Fencing Poll

[fastfences]

Could you please assist my poll so I can formulate a winning summer marketing strategy.

Any comment and response encouraged.
Cheers, Nigel

[Jayne]

I would Nigel, if the prices were good.

Mark did our last fence as we were quoted nearly £500 just for a length of about a touring caravan and a little bit. I think it cost us in total just under £100, to do it ourselves.

But if it had been a little cheaper, I would have paid someone and saved all the hassle and backache :lol:

Jayne

[bwglaw]

Voted yes. However I presumed your question means whether I would have a fence bought and fitted by a service provider i.e. FastFences Ltd

I would only do decorating myself since I was a qualified decorator but other work I would give to others. If my new house in Derby needs a fence I will contact you!

[creacom]

There is a house just across from mine and the owners built their own fence. It is starting to fall down after only 3 months. We are 30m from the shore so it gets very windy !

The house which is just up the road built a new wall and fence themselves too. The wall leans slightly to the left and the fence is tied to the garage to stop it from falling over.

Maybe we are just really bad at DIY up here ! But I will be replacing my fence next year and will definitely be calling in a contractor.

Jacqui

[Ruthierhyme]

I'd definitely call in the pro's - more than anything because experience has taught me, your less likely to want to fix your own bodged job :roll: ..... where as, if you'd paid someone, there much more reason to get on the phone and ask them to come repair it!! :D

[chrisedge]

I think getting in the pro`s to do something like that would definatly be worthwhile., especially if your as crap with diy as i am,lol

[Rob Holmes]

I recently needed a fence and gate at the side of my house (we had a side garden that I wanted to incorporate into the back)

So I priced the job - DIY was around £90, to have someone turn up and do it traditional style - with harris rails (I think thats the right term) and totally do a custom job was £300.

I opted for the custom job as I knew it would look ALOT better and wow am I glad that we made that decesion.

The posts were alot thicker than the DIY posts, the harris rails were there whereas in a DIY fence I'd have just stuck a flimsy panel in there and the gate hung straight.

The hardest thing I had to do was make the guy cups of tea all day.

So we opted for a contractor 3 times the price of doing it DIY, it looks FAR better, it was no effort on my behalf at all and it is far more sturdy than the one I would have put up (thicker posts and deeper holes and he filled them differently to me so aparently the drainage is good) - my guess is my diy effort would have lasted 5 years, the contractors will last absolutely decades.

Rob

[Jayne]

Nigel can come and do my next fence, I don't mind making tea all day :D

He can tell me poems while he's putting the fence up :D

Jayne

[bwglaw]

No doubt he will have his team to put the fence up?... do you actually do the work, or do you spend your time managing the business?

[bwglaw]

Btw, Nigel, you cannot possibly turn down a Yorkshire Tea, made by a pure Yorkshire lass with 50 years experience! Ask for some Ponte cakes while you are doing the job, assuming you would be 'fencing' when visiting Jayne ;)

[fastfences]

I do both. Have only 2 other staff at present, but have just commenced the mechanics of a 'pilot' franchise operating in Cheltenham, Glos., hence my other thread re. contractors.

Thanks for comments to date. Cheers, Nigel

[Jayne]

What do you mean 50yrs experience Jonno, i'm not that old :evil:

And Nigel is always welcome for a cuppa and a chin wag :D

Jayne

[bwglaw]

Just kidding Jayne...knew you would pick up on that...

NOTICE OF CORRECTION:

'50 years experience', should read '5 years experience'! ;)

[Jayne]

12 actually in a business capacity :lol:

Nigel, do you do the fancy bobbles for the tops, I had a look at your fences and couldn't find them. I love fancy bobbles, there's a shop near us that does ducks, lions and all sorts in wood?

Maybe something you could sell over the net?

Jayne

[creacom]

" Bobbles " ???? Is that the technical term for them !! ':lol:'

I have no idea what they are called really but I just love the idea of them being bobbles !!!

Jacqui ':D'

[Jayne]

They are really nice Jacqui, we got round one's for all down our fence, Mark wouldn't go for the ducks, so we had round bobbles instead :lol:

I don't know the techy name for bobbles :lol:

Jayne

[fastfences]

Well pluck a duck! I would never put a duck on MY fences - but then again, if the money's right . . .
Must be a Yorkshire thing, Jayne! I use rather 'conventional' post caps (bobbles) just a small pyramid piece: http://www.fastfences.co.uk/html/__panel_fences_2_.html

Maybe you could PM me with where all this 'wildlife for fences' is purchased from. I may find a new niche!
Cheers, Nigel

[coxadmin]

We have DIY'd in the past (cost a fortune) and it has been totally vandalised leaving one side of our garden exposed to the public footpath. We will very shortly be awarding the job of redoing it to a local contractor who has the knowledge and experience to make a better job of it and can supply us with good quality fencing at a reasonable price.

[Coding Monkey]

What's a reasonable price? If it would cost me £500 to do myself and would last for 5 years, or I pay a professional £2000 and it'd last for 25 years, that's reasonable. Saves me money and looks a helluva lot better.

[bwglaw]

reasonable and affordability are two different things ;)

[Claire B]

have just voted yes, don't have the time to put up my own fences, so would definately pay someone else to do it!

How's it oing Nigel?

[fastfences]

How's what 'oing', the fencing or the poll? :lol:

Fencing's going really good - which is great for Winter, and the poll's showing 75/25 in favour of contractors. Strangely, I though DIY's would come out at about 40%, but this is a small sampling - and it's a sampling of professional people (allegedly :wink: ) who would be more prone to contracting out.

But still, if I'm in B & Q on the weekend, there seems to be an endless trail of people coming out with fence panels :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: .
B & Q won't let me leave cards because they don't want to be seen to be endorsing private companies - so I slip some out the back anyway :lol: !
Cheers, Nigel

[Claire B]

oh dear, I had better get 'going'

[bwglaw]

B & Q won't let me leave cards because they don't want to be seen to be endorsing private companies - so I slip some out the back anyway

Be sure not to get kicked off the premises and car-park for trespassing! You did not hear it from me but you could put leaflets under car-wipers! ;)

In Homebase etc I noticed they have a 'business card dispenser' which are obviously business cards of local tradespeople - this is organised through an advertising company. Worth finding out more because I thought about it when I had the decorating company.

[fastfences]

In Homebase etc I noticed they have a 'business card dispenser' which are obviously business cards of local tradespeople . . .

I have explored that and contacted some of the advertisers on our local cards. Was not favourable feedback! Probably one of those situations where it works for some and not for others. I still stick a few cards in on the weekend though :wink:
Cheers, Nigel.

[fastfences]

Nigel, do you do the fancy bobbles for the tops, I had a look at your fences and couldn't find them. I love fancy bobbles, there's a shop near us that does ducks, lions and all sorts in wood?

Jayne

Is this what you mean?
http://www.hulme-architectural-fencing.co.uk/customer.htm

All I need to work out now is how I promote this: 'And would you like your fence with ducks or pineapples?' :?
Cheers, Nigel