Trade Rate Index · Fencing

What fencing work really costs, and what to charge over it

For the fencing jobs quoted most: the benchmark cost of actually doing the work, and the sell rates that land a floor, healthy or premium margin, on the national card and on every regional card. All ex GST, derived from Sumitt's 2026 rate cards. Type your own rate into the checker to see where you sit.

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How to read it. Cost is the benchmark cost of doing the reference job in an average Australian region, per unit, before any margin. Floor adds a 15% margin (the house minimum), Healthy adds 30%, Premium adds 40%. The spread column shows how the healthy rate moves across regional cost factors. These are cost-derived guides for your own pricing, not a survey of what anyone else charges, and not advice.

Fencing: the benchmarks

JobCostFloorHealthyPremiumHealthy, by region
Timber paling fenceper lm · benchmark scope: 40m paling fence$94$110$134$157$128 to $153Adelaide / SA metroDarwin / NTCheck your rate
Colorbond fenceper lm · benchmark scope: 30m colorbond fence$105$124$151$176$144 to $173Adelaide / SA metroDarwin / NTCheck your rate

The healthy rate, card by card

The same reference scope priced on each regional rate card, ex GST, at the healthy margin. Each card carries its own material and labour factor against the national average.

Rate cardMaterialsLabourTimber paling fenceColorbond fence
Australia-wide average (default)1.001.00$134$151
Sydney / NSW metro1.061.14$145$161
Melbourne / VIC metro1.001.00$134$151
Brisbane / SEQ1.041.06$140$157
Perth / WA metro1.031.02$138$156
Adelaide / SA metro0.960.94$128$144
Canberra / ACT1.051.12$143$161
Hobart / TAS1.000.96$133$150
Darwin / NT1.151.10$153$173
Regional (freight + travel)1.081.03$143$161

Method.Every figure is derived, not surveyed: Sumitt’s 2026 regional rate cards (the original eleven trades recalibrated July 2026 against named-supplier pricing; carpentry, roofing, bricklaying and rendering calibrated on their addition in August 2026) are priced over the reference scope shown under each job by the same deterministic takeoff engine the app quotes with, then grossed up to each margin level. All figures ex GST. Regional spread uses the same rate cards’ material and labour factors. No AI, no user data, and nothing here reflects what any Sumitt user charges.

These are the current edition’s figures; the edition label and its publication date are on the index. Rates are guidance for your own pricing, not gospel and not advice; your costs are the ones that matter, and every derived number stays editable inside Sumitt.