Apple Fence Company LLC

Fence was installed just under three years ago. No issues that I can recall other than used two different gates. Now, it is rusting in multiple areas including one post that has completely rusted thru. Left two messages with no return phone call. Finally was able to get someone to pick up the phone. I respectfully told them.... "it appears we are having some problems. Can we set-up a time to go review my concerns? If its natural wear and tear then no problem I will pay to fix it. However, if the damage was due to an inferior product or installation then I would hope you stand by your work..." The person who answered the phone said he needs to get someone to call me back. No return call. I did do some research and have come to understand that there is no viable reason for a metal fence post to completely rust in under three years other than cheap materials. I guess I know why they are not calling me back. Companies that don't stand by their work should have no place on this website.

Both the initial installation and repair went very well. They were prompt, easy to work with, did great work, and cleaned up well after the job.

Let me start by saying that I could not be happier with the overall project. I sent out invitations for bids to 5 contractors, two of which have never responded to this day. Of the three remaining companies, Apple Fence provided me with the best pricing for the options I chose. This project involved replacing a 20 year old wood privacy fence surrounding my back yard . . . a total of 196 linear ft, including three 4 ft gates. I had been seeing a number of new fences going up in my neighborhood over the past 6 months, and noticed many were already showing signs of deterioration as a result of substandard materials and poor workmanship. Determined not to have one of those fences, I elected to kick it up a notch and go for all steel posts, triple rails, and a better quality WRC picket. The sales associate, Jon Eastman, discussed all options with me and provided details on the tear-down and installation process. At that point, I was confident there would be few, if any, surprises. The crew of 2, led my Miguel, arrived on Friday morning and immediately began taking down the old fence. By the afternoon, the entire fence was gone, new post holes were dug, concrete mixed, and posts were set. After they left for the day, I trimmed away excess grass from the fence line to make the next day’s installation a bit “cleaner”. Saturday morning started early, and progressed quickly. Post were trimmed to a perfect height, brackets installed, rails hung, pickets nailed in, and gates manufactured and installed. Shortly after lunch, a second crew arrived to assist with clean-up, and to load up and haul off the old fence materials. By about 3:30, they wrapped up and left. It was absolutely mind-blowing to me that this volume of work could be accomplished so quickly, and yet so professionally. These guys were great! Were they any issues or concerns? Of course. I would be a bit naïve to think everything would be absolutely perfect. But what earns a good review from me is how a company responds to these concerns. And Apple did not fail there, either. Over the next couple of weeks, as schedules permitted, Jon came back to walk the entire fence line with me, identified about a dozen that need to be replaced or nailed down, and took care of these himself. Out of nearly 600 pickets, and almost 4000 nails, I would say that’s a minimal concern. Since the fence has been installed, a number of folks in my neighborhood have stopped by and complimented us on the new fence. We live on a corner lot, with a great deal of foot traffic. In fact, one of our neighborhood mailbox clusters is right next to the fence, so they cannot help but notice the quality and workmanship right in front of them when they pick up their mail. It is, hands-down, the best fence in our neighborhood.

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Apple Fence Company just build a fence for my back yard in Austin.
From my initial contact with Israel W., estimating and selection, through building, and final work with Courtney at the office, all was handled in a timely and extremely competent and friendly way. The price was right in the middle of my total estimates, and I'm happy with the great job that the installers did.
My experience with Apple Fence Company was top notch!
Sincerely,
Jim

Apple put in a metal gate that was supposed to swing with a click of the button that led to my garage. They installed the metal gate in November of 2014. Less than a year and a half later the gate no longer works. They installed the gate post improperly and now the gate drags on the ground. I called them over 2 weeks ago and they have not gotten back to me.I spoke to the office manager Courtney who said  "Since the gate is out of warranty. I'm not sure what we can do." I stated that if it had been installed properly the gate wouldn't be dragging on the ground. She them promised me that someone would be out to look at it and get back to me. Well neither of this has happened. DO NOT USE this company. They do terrible work and do not get back to customers.

unknown

Apple Fence and crew were very professional.  Some changes needed to be made to the installation at the beginning and they were very accommodating.  The fence was very level and straight and the final appearance was excellent.  I had to have concrete installed to facilitate the installation of the electric gate.  I had issues finding a concrete contractor to do the work since the job was not considered a large job.  finally found one, the concrete was poured and Apple Fence came out promptly when I called and installed the final section.  Some adjustments had to be made with the gate action upon closing and the end results are great.  This is a great  company to  work with and their pricing were very competitive.

Below is what I sent to the e-mail address I was given for the owner of Apple Fence on 7/15. As of 7/19 I've received no response from them to the e-mail. I wanted to give them a chance to respond before posting my review/comments but guess they chose not to.
Called on 6/16 to ask for an estimate on repair work. You scheduled Israel Wheeler to come out on the next morning.
Israel showed up on time, surveyed the damage and requested my e-mail address so he could send a quote. Asked if Apple took credit cards, yep, just not American Express.
I called your office on Thursday 6/19 to ask when I might get the estimate, I was told to check my spam/junk e-mail folders since you were having trouble with your provider. Said I do check those and no e-mails from Apple, gave you another e-mail address on another domain to try, no e-mail the rest of the day.
Called on Friday 6/20 at 3:45, still no quote from Apple, again told to check my spam/junk mail folders, again I said there's nothing in there from Apple. Israel was in the office and was asked if he had sent the quote out yet, no he hadn't but will later on Friday. Got the quote in my regular mail folder at 4:42. Sent e-mail back to Israel with scan of signed quote approving the work.
On Monday 6/23 Israel and I exchanged some e-mails expanding the scope of the work to do more replacement of the fence vs. repairing. Sent back new signed approval at 3:50 on 6/28 and asked Israel what the next steps would be, his response was someone from the office would contact me.
Since I hadn't heard anything from anyone at Apple I called your office on Friday 6/27 asking if you have any idea when the work would start. I was asked if I had sent my deposit in, no since nobody said I had to send anything in. Well, we can't schedule you until we have your deposit, great looks like we lost a week because nobody from Apple called and asked for the deposit. OK, I'll give you my credit card number, fine we can do that but there's a 2% surcharge. Excuse me, Israel made no mention of a 2% surcharge for credit card but since we needed to get this work going I just paid it.
I called on 7/1 to ask if you had an estimated start date yet, given 7/9. Received a call from Apple saying you can come out on 7/8, great I'm ready. Do have any idea about when on 7/8 you'll arrive, yep mid morning.
7/8 arrives and it's almost noon, nobody from Apple has arrived or called. I call your office and told they're on the way, will be there within the hour. Your crew finally shows up at 1:20.
 
Without contacting me to see if it was OK, your crew backs their trailer into my driveway blocking me if I had to get a car out of the garage. Since we didn't need to go anywhere that day we could live with that but it would have been nice if your crew at least asked if it was OK.
Your crew brought their supplies into our yard and started to remove the fence that was being replaced. At about 5:25 we noticed them pulling away, again nothing from your crew saying we're done for the day, what time they'd be back on the next day, just gone. Checked the back yard and it looks like your crew just dropped their tools where they were when it was quitting time, there was a tape measure in the grass and a hammer in our flower bed. After they left I noticed something in our drive way. Upon further inspection we noticed that there was a metal band in the drive, a number of nails, some pieces of wood and a few scrapes in the concrete from their trailer. We cleaned up their mess so we didn't have a flat tire.
7/9 your crew arrives at 9:30 to finish removing the old fence and started digging holes for the new fence posts. I called your office and asked how many days this was schedule for, the board said two days so they should be finished before the end of day Thursday. I said no way based on the speed they were working at. I totally understand that in the heat they were working in breaks
are needed, but I think they might have been excessive. Again they left at 6:30 without saying a word. Again were a bit messy when they left, found a bunch of crackers that they had spilled in the yard along with used water bottles.
 
On 7/10 another late start, showed up at 12:45 and started their lunch, started work about 1:10. Again they parked their trailer in our drive way without asking first if it was OK. It looked like they weren't going to finish that day and told them they could leave their trailer in our driveway overnight if they wanted to. No we don't need to do that, we're going to be done that day.
That didn't happen, they agreed they would leave the trailer in the drive way overnight. Said they wanted to get an early start on Friday so they could finish this up, could they start at 6:30AM, we said that would be OK. So I'm up and waiting for your crew at 6:30 on 7/11, they show up at 8:30.
 
They finished the job, cleaned up the yards and left at 11:35. and of course, our driveway concrete now has more scratches in it from the trailer.I will say the work they did, from what we can see, if great. The only issues is that an electrical outlet that's on our back fence line, which used to be totally in our yard, now has part of it in the neighbors yard. We have a 'good neighbor' fence and it looks like the pattern of panels is reversed from what we used to have causing the problem. If I had to sum up the biggest problem poor communications.
One reason I chose Apple Fence was because my son had work done by them and was happy with the job so I guess you're experience may vary from what I received.

Pros: Apple Fence was timely in sending out an estimator to give a price quote for the job. The estimator was professional and listened to my requests. Apple Fence arranged to have the gas company come out so our new fence line did not affect our gas line. Come to find out, the new fence line did pose a problem. Apple fence went along with our second option (not to extend the fence) and adjusted the price accordingly. Once the contract was signed and partial payment was made, I had to call them in order to find out when they were coming out. No scheduling call was made. Perhaps they didn't expect me to be there, but I wanted to be there to observe the work. The day before the job was to be performed, the company called later in the day to inform us that they would be out the day after the scheduled date due to rain. Understandable.
Cons: The workers arrived on the new scheduled date, but hey didn't have enough materials to finish the job, so they had to return the following day. The following day, I could not be there to see the finished job. Unfortunately, the fence cap was measured improperly. It was supposed to line up and match the existing fence line. The top of the fence was about half a foot too short and the bottom wood rail was 5 inches too long so it didn't line up and looked like an eyesore. I took a picture of the problem and emailed the company. The workers came out the next day. No call was made ahead of time saying they were coming out, so they "surprised" me by showing up in my yard unannounced. We explained the problem to the workers. They looked to us for a solution. I suggested that the "correct" size board be placed on the fence top so it would align with the existing fence as we agreed to during the estimate.  According to the worker, "materials are expensive and the boss wouldn't want to have to extend the board." Instead we compromised and agreed to a makeshift extension to fill the hole where the cap was too short. It looks ok. It was not what I expected or agreed to originally. It will probably look better when it is stained. I was not happy with first results, but they did send out the same crew along with a foreman to "fix" the problem. I would have like to have had it done correctly and measured properly to begin with. The "fix" is better than it was previously. I paid for the final installment, but would think twice about hiring again.

The job was done very professionally from start to finish.  We were quite satisfied with the price and the quality of the work that was done.

unknown

The quotation process went smoothly and we agreed on a rough timeline for installation.  A few delays came up at my end since this is a rental house and I needed to keep the work coordinated with the tenant and neighbors.  Also there was rain on the day scheduled to start, so the crew did not arrive and I had to call the office to find out when they would be rescheduled.   It would have been nice to hear from the office on the day that they didn't end up coming.  On the day when the work crew did arrive, I met them at the house and reviewed my needs with the foreman.  He listened and offered suggestions and we agreed on a plan.  I left and they worked the rest of the day and finished that evening.  I returned the next day and looked over the results and was very pleased to have the work done so professionally with attention to details and cleanup.  I know I could have found someone to do the job for less, but my prior experience with one neighbor and the crew that he selected to repair that fence made me go with an established company like Apple that has done a good job creating a reputation for good work in this neighborhood in Southwest Austin.  They have my business in the future!

Israel Wheeler was my contact person.  He called and we set the initial appointment and showed when he was suppose to.  He returned calls and answered questions.  He was very understanding about my concern about the part of the fence that needed staining prior to install.
After taking several bids, I accepted the Apple Fencing bid.  Best overall bid, not lowest, not highest, but had best input and suggestion, and price/quality balance.  I was given a time range, and I picked up the wood so I could pre stain.  
The job took a little over two days.  I appreciated the fact it wasn't rushed, and the footers were allowed to set properly.  The repair was great, and the gates work great.  I guess I'm biased, but this fence is gorgeous.  I'm finishing the staining myself, but this fence is gorgeous.  Very happy all around.

It went very well.  I was very happy with all the people I had contact with at Apple Fence.  The finished product is beautiful.  I will use
them again if needed and I tell everyone how great they are.
Thank you for finding them for me,
Judy Love

Were there on time.  hauled off old fence except for that that fronted the street which they did the next day to preserve sense of privacy.  Materials were as described.  Steel posts with caps, 3 stringers for more support, welded double gates with double posts to prevent sagging.  I am very happy with it.

ANGIE'S LIST USERS:  Please see my profile and past reviews.  I've written several honest reviews and only had this one negative experience.  I would NEVER use this service as leverage.  It's been very good to me and I rely on it too much.  I mentioned I'd be writing a review only after the rude service I received.    

The estimate:
Both my neighbor and I wanted horizontal fences in our backyard.  Apple?s estimator (Israel Wheeler) came out on several occasions and discussed many options with us.  He was very knowledgeable and friendly.  Their estimate was significantly higher than Viking and Patriot but the owner agreed to come down $250 on the total job.  This still put them higher but we
felt that Israel?s service set them apart.
The scheduling:
We had a Friday start date that got pushed back to Monday.  Monday morning came and nobody showed up or even bothered calling.  We called them and finally spoke to the owner (Brent) who said the job is getting pushed back to Tuesday.  My neighbor explained to him that a landscape company was coming in on Wednesday and he replied ?what does that have to do with me?.  Brent never once apologized and said he felt threatened when I told him I?d be sharing my experiences on Angie?s List/Yelp.      
The work:
The crew (Viejo and others) showed up early and worked hard till Tuesday night.  They came back to finish up on Wednesday morning came but there were conflicts with the landscaping company so they weren?t able to finish my gate. 
Brent called me Friday and wanted an explanation as to what happened.  I told him this is exactly why we were upset that the job kept getting pushed back.  He felt that our landscape company owed money because he has to pay gas, etc for his crew. 
The landscape company also removed a post for the gate that Brent was upset about.  If the job was done on its original date this wouldn?t have been Brent?s problem.  Still, I ended up paying a $75 trip/post fee to have them finish.
The guys finally finished up and the fences look good.  Their crew really did a great job despite their owner?s poor attitude. 
Summary:
If you?re flexible with scheduling and money isn?t an issue then go for it.  Their work was good even though it was more expensive and a huge hassle.  
If customer service is important to you then LOOK ELSEWHERE.  The owner is in the business of customer service yet he lacks any of the necessary skills.  ?What does that have to do with me? is not an acceptable response when I?m paying them thousands of dollars for work.  This was by far one of the most unprofessional experiences I've had with a contractor.

I can't recommend Apple Fencing enough. I called a competitor (Viking) and received a quote for over $1,000 over what Apple quoted for wood posts and $1,200 higher for steel. Perhaps there is a difference in materials, but I am very satisified with Apple's, so even if there is, it wouldn't be worth the money to me. The structural wood is pressure treated and the pickets are 3/4" thick. They came out within a couple of days of my call to do the quote, came on time and were quick and professional. The workers started the day after I paid and finished in a lightning fast two days. The build quality is excellent. I was here the entire time. They dug holes twice as deep and wide as my builder and everything is perfectly aligned  and professional looking. I couldn't be more pleased.

Apple Fence was the 2nd company I contacted to replace part of the fence.  I am very glad I got some bids, because I learned that Apple Fence uses 3/4" thick pickets, not the standard 1/2" that I think almost every other fence company uses.  Not only that, they were considerably less expensive.  Over the years, we have used three different fence companies.  Each company left something to be desired, and none did the quality job Apple Fence did.  With other companies, we experienced:
 
. holes not dug deeply enough, making the fence not stable enough to withstand high winds
. many, many pickets with knotholes in them so that the fence didn't provide as much privacy as it should
. pickets with too much space between them to qualify as a true privacy fence
 
We have always had 6' cedar privacy fences, and this one (Western red cedar) is by far the best quality fence we have ever had.  Not one picket has a hole in it.  It's beautiful.
 
Israel was the employee who came out to measure.  He was very professional, arrived on time for the appointment, and answered any questions I had.  When I called and reached his voice mail, he promptly returned my calls.
 
Before the fence was built, Apple Fence had a company come out to find the utility lines.  They were concerned about hitting a utility line, so they manually dug the holes instead of using a jackhammer!   When the old posts were removed, I
could see that they were sunk to a depth of about 12", instead of 24", and the previous company even skipped pouring concrete in some of the holes, pouring a little on top the ground to make it appear concrete was used.  Absolutely incredible!  No wonder the fence became "wavy" after a couple of years and blew down 3 times during high winds.
 
I was impressed to learn that Apple Fence is an approved contractor for Sun City.  My opinion is that you have to have a high standard to be approved to work there.  I cannot imagine Sun City's allowing substandard work that would reflect in a negative way in such a beautiful area.
 
I have already told people I know about my experience with Apple Fence.  Why would anyone opt for a fence with thinner pickets when they could have something sturdier that will surely last longer.  Of course, I am happy to recommend this company for
the "Page of Happiness."

The installation went exactly as it should. The installers hit a lot of rock (living on Lake Travis you are going to do that) so it took a little longer. I was expecting to get a bill for extra cost because of the rock they hit, but they charged me what I was quoted. That was nice. The fence is good quality, I have no issues and the installers were friendly and did a great job. I will use them again and recommend this company.

unknown

They were very responsive and cooperative throughout the process.

Prompt to come give bid. Followed up on estimate and start date. Work was completed in 2 days. Very happy with quality. Workers were so nice, even worked extra late the second day to make it easier on me. Cleaned up afterwards. Definitely would use again.