Fence installation and repair in Centennial.
Centennial is the HOA city. The city's own GIS maps roughly 200 homeowner and civic associations inside the limits — Piney Creek alone carries about seventeen sub-associations. In Centennial, your HOA's architectural committee is usually a bigger gate than the city's permit desk. Both matter, and we deal with both.
The permit trigger here isn't height
Most Front Range cities key their fence permit to height. Centennial doesn't. Under the Land Development Code, a fence permit is an administrative permit required when any of three things is true: part of the fence is replaced with different materials, the fence is reconfigured in any way, or the height of the fence is increased.
So a like-for-like replacement — same location, same material, same height — falls outside all three triggers. Change the material, move the line, or go taller, and you're permitting it. That's a genuinely different rule than the one every other city on this list uses, and it's the one homeowners here get wrong most often, usually by assuming there's a six-foot threshold. There isn't.
The other thing Centennial does that its neighbors don't: it licenses the trade. Fencing is a named licensed trade under the city's contractor licensing code, and a fence contractor working in Centennial needs a trade contractor license, a business license, workers' comp, and general liability coverage. If a guy with a truck quotes you a Centennial fence for cash, ask him about his trade license.
- ▸Permit triggered by: different materials · reconfiguration · increased height
- ▸Like-for-like replacement generally isn't a trigger — verify your scope
- ▸Fencing is a licensed trade — trade license, business license, workers' comp, GL
- ▸Chain link is permitted only in interior side and rear yards, never a street yard
Height, opacity, and the chain-link rule
Front yard fences in Centennial are capped at four feet, and they can be no more than fifty percent opaque. So the front of your house gets a low, open fence — not a wall.
Chain-link has its own rule, and it's specific: chain-link fences are permitted only in interior side yards and rear yards that are not also street yards. If your fence is visible from the street, chain-link isn't the answer in Centennial. On a corner lot, that eliminates a good chunk of the fence line.
A few more from the code that come up on a walk: the finished side has to face out toward the right-of-way, a trail, or a park; posts may exceed the fence height by up to twelve inches; the fence has to stand within twenty degrees of perpendicular; sport-court fencing can go to twelve feet in a side or rear yard with a setback; and barbed wire, plywood, sheet metal, and tarps are prohibited as fence material.
On the side and rear maximum height, be careful with what you read online. Centennial amended its Land Development Code in 2025, and the number floating around in older documents and third-party code mirrors doesn't agree with itself. We confirm the current standard with Centennial Planning for your specific zone before we build, rather than quoting a number that might be a code cycle out of date.
- ▸Front yard — 4 ft max, no more than 50% opaque
- ▸Chain-link — interior side and rear yards only, never a street yard
- ▸Finished side faces the right-of-way, trail, or park
- ▸Posts may exceed fence height by up to 12 in.
- ▸Prohibited: barbed wire, plywood, sheet metal, tarps
The HOA is the real approval
Centennial's own HOA map layer identifies roughly 200 homeowner and civic associations inside the city — around 75 with mandatory membership and about 100 registered with the city. Southglenn, Willow Creek, Foxridge, Walnut Hills, Smoky Hill, Heritage Greens, Homestead Farm, Cherry Knolls, Piney Creek. If you own a house in Centennial, there's a good chance somebody has an opinion about your fence before the city does.
HOA covenants routinely go further than the code: a specific stain color, a specific picket profile, a required height that isn't the maximum height, a rule about which way the good side faces, and sometimes a prohibition on gaps between adjoining fences. None of that shows up in a zoning search. It shows up in your covenants — and in a rejected architectural request after your fence is already up.
We build to the HOA's standard and the city's code at the same time. Get us your architectural guidelines at the walk and we'll build the fence that gets approved the first time.
The four fences, in Centennial
Chain-Link
Restricted here. The code allows chain-link only in interior side and rear yards that aren't street yards — and most Centennial HOAs restrict it further. Ask us before you plan on it.
How we build it →Wood Privacy
The Centennial standard, and what most HOA guidelines here specify. Cedar, stained, six feet in the back. The architectural committee usually has a color and a picket profile in mind — send us the guidelines.
How we build it →Vinyl
Popular and widely accepted in Centennial's newer subdivisions. Check the covenants first — some HOAs specify wood and some specify vinyl, and neither one lets you pick.
How we build it →Farm & Ranch
Not a Centennial fence. If you've got acreage east of here on the Arapahoe County plains, that's a different build entirely and we do plenty of it.
How we build it →Permits, height, and the HOA
A fence permit in Centennial is triggered by what you're changing, not by how tall it is. The Land Development Code requires an administrative fence permit when part of the fence is replaced with different materials, when the fence is reconfigured in any way, or when its height is increased. A straight like-for-like replacement generally isn't a trigger — but confirm your scope with the city.
Fencing is a licensed trade in Centennial. Contractors need a trade contractor license, a business license, workers' comp, and general liability coverage to work here. That's an unusually strong protection for homeowners, and it's worth using — ask any bidder for their license.
Front yard fences are capped at four feet and no more than fifty percent opaque, and chain-link is permitted only in interior side and rear yards that aren't street yards. Centennial amended its Land Development Code in 2025, so confirm current side and rear height standards for your zone with the city rather than trusting an older document. And check your HOA — with roughly 200 associations mapped inside the city, the covenants are usually the tighter constraint.
Codes change. Verify current requirements with the City of Centennial Building Division and Planning— and with your HOA if you have one — before you build. We'll walk it with you and flag anything on your lot that's going to matter.
Centennial fence questions
Do I need a permit for a fence in Centennial?
It depends on what you're doing, not how tall it is. Centennial requires a fence permit when materials change, when the fence is reconfigured, or when height increases. A true like-for-like replacement generally isn't a trigger. Confirm your scope with the city — the height-based assumption is wrong here.
Does a fence contractor need a license in Centennial?
Yes. Fencing is a named licensed trade under Centennial's contractor licensing code, and working here requires a trade contractor license, a business license, workers' comp, and general liability. Ask every bidder for theirs.
Can I put chain-link in my Centennial yard?
Only in an interior side or rear yard that isn't also a street yard. If the fence line is visible from the street, chain-link isn't allowed. On a corner lot that rules out a lot of the run — and most Centennial HOAs are stricter still.
My HOA and the city say different things. Which wins?
Both. They stack — the HOA can be stricter than the code, and usually is, on height, material, color, and which way the good side faces. Centennial maps roughly 200 associations. Send us your architectural guidelines at the walk and we'll build the fence that gets approved the first time.