Fencing Categories
Quality and price challenge
100% Indian
100% Indian
Fencing Categories
I first entered the chain link business in September 2015.
At that time, chain link was not really a new product for us. We were primarily poultry equipment manufacturers, and we had been manufacturing and supplying poultry equipment for decades. Chain link fencing was simply one of the materials required by poultry farms in India.
In many Indian poultry farms, chain link is used instead of conventional walls. So, for years, we into chain link manufacturing mainly for poultry applications.
What we did not realize was how huge the market for commercial chain link fencing actually was.
Our attention was mostly on other poultry products—cages, feeders, nipples and various other equipment. Chain link was important, but it was not our main business.
Then I had an idea.
Why should we sell chain link only to poultry farms?
There were thousands of other people who needed fencing—farmhouses, agricultural properties, factories, houses, open plots and many other places.
That was when I decided to take our chain link into the commercial market.
And that's where my real education in the chain link fencing business began.
One of my first customers wanted chain link fencing for his factory.
He was particularly concerned about keeping stray dogs and unwanted people away from the premises. The factory was located in an industrial area where security was a genuine concern.
When I first visited him, I was impressed.
He spoke very fluent English and was extremely particular about his requirements. As he showed me around the factory, he explained how different parts of the facility followed Italian, American and Swedish concepts.
I was thinking to myself:
This man is serious. Surely, he is going to give us the order.
Then he showed me where he wanted the chain link.
And that was when I realized I had absolutely no idea how complicated this particular job was going to become.
He wanted chain link fencing inside the factory.
Not a simple outdoor fence.
An indoor chain link structure.
I nodded confidently at everything he said, took the measurements and brought the design back to our office.
The next day, I worked out the quotation.
The actual cost of the job was around ₹50,000.
But this was not an ordinary chain link fence installation.
There were three major steps involved:
This was a small project compared with the other work we were handling.
But it was also my project.
And I knew that if something went wrong, I would be the one standing in front of the customer.
So I quoted ₹1,50,000.
I gave him the quotation on a Monday.
On Tuesday, I called him.
"Sir, I have given you the quotation."
"Okay, I'll check it and get back to you."
And that was it.
I had no follow-up strategy. I was completely new to the commercial chain link fencing business.
I simply went back to my other work.
Almost eight months passed.
Then, finally, he confirmed the order.
I asked him for a 50% advance to begin the work.
He agreed.
I could have rushed over immediately to collect the money.
But I was already busy with our poultry business, so I chose a Saturday and called him that morning.
He asked me to come to his house.
I went and collected the advance.
Now the real story began.
At that time, I didn't have anyone specifically helping me with this new chain link fencing business.
But I had a friend named Karthik.
Karthik was always around me. He liked me for who I was, and he was the kind of person who would work alongside me without making a big fuss about it.
I explained the entire project to him.
We made our plan.
And we started.
At this point, I thought we had plenty of time.
I was wrong.
Five days after receiving the advance, the customer called me.
"What's happening with the material?"
I was completely new to this business. I didn't know how to handle a customer who had already paid an advance and was waiting for his material.
So I confidently told him:
"It will all be ready in the next five days."
The chain link itself wasn't the problem.
The factory informed us that the chain link was ready.
It was only around 30 feet.
Making 30 feet of chain link was not difficult for us.
The problem was everything else.
The frames needed machining.
The sections had to be prepared.
Everything had to fit perfectly.
And every day, the customer called.
"How much longer?"
"Four more days."
Then:
"Three more days."
Then:
"Two more days."
Then:
"Tomorrow."
By now, I felt like I had a thousand horses running towards me.
Then came the call.
"Hello! Where is my chain link?"
No "How are you?"
No "Good morning."
Straight to the point.
I was already sweating.
I honestly explained that the chain link itself was ready, but the supporting material was still being completed.
There was silence.
For a moment, I wondered if he had actually cut the call.
He hadn't.
Then came the words I was afraid of.
"I have a factory inauguration. You have taken my advance. What kind of people are you?"
I immediately moved the phone away from my ear.
I didn't need any more volume.
I turned to Karthik.
"What do we do?"
He said, "We can finish everything in a week."
"A week?"
"Yes."
"Can we make it five days?"
"No."
"We have to."
And so we went back to work.
Eventually, we got the material ready and went to the factory for installation.
And that's when we discovered another problem.
The channels that the customer had already fixed into the wall were 10 mm thick.
We needed to drill into them and fix our structure properly.
This wasn't something we could simply walk in and finish with a few tools.
We called an experienced technical person from our office.
He came to the site, studied everything, took measurements and gave us his assessment.
His conclusion?
One month.
One month to complete the installation.
I almost collapsed.
We had a customer waiting.
We had already taken an advance.
And now we were being told that the installation alone could take a month.
But there was no way out.
So I gave him the responsibility and told him to start.
He worked.
And worked.
I also went to the site myself several times, looked at the work and suggested whatever I could.
Fortunately, the customer could see that the work was progressing.
And finally, after about 20 days, we completed the chain link fencing and gate inside his factory.
Phew!
We had done it.
There was just one more small problem.
The balance payment.
It took another three months.
Those three months were not exactly peaceful.
I had to follow up repeatedly, and the payment became another battle of its own.
But eventually, we received it.
Hallelujah!
The project was finally over.
Or so I thought.
Something unexpected happened.
The customer actually liked the work.
He liked the way the chain link was manufactured.
He liked the way it was installed.
And, despite all the delays and difficulties, we remained on good terms.
That taught me something that I still believe today:
Good quality has a much longer life than the bitterness caused by poor quality or a high price.
As my father used to say:
"The sweetness of good quality lasts longer than the bitterness of poor quality and the sourness of a high price."
Those words stayed with me.
For this project, we used 2-inch chain link fencing.
The gate was made using 35 mm square pipe, while the other frames were made using 50 mm square sections.
It turned out to be a neat and strong installation.
And, looking back at the photographs today, I still feel proud of what we achieved.
But the biggest thing I received from this project wasn't the profit.
It was confidence.
Until then, I was wondering whether I could actually handle commercial chain link projects.
After completing this one, something changed in me.
I thought:
If I can do this, I can do anything related to chain link fencing.
That confidence was worth far more than the ₹1,00,000 I had originally hoped to make from the project.
This was the project that made me believe I could take our chain link manufacturing experience beyond poultry farms and into the much larger commercial market.
And that is how my journey into the commercial chain link fencing business really began.
After this project, I started receiving more enquiries.
Soon, I had several outdoor chain link fencing projects in hand.
They weren't as complicated as this factory project—but each one taught me something new.
In my next blog, I'll share some of those projects, the challenges we faced, and what they taught me about chain link fencing, installation and dealing with customers.
Thanks for reading.
And if you found this story interesting, please explore the links and take a look at some of the chain link fencing projects and products we manufacture.