Mac's Fence Inc

For the most part, Mac's Fence met most of their timeline guarantees. The fence was installed and it is ok, but one of the footings for a gate post cracked a sprinkler line just a foot from the sprinkler head. The company sent a representative to check out the leak. He said that it was not likely their problem, that I should have the leak repaired and he would see if they could help. "I'm not an *******," he said. The fence cost over $7000. The repair was $305. They refused to stand by their work despite the fact that they had obviously caused the damage.

I apologize for taking so long to rate this company.  It's just something I did not feel comfortable doing, but Angie's List convinced me that it's for everyone's benefit.

My 6 ft., Cedar Privacy Fence was originally installed by Mac's Fence Co. in 1995. This was my parents old home and I had the fence installed prior to my moving in.  I didn't witness the installation, so I assumed everything was up to par.  I was told at the time that fence had a "life" of about 15 years and that's just about how long it lasted.  The company was and still is owned by John Bell. Mr. Bell and his company enjoyed a good reputation and came highly recommended.

When the fence began failing, it was obvious that the only parts of the structure that had deteriorated were the "rails" or horizontals that the pickets are attached to.  While the posts are CCA treated and Pickets are Cedar, they use cheap Pine lumber for the rails, and by the time numerous nails are shot into the ends connected to the uprights, these split ends  are ripe for rot and failure is just a matter of time.  As far as I can tell, this practice of using Pine is a common practice of most fence companies.  I was told that "treated" rails would quickly warp and it was hard to find a straight "treated" board to begin with. Who knows?

I contacted Mac's Fence to see about getting the fence replaced.  I was told someone would call me back, later.  "Later" was almost a week later.  I was contacted by the owner's son, Chad.  Chad said he would get back to me about a date to look at the job and give me a quote.  He didn't get "back to me".  A couple of weeks later, I called and left several messages to call me.  He finally responded  and set a date for the estimate.  He showed up, gave me a fair estimate and I signed the contract.  It was determined that only the rails and pickets needed to be replaced.  The fence posts were in good condition.

On June 13th, 2013, 2 young Hispanic men showed up and began to remove the pickets and rails and loading them onto a large "low boy"  trailer. They also unloaded the new material and carried it to the back yard where it would be installed the following day. I tried to talk to these men about this and that, but it was obvious that English wasn't their first language.  I knew communication was going to be difficult.

The same 2 men showed up early the next morning and got right to work.  I had a question about this or that and about all I got back was a big grin and the nod of their heads.  I decided to just leave them alone and just let them do their work.  When the fence was about three-quarters finished, I went out to observe their work.  I noticed a place where they had just attached the rails to the upright post.  The 2 rails weren't close to meeting up evenly on the post.  The nails had to be shot in at an angle in order to even hit the post.  I called this to their attention and they just smiled, nodded their heads and pulled the boards off and replaced them with 2 boards of the proper length and shot the nails straight in.  I now had big doubts about the rail joints in the mostly completed parts of the fence, but it would be hard to see the joints because the vertical pickets were already up and nailed.  They were finished an hour or so later.  After they left, I noticed a full vertical picket missing at the corner junction of  the fence on the north side of the house.  I called Chad.  No answer, so I left a message.  He called a couple of days later.  I said I owed him a check and told him about the missing board.  He said he wasn't worried about me paying and he would  come by the next day for my check.  He showed up and I paid him.  He said he would send some one out within the next day or two to take care of the missing board. I never saw anyone after that.  I called several times, but never heard back from Chad or anyone else.

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