The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Techniques and skills => Topic started by: honeyend on October 22, 2011, 12:46:04 am
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I am going through the cost of fencing a 5 acre field. Its mainly for horses but there are certain areas where I will put sheep. The majority of it will be mains powered electric fencing but there is some stock fencing to do.
So my question is what is a reasonable charge for someone to come and do it? I would prefer to buy the fencing so I know whatt I've bought. One chap has quoted £140 to hang a pair of gates. In total theres about 1000 meteres of fencing and 4 gates.
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It will somewhat depend on the type of terrain. A nice flat run of fence is quicker and easier to set up than one which goes up hill and down dale. You'll probably be looking at a couple of quid a metre if you supply the materials. You might get a better deal from a contractor if you let them supply the materials and give you an all in price. They will be able to get the stuff cheaper than you can and won't need to wack on the labour cost as they'll make a bit on the posts etc. Either way good luck it's gonna cost you a bob or two.
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You're looking at around £3 per meter for stock fencing to buy the stuff (based on £2 per post and £50 per 25m roll of fence) I get 8ft gates for around £60 each.
I've seen contractors quote various prices from £6 to £10 pounds per meter (supply & install) - we've got over 100 acres to do and not much cash so we've got the fun job of doing it all ourselves ::)
It's hard going, but it's worth it in the end ;)
HTH
Karen :wave:
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i got quoted for 150m of stock fencing with rail top and to hang 7 gates 2700 :O alot i know lol it was 8.65m + vat and 95 per gate to hang (more than the gates actually cost !!) just to give u an idea :)
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I have done quite a bit of research and I have got the cost of the posts right down as I am buying 2 packs, so realy its the cost of the labour. Want to pay enough to get a good job but not someone who thinks because I am a women I'm soft headed.
Thanks for the imput.
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It might be cheaper to get an all inclusive price. 8ft stakes in the ground 3ft, two barb on the bottom, stock netting, 1 row on top barb, then a rail, 75m a day on good flat land. This was a bit more than a standard stock fence though. Ask them how long they think it will take to do and don't pay dayrate.
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I buy all our fencing from HIS in Inverness. They're substantially cheaper for both posts and stock fencing than anywhere else I've found.
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we had a contractor in recently, he has a tractor with all the equpment, charges £2.50 +VAT per metre, + ? for gates (didn't ask that bit). areas he has to do by hand is £4.50 per metre. (+ the fencing and gates bought direct from local supplier). But I have to say - it's a damn good fence, expensive but worth it.
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Remember not to use barbed wire with horses or you will for sure have large vet bills to patch them up (or worse). I have seen a spooked horse that has ran into barbed wire and it is not pretty.
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We have rented some land which the owner used to use for cows and fenced with barbed wire. We've taken quite a lot out but a big chunk is against a busy main road and the barbed is holding part of the fence together. What we eventually did was put 40mm white electric tape on stand-offs to keep the horses and sheep away from the stuff. Of course the sheep found a length elsewhere and we found one of them stuck fast though without a scratch.
It's been often said that you can't live with it, and you can't farm without it. It's real bastard stuff to remove and roll up 'cos its heavy and sharp - we found some cable drums that had been dumped nearby which helped.
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Check out ebay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-0m-Stock-fencing-also-Post-Rail-Wire-Garden-Horse-Dog-/220875082624?pt=UK_BOI_FarmingEquipment_RL&hash=item336d2e4b80 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-0m-Stock-fencing-also-Post-Rail-Wire-Garden-Horse-Dog-/220875082624?pt=UK_BOI_FarmingEquipment_RL&hash=item336d2e4b80)
maybe worth a try
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So far I have had two quotes just for the labour and there's £3000 difference, which makes either one way too cheap or one guy is aving a laugh. The fact we live in Cambridgeshire does not help as everything is so expensive, mention the word horse and they think your loaded, not poor because you've spent all you money on hay.
A post hole rammer off e-bay is £1500 and a local farmer says I can have a tractor and driver for £12 an hour so my husband wants to give it go. I think best pay someone, as he would want perfection and I just want it in before the bad weather comes.
As I intend to put my ponies in I would never use barbed or plain wire, I like electric on stand off on wooden posts. It going to have a high power mains energiser.
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the top side sounds expensive, ours was about 550 metres, 2 stiles, 5 gates, came out about 1,700 for the labour.
presumably the rammer is the tractor mounted type, hope the tractor driver knows how to use it, our contractor had learnt all sorts of clever little 'tricks' (use a piece of wood to gauge height so each post is the same). and they worked as a team so they each knew just what to do.
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could you not hire a tractor mounted post banger, if so appox £50 a day.
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I got a post banger, but its a pretty naff one - not much adjustment on it and its all a bit 'lose' and too easy for it to go wrong and tilt the posts. Its an even bigger pain the the arse if your on your own.
As long as you use a nice big fencing bar to do the pilot holes for the fence posts banging them in by hand is pretty easy - the post knocker does come in handy for the strainers and gate posts ;)
Getting the stockfence tight - well thats another skill.
Before you get someone in to do any fencing - find out where there last job was and go take a look. Or go with a trustworthy recommendation from a friend.
Baz
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I did 560 meters of post and rail (3 rails) over the summer to paddock off our 10 acres into more manageable chunks. In terms of cost it was £2300 (470ish rails and 300 ish 6 1/2 posts) plus the hire of a post hole borer. I knocked the posts in by hand - I now have shoulders like garth. Did the hole (bang tish) lot myself in about a week and a half.
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i do contract fenceing i have seen diy jobs and they dont last even my own diy fenceing when i started was ok for a year then went slack. over the years we have tryed diffrent tools ect and found whats best took a while and we still try new things i dread to think the cost of replaceing our kit if we had too. so if you do diy it learn how to fence first and hire beg borrow the right kit.
as for prices for labour only that includes tools ect for stock fence ie stakes every 2-3 meters stock netting and then 2 barbs on top i charge £2 per meter if the tractor can knock the posts in £3.50 if its where i cant get tractor too and £4+ if i have to carry everything to the job ect
difrent specs have difrent prices so add 25p if a top rail is to be fitted ect
gates varey if the tractor puts round posts in for them then metal are about £40 a gate wooden maybe £60
if posts are dug in the could well be £100 a gate sometimes if doing long runs and the tractor puts posts in ect and its a metal gate that are quick to hang i will only charge £20 but just depends on how big the job is
so roughly 1000m all tractor accses would be £2000 4 gates again with tractor say £200 ish so if you added a bit made it £2500 if there is a bit tractor carnt get ect then add probly same again for the posts gates wire ect i tend to leave the buying of these to the client as then they carnt say im marking stuff up or got the wrong type.
i would also rearly quote per whole job if i did i would be puttting a buffer amount in the price as hhad problems before qouteing say £100 for 50 meters then being asked to put a gate in when i do the job or go an extra few meters or fix another bit of fence then i sent the bill for more than the £100 quote and they get funny about it so my whole job quote will always be higher than a per meter one.
also forgot to add takeing any old fence down is usely charged per hour as is cuting back trees ect
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Well our DIY fencing is still tight 5 years later......
We used the quad bike to tighten it :D Put the posts in by hand, using one of those hollow, two-handled post-knockers and dug the strainers, then back-filled the holes with stone and rammed it down hard with the sledge hammer. I've had to adjust gates but that's the only movement, bar one very wet place where I've had to add a 3x4 to the strainer recently.
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I am going through the cost of fencing a 5 acre field. Its mainly for horses but there are certain areas where I will put sheep. The majority of it will be mains powered electric fencing but there is some stock fencing to do.
So my question is what is a reasonable charge for someone to come and do it? I would prefer to buy the fencing so I know whatt I've bought. One chap has quoted £140 to hang a pair of gates. In total theres about 1000 meteres of fencing and 4 gates.
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Shop around for quote and see if it's going to be easier/cheaper to hire a light weight engine driven a post hole borer and do it with you and friends /partner etc.
My pal payl managed to save over £ 1200 pounds back in 2003 doing it himself with his wife and a bit of advice from me around the perimeter of their seven acres small holding .
He did the same when we put his 2,000 grape vines in and ran the support wires on 8 foot poles.
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Hello,
I'll just be putting in a short bit of fence because the sawer down the road had a cedar stem he suspected had nails and didn't want to saw so I got the wood real cheap. The first step looks like this,(http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss304/DonWagstaff/DSCF1265.jpg) to get the posts and rails out of it. My plan is double posts with rails stacked in between. Cash costs till now, 50€ which will make around 20 stretched meters of the type of fence I am doing.
Greetings,
Don Wagstaff