Fencing in Mandarin

Mandarin has the biggest residential lots we regularly work, and the most awkward. Julington Creek, Goodby's Creek and the river frontage mean a lot of properties are pie-shaped, wider at the back than the front, and falling three or four feet toward the water across the rear boundary.

That fall is the whole job. A privacy fence stepped down a slope in blocks leaves triangular gaps under every panel — fine for a boundary marker, useless if you own a dog. We rack aluminium to follow the grade, and on timber we rake the bottom rail and cut the pickets to the ground line so the run stays sealed the whole way down.

The other Mandarin factor is the oaks. These are old lots with genuinely large trees, and roots plus a slope plus a long boundary is where per-foot pricing from a phone call falls apart. We walk the whole line, including the part behind the shed.