I have never been more disappointed in something than contracting this company to replace our old fence with a new wood fence built on site. I was under the impression that the job would take no more than 3 days but the fact was it took 9 days from start to finish. Granted actual work days were only 5 days but that is still way longer than what we were told at the consultation. I had asked about whether the weather would affect the job of building a fence and we were given the impression that they would work despite rain/snow but in actuality, they did not work at all on any rainy days.
Of those 9 days, our property was fully exposed without a fence for 4 days and 33% exposed for 3 days. If that doesn't affect the security of an average homeowner, I am not sure what does.
Upon completion of the fence on day 9, we are left with mud stains all over our back patio wood deck, the entire exterior wood stairs that go down to the basement of our home (there was no work done on these stairs and the mud stains left by their footprints were absolutely unnecessary) as well as extremely dirty concrete over all the walkways leading to the backyard and surrounding the backyard. Our water hose also appears as if it has been drenched in mud.
Moreover, there are at least 2 holes (1 along the horizontal edge of a kickboard and 1 surrounding a fence post) that were not filled back in. The crushed stones we had at the bottom of each fence panel spanning across two sides of our property not spread evenly back into place but rather, there are numerous areas where there is just soil shoved into its place.
Our backyard is definitely not back in its original state but rather we are left with a huge cleanup job to do after this. Aside from the huge cleanup job we are left with, we are also left to fill up holes that they have left us with and to place crushed stones back to the side of each fence panel where there were crushed stones to begin with. The work involved for us is beyond justifiable given that we have full-time commitments for each and every weekday.
My greatest concern now is that the new fence would not withstand the winter months until we are able to stain it in the spring. Of course we were told that it would be okay but whether that is in fact the reality is yet to be known.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $5,500.00
- What could this company do to improve their services?
- Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
- Company Response
Hello Andrew
I am sorry to hear that you are this disappointed with the job Richmond Cedarworks completed for you. I would like to address these concerns you have because I was onsite personally and am always looking for feedback from my clients to improve our services.
I would like to address the duration of your project. We discussed that the job should take approximately 3 days under good conditions. The conditions on your property were not good as you are aware, it rained heavily and snowed while we were working there. Your old fence that was only 7 years old fell over because the builder put the posts in around a drain pipe down the shared property line. Once we found the pipe and showed it to you we had to wait for you and your neighbor to agree to move the fence 2 – 3 inches towards her house. The neighbor refused to agree to moving the fence at all, even 1 inch she told me personally. I then waited another few days for her and her son who was away to give us an answer. In the meantime, we finished closing in the other property lines for you but were at a standstill waiting for permission to proceed. I am sorry about the delays but had no control over it as I can not make decisions about property line boundaries for my clients and was at her mercy to wait. We were in fact on site during the rain and snow and took photos for the neighbor in the snow, so we could communicate via text with her. Once we had a decision about the new fence placement we did in fact finish it the next business day.
I rinsed off the rear patio where I was cutting and building for you and used a leaf blower to tidy up the yard and walkways when we left as I always do for my clients. As for the muddy hose and footprints I can not control what happened several days after we finished. I would have done more cleaning for you if requested but you said that you were satisfied with the fence and paid your invoice.
We would have been happy to fill in any hole’s leftover from removal of the old fence if you had mentioned them to me. Sometimes small details are missed, and I apologize for that.
I would have raked the stones down the fence line for you if requested. If we put too many stones in one area it would have a simple fix to shuffle them down if we were asked too. I pride myself on workmanship and client satisfaction. It’s unfortunate that you are so extremely unsatisfied, and I feel that this could have been easily remedied had you mentioned these things to me personally instead of saying nothing at all and writing a bad review for us after the fact. I hand built that fence for you and know that it will last many years as I have been building fences by hand in the Lower Mainland for almost 20 years now. Please remember to put stain on it this spring as we discussed to ensure it is protected and stays looking great.
Best regards
Ramon Carfrae