Fencing question

[Andrew1983]

What’s going rate for a fencer if I supply tools, post driver and all materials, straightforward flat land fencing. Would prefer to pay £X/m so I can leave him to get on with it, maybe drive the tractor when he’s knocking in the posts to save him the hassle of jumping in and out.

 

[ploughman1963]

£1/m

 

[agrotron]

Best to pay him an hourly rate. If he is on his own and jumping on and off the tractor for each post that will slow him down. Two people while post driving is more economical.

Most efficient labour process when using tractor and knocker is

Get him on his own to put straining posts and struts and turning posts in.
Then drive for him to set the intermediate posts out and knock then in. Then leave him to wire and staple up.

If you have got a quickfencer or solonet that will speed the wiring part up and also a staple gun.

Also do you want the wire hard stapled off on the strainers or tied off or supply t gripples.

The more kit you have got to do the job the lower the m price.

Lots of things that can vary the price so if getting different people ask them to be specific with the detail. The cheapest isn’t always the best.

 

[tepapa]

Is this guy
A) a professional fencer that can mortice struts, dig in blocks properly and tie off wire at the proper tension and that foots dip posts
B) a farm labourer with many skills that will nail on struts, drive a post as a block, hard staple netting and hope for the best regarding footing low points.

A's skills is worth a lot more over the life of the fence if it stands stock proof for longer. £1.50/m he'll also deserve a better pay for his skill.
B is worth standard farm labour rate. £10/hr or £0.80-1/ m putting up 100m/day

 

[SilliamWhale]

Is this guy
A) a professional fencer that can mortice struts, dig in blocks properly and tie off wire at the proper tension and that foots dip posts
B) a farm labourer with many skills that will nail on struts, drive a post as a block, hard staple netting and hope for the best regarding footing low points.

A's skills is worth a lot more over the life of the fence if it stands stock proof for longer. £1.50/m he'll also deserve a better pay for his skill.
B is worth standard farm labour rate. £10/hr or £0.80-1/ m putting up 100m/day

Except when the posts rot.after 5 year

 

[tepapa]

Except when the posts rot.after 5 year

Don't use sh!t posts,
plenty of good options on the market, all cheaper over life of the fence.
The rotting post scandal has been going on long enough to make an informed decision on post longevity.

 

[AndrewG]

I'm no professional fencer, why is digging in blocks for stays better than knocking them in? Fencers I've seen all knock them in

 

[ploughman1963]

I cannot say whether one way is right or another wrong but I always dig in a block for my struts.
I strain the netting before staking up so easier to line up the strut on the line of pull.
Using HT neting, spacing is often around 3m for stakes which means that using a stake as a foot would put it in the wrong position (spacing) and so it would just look wrong.
Using a stake - I assume you mean driving in at an angle then pulling it upright after setting a strut against it to tighten the strut against the strainer - seems to me to be very hit and miss. Digging in a foot/block against a properly morticed strut and then driving a tapered wedge between them to tighten everything up, involves far more accuracy and means you can make sure the assembly is tight and ready to strain against - the strainer isnt going to get pushed off vertical, the stake isnt going to snap as you pull it upright, the stake wont be left at 30 degrees to the vertical because pullig it upright will push the post over.
There is a British Standard but most fencers wouldnt give two figs for it and work to far higher standards and this is just about personal preference and experience and being happy to put your name to the job in my opinion.

 

[ARW]

I cannot say whether one way is right or another wrong but I always dig in a block for my struts.
I strain the netting before staking up so easier to line up the strut on the line of pull.
Using HT neting, spacing is often around 3m for stakes which means that using a stake as a foot would put it in the wrong position (spacing) and so it would just look wrong.
Using a stake - I assume you mean driving in at an angle then pulling it upright after setting a strut against it to tighten the strut against the strainer - seems to me to be very hit and miss. Digging in a foot/block against a properly morticed strut and then driving a tapered wedge between them to tighten everything up, involves far more accuracy and means you can make sure the assembly is tight and ready to strain against - the strainer isnt going to get pushed off vertical, the stake isnt going to snap as you pull it upright, the stake wont be left at 30 degrees to the vertical because pullig it upright will push the post over.
There is a British Standard but most fencers wouldnt give two figs for it and work to far higher standards and this is just about personal preference and experience and being happy to put your name to the job in my opinion.

We just knock a normal stake in to ground level and use that to strut to

Also i wouldn’t want to fence with someone else’s tools, not if you have your own

 

[ploughman1963]

Agree regarding tools

If you drive a stake in full depth do you wedge between that stake and bottom of the strut to tighten the strut against the strainer?

 

[Andrew1983]

We just knock a normal stake in to ground level and use that to strut to

Also i wouldn’t want to fence with someone else’s tools, not if you have your own

The guy got laid off from a construction firm which folded a few weeks ago. He said he had tools but they got stolen from a job he was doing....

 

[ARW]

No need as we cut the strut so you have to knock it into the hole chiselled into the strainer so the strut is very tight before pulling wire

 

[trev7530]

We use a stake driven to strut to, driven as deep as possible.
We do nail some struts and mortise, depends what we are using.
I wouldn’t want to use someone else’s tools.
And I wouldn’t want to employ someone unless they were experienced at stock fencing, despite what some people think good fencing is a skill, we’ve replaced a lot of fencing that has been done by a “professional fencer”, some was less than 12 months old!

 

[tepapa]

despite what some people think good fencing is a skill,

Totally agree

 

[Mf6260]

£1/m

I'd want double that. But always prefer to supply materials I always enjoy a job more if I'm using stuff I'm used to.

 

[ploughman1963]

The man said he was supplying everything except my labour - I can do upwards of 150 per day on my own - that’ll do me I’m not greedy

 

[Mf6260]

The man said he was supplying everything except my labour - I can do upwards of 150 per day on my own - that’ll do me I’m not greedy

I never get that good going

 

[ploughman1963]

Would usually be at least£2.10/m with all the kit - some lads round here still doing for£1/m

 

[Thick Farmer]

£2/m. No less.

 

[Daniel Larn]

Decent fencer should do it for about £1.50 per meter. If I was to do it I'd be asking for £2 and probably push you toward using my gear.

As people have said, I know my tools and materials, so I could guarantee the quality of the work that way. I would hate to use stuff that was sub par, and end up with wonky, rotten posts and broken and loose wire after 18months.