July 30, 2010

FEATURE | Site services

FAST FENCE

Construction fencing comes in all shapes and sizes.

Fences provide first line of defence

PETER KENTER

correspondent

It’s often one of the first site services to be called to a construction site and the last to leave. Fences — whether chain link, welded wire or wooden hoarding — provide the first line of defence to protect passersby and to keep unwanted intruders off the site.

There isn’t much guidance on what constitutes a reasonable fence in Ontario’s Regulation for Construction Projects, which, in a section on Public Way Protection, simply states: “If work on a project may endanger a person using a public way, a sturdy fence at least 1.8 metres in height shall be constructed between the public way and the project.”

But what constitutes a sturdy fence in the eyes of contractors is changing.

“We’re not seeing the orange snow fencing or the wooden panels held together by wire any longer,” says Allyson Newburg, marketing manager with Fast Fence of Toronto. “And while six-foot-high fencing is sufficient to meet the regulations, we’re getting more construction customers asking us for eight-foot fencing.”

The company specializes in the rental of three types of fence products to the construction industry: galvanized diamond steel mesh and tubing chain link fence, heavy duty welded wire mesh, and welded wire with a narrow two-by- four-inch opening.

“The welded wire is virtually unclimbable because you can’t get your foot into the opening,” she says.

In part, the increased height of fencing provides extra security, but also provides extra privacy for the project.

“Site privacy is becoming more and more important,” she says. “Years ago, projects wanted some degree of publicity. Now they don’t mind creating an air of mystery. One of the reasons is that they don’t want potential thieves to be able to map out the locations of material on the site.”

Fast Fence also provides opaque screens to help improve privacy. Although the company doesn’t supply plywood hoarding, Newburg notes the convenient peepholes once cut into the boards for passersby are largely a thing of the past for that same reason.

Newburg says one common trend in the industry is the speed with which customers expect fencing. “Sometimes we get a few weeks notice, but often we’re asked to supply a few thousand feet in three days, or a couple of hundred feet the same day or by next morning,” says Newburg. “We have a site at Centennial College with 350 10-foot panels which took the better part of a day for a couple of crews to install.”

John Cover, an estimator with Atlas Fence in Toronto agrees customers are demanding greater speed in fence delivery. The company supplies construction fencing, including plywood hoarding.

“We only do a hoarding job every few months, but most of these are for downtown construction sites,” he notes. “There’s little room for tolerance when pedestrians are walking down sidewalks right next to the site.”

Fast Fence has a team of installers who both install the fence units and pick up panels damaged by construction equipment. The company has a full-time worker engaged only in repairing and refurbishing fence panels.

Newburg notes fence panels can be powder-coated to suit various clients, including pink, which the company offers in support of charity. “For any client who takes part in our Perimeter PINK program, we’ll contribute 10 per cent of their rental fees to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation,” she says.

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