One rotten post becomes a whole run
When a post goes, the bays either side lose their fixing point and start to twist. A single post replacement is a small job; a collapsed 15-metre run is a full installation.
Timber fencing · Bracknell, Berkshire & Surrey
Timber Fencing In BracknellInstalled On Solid PostsAnd Guaranteed For Years
A closeboard or feather-edge boundary that holds a straight line, keeps dogs and children in, and does not need touching again for years, measured in person, priced in writing within 48 hours and usually finished in one to two days.
20+ years' experience · Up to 5 years' guarantee · £5m public liability insured
Fencing experience
Public liability insured
Guarantee on new installs
Quote after your site visit
Checkatrade member
Service overview
What Timber FencingActually Involves
Timber fencing covers closeboard (also called featherboard), feather-edge panels, lap panels, post-and-rail and picket runs. The visible timber is only part of it: what keeps a fence standing is the posts, the depth they are set to, and the gravel board that stops end grain sitting in wet soil. We install the whole system, not just the boards you can see.
Every run starts from a string line and a measured post spacing, so bays stay even and the top line stays level or steps cleanly with a sloping garden. Closeboard is built up on site, which means we can follow awkward ground and odd lengths instead of forcing a standard panel width and leaving a gap at the end.
Why professional installation matters
A fence is a structure, not a decoration. Post depth, concrete mix, drainage at the base and the order the bays go up all decide whether it lasts three years or fifteen. Those are the parts a DIY run or a cheap day-rate job usually gets wrong, and they are the parts that cannot be fixed later without pulling the fence back down.
We are a family firm: Robert and Sean Stephens, with over 20 years of fencing behind us, £5,000,000 public liability insurance and employers' liability cover, and a Checkatrade profile you can read before you commit to anything.
Who it is for
- Homeowners replacing a rotten, leaning or storm-damaged boundary
- Landlords and letting agents who need a boundary made safe and left alone
- New-build owners upgrading builder-standard lap panels
- Agricultural and commercial clients needing longer, harder-wearing runs
When it is needed
- Posts move when pushed, or panels have dropped out of their slots
- Timber is soft and dark at the base, or fungus is showing on the bottom rail
- The fence no longer contains a dog, or a neighbour's tree has taken a run down
- You are landscaping, decking or clearing and want the boundary done first
What it costs to wait
What Happens If A TiredTimber Fence Is Left
Timber fencing rarely fails all at once. It fails at the base, out of sight, and the cost of putting it right climbs every season it is left.
The first real gale takes it down
Berkshire and Surrey gardens funnel wind between houses. A fence already loose at the base is the one that ends up on a car, a greenhouse or a neighbour's patio, and that becomes an insurance conversation, not a fencing one.
Security and containment go first
A gap at the bottom of a fence is enough for a dog to get out or for access to the back of the property. Most people notice the day after it matters.
Boundary disputes get harder
The longer a leaning fence sits off the true line, the more argument there is about where the line was. Replacing it properly, on the correct line, ends that.
Common mistakes we are called out to fix
- Screwing new boards onto old, soft posts: the fixings hold for a season, then pull out
- Setting posts too shallow because the ground was hard going
- Skipping gravel boards, so the bottom of the timber wicks water out of the soil
- Nailing panels tight to the ground where soil and mulch have built up against them
- Buying panels on price alone, then paying twice when they fail inside a few winters
- Leaving the old fence in place as a 'backup' and trapping damp between the two
Our process
Five Steps From EnquiryTo Guaranteed Finish
- 01
Free site visit
Robert comes out at a time that suits you, walks the boundary, checks access for materials and spoil, and looks at ground conditions, clay, made-up ground, tree roots, services and levels all change what the job needs. Nothing is priced over the phone from guesswork.
- 02
Written quote within 48 hours
You get a tailored written price, normally inside 48 hours of the visit and often sooner. It states the materials, the heights, the number of posts and boards, the expected duration and what is taken away. Payment is due on the day of completion.
- 03
Groundwork and preparation
Old materials are stripped out and removed, post positions are set off a string line, and holes are dug to depth rather than to whatever the ground allows. Getting this stage right is the difference between a fence that stays plumb and one that leans in two winters.
- 04
Installation
Posts are set and allowed to hold, gravel boards keep timber off the wet ground, and each bay is levelled and fixed as we go rather than corrected at the end. A standard domestic job is completed in one to two days.
- 05
Check, tidy and guarantee
We walk the finished line with you, check every fixing, gate swing and level, sweep the site and take the waste with us. Payment is due on the day of completion by card, bank transfer or cash; repairs carry a 1 year guarantee, new installations up to 5 years.
What you get
The Practical DifferenceOn Your Property
Fast on site
A standard domestic timber fence is completed in one to two days, so your garden is open again quickly and access through the house or side gate is short-lived.
Built to stay straight
Posts set to depth, gravel boards keeping timber off wet ground and even bay spacing off a string line; the reason a fence still reads level years later.
Guaranteed workmanship
New timber installations carry up to 5 years' guarantee depending on the style installed. Repairs carry 1 year. Both are stated before you agree to the work.
No surprise pricing
One free site visit, one written quote inside 48 hours, and payment due only on the day of completion once you have seen the finished fence.
Insured, contained risk
£5,000,000 public liability plus employers' liability cover, so machinery, spoil and heavy timber on your property are never your exposure.
Cleared, not dumped
The old fence, posts, concrete and offcuts leave with us. You are not left with a pile of rotten timber to book a skip for.
Detail that matters
Timber Fencing In Detail, Materials, Methods And Variations
Timber fencing styles we install
Different boundaries want different builds. On the site visit we will tell you plainly which of these suits your garden, your exposure to wind and your budget.
- Closeboard / featherboard, vertical feather-edge boards over horizontal arris rails, built on site. The strongest, most private timber option and the best choice for full replacements.
- Feather-edge panels: the closeboard look supplied as panels, quicker to install on straight, even runs.
- Lap panels: the standard builder's panel. Cost-effective for sheltered gardens and quick like-for-like swaps.
- Post and rail, agricultural, paddock and open-plan boundaries where the line matters more than privacy.
- Picket fencing, front gardens and low boundaries where sightlines and kerb appeal come first.
- Slatted / contemporary runs, spaced horizontal slats for a modern garden, with slat gaps set to suit privacy.
Posts, boards and fixings
Timber runs can be built on concrete posts with slotted bays, or on timber posts with rails fixed through; each has a place. Concrete posts are the harder-wearing option on exposed boundaries and remove the most common failure point altogether, at the cost of appearance. Timber posts look better and take fixings anywhere along their length, which matters for closeboard, trellis tops and gates.
Gravel boards go in as standard rather than as an upsell. They lift the fence boards clear of soil, mulch and standing water, and when a gravel board eventually gives up it can be swapped in an hour without touching the fence above it. Pressure-treated timber, galvanised fixings and correctly capped posts are the rest of the picture.
Ground conditions around Bracknell
Local gardens throw up the same problems repeatedly: heavy clay that holds water against post bases, made-up ground behind newer estates, mature conifer and leylandii roots along old boundaries, and long runs that fall a metre or more across the garden. Each changes the job, root-heavy lines may need post positions adjusted, sloping ground needs the fence stepped or raked deliberately, and clay needs the base detailed so water is not trapped.
This is exactly why we do not price fencing from a sheet over the phone. Two 20-metre fences in the same postcode can be genuinely different jobs.
Residential, agricultural and commercial
Domestic work is usually 1.8m closeboard or panel boundaries, side gates and front garden picket, completed in one to two days with the garden handed back clean. Agricultural work runs to longer post-and-rail and stock boundaries where line, spacing and durability matter more than finish detail. Commercial and landlord work is judged on how little it needs revisiting; we will specify the harder-wearing build rather than the cheapest one and tell you the cost difference honestly.
We work for homeowners, landlords, agricultural and commercial clients across Bracknell, Wokingham, Camberley, Ascot, Reading, Bagshot, Addlestone, Chertsey and Windlesham.
Related services
Areas we cover for this service
Bracknell · Wokingham · Camberley · Ascot · Reading · Bagshot · Addlestone · Chertsey · Windlesham
Based in Bracknell, working across Berkshire and Surrey every day. See the full areas we cover or contact us to check your postcode.
Before you enquire
Timber FencingQuestions, Answered
Still not sure? Call 07939 405646 and speak to Robert directly, no call centre, no sales script.
- How much does timber fencing cost in Bracknell?
- There is no honest fixed rate, because access, ground conditions, height, style and how much old fencing has to come out change the work involved. We visit free of charge, measure up and send a tailored written quote, normally within 48 hours. Fence repairs, if that is all you need, start from £150 + VAT.
- How long will my timber fence take to install?
- A standard domestic fence is a one to two day job. Longer runs, stepped ground, gates or a garden clearance beforehand take longer, and the expected duration is written on your quote before you commit.
- How long does a timber fence last?
- Pressure-treated timber on correctly set posts with gravel boards routinely lasts well over a decade. What shortens that is almost always water at the base, soil piled against boards, no gravel board, or posts set too shallow. Those are the details we build out of the job.
- What guarantee comes with a new timber fence?
- New installations carry up to 5 years' guarantee depending on the fencing style installed, and fence repairs carry a 1 year workmanship guarantee. We also hold £5,000,000 public liability insurance and employers' liability cover.
- Do you take the old fence away?
- Yes. Old panels, posts, concrete and offcuts are removed and disposed of, and the site is swept before we leave. That is included in the quoted price, not added afterwards.
- Do you need a deposit?
- Not on jobs under £3,000. On jobs over £3,000 a deposit is agreed in writing before we start. Otherwise payment is due on the day of completion, once you have seen the finished work, by credit or debit card, bank transfer or cash.
- Can you fence a garden on a slope?
- Yes. A sloping run is either stepped, with each bay level and dropping at the posts, or raked so the fence follows the ground. We will show you both on the site visit and recommend the one that suits your garden and the neighbouring boundary.
- Should I choose timber or composite?
- Timber costs less up front, looks traditional and can be built to any awkward shape. Composite costs more initially and pays that back in maintenance you never do. If you plan to stay put and want the boundary forgotten about, composite is worth pricing; we quote both.
- Can you match my neighbour's existing fence?
- Usually, yes. We will look at the existing boards, post type and height on the site visit and match the line and style so the boundary reads as one fence rather than two.
- Do you cover Wokingham, Ascot and Camberley as well as Bracknell?
- Yes: we work across Berkshire and Surrey, including Wokingham, Camberley, Ascot, Reading, Bagshot, Addlestone, Chertsey and Windlesham. Being local is why site visits happen quickly.
Next step
Get Your Timber FenceMeasured And Priced This Week
Free site visit, a written quote within 48 hours, and a standard fence installed in one to two days.
- Free site visit before any price
- Written quote within 48 hours
- Repairs from £150 + VAT
- Up to 5 years' guarantee on new installs
- £5m public liability insured
- Payment due on completion
Book Your Free Site VisitTailored quote within 48 hours. Payment is due on completion.
Prefer to talk it through? 07939 405646