How to Quote a Fencing Job: NZ Fencer's Pricing Guide

Fencing is one of the simpler trades to price per metre, right up until you strike rock, a sloping boundary, or an old fence that has to come out first. Quote the run alone and leave out the footings, removal and access, and the profit quietly vanishes. Here is a reliable way to price fencing for the New Zealand market, plus a template you can reuse.

What a fencing quote should include

• Business name, GST number (from IRD) and contact details
• Quote number, date and expiry
• Client name and site address
• Itemised scope with removal, footings, fence and gates listed separately
• Fence type, height and material specified, for example COLORSTEEL, timber paling or pool-compliant
• Linear metres and number of gates
• Materials and labour shown separately, plus 15 percent GST, payment terms and exclusions

Common fencing rates (2025/2026 NZ market)

• COLORSTEEL fencing, supply and install: $85 to $135 per linear metre
• Timber paling fence: $90 to $160 per linear metre
• Treated post-and-rail: $45 to $90 per linear metre
• Aluminium or tubular pool fencing (Building Code compliant): $220 to $380 per linear metre
• Gates: $320 to $850 each depending on size and material
• Old fence removal and disposal: $25 to $45 per linear metre
• Fencer labour: Auckland and Wellington $75 to $105 per hour, Christchurch and regional NZ $65 to $90 per hour

Use these as guide ranges. Ground conditions are the wildcard. Rock, reactive clay, or a sloping boundary needing stepped or raked panels all add cost the flat per-metre rate never captures.

How to price materials

Charge posts, panels, rails, footing concrete and fixings at cost plus 15 to 25 percent markup. That covers sourcing, delivery and offcuts. Spec H4 treated posts in the ground and H3.2 rails so durability is not in dispute, and state the post spacing and footing depth in writing. No occupational licence is required to build a standard fence, but a pool fence is different: it must meet the Building Code barrier requirements and needs building consent. On a shared boundary, the Fencing Act 1978 governs cost-sharing, so note that the quote assumes the boundary line is agreed and that any neighbour contribution is arranged by the client, usually through a fencing notice.

Exclusions that protect you

• "Assumes standard digging conditions. Rock or hard ground charged at cost"
• "Assumes boundary line is established and agreed. Surveys at client's cost"
• "Neighbour cost-sharing under the Fencing Act 1978 is the client's to arrange"
• "Does not include removal of existing fence unless listed"
• "Underground services to be located by client before digging starts"

A free fencing quote structure you can reuse

Use one layout for every fence: business details, the job description (type, height, linear metres, gates), then line items grouped into Removal, Materials and Labour, then subtotal, GST, total, payment terms and exclusions. Give footings and old-fence removal their own lines, because those are the costs a flat per-metre price quietly swallows.

Related guides

• Fence Cost in New Zealand
• How to Write a Trade Quote

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