For Gain Time Services owner, Clinton Szentpeteri, one of the most satisfying aspects of his job is looking back at the fence or gate he’s just built and admiring it. It’s something that his customers also enjoy doing with him.
Clinton’s path to starting his fence contracting business in 2019 – not long before the first cases of COVID-19 were reported – is an unusual one. A heavy fabrication engineer by trade, he’d always enjoyed working with his hands and building.
The lure of working outdoors and manually was attractive to him – even the supposed bad timing on account of the pandemic didn’t cause any roadblocks.
“There’s never really a good or bad time to start a business, and in the end from a workload perspective, the whole COVID thing worked well for us,” Clinton said.
“There were travel restrictions, and a lot of people began working from home; they started wanting home improvements, in our case, a new fence, gate or both.”
Demand for the company’s services hasn’t looked back since, keeping Clinton, wife Katalin and their other team member, Joseph, extremely busy servicing customers within a 25-kilometer radius of their Woodcroft, Adelaide base.
Since starting the business, Clinton said he’s noticed a strong shift towards steel fencing.
“I haven’t installed a timber fence in well over 12 months,” he said.
“The rising price of timber has been astronomical and it’s still difficult to get – the last time I used timber on a job, I had to source it from two different suppliers. A timber fence also takes longer to install than a comparable steel fence.”
Clinton has been using Fielders Dominator as his preferred fencing for most of the life of his business, having made the shift from another steel fence supplier early on – it’s a decision that he’s never regretted.
“My first supplier was hard to deal with, they got orders wrong, I was continuously receiving different pricing, and it made it very difficult for me to quote for my customers. It was costing my business and it just seemed that they weren’t that keen to work with a smaller client,” he said.
“Fielders has been the complete opposite; my life is made easy, there’s consistency of pricing and the team there is fantastic to deal with.”
Of the many fences that Clinton and his team install every year across existing residential locations, new estates and schools, it’s Fielders TL-5 that’s the most popular. For customers working to a tighter budget, the traditional S-Rib corrugated is also a popular solution.
Clinton said he recommends the Fielders Dominator range to prospective customers at every opportunity and is happy to be associated with the product line.
“I always mention Fielders because it’s a reputable company, it’s well known and customers are also very familiar with the COLORBOND® steel name from which the range is manufactured – it puts customers at ease. For many, the Australian-made factor is also a big drawcard,” Clinton said.
“And for my own company, it’s good to promote that I only use the highest quality products.
“It works really well with our business model, as quality and customer service is at the top of our list – when it comes to our clients, pride in our workmanship and dedicated services are guaranteed.
“Fielders Dominator is also efficient to work with, particularly compared to timber alternatives, and when installed correctly as per Fielders’ instructions, it provides excellent long-term results, whereas timber requires ongoing maintenance – the feedback from my customers to a Fielders Dominator fence is always positive.”
