Replacing Four Wooden Fence Posts Cost?

[Gnevans]

I’ve had a quote to replace four wooden fence posts. Materials £186. Labour £900. This feels somewhat excessive…

Edited by Gnevans on Monday 28th March 21:33

[Simpo Two]

Gnevans said:

I’ve had a quote to replace fur wooden fence posts. Materials £186. Labour £900. This feels somewhat excessive…

Unless they're on the Moon, I'd agree.

£900 to dig four holes and mix some concrete? He's avin' a giraffe!

[barryrs]

If they have rotted at the base I can recommend these.

https://rsl-engineering.myshopwired.co.uk/fence-re...

I used 6 of the drive in version after the recent storms and my fence is sturdy again.

[ade73]

Depends what's in the ground.

I repaired my daughters fence last week, needed 4 new posts £12 a post, £6 a bag of postcrete.

This took 2 days because of the amount and size of rocks in the ground!

1 hole was no problem with the auger, the rest were a nightmare.

[Gnevans]

Thanks for the replies. They are all very helpful. Needless to say I’ll get more quotes.
The ground is soft and stone free.

[Diplomatico]

As others have said. If you want old postcrete digging out £900 is great value. Had to sds drill and smash through 8 last summer. Literally the worlds worst job.

[MattCharlton91]

Depends on the type of fence.

Closeboard - easiest thing is drop a new post next to the rotten one, avoiding the old concrete.. circa £65 a pop. If you want the old post removing, circa £100/120 per post including disposal of old concrete. Depending on the age of the fence I would advise against trying to replace the existing fence for risk of splitting the featheredge/cant rails.

Panels, same as above, wouldn’t particularly advice replacing the post due to risk of damaging the panel.

A better option is a concrete spur post. Keeps the same timber post in place, but won’t rot! Circa £100 a pop

[TTmonkey]

Depends where you live. Around here a fence line replacement was about £120 a panel. It’s usually measured and costed in panel lengths.

4 panels would be about 500 quid, plus costs of the panels and posts.

For someone with the tools, it’s a two man job for about 5 hours. I’d suggest 400 plus parts for cash.

If it’s a proper firm, add an overhead for all other costs.

[anonymous-user]

Gnevans said:

I’ve had a quote to replace four wooden fence posts. Materials £186. Labour £900. This feels somewhat excessive…

Edited by Gnevans on Monday 28th March 21:33

Four wooden 4x4 posts say £80 max
£186 is a Rogue Traders price !
£100 saved straight away.

Could you DIY?
If yes
Its a days work, is that worth £900 net wages or £1250 gross to you?
Brain surgeon wages for a grunt (no disrespect for a fence post specialist ) job!

Personally I’d DIY for £80 plus a days work

[Carlososos]

Gnevans said:

I’ve had a quote to replace four wooden fence posts. Materials £186. Labour £900. This feels somewhat excessive…

Edited by Gnevans on Monday 28th March 21:33

Let’s say materials is correct

Worst case 2 workers for 1 days work. £200 each max

£586 at the tipity top. £1086 is outrageous.

Edit it’s not just outrageous it’s disgusting and the only reason firms like that get away with it is because people don’t know any better.

Edited by Carlososos on Tuesday 29th March 00:14

[darreni]

barryrs said:

If they have rotted at the base I can recommend these.

https://rsl-engineering.myshopwired.co.uk/fence-re...

I used 6 of the drive in version after the recent storms and my fence is sturdy again.

I used 3 of the concrete in versions to repair 3 posts after the recent storms. Took me two afternoons digging out the holes, repairing the panels & fitting. I was fked afterwards.

[anonymous-user]

Carlososos said:

Gnevans said:

I’ve had a quote to replace four wooden fence posts. Materials £186. Labour £900. This feels somewhat excessive…

Edited by Gnevans on Monday 28th March 21:33

Let’s say materials is correct

Worst case 2 workers for 1 days work. £200 each max

£586 at the tipity top. £1086 is outrageous.

Edit it’s not just outrageous it’s disgusting and the only reason firms like that get away with it is because people don’t know any better.

Did you forget the skip or waste removal costs or was it just going to be flytipped in the next layby?

[edthefed]

Its just cost me £325 to have 3 wooden posts dug out and replaced

I could not do it myself as recovering from surgery and initially thought it was a bit steep.

It took two lads from 0800 x 1500 with a an hour for lunch to get it done

Hard graft, SDS required, and cleared up all the mess

[Sheepshanks]

Gnevans said:

I’ve had a quote to replace four wooden fence posts. Materials £186. Labour £900. This feels somewhat excessive…

Most PHers will live in posh houses with flash cars so the price may well be more related to that than anything else.

Other PHers seem to know someone who will cheerfully do such jobs for beer money.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Tuesday 29th March 10:27

[Gnevans]

I’ll let you know what the next quote is. It did include £50 for disposal

[TimmyMallett]

I had this recently. If the existing posts are concreted in, and you want them dug out and replaced in the same spot, it will double the price for labour. If you want to make it cheaper and it's closed panel then stagger them slightly and make new holes, it's cheaper. £260 I paid for 3 I think. Then when the rest of the ones went I Paid £400 but that was 4 new posts, incl postcrete and labour using the existing closed panels to remake the fence, plus 3 new gravel boards.

[Sheepshanks]

TimmyMallett said:

I had this recently. If the existing posts are concreted in, and you want them dug out and replaced in the same spot, it will double the price for labour.

Did they check how concreted in they were? We've had some concrete posts removed between us and neighbour for builders access - the groundworkers had them out in no time, and the previous neighbour had them done so at least 20yrs ago. There's only a small amount of concrete around each post.

OTOH I helped a mate years ago remove some and they were in a foot square and about two feet deep concrete blocks.

[ChevronB19]

It seems expensive.

Have you thought about hiring a mini digger?

Recent project I did (for 75m2 garden in Cumbria).

Mini digger 1 day £80
Mini dumper 1 day £60
Digger driver 1 day £120
Skip (8m3) £307

Followed by (separate company): Rotovate, rake, level, supply and lay 60m2 turf £650

I’d do an exploratory dig around one of the posts, it may be that they are in very little concrete, and a digger with a pecker attachment could get them out no probs

[markymarkthree]

Five posts and panels being replaced this Saturday by a couple of chaps off Facebook who have done work for me before. Labour £250 each and i supply panels, posts, concrete, tea & sarnies. They recon a mornings graft.

[ChocolateFrog]

Digging out old fence posts can be hard work. Did a couple for my sister a couple of weeks back and they don't give up without a fight.

The quote is still extortionate.