Can a leaning post be straightened without replacing it?

Sometimes. If the timber is sound and the footing is the problem, the post can be pulled plumb and re-concreted. If it is soft at the soil line, straightening it is a few months' reprieve. We probe before we promise.

How deep should a replacement post go?

600mm into 20MPa concrete for a 1.8m fence, deeper for a 2.1m fence or a gate post, which also gets a brace to the next post. A post set in dirt, or in a shallow collar of concrete, is how it failed the first time.

When should I replace the whole fence instead of the posts?

Past about one in three posts failing, or when the rails and palings are also going. Replacing posts one at a time across a failing run costs more than a new fence within a couple of years. We give you both prices.

Do you replace the panels when you replace a post?

No. The rails and palings, or the Colorbond sheets, are propped, unbolted from the failed post and re-fixed to the new one. If they are sound, you keep them. That is what makes a post repair worth doing.

Is a leaning fence covered by insurance?

If a storm pushed over a fence that was sound, yes, generally under the building policy. If the posts leaned because they had rotted or were never properly footed, no. The assessment tells you which, and we only write the insurer's report if it will be paid.

Fence Repair Guide

Fence Post Repair Melbourne

Almost every fence that leans, sags or waves is a post problem, and almost every post problem is at the soil line. The palings and panels are usually fine; they are just attached to something that has stopped holding them up. This page is about diagnosing which of the four ways a post fails you are looking at, what each one costs to put right, and the one rule of thumb for deciding whether to replace one post or the run.

Get a Quote See Pricing

Soil-line rot, lean and footing failure diagnosedH4 posts, 600mm in 20MPa concretePalings and panels kept where they are soundOne post or the run: the number, not a guess

The four ways a post fails, and what each one costs

The first and most common is rot at the soil line. Timber posts breathe at the point where they leave the ground, wet and dry with every season, and that is where fungus gets in. A post can be sound above and below and hollow at ground level; push it and it moves, dig it and the bottom is fine. The second is footing failure: the post is sound but the concrete around it was shallow, or there was never any, and the post has worked loose in its hole. The third is wind lean, where a whole run has gone over in one direction after a storm because the footings were too shallow for the height. The fourth is a snapped post, usually where a gate hangs, from years of the gate's weight working the timber. Each has a different fix. Soil-line rot means a new post in a new footing beside the old one. A loose footing can sometimes be re-concreted around the existing post. Wind lean is a run problem, and a snapped gate post is a post set deeper and braced. What they share is the footing spec: H4 timber or galvanised steel, 600mm into 20MPa concrete for a 1.8m fence, deeper for a gate.

Built To Spec

How we put a damaged fence back together

Fence build-upNOT TO SCALE

Structural repair

Post concrete20MPa, 600mm for 1.8m; 750mm for a gate post

Timber treatmentH4 replacement posts, 100x100 or 125x125

FastenersHot-dip galvanised bolts to existing rails

Matching & finish

Colorbond matchGalvanised steel posts matched to existing Colorbond runs

Repair standardMatches or exceeds original build

Warranty

Repair warranty10 years workmanship on the new post and footing

Insurance reportWritten, dated, insurer-ready

How We Repair

How a post repair goes

Site visit · 30min

Probe every post, not just the bad one

We probe each post at the soil line and check each footing. A run with one soft post usually has two more on the way.

Same visit

One post or the run, in writing

You get a price for the failed posts and, if more than a third are going, a price for the run. The decision is yours; the numbers are ours.

Day 1, morning

Support the panels, free the post

Rails and palings are propped and unbolted from the post. The panels stay where they are; that is the point of a post repair.

Day 1

New footing, new post

A new hole is bored beside the old stump, 600mm deep, and an H4 post set plumb in 20MPa concrete. The old stump is left to rot or cored out if it is in the way.

Day 1, afternoon

Re-hang and check the line

Rails are bolted back, the run is sighted along its length, and a gate is re-hung and latched. Concrete cures overnight before the gate takes weight.

The Difference

We fix the post that failed and tell you about the two that are next.

A post repair is cheap. Three post repairs six months apart are not. We probe the whole run so the first visit is the only visit, and we say so when replacing the fence is the better spend.

10YRGUARANTEE

Backed in writing

Repaired by our own crews, guaranteed for a decade.

Not subcontracted, insurance-ready documentation, matching materials, fully insured, every time.

Hours

Every post probed on the first visit

Soil-line rot travels along a run. We find the ones that are going, not just the one that has gone.

Claims

Report if a storm did it

Wind lean on a sound fence is claimable. Our dated photos and quote are written for the insurer.

All

Panels stay put

Sound palings and Colorbond sheets are propped and re-fixed, not replaced. You pay for the post, not the fence.

10yr

Footings to spec, guaranteed

H4 or galvanised steel, 600mm in 20MPa concrete, deeper for a gate. Ten years on the workmanship.

Full

repair & make-safe

24hr

emergency response

Free

measure & quote

10 yr

workmanship guarantee

FAQ

Fence Post Repair Melbourne questions

Straight answers on emergencies, insurance, and whether to repair or replace.

Ask us anything

The soil line is where the timber is wet and dry in turn, with air to feed the fungus. Below ground it stays wet and starved of air; above ground it dries out. A post can be hollow at the surface and sound at the bottom of the hole, which is why we probe at ground level, not by looking at the top.

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