Fencing in Princes Risborough
A lot of new gardens here, and a lot of fencing already on its way out.
Princes Risborough sits under the scarp with Whiteleaf Cross above it, and it has grown a great deal in recent years. A good share of our work here is on estates barely old enough to have mature planting.
New gardens bring their own two problems, and neither is the one people expect: what the developer put up, and what they buried under the lawn on the way out.
What the developer left you
Boundary fencing on a new estate is a cost line on a spreadsheet, and it shows. Thin lap panels, timber posts set shallow, and no gravel board keeping the bottom rail out of the wet. It looks fine on handover and it is soft at the base within five or six years, which is exactly when people start ringing us.
Replacing it is not an expensive job by the standards of this trade. A fourteen metre boundary in lap panels prices around £1,650 to £1,920. Step up to a closeboard panel and it is £1,810 to £2,100, or £2,140 to £2,480 for closeboard built on site. The jump from the cheapest to the best is a few hundred pounds on a job this size, which is the one place we will push you: do not buy the same fence the developer did.
Measure the run you are actually replacing rather than the whole plot — on a new estate you often share one side with a neighbour who is not ready yet. Pick Clay for the ground unless you know better, and mention in the notes that it is a new build.
Price it now →What is under a new lawn
Turf on a new estate goes down over whatever was there when the machines left. Under a few inches of topsoil we find compacted subsoil, brick ends, lumps of concrete, offcuts of pipe and a good deal of plastic. None of it is unusual and none of it is a disaster, but it turns a twenty-minute post hole into an hour of picking things out.
That is why the notes box matters more here than anywhere else. Tell us it is a recent build and we will allow for it properly instead of finding a slab of foundation spoil on the first morning and having a conversation neither of us enjoys.
What we build in Princes Risborough
All services →Closeboard / featheredge
The workhorse. Built on site, board by board. 20+ year life.
from £140/mPrice thisPanel (lap / waney)
Fast, tidy and kind to the wallet. Great for garden boundaries.
from £112/mPrice thisPicket
Cottage-front charm. Low, friendly, painted if you like.
from £116/mPrice thisSlatted / contemporary
Clean horizontal lines. The one architects ask for.
from £183/mPrice thisPost & rail (agricultural)
Paddocks, drives and field boundaries. Stock-proof options.
from £65/mPrice thisRepairs & replacement bays
Snapped posts, blown panels, storm damage. Sorted.
from £108/mPrice this
In and around Princes Risborough
All of these are a short run for us, and priced exactly the same as the town itself.
- Monks Risborough
- Askett
- Whiteleaf
- Longwick
- Horsenden
- Bledlow
- Lacey Green
- Loosley Row
- Saunderton
- Speen
Princes Risborough questions
Our fence came with the house. Why is it going already?
Because it was built to a price. Developer fencing is usually the lightest lap panel available on timber posts set shallow, with nothing keeping the bottom of the panel clear of the soil. Timber in permanent contact with wet ground softens, and once the base has gone the panel follows. It is not a defect so much as a specification, and five or six years is about what you should expect from it.
There is rubble under the lawn. Is that a problem?
It is a slower dig, not a stopper. We hand-pick obstructions out and set the post properly rather than wedging it against a lump of concrete and hoping. Where something genuinely large is in the way we will move the post along the line a few inches rather than fight it. Flag the new build in the notes and it is allowed for.
Can we replace it while the house is still under warranty?
You can, but check your own paperwork before you spend anything. Boundary fencing is often outside what a new-home warranty covers beyond the first couple of years, and the answer varies by provider and by developer. If the fence has failed unusually early it is worth one phone call to them before it is worth one to us.
The estate has rules about boundaries.
Plenty do. New developments frequently carry covenants in the transfer, or a management company with a view on what boundaries may look like, particularly on anything facing a road or open space. Check your pack before choosing a style. We will build whatever you are permitted to have, but we cannot tell you what your deeds say.
More of the general ones on the FAQ page.