Fencing & Automated Gates in Southampton: 2026 Guide

Fencing is one of those jobs that gets put off until a winter storm makes the decision for you. Around Southampton, where gardens from Shirley out to Bitterne and Hedge End take the full brunt of the weather coming up Southampton Water, we replace plenty of fence runs that failed years earlier than they should have. More and more of those calls now come with a second question: while you're here, can you automate the driveway gates?

We can, and doing both in one visit usually works out cheaper than booking them as two separate jobs. Here's what fencing and automated gates actually cost around Southampton in 2026, how long the work takes, and the planning rules that catch people out.

What fencing costs around Southampton in 2026

For a standard garden boundary there are two sensible options. Lap panels between concrete posts are the budget choice, and we're currently installing them at £65 to £85 per metre including posts and gravel boards. Closeboard is the one we'd steer you towards if the fence faces the prevailing wind: it's built board by board on site, so there's no single panel to blow out, and it comes in at £85 to £100 per metre installed.

A typical 20-metre back garden run in closeboard lands somewhere around £1,700 to £2,000 all in, and takes one to two days including clearing the old fence. The figure moves if we hit buried concrete from old posts, which happens a lot in the older streets around Shirley and Freemantle, or if the only access is through the house. We always survey before quoting, so the price you get is the price you pay.

One honest note on cheap panels: the £30 ones from the big sheds are a false economy on this stretch of coast. They're thinner than they look and the framing is stapled rather than screwed. We've taken out three-year-old panel runs that owed their owners money.

Automated gates: new installs and retrofits

Gate automation splits into two jobs. If you already have a decent pair of timber or metal gates hung on solid posts, we can usually automate what's there. If the gates or posts are past it, or you're starting from an open driveway, it's a new install. Roughly half to two thirds of the cost sits in the gates and the automation kit, and the rest is groundwork, wiring and commissioning. You can see the sort of driveway, fencing and gate projects we take on over on our exterior works and landscaping page.

• Automating existing gates: typically £1,800 to £4,000 fitted, depending on the motor type and how far we have to run power.

• New double swing gates, automated, in aluminium or steel: £4,800 to £8,400 including keypad or fob entry.

• Sliding gates, the right answer for sloped or short driveways: from around £6,000.

• Video intercom with smartphone entry: add £1,200 to £2,400.

The number that surprises people is the cabling. If power has to cross an existing driveway we either lift and reinstate a strip or find a route around, and that choice can swing the price by several hundred pounds. Because our own electricians handle the supply, the wiring gets done once, properly, with the safety photocells and force limits set up as they should be. An automated gate is a machine that can meet a child or a car bumper, and we treat the safety side accordingly.

Planning rules and site checks before you order

The rule most people don't know: next to a highway, anything over one metre tall needs planning permission, and 'highway' includes the pavement. Everywhere else the limit is two metres. That applies to walls, fences and gates alike. If you're in a conservation area, like parts of Highfield or the Old Town, there can be extra restrictions on height and materials too.

We check all of this as part of the survey, along with the things that actually decide the design: which way the drive slopes, where your power is, what the posts are going into. Southampton's clay holds a concreted post well, but it also holds water, so we bed timber posts on gravel and use metal shoes or concrete godfathers where the rot risk is high.

Making it last on the south coast

Salt air and horizontal rain are hard on everything we install out here. For fencing that means pressure-treated timber as the minimum, galvanised or stainless fixings, and concrete posts where a run is exposed. For gates it means motors with a proper weatherproof rating and a regular service: hinges greased, force settings checked, drainage cleared around underground motors. Budget £120 to £360 a year for a gate service depending on the system. It's a lot less than the call-out when a neglected motor seizes in December.

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Book a fencing and gates survey

If you're in Southampton or anywhere across Hampshire and Dorset, we'll come out, measure up, and talk through gate options on your actual driveway rather than a brochure, then give you a fixed written quote. Book a survey through completebuilds.com and we'll take it from there.