Defending Boundaries | One Fence At A Time

By LISA LOEWEN | Photos by JOHN BURNS

Drive around Topeka and you’ll see proof that Dirk and Julie Henderson are living their dreams. The couple, who are the owners and founders of Kansas Fencing, Inc., have built some of the most recognizable fences in the region — from the Mars facility and Walmart distribution center to the Kansas governor’s residence at Cedar Crest.

Many more of their fences are found at baseball fields, detention facilities, commercial sites and residential areas across the Midwest. Chain link fences are the company’s biggest seller, but Kansas Fencing offers everything from farm fencing to ornamental aluminum fencing.

“Any kind of fence that’s available, we offer that product,” Dirk said. “We are a full-service fence contractor.”

The company also specializes in installing and maintaining automatic gate systems for corporations, home associations and other organizations. Among their more than 50 employees, two full-time technicians are dedicated to automatic gate products alone.

Since its founding in 2003, Kansas Fencing has increased its annual sales for 20 of the last 21 years. The main operation remains in Topeka, but they’ve expanded into Kansas City and more recently Manhattan, where they purchased Tri-City Fence in 2020.

CHASING A DREAM

Dirk and Julie have been in the fence business their entire adult lives. Their journey began when Dirk, who was 21 and playing baseball for Washburn University, decided college wasn’t for him.

“It turns out that if you don’t go to class, you don’t do very well in college,” Dirk said.

Dirk recalled a conversation with his two older brothers about following in the footsteps of their grandfather, who built fences for a living. In 1998, he approached his brothers with an idea to start a fencing company, but they both had families and good jobs at the time and weren’t ready to take on a risk.

Dirk and Julie had no such reservations. They placed a classified ad in the Topeka Capital-Journal and just like that, their dream became a reality.

“Even though my grandpa was in the fence business, he retired when I was 10 years old, so I had never built a fence before. Not one,” Dirk said. “I had never built a single fence, but I had an ad in the paper for my fence business.”

That classified ad paid off when Gary Brown, owner of Brown’s Super Service, called for a quote. Not only did Dirk have no idea how to build a fence, he also didn’t know how to bid the job. Fortunately, Gary mentored him and helped him work through the business aspects.

“Julie and I completed that job on Valentine’s Day and went out to celebrate thanks to a $20 tip from Gary,” Dirk said.

LEARNING THE HARD WAY

Dirk picked up more jobs, but his business inexperience began to show. Julie’s job as a hair stylist paid the bills while the fence business barely stayed afloat. After two years of trying to juggle job bids, client billing and bookkeeping, Dirk still found himself working 12-hour days — seven days a week — with little to show for it.

As soon as he and Julie had an opportunity to sell their first company, they took it.

Because the sale included a two-year non-compete agreement, Dirk went to work for a fence company in Kansas City. The owner told him that if he was willing to move to Phoenix, there was an opportunity for him to take over fence installations for a large commercial fence operation.

It sounded too good to pass up, so Julie quit her job and the couple sold their house so they could move to Phoenix.

“Unfortunately, being young and dumb, we hadn’t learned yet that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is,” Dirk said. “When I arrived in Phoenix to talk about taking over the company’s fence installation operations, they had no idea what I was talking about. There was no work for us in Phoenix.”

There they were, living in a city they knew nothing about, with no jobs and no prospects. To make ends meet, Dirk started selling cars.

“That job taught me how to sell stuff,” Dirk said, “but I hated every minute of it.”

In 2001, Dirk and Julie were ready to reenter the fence business and reached out to a commercial fence operation that installed large projects all across the United States. The Texas-based company was building the fences at the Kansas City Royals spring training facility in Surprise, Arizona, but their subcontractor was way behind schedule. They asked Dirk if he could handle taking over the million-dollar project.

“I didn’t have any employees or any equipment at the time, but I told them I could deliver,” Dirk said. “I had never built a fence taller than eight feet and now, all of a sudden, I’m installing 30-foot-tall backstops for the Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers.”

He gathered some friends, rented equipment and powered through to complete the job on time. Impressed with his ability to quickly complete complex jobs on a budget, the company began sending him all over the country to fix jobs that were behind schedule.

“Julie and I went on the road together, everywhere from Texas to North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Washington and more,” Dirk said. “And during that time, I met a lot of great fence builders who taught me everything they knew.”

NEVER GIVING UP

Tired of life on the road, Dirk and Julie moved back to Topeka in 2003 and founded Kansas Fencing.

“I was a much better fence builder this time,” Dirk said, “but I still didn’t know a lot about running a business.”

He spent the next 10 years figuring it out. His older brother, Lance, came on board to help with installations and eventually moved into selling and overseeing operations. In 2009 they brought on the husband-and-wife team of Terry and Sandy Williams, from Grandview, Missouri, who had decades of experience in the fence business.

“I learned so much from Terry and Sandy,” Dirk said. “They taught me more than anyone else about how to run a business. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them, and they still work for me to this day.”

Dirk credits his success to his dedicated employees who put in hard work every day, saying they’re the reason why he does his best to take care of them through good times and bad.

“I don’t lay people off. We save money when business is booming so we have the cash flow to keep writing paychecks when business gets slow,” he said.

Kansas Fencing offers compensation packages that include health insurance, a 401(k) plan, paid vacation and paid holidays. Treating his employees like family has created a loyal team, he said, and several of his employees have worked there for a decade or longer.

“Building fences is as hard a job as you can find,” Dirk said. “It is physically taxing. The guys who work for us are incredibly tough, and I admire every single one of them.”

Dirk’s other brother, Talley, joined the company 10 years ago and worked his way up to general manager. They recently brought in Mike Lesser who, as the new president of Kansas Fencing, oversees the company’s operations and procedures.

“To sell $14 million in fencing in a single year is a huge task,” Dirk said. “The average fence job is $3,000 to $4,000, so that means thousands of jobs we complete each year. We needed Mike to help manage all those projects.”

As Dirk looks to the future, he expects the fence business to grow. He said that when the economy is booming, people have extra money to upgrade fencing to improve curb appeal. When people are tightening their belts, security and safety become a priority and they invest in secure fencing.

“We don’t have all of our eggs in one basket,” Dirk said, when asked how he and Julie managed to grow Kansas Fencing from a startup to a major fence company with national projects. “That is where those thousands of jobs each year become a smart decision. As for what comes next, we plan to just keep doing what we do best — build quality fences, and continue to provide the best work environment for our employees.”

TK