boundaries
Fence repair and storm damage
£60 to £120 replaces one fence panel outside London and £90 to £150 inside it, panel and labour together. A snapped post costs more: £100 to £180 fitted, £150 to £220 in London, and serious storm damage starts around £250.
What this covers
What it costs. £150 is the average UK fence repair in 2026, with most small jobs at £100 to £150 outside London or £120 to £180 inside it. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Replacing panels blown out in a storm
- Concreting or replacing a snapped post
- Refitting gravel boards and rails
- Straightening a run that has started to lean
- Matching new panels to an existing fence
Worth knowing
Scotland uses the same one and two metre figures but a different trigger: the lower limit applies where the enclosure fronts a road or comes forward of the principal elevation, rather than only beside a vehicle highway.
Scottish Government planning circular 1/2024, householder permitted development
What is involved
Diagnosis comes before any price. Push a post hard at head height: movement down at ground level means the post has gone, movement only within the bay points at the panel or its clips. Posts fail at the soil line where oxygen and moisture meet, so a post can look sound at eye height and be hollow 50mm under the turf. Panels usually give way at the bottom rail for exactly the same reason, which is what gravel boards were invented to prevent.
Three routes follow from that diagnosis. A concrete spur bolted alongside a rotten timber post is the cheap fix: a 450mm hole beside the existing post, the spur concreted in, then coach bolts through the pair. Full post replacement means lifting the panels either side, digging out the old concrete boot and resetting at 600mm depth for a 1.8 metre fence. Panel swaps are simpler again, £40 for a lap panel and £55 for closeboard, although one new panel dropped into a weathered run never matches on colour.
Storm jobs arrive in batches. Three panels and one post commonly lands at £350 to £600 depending on access and materials, and a whole run flattened by a gale passes £1,000. The decision point is roughly a third: once more than a third of a run is damaged, or posts have snapped rather than panels, replacement at £110 to £120 per metre beats repeated patching. Insurance rarely helps, since fences, gates and hedges are excluded from storm cover by almost every UK buildings policy, so read the wording before counting on a claim.
Choosing someone for the job
Post or panel: ask which has actually failed before agreeing any price. Spur or replacement: ask whether a concrete spur is a patch or the real fix here. Depth: ask how deep a new post goes, 600mm for a 1.8 metre fence. Matching: ask whether a single new panel will stand out against weathered neighbours. Minimum charge: ask what the call out covers on a one panel job.
Common questions
Is it cheaper to repair or replace a fence?
Repair wins while damage is confined to one or two bays, £60 to £120 a panel against £110 to £120 per metre for a new run. Once more than a third of the fence is affected, or posts have gone rather than panels, replacement is usually better value across the following decade. Rotten posts decide this more often than broken panels do.
Can a broken fence post be repaired without replacing it?
Yes, using a concrete spur or a repair spike bolted alongside the old post. A spur takes about an hour, costs well under a full post replacement and leaves the panels in place. The join stays visible, and the original post carries on rotting behind it.