Wrought iron fans on railings

[nosparedosh]

Hello
My daughter has a moneypit of a middle flat in a London Georgian house. Her terrace is accessed 3 steps down from the access walk at the side of the house. At the moment, the railings on the walkway do not link safely to the lower railings of the terrace and Ive suggested for safety's sake, one of those metal fans to cover the 'dodgy' area. I dont have measurements here, but it looks to be of an average size you see around. The quote for wrought iron, was £800 , and for steel, £700 - (2 different firms but my daughter naively answered the question from the second firm as to what firm 1 had quoted) . Does this seem a reasonable average sort of price please to those of you in the know? ( It seemed expensive as Ive looked at whole wrought iron gates , and these are in the very low hundreds) Secondly , the 'steel' quoters told her that the present railings are steel , not wrought iron, and that the existing railings would not take the weight of wrought iron. Sound genuine? - how would they know seeing as the railings are painted- can they tell from tapping?
Presumably the job is done from the terrace/walkway, so the cost wouldnt be for scaffolding or anything (I dont think)
be grateful for any observations anyone would care to make. Many thanks.

 

[Penners]

I think it would help to clarify the situation if you could post some pictures.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Hello nosparedosh and welcome.

I'm also not very clear about precisely what your £700 or £800 will pay for - is it new railings? I would imagine that steel and wrought iron are discernable to the trained eye, painted or not. And wrought iron is certainly very heavy. Does it need to be made in that material?

The price does seem high to me - although as I've said I'm not too sure exactly what you're getting for that. Earlier this year I phoned around 6 or 7 companies getting quotes for estate fencing - that was coming out at around £50 a metre. ( with around 4 or 5 metal posts in a metre) I bet if your daughter were to look at companies in Lincolnshire she could have something made more cheaply.

This company are good: http://www.anwickforge.co.uk/galleries.php

We had a dangerous sunken patio with no railings in our London property - the solution was to put garden trellis all around, which is now covered in jasmine. Certainly a lot cheaper than £700, but this might not be a workable solution to your problem.

 

[nosparedosh]

Thanks folks. Cant post photos Im afraid at the moment as Im not living near the property and my daughter is away. I think the quote was a fleecing one though - I hadnt thought of contacting a company outside London , but did today speak to one in Cheshire and he reckoned around £200 -£300 to make a fan - so maybe it will pay my daughter to use a further out company , like you suggested. Thank you, I think thats the answer.