How to prepare a site for a new fence in Australia
The unglamorous work that decides whether a new fence stays plumb — Dial Before You Dig, levels, neighbours, clay, and the line you actually intend to build on.
Tom Laird · 27 February 2025
From the boundary
Australian fences, written for the people who have to live with them.
COLORBOND and paling, pool gates that fail inspection, rural wire that actually holds stock, and the dividing-fences letter you should send before you pour concrete. A long-form journal, not a quote mill.
Browse every articleWrite for usWho pays for a dividing fence
Cover story
The suburban boundary
Residential fencing
Side boundaries, front fences and the backyard screen that has to live with a neighbour.
Water, children, inspection
Pool barriers
The Standard, the gate, and the neighbour’s side of a pool barrier.
Wire, stock and acreage
Rural and farm
Strainers, mesh and the long run that actually holds stock.
Steel, timber, masonry, coast
Materials and styles
What the fence is made of, and what the climate will do to it.
Notice, cost and the line
Neighbours and the law
Sufficient fences, fencing notices, and the survey peg that settles arguments.
Before the posts, after the summer
Install and maintain
Dial Before You Dig, quotes, gates, and washing the steel in February.
Latest from the desk
All articles
Driveway gates for suburban blocks — sliding, swing and automatic
How to choose a suburban driveway gate that still works after a storm — sliding versus swing, automation, safety beams, and the site details that decide the hardware.
Tom Laird · 18 September 2025
Temporary fencing on Australian building sites
How hoop-mesh hire fences actually work on suburban jobs — wind, shade cloth, pool-reno traps, and the difference between a site fence and a barrier that must still meet the rules.
Tom Laird · 3 September 2025
Heritage and character fencing in older Australian suburbs
Front fences in heritage streets and character overlays are a planning problem before they are a fencing problem. A practical briefing on pickets, height, COLORBOND®, and how to talk to council without inventing a DCP clause.
Priya Nair · 28 August 2025
Masonry and rendered block fences in Australia
When a rendered block or brick boundary wall is worth the money in Australia — foundations, neighbours, council, and how masonry compares with lighter fences.
Helen Crowe · 14 August 2025
Fence maintenance through an Australian summer
A practical summer walk-down for Colourbond, paling and rural wire — washing, storm prep, clay after the first rain, and the repairs that stop a small fault becoming a rebuild.
Tom Laird · 6 August 2025
Retaining walls versus fences — who pays when the land has been cut
A retaining wall holds earth. A dividing fence holds a conversation. When the two are stacked on one boundary, cost, engineering and notices split. A conservative Australian briefing, including storm damage.
Priya Nair · 17 July 2025