Shared fence blew down in wind

[niteuk]

Hi, my first post here so hopefully I didn't break anything.

We bought a house last March which was a new build, with garden fencing already in place. Part of the fence is shared with our neighbours, who moved in some time after us and bought the house from the same builders.

Yesterday, in the hurricane-related winds, two panels of the fencing blew down, and one snapped. The fence blew into their garden (fortunately not crushing our flowers, and they don't have flowers, just grass). Looking at the fence post, it went down into the soil no more than six inches, where it looks like it hit concrete under the soil - it seems that the builders sawed off part of the post so it didn't "have to" go any further. (We can tell how deep the post went because we'd painted the fence down to the soil level.)

Presumably this is why this part of the fence blew down. I knew we had a lot of concrete and rubble underneath that part of the soil but assumed the fence posts would have gone down far enough - I'm hearing people say that two feet is an absolute minimum, and should ideally go down below the frost line which is probably lower than that still.

I'm at work today but my wife is at home, calling the builders as I write. Did the builders do an insufficient job of the fence post and should they be responsible for repairing?

A side note is that there is still one empty house that we can see from our upstairs window (by the same builders), and that fence has blown down too. Someone from the builders is looking at that already.

 

[bigfella1us]

In a word, Yes. The builders do have a responsibility to replace the fence. They probably sub contracted out the fencing work to a local fencing company who, by the sound of it, have not put the fence up correctly. As you say, a minimum of 2ft of the post should be in the ground. We bought a new build in April and i have already taken the side fence down and put it up straight and level as it was a disgrace the way it was originally put up. If they are still working on site at the moment, get over to them and have a word. When i told the managing director of the building company we bought from that i was going to re-do the fence he was gobsmacked. They offered to do the fence for me but i told them that i would rather it was done right than by the clown that had put it up the first time!

Good luck and keep us posted how you get on.

 

[imamartian]

I've bought a couple of new builds in my time, and they skimp on everything !!!! they're out to make dough after all ! Point is, you have a whole set of legal stuff backing you.... as for the fence post, it needs to have a quarter or a third of it buried in the ground !!

I'd say try to get on the site manager's good side, but let him/her know that you know your rights, and that you won't be messed about.... even get him/her round for a beer (or wine !!).... but google your rights first..... the interweb if crammed to the hinges with info....


Stick to it and record all your telephone conversations and letters etc.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Dammit that's the fourth time I've agreed with you Imamatron.

 

[bigfella1us]

I was thinking about this topic when i went home last night and i went over to see the site manager and pick his brains on how i would stand if this were to happen at my house. He advised me that if the fence had been put up in a fashion that was not suitable for the application it was designed for, then they would replace / repair to the correct standards. This may be slightly different in your case as the people who were building our house sub-contracted the fencing job out to a 3rd party.

 

[niteuk]

Thanks for the responses.

The site manager did come around and have a look. He dug up the soil around where the post was, and sure enough, what I thought was concrete on my initial quick inspection was in fact the rest of the post. So the post was at least two feet down into the soil as it should have been. My apologies - we have had problems with concrete and brick underneath the soil so I just assumed it was that.

So it looks like the post had rotted away over time, and the strong winds just finished off the job. But now I'm concerned - the post has only been in the ground for no more than two years (because the house wasn't there two years ago). He agreed that the wood used for the post is worthless, but surely it shouldn't rot that quickly?

Their terms and conditions state that they only cover things like this (storm damage) for up to six months, and then it's our responsibility. And since the work was technically carried out correctly, there's not really much we can do. We've previously had an article printed in the local press about the builder's standards - the transfer/pavement between the road and the driveway is too steep because of the shape of the road and causes the majority of cars to scrape the bumper when entering or leaving the driveway, and both the builders and the local council weren't taking responsibility for it. So half of the building company are afraid of us when we call, and the other half avoid us. But on this instance, I don't think chasing them to reinstate the fence is going to do much good, and would just waste my time. It's something we can (and will) fix ourselves, whereas the aforementioned driveway access is not something we can fix.

Our neighbours (who share the fence) have agreed to cut costs by putting the post in themselves, so we'll just go half on the materials. So it's not all bad. And, it's the first time we've spoken to our neighbours so it's a happy ending really!

 

[bigfella1us]

I would ensure that the bottom of the posts are treated with some sort of preservatives to ensure that they do not rot.

Glad you have come to a resolution, albiet with your neighbours and not the building company.