Hi All,
I need some opinions on what to do in a tricky situation. I spoke to our future neighbour yesterday as they want to arrange fencing, that’s great we are happy to organise the fencing as soon as possible, the issue is this: All other houses in the estate so far have put up timber fencing and our new neighbour wants colorbond for the sole fact that they believe the timber fences that are currently up (which have only been up a few weeks) look aged and weathered already.
I don’t actually mind if we have colorbond or timber but my issue is if my other neighbours (I have 4 others to deal with due to the orientation of our block) all want timber I can’t force them to pay the extra for colorbond and I am going to end up with mismatched fencing... mismatched anything is a major hate for me.. I just don’t do mismatched.
I told them my concerns yesterday and the reply was if my neighbours don’t want to pay for colorbond then for my neighbours to all pay half for a timber fence, I then get the colorbond anyways and just pay the difference myself between the colorbond and the timber.. I have slept on this and woken up quite frustrated, why should I have to pay so much more extra just to satisfy 1 neighbour, I don’t think it is fair. I understand this is their new home and they are excited and want it all lovely and beautiful and clearly colorbond will make it more so for them but at who's expense should it be. Our home is lovely and new and we are excited too but we shouldn’t have to have ugly mismatched fencing in the backyard.
Anyways they said they had already gotten our details from the council and had just posted the quotes to all their neighbours including us (I should mention they only posted the quote for colorbond, they said they did get a quote for timber but only posted the colorbond quote) and so we should get the quote and then contact them... I really do want to keep good neighbourly relations but I also don't want to be a push over and just because of one neighbours feelings I don’t think we should have to pay more for fencing or have ugly mismatched fencing
Sorry this is so long winded. I am so unsure what to do and I know if I have colorbond on one side and timber on 2 others I will cringe every time I walk outside. I also know if I end up forking out the difference to have colorbond on all sides if the other neighbours decline to pay the extra then I will also cringe with frustration every time I walk out there thinking about the extra I had to pay to satisfy my neighbours on one side. We have our first baby on the way plus the expense of building the house, I don’t want additional unnecessary costs like paying the difference between timber and colorbond to 2 full sides cos the other neighbours didn’t agree to pay the extra, also, what if the other neighbours are like us and don’t want mismatched fencing.
I have yesterday requested my other neighbours details from the council so I will be in contact with them as soon as I get that information but I have the feeling that they will all want timber as everyone else in the estate so far has timber. This is just a frustration we really don’t need at this point in time… opinions please????!!!