Which fence, and what it actually costs.

Closeboard fencing — also sold as close board, feather edge or featherboard — is built on site from overlapping vertical boards nailed to horizontal arris rails, rather than from pre-made panels. Supplied and fitted in London it starts at around £175 per metre with timber posts, more with concrete. It is the most solid timber option and typically lasts 15–20 years, but it cannot be lifted out panel by panel later.

Hit-and-miss fencing has boards fixed alternately to the front and back of the frame, so it looks identical from both gardens and lets air pass through the gaps. Supplied and fitted in London it starts at around £195 per metre. You get near-total privacy looking straight at it, some visibility at a sharp angle, and far better wind performance than a solid fence.

Slatted fencing uses evenly spaced horizontal boards with a deliberate shadow gap between each one, usually 10–20mm. Supplied and fitted in London it starts at around £195 per metre. It is the most contemporary timber option and the least forgiving to build, because every gap has to be identical along the whole run for it to look right.

Overlap panels — also called lap or waney edge — are pre-made framed panels of thin overlapping horizontal boards. Supplied and fitted in London they start at around £145 per metre, making them the most affordable full replacement. On concrete posts with slotted gravel boards they are also the easiest fence to live with, because any panel lifts straight out.

Aluminium posts, 25-year guarantee, never needs painting. Timber warmth without the upkeep.

We build garden and side gates as part of a fencing job, framed from the same timber as the run so the boundary reads as one thing. A standard pedestrian side gate, made and hung with proper hardware, starts at around £650 fitted. Gates are only priced alongside a fence — we do not fit gates on their own.

Concrete fence posts do not rot, so the part of a fence that normally fails first simply does not. Slotted concrete posts also let panels lift in and out, which turns a future panel change into a five-minute swap. On a London job they add roughly £25–£35 per metre over timber posts and typically double the working life of the boundary.

A gravel board is the sacrificial strip at the bottom of a fence that takes the ground contact so the panel above never touches soil. A trellis topper adds 300–600mm of height and planting to an existing run. Concrete gravel boards add roughly £15–£25 per metre; trellis toppers around £45 per metre, both fitted as part of a fencing job.

New pressure-treated timber does not need painting to survive, but it will silver within about two seasons if left bare. A pigmented stain applied to the boards before they are fitted costs around £10 per metre on a new fence and holds its colour for three to four years — far longer and far neater than painting a fence that is already up.