Pickleball court lighting and fencing

We install fencing, windscreens, acoustic panels and LED lighting for pickleball courts across St. Louis — designed to your city's limits, because those limits vary more than anything else in this job. USA Pickleball's guideline is a backstop at least 10 feet tall; most residential codes here cap fences at 6 feet unless the city carves out an exception for courts, and several prohibit court lighting on residential lots altogether. National guides put fencing at $2,000–$6,000 and lighting at roughly $2,000–$10,000 for a single court.

Site visit before any price · Free, written, itemized quotes · Your city's court rules checked first · Acrylic or modular tile, built by a crew with more than a decade of courts behind it

Fence height: what the guideline says and what your city allows

USA Pickleball's outdoor construction guidance calls for backstops at least 10 feet high and side fencing no lower than 3 feet. A Midwest court contractor notes that 7- to 8-foot perimeter fencing is common in practice, with 4- to 6-foot fencing along the rest of the sidelines.

Your city's code decides what's allowed. What we found when we read the codes in October 2026:

If your city allows only 6 feet, we design around it: a 6-foot perimeter fence plus removable ball-stop netting, or a court sited where an occasional lost ball doesn't matter. The full jurisdiction table is in the permits guide.

Footings below frost

Fence posts and light poles go in concrete footings that reach below the frost line — 30 inches in St. Louis County and St. Charles County. Posts set shallower get lifted a little every hard winter and lean within a few years. Tall court fences catch wind, especially with windscreen attached, so their footings are larger and deeper than a yard fence's. We size them for the height and the windscreen.

Windscreen and acoustic panels: what they do and don't do

Windscreen is the mesh fabric zip-tied to a court fence. It cuts wind on the court, gives players a cleaner background to track the ball against, and adds privacy. It also turns the fence into a sail, which is why post footings matter.

Acoustic panels are heavier, sound-absorbing or blocking blankets hung on the fence. Here's what they can realistically do:

• A solid barrier around 10 feet high reduces pickleball noise at a nearby ground-level home by roughly 5 dB, according to one published acoustics guideline, if the material is dense enough.
• Manufacturers advertise more; independent consultants describe barriers as limited.
• Panels don't help second-story windows that look over the fence.

St. Louis has a public example. At a Kirkwood club, four courts about 60 feet from homes had sound-mitigating material on a 10-foot fence; local reporting describes two failed sound tests against the county standard, and the city denied a request to raise the barrier to 15 feet. Panels are worth adding where a court is borderline; they can't make up for a court that's sited too close. See the noise guide.

Lighting: allowed, restricted or prohibited

Check the code before anything else. On residential lots:

• Prohibited: Ladue (sport-court lighting on residential properties), Des Peres (residential zoning districts), Town and Country (permanent courts in estate districts), Wildwood (all "R" districts; in the 3-acre NU district lighting may be authorized, with poles of 16 feet or less).
• Reviewed: Creve Coeur sends permanent game-court light standards to the Planning and Zoning Commission as a minor site plan.
• Generally exempt from the lighting code: single-family lots in unincorporated St. Louis County, Kirkwood and Chesterfield — though a nuisance complaint is still possible if light spills next door.

Where lights are allowed, we design for:

• Light level. ASBA recommendations, as reproduced in a lighting manufacturer's guide, put recreational play at about 30 average footcandles and club play at about 50.
• No spill. Full-cutoff LED fixtures aimed down at the court. Unincorporated St. Louis County and Ladue cap light at 0.1 footcandle at a residential property line, and Kirkwood uses the same 0.1 figure for light reaching single-family property from regulated lighting.
• Pole height. Higher poles light more evenly but are seen from farther away. Some codes cap residential poles at 16 feet; Chesterfield caps fixture mounting height at 20 feet.
• Curfew. A timer that shuts lights off at a set hour, which neighbors appreciate and some codes require for non-residential courts (Chesterfield's is 10:30 p.m. for recreational facilities).
• Conduit now, lights later. If you're not ready for lights, we place conduit while the site is open.

What fencing and lighting cost

These are published national ranges, not our prices. Height, length, windscreen, acoustic panels, the electrical run from your panel and any permit fees change the number. See the cost guide.

Our court crew is a family-owned court builder that has built courts across Missouri and Illinois for more than a decade, and hundreds of them: backyard and community pickleball, basketball and multi-sport courts, outdoors and indoors. The crew is an authorized installer for a modular court-tile system and backs the courts it builds with lifetime support.

Not ready to talk yet? Start with the complete St. Louis court construction guide for the whole build.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a permit for a court fence? In many cities, yes — Kirkwood, Webster Groves, Ladue, Clarkson Valley and Wentzville require fence permits, for example. Some St. Charles County cities don't for most residential fences. We confirm at the site visit.

Will acoustic panels solve a noise complaint? They help at the margin — about 5 dB in published guidance. Distance and quiet equipment matter more.

Can I add lights later? Yes, if your city allows them. Placing conduit during construction saves trenching through a finished yard.

What color fence? Black or green vinyl-coated chain link is common. Frontenac requires green or black coated chain link for court enclosures; Des Peres allows coated chain link for court backstops; Clarkson Valley prohibits chain link on residential lots.

Get a quote

Tell us your city and what you want — fence, windscreen, panels, lights. We'll check your code and send a written quote. Get a quote.