How Much Does New Fencing Cost in Essex?

Fencing is priced per linear metre of run, but the components behind that rate are posts, panels or boards, gravel boards, fixings, concrete, labour and disposal of the old fence.

Posts are the biggest variable. They sit at fixed centres — typically 1.8 metres for panels — so a long straight run spreads them efficiently while a boundary with several corners and returns needs disproportionately more.

Ground conditions change the labour significantly. Digging post holes in soft garden soil is quick. Digging through old concrete, tree roots, rubble-filled ground or the compacted made ground behind many newer Essex estates takes far longer, and on some sites requires breaking out.

Disposal is a real cost that is easy to overlook. An old fence with concrete post footings is heavy, awkward waste, and removing forty metres of it fills a skip on its own.

Lap panel fencing — the thin overlapping slats in a frame — is the cheapest option and the most commonly installed. It is quick to fit and it is what most Essex boundaries already have. It is also the least durable, and it is what fails in numbers every time a serious wind comes up the estuary.

Closeboard fencing, built on site from vertical featheredge boards fixed to arris rails, costs noticeably more per metre but is a fundamentally stronger structure. It can be built to follow sloping ground and individual boards can be replaced. For an exposed boundary it is the sensible choice.

Composite fencing sits at the top of the price range, typically double panel fencing or more. It does not rot, does not need staining, and holds its colour, so the argument is total cost over twenty years rather than up-front price.

Picket, hit-and-miss, slatted contemporary and trellis-topped fences vary widely. Hit-and-miss and slatted fences allow wind through, which makes them a genuinely good choice on the coastal and exposed sites around Southend, Shoebury and Canvey where solid panels act as sails.

Timber posts are cheaper and look better, particularly with closeboard and contemporary slatted fences. Even pressure-treated, they eventually rot at ground level where oxygen and moisture meet, typically after ten to fifteen years.

Concrete posts last effectively indefinitely and are the reason many Essex fences survive storms that flatten neighbouring runs. They are heavier, less attractive and slightly awkward to work with, but the panels slot in and out for easy replacement.

Concrete gravel boards at the base are worth specifying regardless of post choice. They keep the timber out of contact with wet soil, which is where every timber fence starts to fail, and they stop soil and mulch from a raised border sitting against the boards.

Post depth should be at least a quarter of the above-ground height — so 600mm minimum for a 1.8m fence — set in a concrete collar with a domed top so water sheds away from the timber rather than pooling around it.

Shallower post holes are the most common saving, and the least visible. A post set 300mm deep looks identical to one set 600mm deep on the day it is finished, and behaves very differently in a gale.

Less concrete, or none at all, is another. Posts rammed in with hardcore work in some ground conditions and fail in most.

Reusing existing posts is legitimate where they are genuinely sound, and a false economy where they are not. New panels on tired posts means paying for the labour twice within a few years.

Thinner panels, fewer fixings, no gravel boards and leaving the old fence for the customer to dispose of all reduce a quote. None of them is dishonest if stated; the problem is when they are not.

Establish who owns the boundary before commissioning work. Title deeds and the Land Registry plan may indicate responsibility, though they are frequently ambiguous. The common assumption that posts sit on the owner's side is a convention, not a rule.

Where a boundary is shared, agreeing the work and ideally the cost with the neighbour in advance avoids a great deal of difficulty. Access to the far side to fix panels is often needed and is much easier to arrange as a conversation than as a surprise.

Under permitted development, a fence may generally be up to two metres high, reducing to one metre where it adjoins a highway used by vehicles. Trellis on top counts towards the total. Listed buildings and conservation areas have tighter rules.

Fence height is measured from the ground level on the higher side, which matters where a boundary steps down. On sloping boundaries, closeboard built to follow the ground avoids the stepped gaps that panels leave.

Keep soil, compost and mulch away from the base of the boards. Timber in contact with damp soil rots regardless of treatment, and a raised border built against a fence will destroy it within a few years.

Treat timber fencing every two to three years with a proper penetrating preservative rather than a surface paint. Autumn, on a dry spell, is the ideal time.

Keep climbers under control. Ivy in particular holds moisture against the timber and adds enormous wind loading, which is why ivy-clad fences are so often the ones that come down.

Check the posts each spring by pushing firmly at the top of the fence. Movement at the base means the post is going, and a post repair spur fitted early is far cheaper than a replacement run later.