I got a quote of £1,800 for a new fence – I did it myself for just £250
A homeowner has told how she saved £1,550 on a backyard renovation.
She started the DIY project after receiving an expensive quote for a new garden fence.
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Post a message in the Facebook group DIY Gardens on a Budget in the UKthe user showed her handy work.
She shared a comparison of her fence before and after the budget upgrade.
The homeowner explained that the yard needed a lot of work when she first moved in.
“I’ve honestly had enough of it, it’s backbreaking work,” she wrote in an earlier post.
Learn more about privacy fences
She also asked for suggestions on how to cover the metal fencing at the back of her yard.
However, the quote she received from a fencing company was the last straw.
Instead of paying the bill, the poster took matters into his own hands.
“[I] got a quote of £1,800 for a fence along the bottom material,” she revealed.
Instead, she chose to “work hard and invest £250 to do it this way.”
She added progress photos to show her fellow social media users how she was approaching the process.
The homeowner also described each step she took to build her own fence.
She started by attaching a DIY frame to the metal that ran horizontally along the fence.
“I decided to drill holes and attach a wooden frame to the metal fence,” she explains.
She laid the beams next to each other, creating a fence without gaps.
This gave her yard more privacy from the neighbors across her fence.
How high can a garden fence be?
Despite popular belief, a garden fence can be 100 metres high. For any fence higher than 2 metres, you need a permit.
No building permit is required for fences shorter than 2 metres.
There are some complications, however.
If you are considering installing a fence for your front garden, there are restrictions: fences along a driveway may be a maximum of 1 metre high.
You will need a building permit to put a trellis on a 2m fence.
If a plant you grow on the rack is longer than 2 meters, you do not need to apply for a permit.
“It seems like hammering the planks to the wooden frame works well,” she concluded.
You can pick up feather edge planks online at Suregreen, with prices ranging from 98p to £2.20 per plate depending on size.
Adding wooden planks to your metal fence will not only increase your privacy, but also make the structure more secure in high winds.
One impressed Facebook user shared his thoughts on the upgrade in the comments.
“Looks good, great idea,” they wrote.
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