Fence Staining in Highlands Ranch, in the HRCA-Required Color
Highlands Ranch fences that face a street have to be stained solid "Highlands Ranch Fence Brown." We stain to the formula HRCA publishes, fix the gate and pickets first, and get it done inside your notice window, weather permitting.
The Color HRCA Requires: Highlands Ranch Fence Brown
Since 2018 the Highlands Ranch Community Association has used one universal fence color instead of the four choices homeowners used to have. The current Residential Improvement Guidelines (Section 2.30, updated June 2025) put it plainly: fences are required to be stained "Highlands Ranch Fence Brown" solid stain color. Not semi-transparent, not natural cedar, not a close-enough brown. The Architectural Review Committee has the authority to deny any other color.
The guidelines publish the exact mix so any paint counter can make it. This is what we ask for, by name and number, when we pick up stain for a Highlands Ranch job:
Behr
Deck Plus (Flat) Solid Color Stain Waterproof, base 030, 213 or 5013. Color name: "Highlands Ranch Fence Brown."
Sherwin-Williams
SuperDeck Stain (Flat) Solid Color, Ultradeep base. Sales number 6509-30787, product SD7T00154. Color name at the counter: "Highlands Ranch Trex Brown."
Notice the two names. Sherwin-Williams files the same color as "Highlands Ranch Trex Brown" because it was matched to the composite fence the Metro District installs along the parkways. Ask for "Fence Brown" at a Sherwin-Williams store and you may walk out with the wrong can.
Sub-associations can override this. The guidelines tell residents of a sub-association to consult it for the approved stain color. The Villages at Highlands Ranch, for example, lists Sherwin-Williams Saddle Brown and Banyan Brown semi-solid stains rather than Highlands Ranch Fence Brown. If you have a sub-association, send us its guideline or your letter and we stain to that spec instead.
Which Fences Have to Be Stained in Highlands Ranch
The guideline language is specific. Staining is required for any homeowner's fencing, or part of a fence, that "faces or abuts a street, another front yard, a park, school, or commercial property." That includes wing fences, the short run between the front corner of the house and the side property line. Staining is not required for interior-facing rear and side yard fences or for open-space fencing.
Maintenance is not optional either. The guidelines call out "discoloration, flaking, peeling" and broken or unattached boards and posts as conditions the homeowner has to fix, at the homeowner's expense. Anything under 25 percent of the fence is replaced like-for-like in rough sawn cedar. Repairs or replacement of 25 percent or more may need Architectural Review Committee approval first, and we will tell you if your fence is close to that line before we start.
Must be stained
- • Fence along the street or a corner lot
- • Fence facing a neighbor's front yard
- • Fence backing to a park or school
- • Wing fences at the front corners
Not required
- • Interior rear and side yard faces
- • Fence facing open space
- • The parkway side of a Metro District fence
Goes to the ARC first
- • New fence or gate
- • A color other than Fence Brown
- • Replacing 25 percent or more
- • Any change to a Metro District fence
If your job does need approval, the guidelines spell out what a fence submittal includes: a site plan with the fence location marked, the style and height of the fence and gate, and the stain color, which is Highlands Ranch Fence Brown unless the committee approves otherwise. The committee has 30 days to act once it has everything, and an approval is good for a year. We supply the photos and fence details the form asks for.
Got a Fence Notice From HRCA? Here Is the Clock
Covenant technicians drive the neighborhoods and photograph what they see, and a grey or peeling street-facing fence is one of the easiest things to spot. HRCA publishes its enforcement steps, and knowing them tells you how much time you actually have.
Courtesy Notice
An advisory reminder with a suggested timeframe to self-cure. No fine, no hearing. This is the cheapest moment to act.
Notice of Violation, 30 days to cure
Sent by certified and regular mail with the schedule of fines. If the fence is re-inspected after 30 days and still out of compliance, HRCA's published schedule applies a $200 fine.
Second 30 days, then $300 and legal counsel
A second cure period starts immediately. After it, an additional $300 fine is assessed and the file goes to HRCA's legal counsel, who sends a demand letter and pursues compliance along with the fines and costs.
Self-cure and Notice of Compliance
At any point you can email photos of the corrected fence to Community Improvement Services. HRCA then mails a Notice of Compliance closing the file.
Here is how we fit into that: text us the notice along with photos of the fence, and we quote it, usually the same day. We schedule inside your cure window, weather permitting, since stain needs dry wood and a dry day. When the fence is done we text you finished photos you can forward to HRCA for the self-cure email, so you can send HRCA the self-cure photos as soon as the stain is dry.
Metro District Parkway Fence vs. Your Fence
More than 42 miles of fence along the arterial parkways is owned by the Highlands Ranch Metro District, not by the homeowners behind it. The District stains the side that faces the parkway. The homeowner is responsible for the side that faces the yard. If your section has already been replaced with the District's Trex composite fence, it cannot be stained at all, and the District asks that stain on a wood section never spill over the top or sides where it would show from the street.
That split causes a lot of confusion. A homeowner sees the District's crew staining along Highlands Ranch Parkway and assumes the inside will be done too. It will not. We mask the top cap and the exterior face, stain your side in Highlands Ranch Fence Brown so it matches what the District used, and leave the parkway side alone.
District-owned fence runs along Arrowwood Drive, Colorado Boulevard, Dad Clark Drive, Fairview Parkway, Foothills Canyon Boulevard, Gateway Drive, Grace Boulevard, Grigs Road, Highlands Ranch Parkway, Kendrick Castillo Way, Lincoln Avenue, McArthur Ranch Road, Poston Parkway, Quebec Street, South Broadway, South Cresthill, South Ranch Road, Summit View Parkway, University Boulevard, Venneford Ranch Road, and Wildcat Reserve Parkway.
One Stop for the Whole Fence: What's Included
Washing, repairs, sanding, and stain from one licensed crew, so you are not booking a pressure washer, a handyman, and a painter for the same fence.
Prep
- • Pressure washing or soft washing, matched to the wood's condition
- • At least 24 hours of dry time before any stain goes on
- • Wood brightener on grey, weathered cedar
- • Sanding where the surface needs it
- • Plants, siding, concrete, and the top cap masked
Repair
- • Posts reset or replaced
- • Broken or missing pickets replaced in rough sawn cedar
- • Loose rails re-secured
- • Sagging gates re-hung and squared
- • Under 25 percent, like-for-like, no ARC submittal needed
Stain
- • HOA-approved stain: Highlands Ranch Fence Brown, mixed to the published formula
- • Solid stain sprayed and back-brushed into the grain
- • Sub-association colors on request
- • Finished photos texted to you for your HRCA records
Full Restoration
The standard job. Wash, wait at least 24 hours for the wood to dry, repair what is broken, sand where it is needed, then a full coat of Highlands Ranch Fence Brown. This is the one that makes a ten-year-old fence look new and keeps the covenant technician driving past.
Compliance Touch-Up
The budget option for a fence that just needs to clear a notice. No washing or sanding, only touch-up staining in the approved color on the faces HRCA looks at, so the letter goes away without paying for a full restoration.
Want to stop thinking about it? We put Highlands Ranch fences on a standing re-coat schedule, so the color is refreshed before it fades and the next notice never gets written.
How It Works in Highlands Ranch
Handyman convenience with a licensed contractor's accountability
Text Photos
Both sides of the fence, the gate, and the HRCA letter if you have one. Tell us your sub-association if you are in one.
Flat-Rate Quote
Priced by the linear foot, per side, with any repairs itemized on the same quote so you can see exactly what you are paying for.
Wash, Dry, Repair, Stain
Pressure wash or soft wash, wait at least 24 hours for the wood to dry, fix what is broken, then stain. Two visits, a day or two apart.
Photos for HRCA
Cleanup, a walk-through, and finished photos you can forward to Community Improvement Services.
Highlands Ranch Neighborhoods We Stain In
Northridge and Eastridge are the oldest parts of the community, built from the mid-1980s on, so the cedar there has been through the most re-stain cycles and usually needs a few pickets and rails along with color. BackCountry backs to the wilderness area, so much of its fence faces open space and is exempt from the staining rule, while its street-facing runs and wing fences are not. Corner lots anywhere in Highlands Ranch carry the most street-facing fence, which is the fence HRCA looks at. Wherever you are, the same color and the same rules apply, and so does our quote-from-photos process.
What Fence Staining Costs in Highlands Ranch
Four things set the price: how many linear feet, one side or both, fence height (a 6-foot cedar privacy fence takes far more stain than a 3-rail split rail), and condition. Grey wood needs washing, brightener, and more stain than a fence that was done three years ago, and posts, pickets, and a dragging gate are itemized as repairs on the same quote.
We do not publish a per-foot rate, because a compliance touch-up on 40 feet of street-facing fence and a full restoration of a corner lot are very different jobs. Text us photos and you get a flat-rate number back, usually the same day, with repairs listed separately. The number you get is the number you pay.
How Often
HRCA does not set an interval; it acts on condition. In our climate a solid stain on the sunny side usually needs attention in four to six years, the shady side later.
Best Timing
Late spring through early fall, on dry wood and a day above 50 degrees. Fence staining season and notice season overlap for a reason.
New Cedar
A new fence needs to dry for a few weeks to a couple of months before solid stain will bond. We will tell you when it is ready.
Highlands Ranch Fence Staining FAQ
The HRCA Residential Improvement Guidelines require fences that face a street, another front yard, a park, a school, or commercial property to be stained solid Highlands Ranch Fence Brown. The guidelines publish the formula for Behr Deck Plus solid stain under that name and for Sherwin-Williams SuperDeck solid stain under the name Highlands Ranch Trex Brown. If you live in a sub-association, it may require its own color, so check that first.
The guidelines treat regular staining as required maintenance. What goes to the Architectural Review Committee is a new fence, a change of material or color, or repairs and replacement of 25 percent or more of the fence. Re-staining an existing fence in Highlands Ranch Fence Brown falls under the maintenance section rather than new construction, so we treat it as maintenance. When in doubt, confirm with HRCA Community Improvement Services before the work.
A Courtesy Notice is advisory and carries no fine. A Notice of Violation starts a 30-day cure period, after which HRCA's published schedule applies a $200 fine, then a second 30-day period and a $300 fine before the file goes to legal counsel. Text us photos of the fence and the notice and we will schedule inside the cure window, weather permitting, and send you completion photos to email HRCA for your Notice of Compliance.
If your yard backs to one of the Metro District's parkway fences, the District stains the side facing the parkway and you are responsible for the side facing your property. If that section has been replaced with Trex composite, it cannot be stained at all. Every other fence on your lot is yours to maintain under the HRCA guidelines.
Your sub-association. The HRCA guidelines say to consult your sub-association for its approved stain color. The Villages at Highlands Ranch, for example, lists Sherwin-Williams Saddle Brown and Banyan Brown semi-solid stains rather than Highlands Ranch Fence Brown. Send us the guideline or the letter and we stain to that spec.
Yes. We use the formula HRCA publishes, mixed at the paint store, not an eyeballed match. Solid stain covers the wood, so new cedar and weathered cedar end up the same color once the fence is cleaned and brightened. Ask for a test patch on a hidden picket if you want to see it first.
Not under the HRCA guidelines, which do not require staining on interior-facing rear and side yard fences or open-space fencing. Stain still protects the wood from sun and moisture, so many homeowners do both sides while the crew is there. We quote each side separately so you can choose.
A compliance touch-up. We skip the wash and the sanding and touch up the street-facing faces in Highlands Ranch Fence Brown so the fence passes re-inspection, at a fraction of the cost of a full restoration. If the wood is grey and checking, we will tell you a touch-up will not hold and quote the full job instead.
Yes. Ask for a re-coat schedule. We track when your fence was last stained and come back to refresh the sunny faces before they fade to the point a covenant technician notices. Most homeowners on a schedule never see a second letter.
Need HRCA Approval for House Paint Too?
The same Residential Improvement Guidelines that set the fence color govern your exterior paint scheme, and a new color scheme goes through the Architectural Review Committee before the first brush touches siding. The committee has 30 days to act once it has everything it asked for, so the submittal has to be complete the first time: color chips or samples, photos of the house, and which color goes where. We help Highlands Ranch homeowners put that package together, then handle the painting once it is approved. If the fence is getting done anyway, it is a natural time to ask.
Related Services in Highlands Ranch
Fence Notice From HRCA? Or Just Grey?
Text a photo of the fence, and the letter if you got one, and get a flat-rate quote for cleaning, repairs, and Highlands Ranch Fence Brown.
Text works from your phone. On a computer? Call, or send photos to mario@jensenrestoration.com.
Jensen Exteriors & Restoration is an independent licensed contractor and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Highlands Ranch Community Association or the Highlands Ranch Metro District. Guideline wording on this page is quoted from the HRCA Residential Improvement Guidelines (adopted October 2024, updated June 2025) and HRCA's published Covenant Violation Process as of September 2026, and Metro District fence facts from highlandsranch.org. This page is general information, not legal advice. Requirements change. Confirm current rules at hrcaonline.org before you stain.