Q I think I'd like some willow fencing, but everyone tells me it's called willow hurdles what's the difference?

A Hurdles are generally made off site in a 6ft wide panel. Willow fencing can be woven in situ to give a fence with no joins. It is however even more expensive than the hurdles, they are, generally between three feet tall and 6ft.

Q I know you are based in Braintree, but we live in Croydon - do you charge extra for jobs out of your neck of the woods?

A Unfortunately the cost of fuel and travelling time has made it necessary to charge extra for long distance work.

Q Do I need planning permission for wooden decking?

A No, planning permission is not necessary for decking unless you live in a grade 1 listed building.

Q Hazel fencing seems really trendy these days, but I hear it is expensive…. is it worth it?
A It is more expensive than normal fencing but looks really good in some situations so in my opinion there are times when it is worth the extra cost.

Q I live in a rough area - I want to make sure no one can easily get into my home, what can you suggest without making it look like Fort Knox?

A The easiest way is to put a hostile topping along the top of your fence, a bit like old-fashioned broken glass. This can be quite subtle so as not to make it seem you live in a prison. We can also put very hostile topping on if what it looks like is not a problem. This is legal so long as you put warning signs every 10m.

We can actually put up an electrified security fence on the back of an existing or new fence which can activate alarms etc, but that may be a little industrial for most gardens, but brilliant for industrial security fencing.

Q Can you get (or make) a kissing gate and install it?

A Kissing gates can be supplied and installed in either pressure treated soft wood, hard wood or galvanised metal.

Q We'd like a pergola, but we have a strange shaped area where we would like it to go - can you build any custom shapes and sizes?

A The nice thing about using a contractor like us is that we can adapt to fit your requirements. Rather than just buying a 6ft x 6ft pergola, we can build one to you exact size requirements, be it square rectangular or any shape to want (within reason).

Q I'd like to replace the fencing around my house, but I'm not sure if it belongs to me or my neighbour  - he doesn't really speak to us, is there any easy way we can find out?

A The first thing to do is look on the house deeds and title documents as it often dictates which parties own which fence.     You could just put up a fence on your side of the old fence and then it doesn't matter whose fence the old one is.
Usually you own one side of your garden and your neighbour owns the other.

Q I need to level out some areas of my garden, everyone keeps going on about retaining walls, I'm not entirely sure what they are, but it sounds expensive - if so is there a cheaper alternative?

A It depends on what the freshly flattened areas is to be used for. We were recently asked to put a deck on a very sloping bit of ground which worked brilliantly and meant that we didn’t have to level the ground. If you want to fill it with soil or a pond or something equally heavy then some type of retaining wall may be necessary. It also depends on how sloping your garden is. If it only needs building up a foot or two then we can do that quite inexpensively.

Q I need quite a lot of fencing work doing, but there is nobody at home all day, do you need access to the house and/or electricity?

A No problem. We just bring a generator with us.

Q I know you have done some work in France before and you come highly recommended. I live in Normandy and I guess I need about 1 weeks’ worth of work doing. Would you be prepared to come to France if we gave you somewhere to sleep and kept you fed and watered (or wined!)?

A No problem at all.  We enjoyed working in France and we thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality.