MANSFIELD, TX – September 02, 2026 – PRESSADVANTAGE –
Double Eagle Fence has published guidance on how conditions specific to newly developed residential lots affect fence installation, citing census data showing sustained residential construction across its service area. The guidance addresses properties where no previous fence line exists and where the ground itself has recently been altered by development.
Census figures place Mansfield’s 2026 population at an estimated 86,408, up from 72,782 recorded in the 2020 census, an increase of roughly 19 percent in six years. Local reporting has noted that approximately one quarter of the city’s land area remains undeveloped and that 842 new home permits were issued in a single recent year. Sustained buildout at that pace means a substantial share of fencing work in the area now takes place on lots that were pasture or raw ground within the past several years.
That distinction matters more than it appears. A lot inside a new subdivision is not undisturbed ground, and the soil a post is set into has usually been graded, cut, filled and compacted before a house was framed on it.
The underlying material remains challenging regardless. The U.S. Department of Agriculture maps Houston Black clay across the Blackland Prairie region, a Vertisol with severe shrink-swell potential that expands when wet and contracts as it dries. Development changes how that soil is arranged on a site without changing what it is.
“On an established lot the ground has settled into a pattern, and the pattern is readable,” said Lance Dunaway, Owner of Double Eagle Fence. “On a lot that was graded eighteen months ago, the soil is still finding equilibrium. Fill behaves differently from cut, and a fence line can run across both without anything on the surface indicating where one ends and the other begins.”
Several conditions are particular to recent construction. Buried construction debris, displaced fill and abandoned material can sit below grade along a property boundary, which affects where posts can be set and how a hole is dug. Irrigation is often newly installed and shallow, and landscaping has not yet matured to the point where root systems influence soil moisture the way established trees do.
Final grade presents its own complication. Landscaping, drainage corrections and retaining work sometimes follow rather than precede a fence, which means a fence line established early can end up sitting differently once the surrounding grade is finished.
Documentation of the property line carries added weight in these settings. On an established block, existing fences and long-standing landscaping often make a boundary visually obvious, whereas a recently platted lot may have little more than survey pins to work from. Confirming those markers before any hole is dug prevents a fence from being built to the wrong line.
Neighboring construction is a further factor. On a street still being built out, adjacent lots may be under active construction while a homeowner is planning a fence, and a boundary shared with an unbuilt lot involves conditions that have not been established yet.
Dunaway noted that sequencing decisions carry weight on new construction. “The question on a new lot is not only what the fence should be, it is when it should go in,” he said. “Waiting until grading and drainage are finished usually produces a straighter line that stays straight, and that is worth more than getting the fence up a few weeks earlier.”
Purpose also tends to be undefined at the outset. On an established property a new fence typically replaces an older one and follows a line already drawn. On a newly developed lot, the boundary, the pool area, the pet area and the entry are being separated for the first time, and a single property can carry several fencing needs that call for different materials and heights.
Those decisions interact with material selection rather than following from it. Wood privacy fencing presents a solid surface that transfers wind load to the posts, while chain link allows air through the mesh and places less lateral demand on the same footing. Ornamental and wrought iron carry greater panel weight, and pool enclosures depend on the fence and gate holding alignment. Each behaves differently on soil that has not fully settled.
Gates add a further consideration on new construction. Driveway entries, pedestrian access points and the placement of gate operators or access controls are more easily accommodated when they are planned alongside the fence line rather than added afterward, particularly where power routing and clearance are involved.
Double Eagle Fence is a fence contractor serving Mansfield, Texas and the surrounding Dallas-Fort Worth area. The company installs wood, chain link, ornamental iron, wrought iron and brick fencing, along with privacy, security, pool, farm, pipe and tennis court fencing, and provides custom gates, gate operators, access controls, core drilling and arbors for residential and commercial properties.
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For more information about Double Eagle Fence, contact the company here:
Double Eagle Fence
Lance Dunaway
+16822826943
lcdunaway@gmail.com
1206 Oakmont Ct, Mansfield, TX 76063, United States
