Gulf Coast Fence

8/3/2016

I had gotten several bids for an electric driveway gate, and before I made my final decision I was hearing from Gulf Coast Fence every single day for two weeks. They would contact me by phone and email constantly with deals, discounts and special offers. Although they weren't the lowest bid, I decided to go with them because it seemed that they were sincerely interested in getting my business. They installed the gate about six weeks ago and it's not been functioning properly since it was installed, with one problem after another. I have contacted them by phone, email, and texts, but they are totally unresponsive now that they've been paid.

The quality of the work was OK, partially because he brought in additional subcontractors to do some of the concrete work.  Subcontractors he did not pay and who then started stalking us and showing up at the house asking about our relationship with Gulf Coast Fence and demanding payment.  In addition to this, Drew began asking us for advances before work was done so he could pay the workers.  He had obviously mismanaged funds, used our huge down payment on something else and could no longer afford the materials needed to finish the job.  It became a huge debacle and took 10 months to complete the job. Nightmare!

In the past 10 months, we have had nothing but problems with their work and it has been EXTREMELY hard to get them to respond.  The automatic drive-through gate still does not work - and we paid them an additional $800-1000 in the past 6 months to fix it!!!  
The walk-through gate also does not close properly, and the paint on the metal started peeling away after 2 months.  
I would not recommend these guys to my worst enemy.  Do not be fooled by their prices and their "family-owned" marketing pitch.  Buyer beware.

He did not come when he was supposed to. We called and he made an excuse and said he would come over later and he was late for that appointment and then he called and asked us if he had a boat in our drive way. He was supposedly on the street but he had obviously had forgotten the address. I said we do not have a boat. Where are you and I said we are at 58-59 oh okay, which I thought was really unprofessional, which of course delayed the quote. He got here and got out of here very fast. He was sort of pleasant, but did not seem attentive at all. He came in higher than the other two quotes.

Within a month of completion, the gates started dragging.  We called Andrew, the owner, to have him honor the warranty that is written on his quotation and invoice ("One year warranty on all workmanship and materials").  His response was that he would NOT honor the warranty because the gate had a "design flaw".  
If Andrew had just once brought up this opinion before doing the work, or stated it in writing on his quotation, than Andrew's response might have been understandable.  However, he did not and his warranty remained in large print across his invoice.  When I pressed him on this issue, he said "he would think about it".  He later said he would see what he could do, but after our 3rd attempt to get him to do anything, we've given up and moved on.
To charge an above average price, do shoddy work, and then claim that they bear no responsibility is simply unacceptable.  This could be the most unethical company and owner that I have come across in 20 years of doing business.  I actually own a home maintenance company and it was one of our clients who sub-contracted Gulf Coast Fence to do this work.  I would steer clear of Andrew and this company.