Get More Fencing Work
Written by James Walker · Last reviewed 16 August 2026
James Walker has 2 degrees in construction (BSc (Hons) Building Surveying · MSc Environmental Design of Buildings) and an extensive background in issue resolution, resolving over £4 billion of consumer issues.
The short answer
- Demand spikes after storms and disappears in between.
- Boundary disputes are the main risk, and they are avoidable with one question.
- How posts are set is the whole difference between your quote and a cheaper one.
- Low ticket and high volume means reputation travels fast, in both directions.
- Landlords, agents and developers smooth the seasonality.
On this page
Why fencing work is difficult to run
Not because quotes get turned down, because demand is impossible to plan.
A storm brings a week of calls you cannot service, followed by a quiet spell. Customers ringing after storm damage want it done this week and will take whoever answers.
The second problem is that fencing is entered easily. Anyone with a van and a post-hole digger competes with you, and customers cannot see the difference until a fence goes over.
What the customer is actually weighing
How fast, and how cheap. It is a distress purchase after a storm and a grudge purchase otherwise.
Where the work comes from
Landlords, letting agents and housing associations, repeat, plannable, and the best answer to seasonality.
Developers and builders, on new plots.
Landscapers, who subcontract fencing.
Street clustering after storms. One panel down usually means several on the same street. Working a street properly is worth more than driving between three jobs.
What separates you from the quote below yours
Ask whose boundary it is, before quoting. Deeds, or a conversation with the neighbour. Erecting a fence on a disputed line is the one way a straightforward job becomes a serious problem, and asking marks you as someone who has done this before.
Specify the posts. Concrete versus timber versus driven spikes, and how they are set. Fences fail at the posts, and this is the entire difference between your price and a cheaper one.
Include gravel boards and say why, keeping panels clear of wet ground is what makes them last.
Mention the height rule where relevant: 2 metres generally, 1 metre next to a road, and trellis counts toward it. Customers regularly do not know.
Making the money conversation easy
Materials are standard and cheap to obtain, so no deposit is needed. On most fencing, payment on completion is entirely reasonable, and offering it wins work outright.
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Common questions
- Will this work for my kind of job?
- It suits planned work with clear stages best. Very short reactive jobs move too fast for staged payments.
- Does the customer have to agree?
- Yes. They approve each stage before it is released, which is the part that reassures them.
- Do I still take a deposit?
- Yes, as a capped kick-off with a stated reason for what it covers.
- How does it help me win work?
- It removes the objection you are currently losing quotes to without ever being told.