Fence Panels - The Nightmare continues!

Don't mention fence panels to me.

How many people have been emailing and calling to get quotes and lead times on putting up fence panels! Its a shame I have no good news for them - or any of my existing customers either.

My fence nightmare began about 5 weeks ago. I did the deadly sin of taking down the old fence and trashing it, before actually getting the new panels on site...well its never been a problem before and I did have them reserved at the supplier....or so I was told.

When I turned up at the supplier, my normal contact wasn't in as he was on holiday. This is how my order got sold to somebody else...!!

This really put me in a good mood. I then spent 2 hours on the phone trying to find some more - but the answer was the same from all local (and a few distant ones too) "No chance - 4 to 5 weeks minimum"

So I then spent the day building a temporary fence to stop the kids escaping and everybody else looking in.

Well my delivery finally arrived so I dropped everything to get the fence up. It was going pretty well, apart from the pouring rain.

Then it happened. I was just removing the last bit of concrete with a lump hammer and bolster to allow the panel to sit perfectly when, due to slippery wet tools, the hammer glanced off the bolster and smacked my hand with full force.

The boys thought my jumping about and screaming was highly amusing, but I was in agony. My hand swelled up so quickly I couldn't get my glove off. Those of you who have done this will know what it feels like and the waves of nausea that go with it.

Well we managed to finish the fence with the last panel fitted by street light. Then off to casualty to get my hand looked at. By now it had gone a funny colour, but I guessed nothing was broken as I could move fingers etc. After a quick X-Ray I got the all clear, but was told to rest it for a few days - yea right!

You get no chance of that in this job....business as usual I'm afraid.

So to all people out there looking for fence panels is 4 - 5 weeks from order is the standard lead time - don't be tempted by getting some very nasty inferior quality panels kicking about at the moment. It simply is worth it as they are rubbish.