrete footing cracking, or the footing being too shallow for Florida’s sandy, shifting soil layers. Once a post starts leaning, the panel it supports twists, and that stress transfers to the neighboring posts.
- Rust blooming at the bottom rail or post bases. Sprinkler heads hitting the fence line, standing water at the base after storms, and grass clippings held against the steel all do the same thing: they eat through the powder coat and start corrosion. We see this constantly in Orlando neighborhoods where the irrigation was installed before the fence and never adjusted.
- A gate that drags or won’t latch. The gate hinges and the frame around the gate are the highest-wear parts of any CGI fence. When the gate frame sags, it’s usually because the gate post footing has shifted or the hinge welds have begun to fail. Forcing the gate closed just accelerates the damage.
- Loose or missing pickets. Picket welds are the smallest connection points on the fence, and they take more storm load than people expect. Once two or three pickets go loose in a section, the rail starts flexing, and the failure spreads.
- Flaking or peeling finish across large areas. If the powder coat is failing in broad patches rather than at discrete damage points, the panel was likely painted or coated over existing rust at some point. In Orlando’s humidity, that failure accelerates fast.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
For Orlando homeowners, a full CGI fence installation or a substantial replacement section typically lands between $3,500 and $9,000. The spread breaks down on predictable lines: how many linear feet of panel, how many posts need new footings, whether gates are being rebuilt or just re-hung, and how much of the existing frame can be saved and recoated rather than replaced. A single-section post-and-panel repair on one corner of a yard is a different job from re-fencing the entire perimeter, and we price them differently.
Every quote from Penhallow Remodeling Orlando includes digging and setting new concrete footings where needed, the steel posts and rails or panels, picket replacement, gate hardware, and cleanup. We don’t leave you with a pile of old steel in the yard or a hole filled with loose dirt. You get a written line-item price before we start, so the number we quote is the number on the invoice. If any part of the project fails inside the 365-Day Done Right Promise period, we come back and fix it at no charge, and that’s in writing too. No service call fee, no re-inspection fee, no debate. The Kingswell Way: say the price before the work, show up in the window we gave, leave the place cleaner than we found it.
DIY or Call Us?
There’s an honest split here. On the safe side: you can absolutely inspect your own fence line for rust, loose pickets, sprinkler overspray, and gate alignment issues, and you should, because catching rust early is the single biggest money-saver on CGI fence in Orlando. What you shouldn’t do is try to reset a leaning post with a bag of quikrete, cut into existing steel rails, or attempt to re-weld pickets, unless you’re genuinely set up for it. A CGI panel under tension is heavy, and a post that lets go while you’re trying to jack it back to plumb is dangerous. Steel and gravity do not negotiate.
If you’re comfortable confirming what’s loose and what’s solid, that helps us quote faster. If the post is leaning, the gate is binding, or the rust is structural rather than cosmetic, call us. We’ll come out, measure, and give you a written number before you make any decisions. Give you the number first, then pick up the tool. Call (850) 427-6454.
FAQs
A well-installed CGI steel fence with a quality powder coat lasts 15 to 25 years in the Orlando climate, but that lifespan shortens to under 10 years if sprinklers hit the base daily or the posts were set in shallow footings. The steel itself doesn’t fail; the finish and the concrete around the posts do. Call (850) 427-6454 if you want us to walk your fence line and tell you honestly where it stands.
Yes, if the rust is surface-level and the steel underneath is still sound, we grind, treat, prime, and recoat the affected sections. If the rust has eaten through the tubing wall or compromised welds, that section gets replaced. Orlando’s humidity means we inspect before we promise recoat work, because recoating over active corrosion just hides it for a season. Call (850) 427-6454 for a free estimate.
A typical single-section post-and-panel replacement is a one-day job from removal to clean concrete. A full perimeter fence installation in Orlando runs two to five days depending on linear feet, gate count, and how much of the old concrete needs to be broken out. We give you a defined arrival window when we schedule, not a vague “sometime this week.”
We stock common steel posts, rails, pickets, hinge hardware, and gate latch sets on the truck, so most repairs don’t wait on a parts order. Decorative cast pieces, custom gate arches, and odd panel widths are special order and usually arrive within about a week. When we quote, we’ll tell you up front if any part of your job requires an order.
If your CGI fence in Orlando needs a section rebuilt, a gate re-hung, or a full replacement, call Penhallow Remodeling Orlando at (850) 427-6454 for a free estimate. Trevor Nash and the crew will measure, give you a written price, and stand behind the work for a full year. We also stock and install parts for KraftMaid cabinetry, Cambria and Silestone countertops when your fence project happens to be part of a bigger outdoor remodel.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner, Penhallow Remodeling Orlando at Penhallow Remodeling Orlando, serving Orlando and nearby areas.
