Chase Pruden: Putting in a Y-Post Tie-Down

We caught up with Chase Pruden of Pruden Contracting, a second-generation fencer working across Marlborough, to get an insight into his fencing journey and a simple trick he uses to stop Y-Posts from lifting in soft ground.

Chase’s story began, like many in the industry, on the family farm. “I grew up on broken land, helping my dad during the school holidays. I was running wires in primary school,” he said. “It just stemmed from there into a full-time job.”

Pruden Contracting is a long-standing family business founded by Chase’s father, Tony, over 30 years ago. For the past decade, Chase has worked alongside him full-time and their work spans across the Marlborough region, including the Sounds, Northbank, and the Wairau Valley.

Most of their work involves Council compliance fencing - reliable, ongoing work that includes a lot of seven-wire setups, Superpost fencing, and site control. They’ve also tackled deer and dairy fencing, using everything from hot wires to high tensile line.

One of their largest recent projects has been ongoing work along the Whale Trail cycling track. “We’ve been on that one a couple of years now,” Chase said. In between, they take on smaller jobs for forest management companies like M&R Forestland Management, mostly repair and maintenance work.

Chase speaks highly of the business’ long-standing relationship with Goldpine. “They’ve been great. Whether it’s personal or commercial, they always go above and beyond to get us what we need.”

A simple, but effective, trick Chase shared with us involves preventing Y-Posts from lifting in soft or wet ground - something they often face in areas like Koromiko and the wider Marlborough region.

“Y-Posts can slide or lift in soft ground, especially under tension,” Chase explained. “To fix that, we tie one on an angle like an anchor. It creates more surface resistance and holds it down.”

Originally, Chase and his team would dig out a divot to sledgehammer in the angled Y-Post manually. But since introducing a petrol-powered rammer, they’ve simplified the process. “One day I cut down a Y-Post to use with the rammer. It meant we could do the whole thing with just the petrol tool. Less gear, faster work, and way more efficient,” he said.

“It’s just a Y-Post tie-down to stop it from lifting under fence strain - but it saves a lot of time and trouble.”