Fence Companyin Hawthorne, CA
Fence installation in Hawthorne is tightest in the front yard: only the first 18 inches above the sidewalk may be solid, everything higher must be more than 95 percent open, and Planning reviews the fence before you build. The City's code also conflicts on whether a 6-foot fence needs a building permit, so ask before you buy materials.
A fence in Hawthorne is a zoning question before it is a carpentry question. The R-1 zone's minimum lot is 5,000 square feet, 50 feet wide and 100 feet deep, so a boundary line sits close to the next house. The Census Bureau's 2024 five-year estimates count 8,380 detached houses among 31,334 units, 72.8 percent of occupied homes are rented, and the median owner-occupied value is $863,400. Many of the fences that get replaced belong to a landlord, a neighbor and a tenant at once, and that shapes who has to sign and who has to pay.
On a fence job MDG Builders (CSLB #1040337) works as the general contractor. We read the zoning and building chapters for your lot, send the open questions to Planning and Building and Safety, and schedule the work, and a licensed fencing subcontractor builds it. The fencing price page has the sourced cost table, the Hawthorne overview lists the other trades, and neighboring guides cover Inglewood, Torrance and Los Angeles. A new fence often follows work on the roof or the paint.
What Hawthorne's zoning code and building code say about fences
Where fencing permits come from in Hawthorne: City of Hawthorne Building & Safety Department.
- Zoning Code 17.10b.010 says no fence or wall may be built in any zone without first obtaining a building permit, while the building code amendment in 15.04.040 changes the state exempt-work item to read 'Fences not over 6 feet high'. The two chapters point in different directions, and a Hawthorne amendment is the only reason the exempt height is 6 feet, not the state's 7 feet, so ask Building & Safety before assuming a 6-foot fence is exempt.
- Under Municipal Code 17.10b.020.A a residential wall, fence or hedge up to 6 feet high may sit on any part of a lot except that outside the front yard and street frontage a taller one, up to 10 feet, is possible only to prevent criminal activity on the police department's recommendation and with a fence conditional use permit from the Planning Commission.
- In a residential front yard, fences and walls must be wrought iron, wood, decorative block (slump stone or split face), brick, stone or stone veneer, or stucco to match the building. Chain link, wire mesh and precision block are not allowed, pilasters or columns must be spaced no more than 8 feet apart, and masonry walls must be capped (17.10b.020.A.1 to 3).
- In a residential front yard only the first 18 inches above the sidewalk may be solid. Anything above 18 inches must be more than 95 percent open to view, vertical elements may not be wider or deeper than three-quarters of an inch, and no solid or view-obscuring interval may be wider than 18 inches. All front-yard fences and walls need Planning Department review and approval before construction (17.10b.020.A.4 to 6).
- No fence, wall or hedge may exceed 3.5 feet in the corner triangle defined in Municipal Code 17.06e.090, a triangle with 15-foot legs measured from the intersection of the lot front line and the street side line. Barbed wire is barred except under the commercial and industrial provisions, and electrified fences are barred (17.10b.010).
- Title 12 has a second corner rule: Municipal Code 12.20.010 bars any fence, signpost, hedge, shrub or tree over 30 inches above the nearest curb within 35 feet of the point where the adjacent curb lines, extended, intersect, with a permit exception only for commercial and industrial property. The 30-inch and 3.5-foot rules are not reconciled in the code, so ask Planning for the sight line on a corner lot.
- Where a retaining wall holds back a cut below natural grade on a lot line, a fence of the height otherwise allowed may sit on top, but where a retaining wall holds fill its height does not count toward the allowed height and the fence above it may not exceed 6 feet (Municipal Code 17.10b.030).
- Any swimming pool, pond, spa or hot tub more than 3 feet deep must be enclosed by a structure, fence or wall 6 feet high, and any gate or door to the outside needs a self-closing device and a self-latching device at least 4 feet above the ground (Municipal Code 17.10b.040 and 17.21.160.D.7).
Sources for these rules
What kind of fence can I put in a Hawthorne front yard?
A very open one. Under Municipal Code 17.10b.020, a residential front-yard fence or wall must be wrought iron, wood, decorative block (slump stone or split face), brick, stone or stone veneer, or stucco to match the building. Chain link, wire mesh and precision block are not allowed, columns or pilasters can be no more than 8 feet apart, and masonry walls must be capped.
Then comes the openness test. Only the first 18 inches above the sidewalk may be solid. Anything above 18 inches must be more than 95 percent open to view, vertical elements may be no wider or deeper than three-quarters of an inch, and no solid or view-obscuring interval may be wider than 18 inches. That describes a picket or iron fence, not a privacy fence, and every front-yard fence needs Planning Department review and approval before construction.
The text we read gives a general 6-foot cap but no separate front-yard height figure, and it does not say whether the 6 feet applies there. Ask Planning at (310) 349-2970 for the number on your lot.
The front yard answer in one line: iron or pickets over an 18 inch solid base, reviewed by Planning first.
Does fence installation in Hawthorne need a building permit at 6 feet?
The code points two ways. Zoning Code 17.10b.010 says no fence or wall may be built in any zone without first getting a building permit. The building amendment in 15.04.040 turns the state exempt-work item into fences not over 6 feet high, and the state list itself, in the 2025 text as excerpted by the City of Albany, exempts fences not over 7 feet and retaining walls not over 4 feet measured from the footing bottom. The lower number exists only because Hawthorne amended it, so do not assume a 6-foot fence is exempt without asking Building and Safety.
Height has its own rule. A residential wall, fence or hedge may reach 6 feet on any part of a lot. Outside the front yard and street frontage, one up to 10 feet is possible only to prevent criminal activity, on the police department's recommendation and with a fence conditional use permit from the Planning Commission. Barbed wire is barred outside commercial and industrial provisions, and electrified fences are barred.
The zoning code was re-adopted and renumbered on June 23, 2026 under Ordinance 2263, so an older quote or handout may cite a stale section such as Chapter 17.48.
What are the corner lot sight line rules for a Hawthorne fence?
There are two, and the code does not reconcile them. Municipal Code 17.06e.090 and 17.10b.010 hold fences, walls and hedges to 3.5 feet inside a triangle with 15-foot legs measured from where the lot front line meets the street side line. Title 12, section 12.20.010, bars anything over 30 inches above the nearest curb within 35 feet of where the curb lines, extended, would meet, and allows a permit exception only for commercial and industrial property. Ask Planning which sight line governs your corner before you draw the fence.
Retaining walls add a trap. Under 17.10b.030, where a wall holds back a cut below natural grade on a lot line, a fence of the otherwise allowed height may sit on top. Where a wall holds fill, its height does not count toward the allowed height, and the fence above it may not exceed 6 feet.
Masonry is a different license. CSLB's C-13 fencing class excludes masonry walls, so a block wall goes to a masonry contractor, class C-29.
What fence does a Hawthorne pool or spa need?
Any pool, pond, spa or hot tub more than 3 feet deep must be enclosed by a structure, fence or wall 6 feet high, and any gate or door to the outside needs a self-closing device and a self-latching device at least 4 feet above the ground. Those rules sit in Municipal Code 17.10b.040 and 17.21.160.D.7.
The same section keeps a pool out of a required front yard and at least 5 feet from any other exterior property line or enclosed building on the premises, unless the pool extends inside the building's exterior walls. A lot where the fence line and the pool setback both matter needs one drawing that shows both.
State law adds its own layer. Health and Safety Code 115922 asks a new or remodeled pool at a home to carry at least two of seven listed drowning-prevention features, and the enclosure it names must meet section 115923. We did not read the state barrier height in 115923, so ask Building and Safety which standard governs a given barrier.
Who pays for a shared fence in Hawthorne?
California Civil Code 841 presumes that adjoining owners share equally in the reasonable cost of building, maintaining or replacing a fence on the line between their lots, unless they agreed otherwise in writing. An owner planning the work gives each affected neighbor 30 days' written notice that states the presumption, the problem, the proposed fix, the estimated cost, the cost-sharing proposal and the timeline. A plain-language copy of Civil Code 841 is easy to attach to the notice.
In Hawthorne the owner is often not the one living behind the fence. With 72.8 percent of occupied homes rented, a tenant who wants a new fence needs the landlord's approval, and the landlord needs the neighbor's. The General Plan report notes unusual horizontal multi-unit lots, so on those parcels have the property line confirmed by survey stakes before posts go in.
How much does fence installation cost in Hawthorne, and which materials are allowed?
We found no Hawthorne fence price survey and print no Hawthorne price. Angi's Los Angeles page, updated August 4, 2026, shows an average of $3,051 (a range of $1,734 to $4,422) and $15 to $60 per linear foot, and its 100-foot row implies about $21 to $24 a foot. HomeGuide, Thumbtack and Fixr land in the same neighborhood with different methods, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the mean pay for fence erectors in the Los Angeles area at $28.00 an hour as of May 2025, a wage and not a bill.
From those sources, our planning range for a 6-foot installed run is $25 to $55 per linear foot for wood or vinyl privacy, $12 to $30 for chain link and $35 to $85 for aluminum or ornamental iron, so a 100-foot backyard run lands near $2,500 to $5,500. Chain link is barred in a Hawthorne front yard, and iron suits the front-yard openness rule. Block walls have no independent per-foot source we trust, so ask for a measured quote and a permit line.
How do I hire a fence company in Hawthorne?
Fencing is CSLB class C-13, defined as constructing, erecting, altering or repairing all types of fences, railings, barriers and gates, excluding masonry walls. Check the number first with our license checking guide. Since January 1, 2025, an unlicensed person may take only a job under $1,000 with no workers and no permit needed (AB 2622). Whether a fence contractor based outside Hawthorne needs a City business license is unconfirmed, so ask the licensing desk.
Ask for a measured proposal that lists the footage, height, material, post depth, gate hardware and whether Planning review or a permit is included. Business and Professions Code 7159 requires a written contract, caps the down payment at $1,000 or 10 percent, whichever is less, and keeps payments tied to finished work. On an MDG job, ask for the fencing subcontractor's license number and certificate of insurance, and see how general contractors use subcontractors.
Fence and gate photos from Hawthorne and nearby communities
Six fence scenes tied to Hawthorne neighborhoods such as Hollyglen, Burleigh and Moneta Gardens and to nearby communities like Lawndale and Gardena, from iron front-yard fences to wood privacy runs and pool barriers.
Where the fence numbers come from
Every per-foot figure on this page comes from Los Angeles sources, each named with its date in the table on our fencing cost page, and none includes a permit or a Planning review fee. The sources disagree at the low end, so treat the numbers as a planning range and see how Los Angeles fence rules and Glendale fence rules differ. Driveway gates meet the concrete page at the apron, and a pool deck is covered on the decks page.
| What it covers | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Wood or vinyl privacy fence, 6 feet | $25 to $55 per linear foot |
| Chain-link | $12 to $30 per linear foot |
| Aluminum or ornamental iron | $35 to $85 per linear foot |
| Typical 100-foot backyard run | $2,500 to $5,500 total |
| Block walls, horizontal slat fences, gates and openers, hillside lots | Set by the written proposal |
Hawthorne fence questions, answered
How much should I pay for fence installation?
Plan around $25 to $55 per linear foot for a 6-foot wood or vinyl privacy fence, or roughly $2,500 to $5,500 for 100 feet in the Los Angeles area. Angi's Los Angeles page shows an average of $3,051. Hawthorne has no published survey, so get a measured proposal with footage and material on separate lines.
How much does 200 ft of fencing cost?
At our planning range of $25 to $55 per linear foot for wood or vinyl privacy, 200 feet runs about $5,000 to $11,000. Chain link is lower and ornamental iron higher, and sources disagree at the low end. Gates, grade changes, old fence removal and any Planning review change the total.
What are the new fence rules in California in 2026?
We could not verify any new statewide fence rule that overrides Hawthorne's code. Sources conflict on the status of the proposed Zone 0 ember-resistant rules, and the City's hazard plan draft puts Hawthorne outside the high fire hazard zones. The rules we can cite are Hawthorne's municipal code chapters and Civil Code 841.
Do I need a permit to build a fence in Hawthorne?
Ask before you build. Zoning Code 17.10b.010 says no fence or wall in any zone without a building permit, yet the building amendment in 15.04.040 exempts fences not over 6 feet high. Front-yard fences also need Planning review. Call Building and Safety at (310) 349-2990 with the height and location.
What if I don't get a permit to build a fence?
Starting work before a required permit brings an added fee and a possible investigation fee, which can equal the permit fee, under Municipal Code 15.04.060. Violating the Title 15 building codes is a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in jail, or both, and each day counts separately.
How tall can a fence be in Hawthorne?
Up to 6 feet on any part of a residential lot, per Municipal Code 17.10b.020. In a front yard, everything above 18 inches must be more than 95 percent open. Outside the front yard, a fence up to 10 feet needs a conditional use permit, a police recommendation and Planning Commission approval.
Can I put a privacy fence in my front yard?
Not a solid one. Only the first 18 inches above the sidewalk may be solid, and anything above must be more than 95 percent open to view, with no solid interval wider than 18 inches. Wrought iron, wood pickets, decorative block, brick, stone or stucco to match the building are the listed materials, and Planning must approve first.
Does my neighbor have to pay for half the fence in California?
Usually the law presumes they share the reasonable cost equally. Civil Code 841 covers a fence on the line between two lots, unless the owners agreed otherwise in writing, and it requires 30 days' written notice before you incur costs. A neighbor can rebut the presumption, so keep the notice and proof of delivery.
How do I choose a fence company or fence contractor in Hawthorne?
Check the CSLB license first: fencing is class C-13, and block walls are masonry, not C-13. Then ask for a written contract under Business and Professions Code 7159, proof of insurance, and a clear statement of who handles Planning review and any permit. We could not confirm whether an outside contractor needs a Hawthorne business license.
Plan your fence project in Hawthorne
Send the address, the length you want to enclose and whether any part is front yard, a corner or beside a pool. We check the sight lines and review questions before we call back.