Concrete fence posts.
The cheapest decision on the job with the biggest effect on how long it stands.Also sold as Slotted concrete posts, Concrete fence posts.
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.
Every run is fitted by our own team — see how a fence installation in London works end to end, or what's involved in a full fence replacement.
- Uplift
- £25–£35/m
- Life in ground
- 25–40 yrs
- Panel swap
- Slots out
Over pressure-treated timber
Timber is 8–15
No demolition later
Why timber posts fail and concrete does not
Timber posts fail at exactly one place: the 100mm either side of ground level, where moisture, oxygen and soil bacteria meet. Everything above stays sound while the base turns to sponge. Push the fence and it moves; the boards above twist with it.
Concrete has nothing to rot. Set properly it holds a dead-straight line for decades, and the timber above never touches soil because the gravel board takes that job.
Slotted posts are the real advantage
A slotted concrete post has a groove down each face. Panels and gravel boards drop into the groove rather than being nailed to the face. Nothing is fixed, so nothing has to be prised off later.
That is what makes a panel change trivial in year twelve: lift the panel out of the slot, drop the new one in, done. With timber posts, the same job means prising nailed panels away and usually damaging their neighbours.
When timber posts are still the right call
Concrete is grey and industrial, and on a small period garden it can look wrong. Where the fence is a visible design element and you have accepted a shorter life, timber posts are a legitimate choice — and morticed timber posts with a proper gravel board are a long way from the worst option.
We have written the full comparison, with cost-per-year numbers, in our concrete vs wooden fence posts guide.
- Any boundary you want to stop thinking about
- Panel systems you may want to swap later
- Wet ground and heavy clay
- Period gardens where the grey reads wrong
- Runs where the visible post is part of the design
Questions we get asked
Compare it with
Gravel boards & trellis
One keeps your fence out of the mud. The other buys height without buying a taller fence.
Closeboard
from £175/mThe strongest timber boundary you can buy, built board by board on site.
Overlap
from £145/mThe sensible workhorse. Cheapest per metre, and genuinely fine when it's built on the right posts.
Concrete posts across London & the South East
Send photos, get an estimateFree estimate · no obligation. Fixed-price survey later only if you want one, from £30 and credited in full against the job.