Storm Damage Fence Repair: What to Do & Who Pays

TL;DR: When a storm damages your fence in Geelong or the Bellarine, your first priority is making the boundary safe and secure. Then comes the insurance and neighbour-contribution question, which depends on your policy wording, whether the fence is a shared boundary, and what caused the damage. This post walks through the process step by step.

Direct answer: After storm damage to a fence, take dated photos of the damage, make the boundary safe if there’s a security risk, and notify your insurer as soon as you can. For a dividing fence, the Fences Act 1968 (Vic) lets you carry out urgent repairs without notice and then send your neighbour an urgent fencing notice if you want them to share the cost. Get a fencing contractor out early so you know the scope before the insurer asks.

Geelong’s storm season: what you’re dealing with

Winter fronts come through from the south-west off the Southern Ocean with strong, gusty winds, sometimes for days at a time. The exposed blocks wear the worst of it: coastal Ocean Grove and Portarlington, and anything on open ground with nothing upwind to break the gusts.

Even in suburban Geelong, a timber paling fence with tired posts is living on borrowed time. Years of slow rot at the footings, then one rough night finishes the job, and the whole run goes over together.

The usual damage after a bad front is a run of panels flattened into next door’s garden bed, a gate wrenched off its hinges, posts snapped clean at ground level, or a fallen limb punched straight through a Colorbond sheet.

Step 1: Document before you touch anything

Before anyone shifts a panel, pulls a post or starts tidying up, get the camera out. Plenty of shots, dated, from several angles. Those photos are your evidence for both the insurance claim and any conversation with the neighbour about splitting the cost.

Capture:

• The full extent of it
• Whatever caused it: the branch, the fallen tree, post rot versus a clean impact break
• The state of the panels, posts and rails on both sides of the line
• Anything else the fence took out on the way down (plants, a car, the shed)

Ten minutes now saves a real headache later. Skip it, and you’re reconstructing the damage from memory when the insurer starts asking questions.

Step 2: Make the boundary safe

If the damaged fence leaves your property open to a road, lets a dog or children out, or creates a genuine security problem, make it safe first. A half-down fence also catches the wind and can come over further, onto people, pets or a car.

For an ordinary boundary fence, interim fixes are fine while you sort out the proper assessment and quote. Reattach fallen panels where you safely can, prop leaning posts, and run barrier mesh or a temporary panel across the gap to keep the dog in and the line marked. Keep it simple and removable; the aim is to hold things until the permanent repair, not to build a second fence. A fencing contractor can advise on this when they come out to assess.

Step 3: Contact your insurer

Call your home insurer as soon as you’ve documented the damage. Things to clarify in that first call:

• Is the fence covered? Many home building policies cover fences, but not all of them. Some exclude fencing outright. Others won’t pay for damage they put down to gradual deterioration, which is the clause that bites when the posts were already rotting before the wind found them.
• What’s your excess? On minor damage the repair might barely clear the excess, and a claim isn’t worth the trouble. With a full run or several sections gone, a claim is more likely to be worth lodging.
• Do they want an assessor out? Some insurers send their own; others work from your photos and a contractor’s quote. Find out which before you book anyone in.
• Who do they pay, you or the fencer? That changes how you and the contractor coordinate the job, so it’s worth knowing up front.

Who pays when it’s a shared boundary fence?

This is the question that causes the most confusion after a storm. The fence between your property and your neighbour’s is a dividing fence, and under the Fences Act 1968 (Vic) adjoining owners generally share the cost of repairing or replacing a sufficient dividing fence.

The storm complicates it in a few ways.

If your insurer pays: they will typically cover your share under your policy. If the neighbour’s policy also covers fences, they may claim their share through theirs. Talk to the neighbour early so you’re not both paying for the same work.

If you’re uninsured, or the damage is under your excess: now the Fences Act process applies. Normally you’d serve a fencing notice setting out the proposed work and estimated cost, and your neighbour has 30 days to respond. Where the fence is damaged or destroyed and needs urgent repair, you can do the work first and send an urgent fencing notice afterwards. Our guide to who pays for a dividing fence in Victoria walks through both. If agreement can’t be reached, the Magistrates’ Court decides.

When the neighbour’s tree did it: this is where it gets murky. If a neighbour damages a dividing fence through negligence or deliberately, they’re responsible for the repair. A tree that was dying and known to be a risk may fall into that category; a healthy tree brought down in a severe storm usually won’t. If that’s your situation, contact the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria (DSCV) before it turns into a feud over the back fence.

What does storm damage fence repair actually involve?

The scope depends on what the storm actually did.

Snapped posts. The most common way a fence fails in a storm: posts breaking off at ground level, either because they were already half-rotted or because the wind simply overloaded them. Replacing one means digging out the old footing, pouring a new one and reinstating the rails and panels. From the street it looks like a quick fix; in the ground it rarely is.

Damaged panels. Colorbond sheets dented by debris or buckled by the wind can often be swapped bay by bay. Snapped timber palings come off and get replaced one at a time, as long as the rails behind them held.

Whole run flat. When posts, rails and panels are all down together, that section is usually a full replacement. It’s also a chance to put back a better-built fence on the same line, with deeper footings and a spec that suits the exposure.

Gate trouble. Gates catch more wind than any other part of a fence, so they cop it hardest. One torn off its hinges, or one that has wrecked the post it hung on, needs a proper look before it’s re-hung. If the hinge-post connection isn’t solid, the gate won’t sit right for long.

FAQ

My fence blew down in a storm. Does home insurance cover it?

Many home building policies cover fence damage from storms, but cover varies. Some policies exclude fences explicitly; others exclude damage put down to pre-existing deterioration. Check your Product Disclosure Statement or call your insurer directly.

My neighbour’s tree fell and destroyed my fence. Who pays?

If your neighbour damaged the fence through negligence, for example by ignoring a tree that was dying and known to be a risk, they can be responsible for the repair. If a healthy tree came down in a severe storm, the normal dividing fence cost-sharing rules apply. The Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria (DSCV) can help with disputes.

Can I repair the fence myself and claim the insurance money?

That depends on your policy. Some insurers allow it; others want the work done by a contractor they approve and may pay that contractor directly. Check with your insurer before you start.

The storm knocked down a fence panel but the posts are still solid. Is it a big job?

Not necessarily. If the posts and rails are intact, re-hanging or replacing panels is a relatively straightforward repair. An on-site assessment will confirm whether it’s a panel-only repair or whether posts or rails are damaged too.

Need storm damage fence repair in Geelong?

We handle storm-damage repairs across Geelong and the Bellarine, from a single snapped post to a whole run rebuilt from scratch, on Colorbond and timber fences alike. We’ll give you a written quote you can include with your insurance claim and walk you through the process from the first call to the finished job. We work right across the peninsula, including Portarlington and Ocean Grove.

Call 0485 577 980 or request a quote online.

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