By Greg Allan, tradesman and creator of Data First Coaching
What does a fencing business coach actually do?
A fencing business coach worth paying for looks at how a fencing business actually prices and runs its jobs, not a worksheet built for any trade. Most coaching for trade owners starts with the owner explaining the business from scratch, which costs time and is already out of date by the next job that goes sideways. The better starting point is the fencer's own numbers.
Many fencers run a mix of work in the same week: a pool fence install, a rural fencing job out on a property, a dividing fence sorted out with a difficult neighbour. Each carries its own mix of steel posts, footings, panels, gates and trailer trips to pick up materials. A coach who treats all of that the same as any other trade is not really looking at the fencing business at all.
Why can a fencing quote look profitable on paper and still lose money?
A fencing quote can carry a healthy margin on paper and still lose that margin before it becomes net profit, because a fencing quote is never one line. Posts, footings, concrete, gates, panels and the trailer run to the merchant all sit on the same job, and it is exactly that mix where gross profit quietly disappears.
Picture a fencer who quotes a boundary fence job with steel posts and panels, prices the concrete and footings on a standard dig, and adds a gate. On site the ground is rockier than expected, the post holes take longer with the auger, an extra trailer run is needed for more chain mesh, and the time spent sorting materials never gets counted against the job. The quote still shows a gross profit margin on the page. The bank balance later tells a different story.
The gap between what a job was quoted to make and what it actually made is the number worth protecting and growing every month, not just checked once at quoting time. Most fencers only see that gap once they step back from the tools long enough to look.
Why does the owner on the tools never see this gap?
When the owner is out firefighting between jobs, an install one day, a gate repair the next, a dividing fence dispute with a neighbour the day after, the inefficiencies in how each job was costed stay invisible. There is no time to go back and check what a pool fence install or a rural run actually cost against what it was quoted to make.
Only once a fencing business owner steps back from constant callouts and on site fixes does the real cost of each job, materials, labour, trailer time, become visible enough to price the next one properly. Until then, every new quote is built on memory of the last one, not on what actually happened on site.
What should you look for in a fencing business coach?
Look for a coach who has actually run a trade business, who starts from your own job and quote data rather than a standard framework, and who fixes the root of a pricing or cash problem with a system, not a worksheet or the advice to simply hire more staff.
- Has run a trade business themselves, so they understand a trailer run to the merchant and an extra post hole in rocky ground, not just a textbook margin
- Starts from your own numbers, not a story you have to explain from scratch
- Looks for where a problem such as shrinking margin actually starts, rather than treating the symptom again next job
- Does not answer every problem with hire someone, because the fix is often in how jobs are costed and quoted, not in more hands
What should you ask before you sign up with a coach?
Before signing with any coach, ask what they will look at first in your business, whether they work from your own numbers or a standard framework, and what sort of change owners in a material heavy trade like fencing have actually made working with them.
Ask how they would explain the gap between a quoted margin and the margin a job actually delivers once footings, extra post holes and trailer time are counted. A coach who understands fencing or a similarly material heavy trade will have a view on this without needing every detail of your business explained first.
It is also worth asking what they think about AI agents, software that can do a piece of office work the way you would, with your prices, wording and rules, taking on tasks like chasing supplier quotes or updating job costing so your time goes back onto customers and the crew. A coach with no view here is often working from an old picture of how a fencing business can run.
What are the warning signs of the wrong coach?
A coach who leads with a sales call before understanding anything about your jobs, your crew or your margin is a warning sign. So is a coach who has never run a trade business and gives advice that reads the same for a plumber, an electrician and a fencer.
If every answer is to raise your prices or to hire someone, without first finding where your gross profit margin is actually leaking, be cautious. That kind of advice could apply to any trade and rarely speaks to your fencing business specifically. A coach with no plan for using AI agents to take non-billable office work off your plate, and who only suggests hiring more office staff, is offering a costly fix to a problem data first coaching can often solve differently.
How does Data First Coaching approach this?
Greg Allan's Data First Coaching starts from the fencing business's own job and quote data through the Trade Business Intelligence, not from an explanation of the business. For a fencer, that means looking first at the gap between what each job, a pool fence install, a rural run, a dividing fence job, was quoted to make and what it actually made, because that gap usually shows where margin is leaking before the bank balance does. As Greg puts it, “You don't see what's happening on the other side of the fence.” The how, the systems and the builds that close that gap are worked through inside the Academy, with members, because the Trade Business Intelligence is powered by every member and the Academy is built for owners who are open minded, innovative and willing to share what they learn.
