Choosing the right Adelaide fencing contractors for your project is essential.
There are many amateurs out there who don’t know what they’re doing, and plenty of guys looking to rip you off.
If you want your fence built right, without being overcharged, you need to know how to avoid dodgy tradies.
This guide will show you the 5 red flags to watch out for when choosing an Adelaide fencing company. You’ll also learn the 5 positive things to look for in contractors. If they have all 5 of the good traits and none of the bad, they’re likely an excellent choice for your fencing project.
Before getting into it, let’s talk more about…
Why It’s Important To Be Selective Of Adelaide Fencing Contractors
Getting fence work done is both important and expensive.
After all, It’s not just about the fence itself. It’s about the long-term privacy it provides for your home.
You don’t want your fence to fall down in a gust of wind.
You don’t want to do repairs within a year.
And you certainly don’t want dents or scratches on your brand-new fence.
These issues are common when working with the cheapest or least experienced contractors.
Hiring experienced contractors in Adelaide ensures you get the full benefits of your fence for its entire lifetime, which should be decades.
5 Positive Things To Look For In Adelaide Fencing Contractors
We’ll cover the 5 red flags to watch out for later. But let’s start on a positive note and list the 5 good traits to look for in fencing contractors.
If the tradies you’re considering have some or all of these traits, choose them.
You’ll likely get an excellent job done at a reasonable price.
1. Experience
Experienced fencing contractors know the tricks of the trade.
They can do the job effectively, efficiently, and without wasting time. Hiring an experienced contractor ensures your fence is built properly and on schedule. They can adapt to challenges, work through complexities, and complete the job faster.
What takes an amateur a week can be done in two days by an experienced fencer.
2. Honesty (with no sneaky sales tricks)
Even if a fencing contractor has tons of experience, they could still be dishonest when it comes to pricing and quotes. Honesty means being transparent with their quotes, not hiding fees, and not adding extra charges at the end of the job.
Finding a fencing contractor in Adelaide who is both experienced AND honest is rare.
So choose them when you can, and you’ll be one happy customer!
3. Good Reputation
Do you know anyone who has worked with the contractors you’re considering?
If so, listen to what they have to say about their experience. It gives you insight into how you and your project will be treated.
If you don’t know anyone, check the Google reviews under that fencing company.
Look at what others say about their communication, pricing, and work quality.
That doesn’t mean to only go for companies with the most reviews.
If an Adelaide fencing company has just 10 or 20 reviews and 95% are positive, they’re likely a great choice.
4. Warranty
Warranties give you peace of mind that your contractors won’t take your money and run after doing a bad job.
If your fence has issues caused by the contractors, and they offer a warranty, you can request repairs at no extra cost.
While natural wear and tear isn’t usually covered, damages caused by the contractors are.
A warranty motivates tradies to do a great job, as they don’t want to come back for free repairs.
I mean, nobody wants to do extra work for free.
Choose Adelaide fencing companies that offer at least a 10-year warranty.
5. Quality Of Materials
Choosing contractors who use quality materials is crucial.
Cheap materials might save you money upfront, but’ll cost you more in the long run.
Your fence could rust or fall apart quickly, leading to expensive repairs sooner than expected.
Luckily, most fencing contractors in Adelaide use proper materials with high durability. Usually from reputable suppliers, like Stratco.
So it won’t really be an issue to watch out for, but still keep it in mind just in case.
5 Red Flags To Avoid In Adelaide Fencing Contractors
Now that we’ve covered the positive traits to look for, let’s go over the 5 red flags to watch out for and avoid in fencing contractors.
If the company you’re looking at has any of these negative traits, consider another option.
Contractors with these traits are hard to work with and will likely to do a poor job.
Read: 3 Questions To Ask Before Hiring a Fence Installer
1. Vague or Unclear Quotes
Your fencing quote should be clear and easy to understand, even for a “non-fencer.”
It should be itemised, showing exactly what you’re paying for and why. If the total cost isn’t clear or the details don’t add up, the contractor might be trying to trick you.
While this isn’t always the case, it’s best to be cautious with companies offering unclear quotes.
Choose fencing contractors who offer clear and straightforward quotes.
2. Large Upfront Payments/Deposits
There is a risk of contractors disappearing with your deposit before completing the work.
It’s not a common thing, but it does happen.
And from what we’ve seen, this risk is higher when the upfront deposit is larger. To protect yourself, get your contractors to lower the upfront deposit when possible.
There are plenty of fencing companies that don’t ask for much upfront.
But others ask for almost half the price upfront. (Or sometimes all of it!)
Choose the contractors who ask for a deposit amount that you’re comfortable with.
3. Poor Communication
It’s hard dealing with contractors who take hours (or days) to respond to messages.
When you want to make quick last-minute changes, adjust the quote, or re-plan the schedule, you want your tradies to respond within an hour.
Ideally, within 15 – 20 minutes.
You want to be able to reach your contractors easily and at almost any time.
(Except after working hours, of course)
If you can’t, it just makes the whole process of getting your new fence more difficult than it needs to be.
Avoid Adelaide fencing contractors who are difficult to reach.
4. Negative Reviews. Bad Reputation.
People don’t leave bad reviews for no reason.
And fencing contractors don’t develop a bad reputation for no reason.
That’s why if you find a fencing company with a ton of 1-star Google reviews and unhappy customers, you should look elsewhere.
You don’t want to be another unhappy customer leaving a similar review.
Word-of-mouth is another way to judge a contractor’s reputation.
If someone you know has used that fencing company, ask them about their experience.
If they have nothing good to say, open up Google again and search for contractors with a better reputation.
5. Lack Of Proper Fencing Tools & Equipment
Fencing contractors who use outdated tools for their work won’t get it done efficiently.
It’ll take much longer than necessary, and the end result likely won’t be as good.
They don’t need to have the biggest and most expensive machines or equipment.
But you should look for contractors who make their job easier with better tools.
For example,
A popular fencing tool is a manual post-hole digger.
Tradies have to smash it into the ground heaps of times to dig a hole for fencing posts.
It can really make the job drag on longer than necessary.
At Calabria Fencing, we use a motorised post-hole digger, which does it faster and with less physical effort.
That’s just one example of how using up-to-date tools can make the job easier.
When possible, avoid contractors who use old equipment, as the job will take far longer than necessary to complete.
Conclusion
To wrap up the article, I’ll list out the 5 positive traits, and then the 5 negative traits to look for in fencing contractors.
Here are the 5 good things to look for:
- Experience
- Honesty
- Good local reputation
- Warranties
- Quality of materials
And here are the 5 red flags to watch out for:
- Vague or unclear quotes
- Large upfront payments
- Poor communication
- Negative reviews or a bad reputation
- Lack of proper tools & equipment
When looking for an Adelaide fencing contractor to do some work on your property, keep these 10 traits in mind.
Here at Calabria Fencing, we just so happen to possess all 5 of the good traits and none of the bad traits.
So why not choose us for your next fencing job?
You can contact us every day between 8 AM – 9 PM to get started on your fencing project.