Fencing is a skilled job. If voluntary groups are doing the work, try and ensure that at least three experienced people are included for projects involving twelve or so volunteers. Because of its linear nature, fencing is not easy to supervise by only one skilled leader.
- Site managers and voluntary groups should consult carefully before agreements are made about undertaking fencing work. For the site manager, volunteers may not be the most cost effective method of getting the work done. In spite of their higher labour charge, contractors may be able to do the job for a similar price, because they have the skills and equipment to complete the work much more quickly. This is particularly the case on long and fairly straightforward stretches of fencing. On very difficult terrain and stony ground, where the job of post-hole digging is a major factor, the speed difference between contractors and volunteers is likely to be less.
- On the other hand, organisers of voluntary groups should be wary of work that perhaps contractors have for good reason not been keen to undertake. These include fencing on sites where there is no vehicle access to transport materials.
- Fencing is quicker and more effective with sufficient numbers of the correct tools, some of which are quite expensive and used exclusively or mainly for fencing. Local groups should perhaps decide whether fencing is going to be a useful skill for them to offer in their particular area, and equip themselves accordingly with tools and training.
- The leader of any group should if possible be involved in the planning and siting of the fence, in the ordering of materials, and in deciding where materials should be off-loaded if delivery is being made to the site. The leader should not be expected to cope with a poorly planned project or inadequate materials. If such involvement is not possible, the leader should at least try to visit the site ahead of the group, so that details can be planned out carefully for work to start without delay when the group arrives.
- Materials should be ordered in good time to ensure that everything required is on site from the beginning of the project.
- Consider whether it should be safe to leave materials on site overnight, or whether you will need to take only sufficient for each day’s work, leaving the rest in a secure place.
- Fencing is not only geographically linear, but also chronologically, requiring the work to follow an ordered sequence of operations. This is not the easiest type of project for using a large group of volunteers effectively. Try to divide the fence line up into lengths, for example between straining posts, and assign each length to a team of two or three people. Try to include one experienced person in each team. Each team then does the same sequence of jobs on a different section of fence.
- Another approach is to phase the work so that pairs or threes are doing entirely different jobs, for example carrying materials, clearing vegetation, lining out the fence, digging post holes and so on. This is usually the more efficient method, especially if the stronger and more skilled volunteers are used effectively, but it means that volunteers don’t necessarily get the chance to do all phases of the job.
- It’s useful to have some other work arranged in case there are spare hands at any stage. Coppicing, scrub clearance, weeding young trees or other jobs may be appropriate. Ancillary work such as stile building, gate hanging and footpath work may also be required.
