Fencing a New Build or New Estate Home in Sydney
Updated: 2 days ago
Most fencing work in Sydney is replacement work. There is an old fence on the line, it tells you roughly where the boundary sits, and the job is to take it out and put a better one back. A new build or a new estate lot is the opposite problem: there is nothing there, nothing to copy, and several things still moving. That is what makes it worth thinking about before you book anyone in.
There is no old fence telling you where the boundary is
On a replacement job the existing fence line is the practical reference point, even when it is not perfectly accurate. On a new build you do not have that, and the lot pegs that were there at settlement are often gone - knocked out by excavators, buried under fill, or lost when the driveway went in.
The only reliable way to re-establish the corners is a registered surveyor. It is a small cost against the cost of moving a finished fence, and a boundary fence built in the wrong position has a habit of surfacing years later when the neighbour builds, sells, or puts in a pool. If there is any doubt about where the line runs - and on a battle-axe block, a corner lot, or a subdivision of an older site there usually is - get it marked before anything is dug.
The block next door may be empty, and that changes the process
On a new estate it is common to be the first one in. The lot either side can be bare dirt, still owned by the developer, or sold to someone who has not started building. That does not mean there is no one to deal with: the land has a registered owner, and in New South Wales the dividing fence process still applies to a shared boundary whether or not anyone is living there.
What changes is the practicalities. There is no one to meet on site, so everything happens by correspondence. A developer may have its own position on fencing. And if you simply build the whole thing yourself and sort it out later, you may well end up carrying the full cost - the contribution process is something you start before the work, not after it. The process itself, including what a fencing notice is and how a disagreement is resolved, is set out by NSW Fair Trading, and we have covered the cost-sharing side in more detail in our guide to who pays for a dividing fence in NSW.
Ground levels are often not final yet
This is the one that catches people out. On a new build the fence is frequently the first thing an owner wants finished, because it secures the yard and makes the place feel done. But the landscaping, the driveway, the turf, the drainage and any retaining usually come afterwards - and all of those change the ground the fence is standing in.
Two things go wrong. Either the levels come up afterwards, and soil, mulch or a new garden bed ends up pushed against the bottom of the sheets or the palings, which is how the bottom of a fence starts failing early. Or the levels come down, and you are left with a gap under a fence that was sitting neatly on the dirt when it was built - a problem if you have a dog, and a bigger problem if a pool is going in.
The sensible order is bulk earthworks and any retaining first, fence second, soft landscaping last. If there is a level difference between your block and the one next door, that is a retaining question to resolve before the fence rather than something a fence can absorb - a boundary fence is not a retaining wall. We have written about that separately in our guide to retaining walls in Sydney, and it is also covered on our retaining walls and fencing page.
Temporary site fencing is not your boundary fence
During construction there is usually a mesh or hoarding fence around the site. That is site safety fencing, put there for the builder's obligations while work is underway, and it comes down at handover. It is not a dividing fence and it is not built to stay.
What your build contract actually includes by way of permanent fencing varies a great deal - some packages include an allowance, some include nothing, some include fencing only to part of the boundary. It is worth reading that section of your own contract rather than assuming, and asking the builder in writing what is and is not covered before you commission anything yourself.
Estate design guidelines and covenants are separate from council
New estates very often come with design guidelines, and sometimes a restrictive covenant registered on the title. These can have something to say about front fencing in particular: the style, the materials, the colours, whether a solid front fence is permitted at all, and how the fence has to return to the house. They are a contractual or title matter, not a council matter, and the two are checked separately.
Council approval is its own question and it genuinely varies by area and by situation - front fences, corner lots, heritage conservation areas and pool barriers are all treated differently from a plain rear boundary fence. Check with your own council and the NSW Planning Portal rather than relying on what was allowed on someone else's block. Our post on council approval for a fence in Sydney walks through what to ask.
If a pool is part of the build, the boundary fence may end up forming part of the pool barrier, which brings its own separate requirements and its own inspection. That is a conversation for your certifier and the NSW Swimming Pool Register before the fence is built, not after - retrofitting a boundary fence to pass as a barrier is far more expensive than building it right the first time.
What a new estate block is like to actually work on
New ground behaves differently from established ground, and it affects how a fence is built:
Fill and variable compaction. Much of a new lot has been cut, filled and compacted to get a level building platform. A post hole in engineered fill is not the same as a post hole in natural ground, and footings are sized for what is actually there rather than for a standard.
Services near the boundary. Water, sewer, stormwater and comms are often run close to a boundary on a new estate, and conduit sitting shallow is common. Services have to be located before digging, not discovered with a crowbar.
Neighbouring sites still active. If the block next door is mid-build, materials, scaffold and spoil end up over the line. It is usually easier to fence before their landscaping goes in than after.
Clean access, soft surfaces. Access on a new estate is normally excellent compared with an established suburb - but new turf, fresh concrete and a new driveway all mark easily, so where the mix, the saw and the bins sit still needs agreeing.
For once, you get to choose the fence from scratch
On a replacement job the material is half-decided before anyone arrives, because the new fence has to sit sensibly against whatever is already on the other boundaries. On a new build nothing is set. It is worth using that rather than defaulting to whatever the estate has the most of.
The three boundaries do different jobs. The rear and side boundaries are about privacy, security and keeping children and pets in, which is where the Colorbond versus timber decision usually gets made. The front is about how the house presents and is the one most likely to be constrained by guidelines - our front fence ideas for Sydney homes post covers the options. If you are still weighing it up, choosing the right fence for your property is the broader starting point, and our main fencing page sets out the types we build. Doing all the boundaries at once is also usually the more economical way to do it - our fencing cost guide explains what drives the number.
Common questions about fencing a new build
Do I need council approval to fence a new build in Sydney?
It depends on your council, the type of fence and where on the block it goes, so it has to be checked for your own address rather than assumed. Start with your own council and the NSW Planning Portal. Note that estate design guidelines or a covenant on your title are a separate check again - meeting one does not mean you have met the other.
Who pays for the fence if the block next door is still vacant?
The land has a registered owner even if nobody is living on it, so the usual dividing fence process in New South Wales still applies - including the step of raising it with that owner before the work rather than after. NSW Fair Trading sets out how that works. Building first and asking later is the most common way people end up paying for the whole boundary themselves.
Should I fence before or after the landscaping?
After the bulk earthworks, the driveway and any retaining, and generally before turf and planting. Fencing into ground that is about to be raised or cut away is what produces soil packed against the bottom of a new fence, or a gap underneath it.
Can the builder's temporary fence stay as my boundary fence?
No. Temporary site fencing is there for safety during construction and is built to come down. A dividing fence on the boundary is a separate, permanent job with a different standard of post, footing and fixing.
How do I know exactly where my boundary is?
A registered surveyor is the only answer that holds up. Pegs go missing during a build, and a neighbour's driveway, retaining wall or garden edge is not evidence of the line. On a new build it is worth having the corners marked before any hole is dug.
If the block needs retaining before the fence goes in, our guide to concrete versus timber sleepers for retaining walls covers the material decision that usually comes next.
On a new or freshly subdivided block there is often no old fence to copy, which makes set-out the first real decision. Our guide to whether your fence is on the boundary line covers how the line is located when there is nothing already there.
Where a deck is in the plan for a new build, the composite-versus-timber board choice decides more than appearance.
If you are building in Sydney and want the boundaries sorted properly - the right sequence, the right posts for ground that has just been filled, and the lines where they actually belong - get in touch for a quote and we will come and look at the block. It is also worth reading what we do on our boundary fencing page, and our guide to getting a fencing quote if you are comparing a few.
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