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I N PHOENIX, Az.,

Cavalier

I Homes, a major home builder, promotes "fenced rear yards" to its customersl Design Master Homes offers 6' cedar fencing around the entire backyard of its homes: and Buttum Construction Co. entices buyers by letting them add their own custom extras, and lists installed fencing as a standard feature.

Pre-installed split cedar pickets (grapestake fencing) is the trend in Phoenix and many of the major builders sub-contract for fencing using the services of E. J. Flood Sales Co.. the oldest wood fence company in Arizona, and a leading installation specialist.

The Flood organization erects some 1500 feet of inland red cedar fencing a day. Work for builders is handled on a bid basis with Flood generally giving a6O day price guarantee.

About 80% of the fencing is built with 6' high rustic split cedar pickets. Pickets are supplied by truck from Potlatch Corp. split cedar mills located in northern ldaho. Split cedar fencing is popular in the Phoenix region because the wood contains a natural preservative oil or resin that resists decay and insects. Cedar also stands up to the dty, desert country heat.

"Cedar is well suited to the desert climate," declares Woody Hodges, v.p. in charge oflarge accounts for Flood's, "because it holds its oil so well. Other woods get dry and brittle. Even after cedar weathers to a silver grey you can take a knife and just go down l/8" or so and touch bright wood."

He notes their service is geared to the volume builder. It maintains a stock of some 15,000 feet of cedar fencing, and after some 29 years in the business has its installation work honed to the peak of efficiency. They have 14 men in the field and two employees at its 3-acre yard facility.

One crew handles nothing but post installation. The other crews, varying from two to four men, put up the fencing.

The posts are rough cut cedar 3x4 and set exactly 7'8" apart. Most fencing is installed with three rails. The top rail is 16' to tie three posts together. Use of three-rail fencing means more nails to hold pickets and the bottom rail can be set close to the ground. This construction provides a fence that can take the strong wind that frequently prevails in the valley. They nail pickets with 8D nails using a pneumatic nailer powered by an engine trucked to the site. A bundle of 2-l 12" wide pickets , 24 Io a bundle covers 5'.

Pickets are butted together. Being rustic they allow some daylight to show but do provide for total privacy between dwellings. The fence gates are built at each site. This on-job gate con-

Story at a Glance

Builders' discovery that installed fencing helps sell homes has lead to its increasing use in the metro Phoenix area most builders subcontract for the installation. siruction enables installers tofit a more accurate gate by allowing for differences in terrain. Each home requires 2 or more gates depending upon lot location.

Between homes they reverse the fence pattern every 8', i.e., one section shows pickets and the next the rail side. The installation crews averase about 3 complete home installations per crew a day.

Builders utilizing the services of Flood agree that pre-installed fencing helps to sell homes. Don Graves, construction superintendent for Marlborough Development, offers that selling homes with fencing is an "extra that appeals to buyers. We definitely feel that a fence is important," says Graves. Marlborough has had fencing installed at 150 homes in the past 12 months.

Mrs. Agatha Flood assumed management of Flood Fence after the death of her husband Elliott in 1963; they started the business in 1947

According to Mrs. Flood, the firm introduced split cedar fencing to the area. "Cedar blends so well with landscaping, especially when it mellows to a soft silver. Home buyers like a wood fence."

The trend to builders selling homes with pre-installed fencing in Phoenix began just about six years ago. Now most of the Phoenix homes are sold with fencing and what has caught on in Arizona may become copied nationallv.