I’m needing to put up a fence around my garden, there’s next to nothing at the moment but I’d like to be able to let the dog out without him buggering off.

area is about 7m by 5m, should I do it myself or would it work out much cheaper to get a man and some wood in? Just a simple couple of metre slat fence will do.

Not keen on metposts, but also not postcreted posts in before either.

ta

Do you have something to dig holes with, something to hit stuff with and the time?

Pay an expert much quicker and it will get done

I did a section of mine. to be honest, it’s heavy going and time consuming. I’d have a look at what you want (see what you like) and cost up the job from where you would get the stuff from. don’t forget postcrete and nails as part of the cost.

then get a few quotes.

then view them from a point of view of them doing it in a day to you doing it in a week to two weeks and whether the additional cost is worth it being done.

when you try to work out how much you will get done each day, pay yourself at least minimum wage (or better what you would want to get paid to do it) and add that to your materials.

make sure the work is by someone who has good rep and will provide a guarantee.
I’d probably pay someone.

I’ve done my own feather board fencing using postcrete, 4″ posts and Cant rails. The only faff is digging the holes for the posts, all the rest is pretty straightforward.

have access to spoons, but don’t really have that much in the way of time. However, if pushed (like if it was very expensive) I could probably sort myself.

That said, it can get pretty damn windy here so would need to stay put.

maybe get a couple of quotes….

cheers all.

my neighbour paid to have a fence put in . it took a day and looked fine . he sold on and moved out after a couple of months by which time the fence was propped up witgh random bits of wood . my new neighbour and i re did the whole fence with propper length posts cemented in to holes dug out using a digging stick ( 6 foot iron bar) and spade. it took us two weekends .

This is the fencing I did – used way too much Postcrete, was an utter arse to get out to clear the space for the workshop build.

Cleared up to the last fence by brf, on Flickr

Much swearing and a very sore back later:

Post bonfire by brf, on Flickr

I’m going to be putting up a small fence too. I have a small retaining wall that is falling down and the neighbour is re-building it. I was going to use bot-down fittings on this wall for most of the length and the rest of the garden as its small and the areas I’m going to install are concreted. This is mainly for convenience.

There is a short section of flowerbeds where I will be putting 3 fence posts in. I’m thinking of using the fencemate bolt down supports that go into a small hole filled with concrete, the fence posts just then bolt in to these supports above ground.

Am I missing anything obvious here? The other otpions are –

Big spike – I have no idea what the ground is like 2′ down and whacking a big spike in looks like hard work and difficult to guarantee it being very straight.

Post direct in to concrete – probably the easiest and cheapest but maybe requires bigger holes? This will save me about £20.

If I go with the fixing bracket in to concrete it gives me the benefit that all of the fence posts are bolted in so any changes to panels / post sizes is easy, and may save the posts rotting.

I had to replace a run of fencing about 15m long

most of the tricky bit doing mine was getting old concrete out from the ground where a few new posts had to go (another tip is to start with half panel then you miss the old concrete..)

measure, dig a few holes, put post crete in, level, add weather boards then fence panels on top. then paint/weatherproof. 15m took me a weekend with a bit of help….

If I were to have to plan the job again I’d sit drinking tea watching someone else do it (:

I have a 4 day weekend and very little money, therefore looking for the easiest DIY job and generally the cheapest. May just go down the postcrete route.

How many posts can you erect per bag of post-crete?