Consultancy services
Twelve areas of work, set out in full. They overlap, and most people only ever need one or two of them - a tender reviewed, a dispute assessed, a property surveyed before settlement. Nothing here requires you to take the rest.
Fence Design & Specification
Deciding what is going in, and writing it down properly, before anybody is asked to price it.
- Fence design and layout
- Farm conversion fencing layout and development planning
- Subdivision, paddock and laneway design for new and existing farm developments
- Preparation of fencing plans and specifications for tender and construction
- Product selection and specification
- Rural, commercial, security and residential fencing solutions
- Port and high-security perimeter fencing
- Value engineering and alternative design options
Project Management
Someone running the fencing package who is not also the one being paid to build it.
- Full project management from concept to completion
- Contractor coordination
- Programme and budget management
- Site inspections and quality assurance
- Practical completion and handover
Quantity Surveying & Cost Planning
What the fencing should cost, worked out from the job rather than from last year plus ten per cent.
- Budget estimates
- Detailed cost estimates
- Tender pricing reviews
- Cost planning
- Value engineering
- Variation assessments
Independent Fencing Advice
A straight answer from somebody who is not quoting the work.
- Independent expert advice before construction
- Second opinions on proposed fencing systems
- Best-practice recommendations
- Product comparisons
- Lifecycle and maintenance advice
Tender & Procurement Services
Getting the job to market properly, so the prices that come back can be compared and relied on.
- Preparation of tender documents
- Scope of works development
- Contractor selection
- Tender evaluations
- Procurement advice
- Contract administration
Compliance & Standards
Which rules actually apply to this fence, and whether what is proposed will satisfy them.
- Fencing Act advice
- Boundary fence guidance
- Building Code compliance
- Pool fencing compliance
- Maritime and security fencing specifications
- Council and client specification reviews
Quality Assurance & Inspections
Checking the fence against the specification while it can still be put right.
- Construction monitoring
- Defect identification
- Independent quality inspections
- Practical completion inspections
- Final sign-off reports
Dispute Resolution
An impartial assessment, in writing, from somebody with no stake in how it turns out.
- Independent fence assessments
- Expert reports
- Boundary fencing advice
- Assistance with contractor disputes
- Insurance assessments
Asset Management
Knowing what fencing you own, what condition it is in, and what it is going to cost you over the next ten years.
- Fence condition assessments
- Maintenance planning
- Asset lifecycle reporting
- Renewal prioritisation
- Capital works planning
Consulting for Councils & Large Organisations
Standards, documentation and peer review for organisations that buy fencing repeatedly rather than once.
- Development of fencing standards and specifications
- Standard drawings and technical documentation
- Asset inspections and condition assessments
- Capital works planning
- Procurement and tender advice
- Technical reviews and peer assessments
Farm & Lifestyle Consulting
Fencing, laneways and handling facilities laid out around how the property is actually worked.
- Farm fencing design and planning
- Subdivision planning and paddock layout
- Water reticulation and fencing integration
- Deer, sheep, cattle and equine fencing advice
- Laneway and paddock optimisation
- Design and planning of livestock handling facilities for cattle, sheep, deer, horses and other livestock
- Yard layout optimisation to improve stock flow, animal welfare and operational efficiency
- Race, forcing pen and loading ramp design
- Maintenance and upgrade recommendations for existing handling facilities
Training & Technical Support
Technical support for the people specifying, buying and building the fence.
- Toolbox talks and onsite technical guidance
- Contractor mentoring
- Specification and product training
- Client education
- Independent technical workshops
Most people describe the problem, not the service
That is the right way round. Nobody rings up wanting a variation assessment; they ring up because a contractor has sent an invoice that is thirty per cent over the contract price and they do not know whether that is normal.
So describe the situation in whatever words fit it, and I will tell you which of the above it actually is, whether it needs me at all, and what it would cost. That conversation is free and it frequently ends with me saying you do not need to engage anyone.
Scale is not the qualifier. Some of this work is an hour of reading. Some of it is a condition survey across a portfolio of properties or a tender package for a perimeter contract. The same person does both, and the small jobs are not a nuisance - they are most of the value.
A street frontage where the scope had to cover the footpath, the neighbours and the trades working either side of it.
Paid for the advice, not for the work that follows
I am a certified fencer and I also own a fencing contracting business. That is stated up front rather than buried, because it is the first thing anybody sensible wants to know about an independent adviser.
The rule is simple and it does not bend. If I am advising you, my contracting company is not tendering for your job. You can have my advice or you can have my crew, and you cannot have both on the same project, because the moment you could the advice stops being worth anything. If you would rather have the fence built than the question answered, I will say so and point you elsewhere.
It works the same way in a dispute. I give the same finding whichever party is paying for the assessment, and if your position is the weaker one you will hear that from me first.
The contracting business is Custom Fencing Ltd, which is where the experience behind all of this comes from - and it is disclosed here so that you can check it rather than discover it.
FCANZ Certified Fencer. The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand assesses fencers against a practical standard that has to be maintained rather than earned once. The reason it matters here: the advice comes from somebody who still has to go out and build to the standard he is describing.
Tell me what you are trying to work out
Most people get in touch because they have a decision to make and nobody independent to check it with - a tender that does not add up, a fence line that keeps failing, a dispute that has stopped moving, or a property they are about to buy. Describe the situation and I will tell you honestly whether it needs me, and what it would take.
021 614 100- nick@customfenceconsulting.co.nz
- 130 Edinburgh Street, Waikouaiti 9510, Otago
- Monday to Friday, 7am - 5.30pm
Based at Waikouaiti in East Otago and working throughout New Zealand. Site work anywhere in the country; desk work - a tender review, a specification, an opinion on a set of photographs - can start the day you send it.