What An Uncovered Steel Fence Post Can Cost A Contractor

Plastic caps for steel fence posts are cheap, which is why so many sites use them. Anthony Burr, founder of Safety Pickets, Inc., says that low price is misleading once you add up what happens when a cap fails or goes missing.

Burr spent years as a concreter working around exposed steel star pickets, the Australian name for what many Americans call steel T-posts. He later invented a reusable steel cap for them. When he talks about cost, he compares what a contractor spends up front with what a single incident can cost afterward.

Burr’s comparison starts with a basic order. Covering 100 posts with his company’s steel caps costs roughly $250 to $300, and the caps can be reused indefinitely.

On the other side, he pointed to a case in Australia where posts on a site had been left uncovered and someone fell onto one. The fine alone was $115,000.

“That’s just a fine,” Burr said.

That figure does not include the cost of a site shutdown, medical bills, or any legal claim that follows. For a contractor weighing a few hundred dollars against a six-figure penalty, the gap is hard to ignore.

Most incidents are not that severe, but Burr says even minor ones carry real costs. If a worker cuts a shin on an exposed post and needs stitches, there is a medical bill. The contractor also pays the worker for the day of the injury and for however many days they need off while it heals.

“It can go into the tens of thousands easily,” he said.

Beyond liability, Burr says plastic caps cost more than they appear to because they keep having to be replaced. They break, blow away, and become brittle in the sun and rain.

When the company runs a comparison for customers switching from plastic, it leaves liability out entirely and looks only at replacement costs. According to Burr, covering 1,000 posts over five years with reusable steel caps works out to a 60 percent saving compared with continually rebuying plastic ones. He adds that steel caps do not rust and will likely outlast the posts themselves.

Labor is another cost that rarely shows up in the budget. Plastic caps have to go on and come off every time posts are used, and Burr describes it as the job no one on site wants to do.

“Every time you put them on, there’s probably half an hour. Every time you take them off, there’s another half an hour,” he said. “So it adds up quite quickly that the plastic caps aren’t actually cheaper.”

The company explains how reusable steel caps cut replacement and waste on its sustainability page.

Burr also points to a risk many contractors overlook: people who should not be on the property at all. If someone wanders onto a site or into a property after hours, even someone who has been drinking, and gets hurt on an exposed post, he says the owner can still face legal action.

“They shouldn’t have, but they have every right to be able to sue,” he said.

For US contractors and property owners, where legal claims after injuries are common, that exposure is worth factoring into any decision about how exposed steel is covered.

For contractors still using plastic caps because nothing has gone wrong yet, Burr’s advice is blunt.

“If something can go wrong, then it will,” he said. “So just the labor costs, the liability, the headaches, and the stress are all hidden costs. Hidden costs that will add up over time. You may not have to outlay it. But it catches up very quickly.”

A useful exercise is to price it out for your own site: the cost of replacement caps over several years, the labor hours spent putting them on and taking them off, and the realistic cost of a single injury. Set that next to the one-time cost of a reusable option and the decision tends to get clearer.

Safety Pickets, Inc. designs and manufactures a patented, reusable steel safety cap for star pickets and t-posts, currently sold across Australia and expanding into the US market. Learn more at safetypickets.com.

This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or investment advice. The views and opinions expressed herein reflect those of the individuals quoted and do not represent an endorsement of any company, product, or service mentioned. Readers should conduct their own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making any investment decisions.

Disclosure: Individuals or companies mentioned may have a commercial relationship with KeyCrew.

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