GOODFIELD - If you want a fence today, get ready to make some difficult choices.

Hohulin Bros. Fence Co., 116 S. Harrison St., Goodfield, offers its residential and commercial customers a wide range of options for their fences.

Customers have their choice of chain link, wood, aluminum and vinyl. They can choose such colors as green, bronze, white and black in heights ranging from three to six feet. With the company's popular aluminum ornamental fence, people can add such decorative touches as ball caps, spears, rings or arches. Finally, they can finish their creation off with a single or a double gate.

"Basically, if you can come up with it, we can supply it," said President Jim Schmidt.

The first company to manufacture the chain link fence has come a long way in its 110-year history.

Hohulin's first order was a 396-foot chain link fence for $26.90 at a home south of Goodfield in April 1897, Schmidt said.

Founder Gottlieb Hohulin was a blacksmith first but began to work with this new invention of the chain link fence, Schmidt said. His sons Sam and Tim Hohulin joined their dad in the business and made those early fences with a manual chain link fence weaving machine. Sam Hohulin's six sons - the namesakes for Hohulin Bros. Fence Co. - later designed an automatic machine, Schmidt said.

Today, the company manufactures gates and dog kennels, but not fences. It can buy them cheaper than it can make them now, Schmidt said.

Residential fences cost customers between $10 and $38 per linear foot. Commercial jobs cost more, Schmidt said.

Commercial and industrial jobs - such as the fences at the State Farm Insurance Cos. pool in Bloomington and Peoria's Glen Oak Zoo - make up about 70 percent of the business, but residential jobs offer the best potential for growth, he said.

Schmidt wants to look at the idea of a backyard store, with fences, decks, something for your garden - anything for your yard.

One of the biggest changes in the industry through the years is the emphasis on maintenance-free products, Schmidt said.

For instance, a composite deck looks like wood, but you won't find any nails sticking up or get any splinters from this deck. You also won't have to power wash or stain it every year like a traditional wood deck.

"It eliminates all that. … It's really becoming a time thing," Schmidt said.

Hohulin's aluminum ornamental and vinyl fences also are maintenance free and come with a lifetime warranty, Schmidt said.

Schmidt has been at Hohulin Bros. Fence Co. since 1972 when he opened up a wholesale division for Semmerling Fence & Supply, a family-owned company in suburban Wheeling that bought Hohulin when a couple of the brothers wanted to retire. He became president in 1994.

Today, two fifth-generation Hohulins work for the company. Jeff Hohulin is the shop manager, and Ken Hohulin is an iron worker. Their grandfathers were two of the six Hohulin brothers.

"You see the name every day. … You try to put a lot of pride into what you do, knowing it's your name out there," said Jeff Hohulin, 34.

Even though Schmidt doesn't have a direct link to the original owners, he married the daughter of one of the Hohulin brothers, Lin, and also takes pride in being part of a company with more than a century to support its work.

"We've been here, and we're going to continue to be here," Schmidt said.