Fence replacement -- Fair quote?

Dedekind

Hello,

our garden fence is in need of replacement. We have a contractor who is working in our house and refurbishing basically everything. He have us a quote for the fence and it looks too expensive so I was wondering if it's reasonable or not. We don't want to do it with someone else -- we trust him, he knows the house and the quotes for the house so far have been ok.

The garden is long (~30-35m) and narrow (5m? or something). Anyway what's important is that he counted we need roughly 33 panels. They will be high (1.8m I think is the standard), supposedly good quality (with vertical slabs), concrete posts and two gates. His quote is £5800. We are in London

FreeBear

I was going to say "budget £100-£120 per panel", but then saw the London bit... £175 per panel still sounds a bit steep. Get a few more quotes, but do make sure you are getting quoted for the same spec work. Concrete posts, 150mm concrete gravel boards and 1.8m panels - A fence like that will last a lifetime. Wooden posts, maybe ten years.

bris

Fences are about £60 per meter up our way. £5800 seems crazy to me but thats london for you.

fenwick458

FreeBear said:

Concrete posts, 150mm concrete gravel boards and 1.8m panels - A fence like that will last a lifetime. 

the wooden panels won't last a liftetime. probably 10 years, depending on how they are looked after and how much weather they get.
but yes, the quote seems expensive

vw100

Looking at about in the region off £2500 just for materials. With 33 panels that's about £100 each for fitting. £3300 + £2500 materials = £5800.
Concrete posts\gravel boards and close board fences will make a good solid fence and should last a very long time if fitted well. Fencing is labour intensive and hard work, especially when hitting roots and concrete when the post holes are dug up. You are looking at them digging minimum of 2 feet for the posts.

Bradden

33 panels = 60m
Need to know more about the quote.. is it all timber? Concrete?: Gravel boards.

VW100 is right.. I work in the trade and just priced up 33 thickboard panels, concrete. gravel boards, concrete. posts and post mix = £2000 ex VAT.

If your unhappy with the price though just look up some fencing contractors and ask them to quote for it. 

ukjoel

I think the key words here are 'in need of replacement' 
The £100 a panel quotes are all fair (and my mind thought similar) for a new build, but the indoor based contractor might not fancy lifting out and disposing of a load of concrete sunk posts that are already there. Suspect he has priced it a rate where if you say yes he can subcontract to someone else who he knows will do a decent job but has allowed some wiggle room on the price because its not his field of expertise and good quality fence panels can be expensive so probably allowing for some extra costs in there........As he is working there I would pop by and casually ask how much he has costed each panel for as you might find with 33 panels the different between £30 per panel and £100 per panel could explain a lot.  

Its in London, average house is half a million (35 metres is a good length for london) maybe he thinks you wont want Wickes £25 featherboard fencing?

millie

We had 22   5 foot close board panels with 12 inch gravel boards and concrete posts fitted for £2,400. That is in Birmingham, took 2 days to do. I had several quotes and they were all very similar.