Crew Size and What a Day on Site Looks Like
Who shows up
Two to four people covers most residential runs. A two man crew works fine up to roughly 200 feet with simple gates, though it will stretch into a third day. Three is the common number: one running the auger, two on layout, bracing and material. Four appears when there is heavy demolition, a drive gate, or a schedule squeezed by weather. Crew size tells you about pace, not quality, so a small crew that has worked together for years will often out build a larger one assembled that morning.
Before anyone digs
Locates get called in first. Marks appear as paint and flags across the yard, and the crew is required to hand dig near them. Those marks are the reason a job cannot simply start tomorrow. Gas and communications lines are the ones that matter most in local subdivisions, and irrigation is nobody's responsibility to mark, so if you know where your heads and lines run, flag them yourself before the crew arrives.
Day one
Demolition usually starts around seven and the old fence is often down and loaded before mid morning. Then a string line goes up, hole positions are marked, and the auger runs. Expect a mound of damp clay next to every hole, expect it to be heavier and stickier than dirt has any right to be, and expect some of it to end up on the lawn no matter how carefully the crew works. Posts get set, plumbed, braced and left. In summer that means an early start and a hard stop by mid afternoon, because working steel and hauling posts through a 100 degree afternoon is how people get hurt.
The gap in between
Between the posts going in and the panels going on, your yard is open. This is the part that catches people out. Plan for pets to be inside or leashed, and for gates on the neighbor's side to be the only barrier for a night. Some crews will run temporary fencing on request, and most will happily set the posts and hang the panels on the same visit if the concrete mix allows it, but that is a conversation to have when scheduling, not on the day.
Day two and cleanup
Rails and pickets go up quickly once the line is set, and the visible progress on the second morning is dramatic compared with the first. Gates take longer than their size suggests, because hanging and adjusting them is fussy work. A finished site should have offcuts collected, nails and screws picked up, spoil either hauled or raked flat, and the string line and braces gone. Walk it while the truck is still there, since a missed offcut is a two minute fix that day and a phone call the following week.