Fence Cost Calculator

Garden Fencing Guide

What should I know about Fence Panel Types and Costs?

Lap panel (horizontal overlapping boards): £15–35 per panel, the most common and affordable type. Feather edge close board: £40–80 per 1.8m section, more durable and formal. Hit and miss: £50–100 per section, allows air flow, good for windy locations. Slatted (horizontal): £60–150 per section, modern appearance. Trellis tops: add £5–15 per panel to any fence. Concrete posts and gravel boards (concrete base) significantly extend fence life but add 30–40% to material cost.

What do I need to know about Fence Posts — Depth and Spacing?

A post should be buried to approximately one-third of its total length. For a 1.8m high fence, use 2.4m posts with 600mm in the ground. Spacing: 1.83m between post centres is standard for UK panels. Posts can be set in concrete (post mix), driven with a post driver (for soft ground, preserves post bottom), or set in spike holders (metal spikes driven into ground — easier, but less secure in windy locations). Never use untreated timber posts — they will rot within 2–3 years.

What do I need to know about Gravel Boards?

Gravel boards sit at the bottom of the fence, between posts, protecting the panel base from ground moisture and rot. Without a gravel board, fence panels are often in contact with soil and rot from the bottom within 3–5 years. A gravel board extends panel life by 5–10 years. They cost £5–15 each for concrete or treated timber versions. Concrete gravel boards last indefinitely; timber should be pressure-treated to at least UC3 standard.

What's the difference between DIY and Professional Installation?

DIY fencing is one of the most achievable garden projects — the main tool requirement is a post hole auger or digger, a level, and basic carpentry tools. The biggest challenge is achieving perfectly plumb posts. Professional fitting costs £40–80 per metre including materials, or £15–25 per metre labour only. For a 20-metre fence, expect professional fitting of £300–500 in labour alone. Getting 3 quotes is advisable — fencing prices vary significantly by region and contractor.

What do I need to know about Getting Accurate Fencing Quotes?

When comparing fencing quotes from different tradespeople against the cost estimate this calculator produces, it's worth checking exactly what's included in each quote, since fencing quotes can vary significantly not just on price but on scope. Some quotes include removal and disposal of an old fence as a separate line item, while others assume the existing fence is already cleared, which can make an apparently cheaper quote actually more expensive once removal is added back in. Groundwork assumptions also vary: a quote based on straightforward, easily dug ground will be cheaper than one accounting for rocky, clay-heavy, or root-filled ground that takes longer to dig post holes in, and it's worth asking whether a quoted price assumes average ground conditions or has already allowed for known difficult ground on your specific site. Finally, check whether gravel boards, end caps, post caps and other finishing details are included as standard or costed as extras, since these smaller items can add up to a meaningful percentage of the total job cost if quoted separately from the headline panel and post price, making quotes that look similar on the surface actually quite different once every component is accounted for.

What should I know about Why DIY Fencing Costs Can Overrun?

DIY fencing projects often end up costing more than the initial materials estimate suggests, for a few predictable reasons worth planning for in advance. Tool hire or purchase is a common overlooked cost, since digging post holes properly in anything other than soft, loose soil generally needs a post hole auger or at minimum a proper post hole spade rather than an ordinary garden spade, and a petrol disc cutter or decent mitre saw makes cutting gravel boards and trimming panels to fit far easier and more accurate than hand tools, especially over a long fence run. Underestimating ground difficulty is another common surprise, since hitting unexpected rock, old buried rubble, or tree roots partway through digging a line of post holes can turn what looked like a straightforward weekend job into one needing specialist tools or an adjusted post layout to work around the obstruction. Finally, a DIY project that gets interrupted partway, by weather, available time, or running short of a particular material, sometimes results in buying small top-up quantities at a worse unit price than the original bulk order, since suppliers' per-unit pricing is usually better on a single larger order than several smaller follow-up purchases, which is worth avoiding by measuring carefully and ordering with a sensible margin from the outset.

What should I know about Sloping Ground and Stepped Fence Panels?

Standard fence panels are rectangular and don't naturally follow sloping ground, so a fence line that rises or falls needs either stepped panels (where each panel sits level but steps down the slope, leaving a triangular gap beneath filled with a gravel board or infill) or a 'raking' panel cut diagonally to follow the slope continuously. Stepped installation is simpler and cheaper, using standard panels with the gap beneath each one closed off, but it leaves a visible staircase effect and small triangular gaps that need filling, particularly relevant for security or if small pets could get through. Raking panels follow the ground line smoothly but need to be custom-cut or bought as specific 'slope' panels, which cost more and require more precise setting out, since each panel's rake angle must roughly match the ground slope at that point. On a significant slope, post spacing may also need adjusting, as a post set at a standard height above a steep slope will stick up considerably further at the downhill side than the uphill side if post holes aren't individually set to a consistent level reference. When costing a fence on sloping ground, budget for either the extra time stepped fitting takes or the premium for sloped panels, since flat-ground pricing assumptions will usually underestimate the job.

Worked Example: Costing a 20-Metre Garden Fence

For a 20m run using standard 1.83m (6ft) wide panels: 20 ÷ 1.83 ≈ 10.9, so you need 11 panels and 12 posts (one more post than panels, since each panel sits between two posts). Materials: 11 featheredge panels at roughly £45 each = £495; 12 treated timber posts at roughly £18 each = £216; 11 concrete gravel boards at roughly £12 each = £132; postcrete for 12 post holes at 2 bags each (24 bags at roughly £6) = £144. Materials subtotal ≈ £987. Professional installation for a straightforward run typically runs £25-35 per metre, so 20m × £30 ≈ £600 labour, bringing a fully fitted fence to roughly £1,587. Doing it yourself and only paying for materials saves roughly the £600 labour cost, against the time, tool hire and physical effort of digging 12 post holes and getting the line straight and level.

Fencing Materials Cost Reference

How Post Spacing Affects the Total Bill

Standard panel fencing is cheapest because post spacing is dictated by the panel width (1.83m), so you always need exactly one post per panel edge, with no offcuts. If you instead build with individual featheredge boards nailed to rails (rather than pre-made panels), you gain flexibility to space posts at 2.4-3m intervals, which uses fewer posts per metre — but needs more rails and more boards cut to length, and far more labour time, often erasing the material saving. As a rule of thumb, panel fencing wins on cost and speed for straight, flat runs; board-on-rail construction only pays off where you need a non-standard height or a design that off-the-shelf panels can't match.

Checking a Boundary Before You Build

Before ordering materials, it's worth confirming which side of the boundary line the fence should sit on and who's responsible for which fence — in England and Wales there's no automatic legal rule that one side (e.g., the left-hand boundary) is always an owner's responsibility, despite that being a common myth; it depends on the property's title deeds. Erecting a fence on, or just over, the true boundary line without agreement can trigger a dispute with a neighbour that costs far more in time and legal fees than any saving made on the fence itself.