GoodFence or a directory like Checkatrade — which route suits you?.
These aren't the same kind of thing, which is why the comparison is worth making. A directory is a marketplace: you post a job and traders get in touch. We're a fencing contractor with our own fitting team. The right choice depends on how much of the sorting you want to do yourself.
Checkatrade is a place to find several traders and compare them; GoodFence is one company that surveys, prices and fits the fence itself — use the directory if you want competing bids and are happy to manage them, use us if you'd rather deal with one team from photos to finished boundary.
A directory
Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Rated People — a marketplace of traders.
GoodFence
One company: we survey it, we price it, our team fits it.
Side by side
A directory
GoodFence
- What it is
- A directoryA marketplace that connects you to traders
- GoodFenceA fencing company with its own fitters
- Who you deal with
- A directorySeveral traders, separately
- GoodFenceOne team, one number
- First contact
- A directoryTraders call you, usually quickly
- GoodFenceYou send photos; we reply with an estimate
- Getting a price
- A directoryEach trader quotes their own way
- GoodFenceFree indicative estimate, then an optional fixed-price survey
- Comparing options
- A directoryBuilt for it — that's the point
- GoodFenceOne spec, explained; compare us against whoever you like
- Who's accountable
- A directoryThe trader you picked
- GoodFenceUs — the contract is with GoodFence
- Best if
- A directoryYou want competing bids and will manage them
- GoodFenceYou want it handled end to end
Prices are per metre, supplied and fitted, inc VAT, for a typical-length run across London and the South East. Access, ground and optional removal of the old fence move the number.
Choose a directory if
- You actively want three or four prices side by side and enjoy comparing them.
- The job is unusual enough that you need to find a specialist first.
- You're happy fielding calls and chasing the traders who don't come back.
- You already have a trader in mind and are using the directory to check them.
Choose goodfence if
- You'd rather send photos once and get an estimate back than repeat the job four times.
- You want one company accountable for the survey, the price and the install.
- You'd like the price confirmed on site before anyone starts, not adjusted on the day.
- You want to deal with people who only fit fences.
What nobody puts in the brochure
A directory
You do the coordinating. Several traders, several conversations, several specs to compare — and quotes that aren't like-for-like unless you know what to ask about posts, gravel boards and removal.
GoodFence
You're getting one company's price, not a market sweep. If your instinct is to compare several bids, we're one of them, not a substitute for the exercise — and we'd rather you did compare than felt cornered.
Questions we get asked
Still deciding?
Composite vs timber
Buy timber if you want the lowest price today and don't mind treating or replacing it inside twenty years; buy composite if you plan to stay put and want a boundary you never touch again — it costs roughly twice as much per metre fitted and only pays that back over time.
Closeboard vs overlap
Overlap panels are the cheapest way to replace a whole boundary and the easiest to change later; closeboard costs more per metre but is a genuinely stronger fence, built on site, that outlasts panels by years.
Hit-and-miss vs closeboard
Closeboard gives you total privacy and costs less; hit-and-miss lets wind through on purpose, which is what you want on an exposed garden, and looks the same from both sides — so it's the better neighbour fence.
Free estimate · no obligation