I chose first fence thru Angies list but was not impressed. Signed the contract on 7/13/14 for the

new fence and gates to be installed. The crew arrived late which I was not happy about. Was promised that this company was the best in town by their representative Eric Andersen when

he came to the house to give me the free estimate on 7/8/14. The work preformed did not match the hype. We also had a brand new garage built so the apron was brand new and was told that the crew would make a seamless job of installing the metal post for the gate. No such luck. They did a terrible job. They did try to fix it but its not seamless as promised. The double gates that were delivered were bent and the wrong size 4 times before finally getting them right. They also broke my walkway and just poured runny cement into the hole and it looked terrible because it ran into the grass. I was told it would be fixed in a professional manner. The person that came out each time to install the double gates was roberto. Nice guy very friendly but has a very bad memory for calling you back when asked to do so. The project was finally completed on 9/6/14. I was promised by roberto that i would receive a bean bag game for all my inconvenience. What a joke. After making multiple phone calls to roberto to remind him of his promise i finally received the bean bag game on saturday 10/11/2014. It took almost 2 months to install 45 feet of chain link fencing and 3 gates. I wouldn't recommend them. They were paid in full.

They did a really nice job.

unknown

First Fence will build you the fence they want to build.  Maybe it will even be the fence you want.
This review was written by my husband, Brian.
I own and rent out a townhome in the Brandywine complex in Villa Park.  It had a very old fence around its back yard, built in the early 1980's.  It had been built so heavy duty that one of the townhome employees joked that is was almost a fortress.  But recently the tenant had complained that the fence gate was no longer functional, and I found the fence overall to be in bad shape.  So I decided to get it fixed.  I contacted First Fence in August, 2014, and began to work with their salesman.  I described the situation and asked him to examine the fence and give me an estimate for replacing it.  He emailed me a proposal and we discussed it over the phone.  He offered an option to replace the existing fence with a different style, a single layer privacy fence.  I refused, noting that the existing double layer fence (what he called a board-on-board fence) was built so heavily that it was actually much more private than the privacy fences around some of the neighbor's yards.  He agreed and said they would build the same style of fence.  So I signed the contract, got the permits, and scheduled the installation.

After the new fence was built (on 2014/9/22), I went out to examine it.  On the drive over, the neighbor of my townhome called me to complain that they had built a completely different new fence.  When examined it, I found this to be true.  It was of the "same style", but was a much lighter fence, and non-private.

I called First Fence to complain.  There were several phone calls with the salesman, during which he emphasized that I had gotten exactly the fence I had specified.  And that perhaps I didn't understand it would look different because First Fence "uses higher quality, thicker boards".  I eventually found photos of the old fence and compared them to the new fence and found what the real problem was (see attached photos).

Measuring the old photos versus the contract shows that the primary difference between the fences is that the old fence had a two inch overlap on each side of each board, and the new fence was specified with only a 1/2 inch overlap. The result is a much lighter, non-private fence.  So the salesman had written up the contract for a with fence very different measurements from the one being replaced.  He never asked whether he should make these changes, never mentioned that he had made them, and never explained that the new fence would look very different from the old fence, despite my emphasis that I wanted a similar looking, very heavy duty, private fence.  Since I'm not a fence builder, I did not understand the measurements in the contract (until my later research), and he never tried to explain them.  He just said I was getting the same fence and I believed him.  

I escalated my complaint to First Fence's sales manager.  We spoke several times, and then met at the fence to discuss.  He informed me that this may have been resolved if I had met the salesman while he was taking measurements of the old fence.  That is possibly true, but I don't believe it was my responsibility to measure the old fence.  In short, he was completely unwilling to fix the fence, and placed the blame on me for not personally specifying the measurements in the contract, and for not understanding the differences between what the contract said and my previous fence.  He emphasized that his company had built the fence that the contract specified, and that it was my fault the contract didn't specify the correct fence.  After much disagreement, including threats from him to take me to court if I didn't complete payment on the new fence, he offered to either have me pay him an additional new fee to build another new fence (which he offered do for "little or no profit") or to give me a discount on my fence of 7.5%.

He said correcting the new fence (at First Fence's expense), or any greater discount, was impossible because then First Fence would not make acceptable profit on the job.  He also strongly implied that I was essentially trying to get a free fence from First Fence, and said that the fence they had built was a "perfectly acceptable, good fence".  I was unsatisfied with the offered options, and choose to do no further business with First Fence.  I informed the sales manager that I would post reviews online, which he said was fine.  So I'm putting up reviews on various sites.  I also called the townhome association and gave them an overview.  The person I spoke with said that, although he didn't think the situation was worth trying a legal recourse for, it was the worst treatment by a fence contractor he had ever heard of, and he would make note of it to try to protect other consumers.

Buyer beware.  First Fence will build you the fence they want to build.  Hope you like it, because they sure aren't going to make it right if you don't.

November 20th, 2014 Update:
Correcting for a few things in the in the November 4th response from First Fence:

1. 1. I didn't ask for a 25% discount.  I asked for that the fence be corrected to meet the original description verbally agreed on over the phone.  They said that they would not make any modifications to the fence they had built, without additional payment.  So the question was what discount would get me to drop the situation.  I said 20% would get me to drop the complaint, even though I still didn't get the fence I thought was agreed to.  They said that they would not make an acceptable level of profit if they gave a 20% discount, and offered 7.5% instead.  I was not interested in this amount of discount.  Basically, I would not have agreed to have the fence built like it is for 92.5% of the original price, so I didn't think it made sense to accept a similar discount.
2. 2. I didn't refuse to meet the salesman at the old fence.  I asked if we needed to meet, or if would be fine to do it over the phone.  He said doing over the phone was no problem and would save me a trip.  At the time, I thought that was very nice.  If he had said we needed to meet to make sure the new fence was right, I would have been happy to do so.

First Fence was responsive and professional, and even willing to change the appointment time an hour earlier at the last minute to accommodate our schedule. Adam was knowledgeable and explained everything thoroughly. The price was in line with one of the other three estimates we got. It was a difficult decision and we easily could have chosen First Fence. If I need fencing in the future I will certainly consider First Fence.

Fantastic. We met with Dan who came out to the house. He took his time, was not showy or pushy but very helpful. Dan helped us pick out options for our gates that would fit the area best. He submitted the paperwork right away to get our order fulfilled as soon as possible. It took about 4 weeks to have to fence installed as per ordering of the materials and scheduling.

Pricing was right on. In fact they came in lower priced of the three vendors I had provide a quote.

The fence was installed tester and looks fantastic! Quality is second to none! We are so pleased with the quality and craftsmanship of the installers. Which were very courteous and very professional. They worked so hard! It shows too!

We had 1/3 of the yard fenced as our neighbors to the back and side already have their wood fence up. Let me tell you, the quality and beauty of our fence from First Fence blows theirs away! I am considering having First Fence finish off the yard to cover the neighbors fences up and just to make it more cohesive.

I highly recommend Dan and his team at First Fence! You will not be disappointed!

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The work was done quickly and professionally.  Unfortunately, due to the rainy summer, they had to reschedule to another day, however, they called in plenty of time so that we weren't waiting around.  They came on the rescheduled day and completed the work to our satisfaction.

WORKERS WERE INSTRUCTED TO SHOW UP EARLY AM FOR A HALF-DAY JOB TO BE COMPLETED IN A FEW HOURS. THEY ASKED PERMISSION TO USE MY WATER AND ELECTRIC, WHICH I THOUGHT WAS CONSIDERATE WHEN OTHER CONTRACTORS JUST HELP THEMSELVES.  TWO WORKERS SHOWED UP ON TIME AND INSTALLED POSTS - CITY INSPECTER CHECKED HOLES BEFORE CONCRETE POURS AND WE WERE ALL SET.  JOB SUDDENLY STOPPED BECAUSE THE WORKERS WERE WAITING FOR EQUIPMENT OR SOMETHING AND NOW SAID THEY CANNOT FINISH TODAY AND IT WOULD HAVE TO BE SATURDAY OR MONDAY AND THE JOB COULD NOT BE FINISHED IN HALF DAY AS THEY PROMISED.  I INSISTED I WANTED THE JOB FINISHED AS PROMISED AND SEVERAL HOURS LATER, THEY CREW SHOWED UP WITH WHAT THEY NEEDED TO COMPLETE THE JOB LATE EVENING.  THE FENCE LOOKED GREAT AND ALTHOUGH IT WAS A VERY LONG DAY, I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH THE RESULT. THERE WERE A FEW HICCUPS, BUT I WOULD FEEL COMFORTABLE USING FIRST FENCE AGAIN AND REFERRING THEM.

It went very good. They are very nice to work with and do excellent work.

unknown

It was fine. I will call them in the future if I have any fence repairs.

Came promptly to give quote.  Very professionally delivered.  Job was done on time with total satisfaction.  Very nice people to deal with from sales to service staff.  Fence will now last for many more years.  When need further work in future will call First Fence.

unknown

they were excellent. I am very satisfied with my 5 foot chain link fence.

So far its been a pleasure we are not completed in full yet...but this is our choice. We need the rest of the work done from another company.

Very good did all work with top material and workmanship.  Very happy with job and price. The two men (Miguel and?) were great and new their business.   Would Highly recommed.

Did a great job removing old fence and all the old materials. Installed new fence perfectly. Totally satisfied with work including cleanup.

It went great-

The service representative who came out to the house was very professional.  They were able to perform the job earlier like we requested.  They finished in 1 day but we had to call them back to redo a part of one of the gates because the craftsmanship was poor and the post didn't line up in order for the door to close.  They came out and redid the work and replaced some panels that we requested which were cracked.  The end result was a beautiful fence.

I would definitely use this company again and recommend them to others.

We did not get competitive quotes this time. First Fence was prompt for the quote and the job. They replaced several posts. We were pleased with the result.

An amazing two days of hardworking construction. Crew did an awesome job. They were neat and courteous. The fence looks amazing. The price was on par with other quotes. The customer service and the quality of construction was way above expectations. We had used a competitor at our other home in Elmhurst approximately five years ago. Choosing First Fence was a better decision.

They used subcontractors and the work was done wrong. We've had them come out twice and they put a hole in our garage siding. They still haven't come out to fix what they said they were going to in the past couple of weeks. They seemed okay until the work was done and now we can't get a call back.

I had a positive experience in dealing with them. They're professional  and did an excellent job. Everything was very even and straight.