Garden Fence Installation Cost NSW 2026 - Get Free Quotes

What Garden Fencing Costs in New South Wales

Garden fencing in New South Wales is priced by the lineal metre, and the material sets the rate more than anything else. Treated pine paling runs $75 to $120 a metre installed, hardwood paling $120 to $180, Colorbond $100 to $180, timber slat screening $150 to $300 and aluminium slat $200 to $350. Those figures generally include materials, posts, installation and a basic site clean-up. Removing an old fence adds $20 to $40 a metre, and gates are quoted separately at $300 to $800 each. The per metre rate is only useful once you know the total run, because short jobs carry a minimum charge that distorts the arithmetic.

A ten metre run does not cost a third of a thirty metre run, since mobilisation, tool set-up and the trip to the tip happen once regardless. Most fencers apply a minimum of around half a day, which on a very short run can work out well above the quoted metre rate. The wider service is set out under fence and gate installation. Height matters almost as much as material.

A 1.8 metre fence uses more palings, longer posts and deeper footings than a 1.2 metre one, and the cost difference is greater than the height difference suggests because the wind load on the taller fence demands a stronger structure underneath it. Going above 1.8 metres also takes you outside exempt development in most residential situations, which is covered further down. This page sets out costs by material, what drives the figure up and down, the New South Wales height rules that determine whether you need approval at all, how cost sharing with a neighbour works under the Dividing Fences Act, and what belongs in a written quote. It also covers the things that turn a straightforward job into an expensive one, including sloping sites, rock, and old fibro fences that may contain asbestos. The rates on this page are indicative 2026 figures for standard residential fencing in New South Wales, on reasonably level ground with clear access. Retaining, structural work, pool barriers and bushfire-rated construction each carry their own requirements and are priced separately.

Timber Fencing Costs

Treated pine paling is the most common garden fence in New South Wales and the most economical at $75 to $120 a metre installed. The standard build is 100 by 100 millimetre posts, two or three rails and vertical palings, and the treatment level is the specification that matters most. Posts should be H4 treated for in-ground use while rails and palings can be H3 for above-ground exposure, and substituting H3 into the ground is an invisible saving that fails years early. Detailed per metre breakdowns sit at timber fence costs. Hardwood paling runs $120 to $180 a metre and buys durability, not appearance in the first year.

Australian hardwoods such as spotted gum, blackbutt and merbau resist rot and insect attack without chemical treatment, hold their shape better in the sun, and weather to a silver grey unless they are oiled. The trade-off beyond price is weight, since hardwood palings put more load on posts and rails than pine does and the structure needs to account for it. Timber slat screening runs $150 to $300 a metre and is a different product despite the shared material. Horizontal slats with deliberate gaps are a design feature, not a boundary fence, they need a straighter and more accurate frame because every gap shows any error, and the gaps mean the fence gives filtered privacy, not full screening. Slat fences also collect more water on the upper face of each board, so the finishing specification matters more than on a vertical paling fence. Paling direction is worth settling before the job starts because it decides which neighbour sees the rails.

The convention is that palings face the neighbour and the rails face the owner paying, but on a shared dividing fence that is a negotiation, not a rule. Capped and lapped construction, where palings overlap and a top capping rail runs the length, costs more than a plain butted fence and lasts noticeably longer because water sheds off the top, not sitting on end grain. Timber fences need recoating on a cycle that most owners underestimate. An oiled or stained fence in full New South Wales sun wants attention every one to two years, and a painted fence lasts longer between coats but is far more work to prepare when it eventually fails. Leaving a timber fence unfinished is a legitimate choice on hardwood and a poor one on pine, and recoating is priced with fence painting.

Colorbond and Metal Fencing

Colorbond fencing runs $100 to $180 a metre installed and sits between treated pine and hardwood on price while requiring almost no maintenance. It is a BlueScope product using pre-painted steel sheeting in a range of standard colours, and the system includes posts, rails and infill sheets designed to work together. The appeal is that it does not need painting, does not rot, does not warp and does not attract termites, which over a fifteen year life makes it cheaper than its purchase price suggests. The limitations are worth knowing before committing. Steel sheeting dents and the damage is permanent, so a fence along a driveway or a ball court will show its history. Colour fades over many years, which matters if a single panel is replaced later and no longer matches its neighbours.

Sheeting also transmits noise from wind and impact more than timber does, which some owners notice and others never register. Aluminium slat fencing runs $200 to $350 a metre and occupies the premium end of the metal category. Powder-coated aluminium slats in a matching frame give a contemporary look, will not rust, and suit coastal properties far better than steel because they tolerate salt air. The cost reflects the material and the fabrication, not the installation, which is comparable to other systems. Related boundary options sit at fencing services.

There is a planning detail specific to metal fences in New South Wales that catches people out. Under the Codes SEPP, a fence constructed of metal components must be of low reflective, factory pre-coloured materials to qualify as exempt development. Raw galvanised or unpainted sheeting on a residential boundary does not meet that standard, which means an otherwise ordinary fence can fall outside exempt development on material grounds alone. Mixing materials is common and generally works well. A Colorbond fence with a timber or aluminium slat feature panel at the front, or a masonry base with slats above, combines durability where it matters with appearance where it shows. The cost lands between the two materials, not at the higher rate, provided the junction detail is worked out before fabrication rather than on site.

Choosing Between the Materials

The material decision is worth making on total cost of ownership rather than on the quoted metre rate, because the cheapest fence to install is rarely the cheapest fence to own. A treated pine fence at $95 a metre that needs recoating every eighteen months and replacing at fifteen years costs more across that period than a Colorbond fence at $140 a metre that needs washing and nothing else. Whether that matters depends on how long you expect to be at the property and whether you enjoy the maintenance or resent it. Treated pine suits owners who want the lowest entry cost and are comfortable with a maintenance cycle. It takes stain or paint readily, can be repaired paling by paling, and matches the existing fencing on most Australian suburban blocks, which matters more than people expect on a boundary where only one section is being replaced.

Hardwood suits owners who want timber without the maintenance obligation. Left unfinished it weathers to a stable silver grey and keeps performing, which is a legitimate finish, not neglect, and the species commonly used across New South Wales resist rot and insect attack without chemical treatment. The premium over pine buys roughly a decade of additional service life. Colorbond suits owners who want the fence to stop being a project once it is up.

It is the default on most new estates for that reason, the colour range is designed to work with contemporary housing, and the sheeting gives complete privacy rather than the partial screening that gapped timber provides. Dents and fade are the trade-offs and both are permanent. Aluminium slat suits coastal properties and contemporary designs where the appearance justifies the cost. It is the only material on the list that genuinely ignores salt air, it will not rust or rot, and the powder coating holds its colour far longer than painted steel. Masonry options sit at brick fences and walls and are a different category of work again.

Fence Heights and When You Need Approval

Most residential fences in New South Wales are exempt development, meaning no development application and no certificate, provided every standard in the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008 is met. The relevant provision is clause 3.29, published through NSW legislation, and the standards are specific and not general. Getting them right is what keeps a straightforward fence out of the approval system entirely, and the planning framework more broadly sits with NSW Planning. Behind the building line, a fence must not exceed 1.8 metres above existing ground level.

It must not incorporate barbed wire or be electrified, and any entrance gate must not open outward. Where metal components are used they must be low reflective and factory pre-coloured. On a sloping site where the fence is stepped to follow the fall of the land, each step may reach 2.2 metres above existing ground level, which is a practical concession for blocks where a uniform 1.8 metre fence would leave gaps underneath. Forward of the building line the limit drops to 1.2 metres, and the same 1.2 metre limit applies to any fence in the setback area of a primary or secondary road. Front fences must also be open for at least 20 per cent of the area above 400 millimetres from ground level, with individual solid elements above that height no wider than 350 millimetres.

Masonry is capped at 1.2 metres regardless of position, which is the standard that most often surprises owners planning a full height brick privacy wall on a side boundary. Several situations take a fence outside exempt development no matter how modest it is. Heritage items and draft heritage items, land within the setback of a primary or secondary road in a heritage conservation area, and flood control lots are all excluded, and a fence must be designed so as not to restrict the flow of floodwater. On bushfire prone land a fence must be constructed of non-combustible material, and whether your land is mapped as bushfire prone is determined through your council and the {RFS}.

Corner blocks carry an extra consideration that is easy to miss. The side boundary facing the secondary road is treated as a road frontage for fencing purposes, which means the tighter 1.2 metre limit applies along the portion within the setback rather than the 1.8 metres you would expect on a side boundary. Where any of these limits are exceeded, the path is a complying development certificate from a private certifier or a development application to council. Swimming pool barriers sit outside this framework entirely and always require compliance regardless of height. A pool fence is regulated under the Swimming Pools Act 1992 and Australian Standard AS 1926.1, not as an ordinary garden fence, and the requirements conflict with the general fencing rules in at least one respect, since a pool gate must open outward while an exempt garden fence gate must not.

Sharing the Cost With Your Neighbour

Where a fence sits on the boundary between two properties it is a dividing fence, and the Dividing Fences Act 1991 governs who pays for what. Adjoining owners are expected to share equally in the cost of a fence built to a sufficient standard. Where one owner wants something better than sufficient, that owner pays the difference, which is the distinction that decides most disagreements before they become disputes. A practical example makes the principle clearer.

A neighbour can reasonably be asked to contribute half toward a standard treated pine paling fence replacing one that has failed. That same neighbour cannot reasonably be asked to fund half of an aluminium slat fence at three times the rate, though they can be asked to contribute what the standard fence would have cost while you pay the balance. The formal process starts with a Fencing Notice under section 11 of the Act. The notice is served on the adjoining owner and should describe the proposed work, the position, the materials, the height and the length, with the estimated cost and a written quote attached. Serving it properly matters, since a notice delivered personally or posted to the owner's last known address starts the clock while a conversation over the fence does not. From the date of service your neighbour has one month in which to reply.

If there is no agreement at the end of that period, either owner may apply to NCAT or the Local Court for a fencing order, and NCAT can determine what the fence should be made of, how high it should be, where it should be built, when it should be built and how the cost should be divided. Councils have no jurisdiction in dividing fence disputes and will not adjudicate them, which surprises many owners who assume it is a council matter. Urgent repairs are the exception worth knowing about. Where a fence is damaged or destroyed and it is not practical to serve a notice first, you can carry out the work and then claim a contribution afterwards, though keeping photographs and evidence of why it was urgent is essential. Where damage was caused by a negligent or deliberate act of one owner or someone they allowed onto the land, that owner can be liable for the whole cost, not half.

What Moves a Fencing Quote

Material and height are the two largest variables and they are the ones within your control. The gap between treated pine at $75 a metre and aluminium slat at $350 is more than fourfold, and moving from 1.2 to 1.8 metres adds materially to both the materials and the structure supporting them. Total run length matters through the minimum charge rather than the rate. Short runs under about ten metres attract a minimum that makes the effective per metre cost far higher than the advertised figure, and combining a short section with other work on the same visit is the practical answer.

Ground conditions are the variable that most often produces a revision on site. Rock requires different equipment and takes several times longer per hole, reactive clay demands deeper footings to resist seasonal movement, and sandy or filled ground may need wider footings for the same stability. Sydney has all three within a short distance of each other, which is why a quote given without someone looking at the ground is provisional at best. Slope and levels add both labour and design decisions. A fence following the fall of the land can be raked, where the panels follow the slope, or stepped, where each panel stays level and steps down. Timber retaining options sit at timber retaining wall costs.

Stepping is the more common approach on Colorbond and panel systems and it is what the 2.2 metre concession in the Codes SEPP is designed to accommodate. Access decides how much of the job is carried by hand. A fencer who can reverse a ute and an auger to the fence line works far faster than one carrying posts, bags of concrete and panels through a house or down a narrow side path. Removal of the old fence adds $20 to $40 a metre, and existing structures such as retaining walls, garden beds and established plantings all add time, with retaining scope at retaining wall builders.

Old Fences, Asbestos and Removal

Removing an existing fence adds $20 to $40 a metre and is usually straightforward, with one significant exception. Fibro fencing installed before the 1990s may be asbestos cement sheeting, and it is common enough across older New South Wales suburbs that it should be assumed, not dismissed. Asbestos fencing must never be broken up, drilled, cut or pressure cleaned, and licensed operators are listed under asbestos fence removal. The licensing position follows the same rules as any other asbestos work. A Class B licence is required to remove more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos, and a fence of any meaningful length exceeds that quickly, so most asbestos fence removal is licensed work notified to SafeWork NSW.

Disposal is also restricted to facilities licensed to accept asbestos, which the NSW EPA publishes, and the waste must be tracked where quantities exceed the threshold. Budgeting for it separately is the sensible approach. Licensed asbestos fence removal runs several times the cost of removing a timber fence of the same length once disposal, containment and clearance are accounted for, and discovering it after a fencer has started is far more disruptive than establishing it beforehand. Old timber fences carry a smaller version of the same problem.

Fences painted before 1970 may carry lead paint, and while a fence is outdoors and not inside a house, sanding or power washing it still mobilises the residue into the soil where children and vegetable gardens may be. Removing instead of sanding is generally the simpler answer on a fence that is being replaced anyway. Treated pine removal has a disposal consideration of its own that owners rarely anticipate. CCA treated timber must never be burnt, since burning concentrates arsenic in the ash, and it cannot be chipped for mulch or garden use. It goes to landfill rather than to a timber recycler, which is part of why removal is charged separately rather than absorbed into the fencing rate.

Privacy, Screening and Neighbours

Privacy is the most common reason people replace a fence, and the material and design decisions that deliver it are not always the obvious ones. A solid 1.8 metre fence gives complete visual privacy at eye level and nothing above it, so on a sloping block where a neighbour sits higher, the fence may not solve the problem no matter what it costs. Establishing sight lines from where you actually sit or stand is worth doing before choosing a height. Slat and gapped designs give filtered privacy, not full screening, and that is sometimes the better outcome.

A fence with 15 or 20 millimetre gaps blocks direct sightlines from most angles while allowing airflow and light through, which matters in a narrow side yard where a solid fence creates a dark, still corridor that grows mould and kills plantings. Airflow is a genuine consideration rather than a design nicety. A solid fence on an exposed or hilltop block takes the full wind load and needs a stronger structure beneath it, while a gapped design reduces that load considerably and can be built to the same height for less. It also reduces the wind eddies that flatten garden beds immediately behind a solid boundary. Height extensions are a common request and a common source of trouble.

Adding lattice or slats to the top of an existing 1.8 metre fence takes the total above the exempt development limit, and a lattice extension that brings the fence beyond 1.8 metres behind the building line requires approval instead of being treated as a minor addition. Planting is the alternative worth considering alongside a taller fence. A hedge or screening plants behind a standard height fence achieves more privacy over time than a taller fence does immediately, without the approval question, and combining the two is usually cheaper than building high. Planting and layout ideas are priced under backyard landscaping.

Posts, Footings and How a Fence Actually Fails

Fences almost always fail at the posts, not in the panels, and understanding that changes what you look for in a quote. A post carries the entire wind load of the fence panel either side of it and transfers that into the ground, so post size, depth and footing quality determine the life of the fence far more than the palings do. Standard residential practice is a concrete footing for each post, with depth generally around a third of the above-ground height. A 1.8 metre fence therefore wants footings around 600 millimetres deep, and deeper again in reactive clay or sandy ground. Concrete needs to sit beneath the post instead of leaving it bearing on soil, and the top of the footing should fall away from the timber so water runs off instead of pooling around it.

Post spacing is the other structural decision and it is where corners are quietly cut. Spacing at 2.4 metres is common and works for most situations, while wider spacing saves posts and concrete at the cost of a fence that flexes in wind and sags between supports. Where a quote is noticeably cheaper than others, post spacing and footing depth are the first two things to compare. Steel post systems clad with timber palings have become popular and are worth understanding.

Galvanised steel posts do not rot at ground level, which is where timber posts almost always fail first, and the timber palings provide the appearance. The cost sits above an all-timber fence and below a hardwood one, and it addresses the single most common failure mode directly. Wind exposure is a genuine engineering consideration on taller solid fences. A 1.8 metre solid fence is effectively a sail, and on an exposed site or a hilltop block the loads are sizeable higher than in a sheltered suburban backyard. Slat and open designs reduce that load considerably, which is one practical reason they suit windy sites, and fence repair costs covers what a failure costs to put right.

Maintenance and Getting a Full Life From the Fence

A timber fence that is maintained on schedule lasts roughly half again as long as one that is not, and the maintenance itself is modest. The failure sequence is predictable, since water sits on exposed end grain at the top of palings and at the base of posts, the coating fails there first, and rot follows within a couple of seasons. Capping the top of a paling fence addresses the largest single source of that water. A capping rail running the length of the fence sheds water off the top of the palings rather than allowing it to soak into the end grain, and it costs a modest amount at installation against a meaningful extension of service life. Keeping soil, mulch and plantings clear of the fence line is the other habit that matters. Garden beds built up against a timber fence hold moisture against the palings continuously, and a climbing plant on a paling fence traps water behind it and accelerates the same process.

A hundred millimetre clear gap at the base is enough to make the difference. Colorbond and aluminium need almost nothing beyond a wash. Hosing off salt and dust once or twice a year in coastal areas prevents the surface deterioration that eventually affects even powder-coated finishes, and checking that the sheets remain properly seated in the rails after a storm takes a minute. Annual checks on any fence are worth the ten minutes they take. Push on each post at the top to feel for movement, look at the base of timber posts for softness, check that gate hinges are tight and the gate still latches, and note any panel that has shifted. Catching a single failing post early is far cheaper than replacing a section, and repair options sit at timber fence and gate repairs.

Gates and Access

A single garden gate runs $300 to $800 supplied and fitted, and gates are quoted separately from the fence for good reason. A gate is a moving component carrying its weight on one post as a cantilever, which means the hinge post needs to be larger and set deeper than the fence posts either side of it. Powered systems sit at automatic gate installation. Anything wider or powered is priced under timber gate costs. Width drives both the price and the longevity.

A 900 millimetre pedestrian gate is standard and economical, while anything approaching 1.2 metres in a single leaf needs proper bracing or a steel frame to stop it dropping within a year. The diagonal brace must run from the bottom of the hinge side up to the top of the latch side so that it works in compression, and a brace fitted the other way does nothing at all. Hardware specification is a small cost with a large effect on how the gate behaves over time. Adjustable hinges allow the gate to be tuned with a spanner as timber moves and ground settles, which turns a callout into a two minute job.

Hot dip galvanised or stainless steel fittings cost more than zinc plated and last many times longer outdoors, particularly within a few kilometres of the coast. Remember the exempt development requirement that an entrance gate must not open outward. That rule applies to ordinary garden fences under the Codes SEPP, and it runs directly counter to pool barrier gates, which must open outward away from the pool area under Standards Australia guidance in AS 1926.1. Where a gate serves both purposes, the pool requirements take precedence and the barrier sits outside exempt development, with scope at pool fencing installation. Self closing hardware on a side access gate is worth the modest premium even where nothing requires it. Latching automatically every time removes the most common failure, which is a side path left standing open after the bins went out or a delivery came through.

How the Job Runs and What to Expect

Fencing is quick work once it starts, and most of the elapsed time on a residential job is the concrete and not the labour. Knowing the sequence helps you plan access, pets and the neighbour conversation. The first stage is removal and post setting, which on a standard 30 metre run takes most of a day. The old fence comes out, post holes are dug or augered, posts are set plumb and braced, and the concrete is poured around them.

Nothing further can happen until that concrete has cured enough to take load. That curing period is the part owners are least prepared for. Most fencers return the following day or the day after to hang rails and palings, so a job quoted as two days is frequently spread across three or four calendar days. Hanging panels on green concrete is a common cause of posts that move in the first year. Pets and security matter during the gap.

A boundary with the old fence removed and only posts standing is not a barrier to a dog, and arranging temporary fencing or alternative containment for a day or two is worth raising when the job is booked, not discovering on the morning. Weather moves the schedule more than most trades. Digging in saturated ground is slow and produces poor footings, and heavy rain immediately after pouring can wash out the top of a footing before it sets. A fencer who postpones a day after significant rain is protecting the work instead of avoiding it, and site safety obligations are administered by SafeWork NSW.

Sydney and Regional NSW Pricing

Expect the upper end of the ranges on this page across Sydney, where labour rates and access constraints in the older inner suburbs both push costs up. Narrow side paths, no rear lane access and neighbouring structures close to the boundary all add hours that do not appear in the metre rate. Ground conditions vary more across Sydney than labour rates do. Sandstone shelf through the north shore, the northern beaches and parts of the west can turn a routine post hole into rock work, while reactive clay across the inner west and south west drives deeper footings and more seasonal movement. Sandy soils along the coastal strip need wider footings for the same stability.

Equivalent work costs less in Newcastle, Wollongong and on the Central Coast, helped by easier access on most blocks and well established local trades. The Blue Mountains and the Illawarra escarpment bring slope and rock into play more often than the coastal plain does. Work on the driveway surface itself falls under driveway installation. Regional centres including Orange, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Albury, Tamworth and Coffs Harbour support competitive local markets for standard fencing.

Materials are readily available in those centres, and the main variable outside them is travel where a fencer is covering a large territory from a regional base. Along the coast from Wollongong through Sydney and further north, salt exposure shifts which material makes sense. Salt air corrodes steel fixings and reduces the life of galvanised components, which makes aluminium and stainless steel fittings worth their premium within a few kilometres of the water. Rural properties are a different category again, with long runs, stock fencing requirements and vehicle access widths that price on a completely different basis.

What to Look Out For

Confirm what the quoted metre rate actually includes, since conventions differ between fencers. Materials, posts, concrete footings, installation and basic site clean-up are commonly included while old fence removal, gates, and disposal of the existing fence are commonly not. Getting each of those named as a separate line is what makes three quotes comparable. Ask for the post size, the post spacing and the footing depth in writing. Those three determine how long the fence lasts and they are the easiest places to save money invisibly, so a quote that specifies them can be checked against what happens on site while one that says posts as required cannot. Check the timber treatment level where pine is being used.

H4 is rated for in-ground contact and belongs in the posts while H3 suits rails and palings above ground, and an H3 post in the ground is a substitution you will not see until it fails several years early. Establish the height and the position against the exempt development standards before work starts, not afterwards. A fence built to 2 metres behind the building line, or a 1.5 metre masonry wall on a side boundary, is outside exempt development and can attract an order to modify or remove it. Where any doubt exists, a call to your council or a private certifier is cheaper than rebuilding.

On a shared boundary, serve a Fencing Notice before committing, not after. Proceeding without one leaves you exposed if your neighbour declines to contribute, and the process exists precisely to avoid that. Consumer protections for residential work sit with NSW Fair Trading, and contractor licences can be checked through Service NSW. On any fence installed before the 1990s, establish whether it is fibro before anyone touches it. Asbestos cement fencing is common in older New South Wales suburbs and must never be broken up, drilled or pressure cleaned, and a fencer who raises it before you do is demonstrating something useful about how they work.

Rural and Acreage Fencing

Rural and acreage fencing prices on an entirely different basis from a suburban garden fence, and the ranges on this page do not transfer. Long runs spread the mobilisation cost across many more metres, which brings the effective rate down, while the sheer length means the total is far higher. Post and rail fencing is the common choice on acreage and lifestyle blocks across the Hawkesbury, the Southern Highlands, the Hunter Valley and the Central West. It defines a boundary without blocking a view, suits horses better than paling fencing, and uses far fewer materials per metre than a solid fence does.

Stock fencing is a different product again, using strained wire on posts with the specification driven by what is being contained. Cattle, sheep and horses each need different arrangements, and horse fencing in particular avoids barbed wire and small mesh that can injure a leg. Rural blocks bring practical constraints that suburban jobs do not. Access along the fence line is usually easy, which helps, but distance from the nearest supplier adds delivery cost, ground conditions vary along a single run, and rock is common through the Great Dividing Range and its foothills. Bushfire prone land is more often in play on acreage than in suburbs, and it affects the material choice directly. A fence on bushfire prone land must be non-combustible under the Codes SEPP, which rules out a standard timber paling fence and pushes the decision toward steel or a non-combustible alternative.

Getting Comparable Quotes

Three quotes only help if all three are pricing the same fence, and fencing quotes vary more in inclusions than in the metre rate. A short written brief before you call is what turns three incomparable figures into three you can read side by side. Measure the run and state it, including any changes of direction and the number of corners. Corners need additional posts and add labour, so a 30 metre run with four corners is a different job from a straight 30 metres and quoting them the same way produces a revision. Describe the ground honestly, including slope, rock, fill, reactive clay or anything you know about what is under the surface. Owners who mention a rocky block get more accurate quotes, not more expensive ones, since the alternative is discovering it with an auger on the first morning.

Say whether an existing fence needs removing, what it is made of, and roughly how old it is. That last detail is what flags a possible asbestos fence, and it changes the quote, the licensing and the disposal arrangements entirely. State whether the fence sits on a shared boundary, since that brings the Dividing Fences Act into the picture and may change how the work is organised and paid for. Where a neighbour is contributing, both parties usually want to see the same quote. Ask for the fence, the gates, the removal and disposal, and any rock or difficult access allowance as separate lines. That structure exposes immediately where one quote has assumed easy ground and another has allowed for rock, and it lets you defer an element to meet a budget instead of abandoning the project.

Making the Decision

On fencing the cheapest quote is frequently the one with the widest post spacing and the shallowest footings, so compare the structure before the total. Two quotes at the same metre rate can describe fences with very different lifespans, and the difference sits below ground where nobody looks. Where quotes differ widely, ask what each has allowed for the ground conditions and the existing fence. A fencer who has allowed for rock and licensed asbestos removal is not more expensive than one who assumed neither, they are quoting the job as it actually is. Favour the fencer who walked the line over the one who quoted from a length.

Slope, rock, access, corners and the condition of the existing fence are all established on site, and a quote given without them will be revised once work starts. Have the scope recorded in writing before any deposit, covering the material and treatment level, the height, the post size, spacing and footing depth, the paling direction, the gates and hardware, and the removal and disposal arrangements. Residential building work in New South Wales requires a written contract in any case. Finally, keep the material details and any colour or product codes with your property records. Matching a panel after storm damage is far easier with the original specification than without it, and it matters again at the next section replacement. Planting out a new boundary is handled by landscaping services.