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Ameristar Fence Installation: The Woodland Hills Owner’s Guide
We install and service Ameristar fence systems throughout Woodland Hills, and a complete new Ameristar fence installation here typically runs between $3,500 and $9,000, depending on linear footage, panel height, gate count, and whether we’re pulling old posts or setting new ones. Most installations we complete take two to four working days once materials are staged. The call usually starts the same way: a homeowner heard a metallic pop near a gate, noticed a rail pulling loose from a post, or watched a section of ornamental aluminum lean after a Santa Ana wind event and realized something underneath finally gave out.
We stock the common Ameristar rail, post, and gate hardware on our trucks and can order full panel systems directly through our supplier network. Mason Remodeling Co Woodland Hills is an independent contractor, not a corporate dealer or division of Ameristar, which matters because we’re not tied to one inventory pipeline when matching your existing panel profile.
Call (831) 290-6866 and tell us what you’re seeing. We’ll give you a straight price range over the phone, schedule a site visit if it sounds structural, and put the final number in writing before a single post is touched.
Which Ameristar Models This Applies To
Ameristar builds two primary ornamental fence lines you’ll find around Woodland Hills: the Montage series, which is their mid-market steel and aluminum hybrid with a pressed spear top, and the Echelon series, which uses a heavier-gauge steel rail with a cleaner, more architectural profile. Both lines share the same structural weak points: the rail-to-post bracket, the gate hinge assembly, and the bottom rail where sprinkler water pools against the pickets.
Here’s the compatibility gotcha most owners hit: Ameristar changed their rail bracket spacing between manufacturing runs in the mid-2010s. An older Montage post might measure 2 inches square; newer runs can measure 2-1/4 inches on the same nominal spec. If you order brackets by panel style alone, you’ll end up with hardware that won’t seat against the post. Before you buy anything, measure the outside face of your post with a tape measure, not a guess, and check for a stamped code on the inside of the bottom rail near the post line.
For OEM versus aftermarket: Ameristar’s original brackets are powder-coated to match, and when the color is still clean we recommend them. For gate hinges and latch posts on older installs, a quality aftermarket hinge set from a commercial fence supplier often outlasts the original spec because manufacturers have thickened the pivot barrel over the years. We’ll tell you which way we’d go on your specific fence once we see it.
We also stock and install components that work with KraftMaid, Cambria, and Silestone product lines in our broader remodeling work, but Ameristar fence systems are the focus of this page.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Ameristar Fence Installation Is Failing
- Rail pulled loose from post. The single most common call we get from Woodland Hills homeowners. The bracket screws have rusted or worked loose inside the post, and the rail is now hanging on by the picket fasteners. Left alone, the panel’s weight starts tearing out the remaining screws.
- Gate dragging on the latch side. Ameristar gates are heavy. When the top hinge bracket flexes or the post shifts even a quarter inch, the gate drops and the latch no longer lines up with the strike plate.
- Wobble at the base of a post. This is almost always a footing problem, not a post problem. In Woodland Hills, we see post bases set in undersized concrete cores that got baked and cracked by summer heat, loosening the post collar.
- Picket rattle along a rail. The sound gets worse in wind season. It means the screws or friction clips holding pickets to rails have corroded or backed out. Not structural by itself, but it’s an early warning that the rail is shifting.
- Powder coat failing at ground contact. Aluminum generally won’t rust, but the steel inner core of Ameristar rails can. When you see coat bubbling at the bottom rail, that’s moisture working into the steel under the finish. Coastal-adjacent humidity in the Valley accelerates this, though Woodland Hills is far enough inland that it’s usually sprinkler overspray doing the damage.
See the difference
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After
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
Here’s what we quote for Ameristar fence work in Woodland Hills:
- New Ameristar Montage or Echelon installation: $3,500 – $9,000, with most residential jobs landing between $5,000 and $7,000 for 150 to 220 linear feet of 6-foot paneling with two gates.
- Section repair or rail replacement (one to three panels): typically included in a broader repair visit, with parts starting around $200 – $500 and labor billed at our standard installation rate for the time required.
- Gate replacement or re-hang: $400 – $1,200 for a single walk or drive gate depending on hardware condition and whether the post needs re-setting.
- Post re-setting with new concrete core: $300 – $700 per post, which includes demolition of the old footing, new concrete, and re-securing the panel brackets.
The price range swings on three things: how many posts need re-setting versus a simple swap, whether your property line slopes enough to require stepped panels, and whether we’re working around mature landscaping that slows the post-hole work. Our quotes are written, line-itemed, and delivered before work starts, and they don’t grow unless you change the scope after signing. Every completed installation carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if anything isn’t right within a year of the completion date, we return and correct it at no cost to you.
DIY or Call Us?
You can safely check a few things before making the call. Look at each post base for cracked concrete. Push gently on each panel to feel for movement. Try the gates and see which one drags first. Take photos of any pulled brackets. That information helps us price your repair over the phone, and it costs you ten minutes.
Where DIY goes wrong on Ameristar systems is in the post and rail alignment. These panels are heavy; loosening the wrong bracket or pulling a rail unsupported can bend the rail and twist the picket line in a way nobody repairs neatly. If a post has rotted at the base or shifted, that’s a digging and concrete job, and setting a post out of plumb by even a couple degrees makes the gate bind forever. We don’t tell homeowners to stop working on their own homes, but we do say this: if you’re not certain the panel is supported before you unbolt it, call (831) 290-6866 instead. A fence panel in motion is unforgiving.
FAQs
Expect 20 to 30 years for the aluminum pickets and panels, with steel rails and hardware typically failing in the 10-to-15-year range if exposed to constant irrigation splash or pooling water. The concrete core around posts is often the first thing to go in the Valley’s shrink-swell soil cycle, usually inside 12 to 15 years. Call (831) 290-6866 for an exact assessment of your fence.
Yes, in almost every case. We replace individual rails, brackets, pickets, hinges, and posts routinely, and we’ll match your Ameristar profile and color when possible. We only recommend full replacement when post concrete failure is widespread or panel corrosion has reached the point where patching costs more than new. A written quote shows you both options side by side before you commit.
A standard residential installation in Woodland Hills takes two to four working days. That includes removing old fencing if needed, setting posts with concrete that cures overnight, and hanging panels and gates on the final day. Complex slopes, long runs, or extensive old-concrete removal can add a day or two.
Most like-for-like fence replacements on an existing property line do not require permits in Woodland Hills, but if we’re changing fence height, building new fence on a corner lot with visibility restrictions, or your HOA has review requirements, we flag that during the estimate and handle the paperwork on our end. We’ll tell you before a single post goes in the ground.
Tell me what you need done. We’ll tell you what it takes and what it costs. Then we get to work. Call (831) 290-6866 to schedule your free site visit and get a written estimate for your Ameristar fence installation in Woodland Hills.
Written by Isaac Pruett, Owner, Mason Remodeling Co – Woodland Hills, CA at Mason Remodeling Co Woodland Hills, serving Woodland Hills and nearby areas.
