Does this seem expensive?

[Ridingthegravytrain]

Morning. In the recent storms I had some fencing fall down. I have had someone go to look and quote and I think it seems a bit steep just wanted other opinions...

To replace one basic fence panel and put in 3 repair spurs on existing fence posts I have been quoted £380.

This same person replaced 2 fence panels for me 3 months ago for £150 and even that seems the higher end so I called him out on his pricing and he said prices have gone up, but then also knocked £50 off and said that's the best he can do.

I still think its overpriced. Have prices gone up again massively in the last 3 months for garden materials? I had a look online and the parts aren't that expensive from the likes of wickes etc.

But happy to be told I'm wrong. Else it's back to the drawing board

Get another two quotes to compare.

I dated a builder once who said that when someone quotes for a job, it roughly works out that 50% is for materials and 50% is for labour and on the whole, I have found that to be broadly accurate.

But as a PP said, just get more quotes.

Get more quotes- it does seem high but it’s supply and demand. The recent weather will have seen a spike so they can charge what the market dictates.

I remember one year after a bad storm we left our fence down for months as we weren’t prepared to pay what they wanted for it. It was significantly cheaper in the summer!

Three very basic, untreated 6x3 panels would be about £30 each wholesale at best. I don't know what the cost of the other parts would be, let's say £50. The rest would be labour, VAT, time to get to you and collect materials. If it takes him 3/4 hours you are probably paying him about £30 an hour at most for labour. This is coupled with the opportunity cost of him doing a job making him more money at a time of year when his skills will be in demand. So, presuming you want a bargain basement job done with the cheapest materials, I suppose you have to consider if you could do a better job yourself.
Source: my DH's comedic antics repairing our panels after the recent storms, including borrowing a friend's electric planer to make them fit, which I had to use as he didn't trust himself.

Thanks. If it was my home I'd leave til better weather but it's a rental so I always like to get things done asap for them. People are busy so getting my usual 3 quotes is taking longer so I was hoping Mumsnet may say that is spot on and I'd just suck it up. But I don't want to be taken for a mug.

@Hobbi it's only one panel not 3 and yes the other parts amount to about £50 so labour costs seem to take the mick.

We've been quoted 3k for a ten panel new fence inc posts and kickboards.

I agree, unless it's a very expensive and/or oddly sized panel. I suppose it's the supply and demand thing. Could you not do it yourself if it's a standard panel? My DH isn't particularly handy but if the panel hadn't been 12mm too wide, he'd have done it in half an hour.

@Ridingthegravytrain If it's a rental property, why are you paying for the repair and not the landlord? That's why they have insurance isn't it?

We've had fence panels that needed to be replaced when we rented, and the landlord always sorted it out with his own handyman and we never paid a penny...

Op is a landlord I assume.

I think that after a storm, fencing companies are probably busy and can charge a premium for their services. Whether it's fair? I don't know.

Yes I'm the landlord hence want to sort it in timely manner

A friend of mine quotes high if it is a job he doesn't really want to do. If he gets it - great, he gets paid over the odds, if not, then he's also happy because he didn't want the job anyway.

Yep, this is very common in the trades.

Retail price of concrete spurs is about £25, plus a couple of bags of postcrete per spur £15. So if you were buying them yourself that's £40 x 3, plus the giant screws. And digging 3 holes about 2 feet deep. Cost of cheap panel £30 so total cost of materials at least £150.

I'd be happy to pay £380 for the job.

I bought 3 panels from local DIY for £30 each . Daughter slotted them in..secured one that was wobbly with wood from old panels.
Total cost £90.

What would you consider is decent day rate then op?