How a job runs

1. The first call or form

We ask four things: where the fence is, roughly how long the run is, roughly how high, and how we would get to it. That is enough to tell you whether we are the right firm and roughly what sort of job it is. If it turns out you need a repair rather than a replacement, we say so on that call.

Storm damage jumps the queue inside our opening hours, weekdays 8am to 6pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm. Anything that arrives outside them gets a callback the next working morning.

2. The visit and the measure

Fifteen to thirty minutes, free, and nothing to pay whatever you decide afterwards. We measure along the line rather than across it, take the height from the higher side, look at the fall of the ground, and walk the route in. We also look at what the old fence is fixed to, because a run tied into a neighbour's wall or an old stone boundary is a different job to a free standing one.

3. The boundary and rules check

Whose fence it is comes from the deeds. What you are allowed to put up comes from the council: the 2 metre limit, the 1 metre limit next to a vehicle highway, the conservation area position, and whether an Article 4 Direction applies to your street. Both answers go in writing with the quote. If consent is needed first, that is the point at which you find out, not later.

4. The written quote

One sheet with the length, the height, the post and board types, the waste removal as its own line, the exclusions and the fixed total. No deposit is taken before you accept it, and we do not chase. If you go elsewhere, that is the end of it.

5. The work

• Old fence out first, including the old post concrete where it is in the way of a new hole.
• Line pegged and levels set before the first post goes in, working off the high end so the run steps cleanly rather than drifting.
• Posts set and left to go off before any weight goes on them. This is the step that gets skipped by firms working to a one day price, and it is the reason fences lean.
• Gravel boards, then panels or boards, keeping timber up out of standing water.
• Gates hung last, squared to the opening that actually exists rather than the one on the drawing.

On a shared boundary we speak to the neighbour before anything comes down, with your agreement. It costs ten minutes and saves a great deal of trouble.

6. Clear up and hand over

The old fence, posts and concrete go with us under our waste carrier registration unless you have asked to keep the timber. Ground is raked, the path is swept, and we walk the run with you before we load out. Anything you are not happy with, we would rather hear it standing in the garden than read it a week later.