We're looking for anybody who does fence work. I told the gf that I did not have the mental capacity to do such a thing.
We're looking for wood or vinyl fence with posts installed.
Any leads would be appreciated.
'da f**k is dat? SH*T!'
I highly recommend Midwest Fence.
thanks.
Hey you should update us on the experience. I might be looking to get some fencework done soon too.
Tym: Hey you should update us on the experience. I might be looking to get some fencework done soon too.
i will.
it's quite a large project for us so I don't know if it's financially feasible right now. i drunk-counted about 21-6 foot sections with 2 of those being gates.
either way, I'll let you know of any quotes we get.
the whole installing posts thing was a pain in the butt to think about. It's not about just digging a hole and filling with concrete.
I've used those guys many times. Fantastic work.
I recommend a cedar fence if you can swing the budget. Vinyl is typically more expensive. Treated wood fences (the green ones) are the cheapest option but the type of lumber used tends to twist up within the first year or two. Cedar fences will look good for 20+ years while treated generally start to look like crap within 2. While vinyl fences will last forever, they won't look good forever and have a useful lifespan comparable to that of cedar IMPO. One of the reasons I like Midwest is the quality of cedar they use. They stock their own lumber yard and are very good at culling poor quality boards before they make it to your fence. They also use rough-sawn posts which look fantastic. The little extra beef on the timber makes a tremendous aesthetic difference.
Also use hatchet style gate latches. They're really the only ones that last. We all know of shitty fence gates with latches that don't work and mangle your fingers. You don't want that. Most of the major fence companies will build solid gates. You don't need to worry about them sagging like Joe Handy's gate.
Fences are spendy so prepare yourself for the sticker shock. It's a lot of material. 6' cedar privacy fences are on the order of $20/ft and they go up from there. single gates for the same fence are around $250-300.
It's usually a good idea to include one removable section in case you need to get something large through the fence. The fence is going to be there for a long time and who knows what you might want to do with landscaping or other improvements where you'll need a larger access. It's cheap and the sales guy will likely suggest it.
thanks for the info man. I was hoping you'd post your thoughts.
Same Old:Fences are spendy so prepare yourself for the sticker shock. It's a lot of material. 6' cedar privacy fences are on the order of $20/ft and they go up from there. single gates for the same fence are around $250-300.
that's for just the fence, right? or fence and posts (post covers, etc)?
i would imagine the concrete pouring and labor would double that cost?
No that's installed, labor included. "On the order of $20" means you're not going to get it any cheaper than that price but it should be in the $20s for most fences like I described.
They'll have a linear price that includes posts (every 6-8 ft) and labor plus an additional charge per corner (extra post plus labor to put it in). Of course if it's a particularly difficult site the price would be more. Post covers and all the little add-ons usually have a unit price and the sales guy will go over all that with you and you can select what you like and what you want to pay for.
thanks for the clarification.
I'll certainly take what you said about the cedar into account. the girlfriend prefers the vinyl (and she's boss).
now we just have to figure out the best way to get rid of half of the turnaround driveway! oi...not looking forward to that.
Vinyl is fine, it's just expensive.
Do you need to remove part of your concrete driveway?
If so do not even consider doing this by hand. Once you get done busting it up you'll need someone to remove it unless you have a loader and a dump truck. If you need to call the guy with that equipment, you might as well have him tear up the driveway. The time to tear it up will likely be very little. In other words, it's probably cheaper to have someone do it rather than try to save money by doing some of it yourself. This sounds strange but is usually the case when dealing with demolition you can complete with larger equipment.
If you PM me your address I can take an aerial look and give you a more concrete recommendation.
Same Old:give you a more concrete recommendation.
nice pun.
daryllh: thanks for the info man. I was hoping you'd post your thoughts. Same Old:Fences are spendy so prepare yourself for the sticker shock. It's a lot of material. 6' cedar privacy fences are on the order of $20/ft and they go up from there. single gates for the same fence are around $250-300. that's for just the fence, right? or fence and posts (post covers, etc)? i would imagine the concrete pouring and labor would double that cost?
You should totally get a moat (outside of your fence of course). That would be pretty awesome.
rost0031:You should totally get a moat (outside of your fence of course). That would be pretty awesome.
i have thought of that. i got shot down on the corner turret idea.
daryllh: rost0031:You should totally get a moat (outside of your fence of course). That would be pretty awesome. i have thought of that. i got shot down on the corner turret idea.
A bottle of whiskey and a bicycle keeps those pesky Harrys off your lawn.
Immitation is the best form of flatery.
Shot down? By your GF? Well, I see who wears the pants in that castle...
Cooper: daryllh: rost0031:You should totally get a moat (outside of your fence of course). That would be pretty awesome. i have thought of that. i got shot down on the corner turret idea. A bottle of whiskey and a bicycle keeps those pesky Harrys off your lawn.
i'm the court jester at best (at worst if you see me in tights).
I have 3 quotes in my possession from Midwest, Town & Country, and Dakota for about 162 feet of 48" galvanized fence to include 1 single gate (4 ft) and 1 double drive through (8ft). Fortunately for me, the neighbor behind the Palatial Compound (who resides at La Casa Da Norake [doesn't rake his leaves in the fall]) has a bout 40 ft of fence that we will share . All quotes ended up within 350 clams of one another. Prolly leaning towards Dakota but will negotiate between them and Midwest for the job.
The guy from T&C complained more than one time that he really needed to come into my home and discuss the merits of their work. I understand there will be some differences in material, workmanship, maybe warranties..... but he lost after insisting the importance of coming into my home right then and there to discuss how cool they are. I even asked for him to email the quote, he said he would and did (umm...no), and it showed up in the mail being the least descriptive and most expensive of the three.....
Midwest gave me a keychain with an American Flag on it (kudos)
The moat sounds like a better plan.......except my dogs (Canoe and Boogie) will swim dat *** quicker than Mark Spitz. Fence it is......
Kenner. Bass Guy. Beer Drinker. Fondler of Boobies
I worked for Town and Country for a short while and I can vouch for the quality of work they do. My brother in law still runs a crew through them and they do great work.
And Same Old is spot on: for the money, Cedar is your best bet.
The T&C work I've seen has been really good. I just don't like the planed posts and rails they use. I never bothered to call them so I don't know what their sales staff is like. They treat contractors much different than homeowners though so I really wouldn't know anyway. They're trying to get you to essentially sell for them which is much different that the one-offs to homeowners.
I know that T&C's work is solid. All three places I requested quotes from are solid. I'm just gonna compare quotes to make sure it's all apples to apples (as close as possible), and go from there.
I just didn't dig the whiney attitude from the T&C salesguy. I told him outright on the phone when I was requesting the quote that I was getting quotes from multiple places and calling back the two I felt were where I wanted to be. I didn't "make" him come over. My daughter was home sick and I didn't want him or anyone else in my house. He probably felt he needed to close it then and there or he wouldn't have a chance......he doesn't have a chance.........
Kenner:He probably felt he needed to close it then and there
worst sales guys ever.
Having work done on your house is one of the best examples of "you get what you pay for" ever. Certainly there are the companies that throw out huge bids and snag lazy suckers. Excluding those, the cheaper bids are usually cheaper for a reason. There are a lot of ways to cut corners. One of the easiest is to use cheap unskilled labor.
Look at references.
A few hundred dollars difference may be well spent when you factor in the quality of product you're getting for your money. It's similar to walking into an auto dealer and telling them you want a four door car. Then, without looking at the cars, you buy the cheapest one. I get clients that act like I was ripping them off because my bid was higher than some other guy. I drive by and look at the project I lost which looks like crap day one. Oh right their bid was $500 cheaper because they found some 20 year old with a saw and a pick-up truck to do the framing while I hire a crew with 60 years experience between them. But you know, you saved 2% on the cost of a building with a 100 year design life. Now for the next 100 years everyone gets to look at the pile of crap in your back yard. My bad for trying to rip you off. end rant. (rant not directed at anyone in this thread)
Kenner:I told him outright on the phone when I was requesting the quote that I was getting quotes from multiple places
As soon as I hear this, the lead drops near the bottom of my list. Not because I think competitive bids are bad, it's just of course you're going to talk to more than one company. If you're telling me it's because you think it will make me shave my margin to get the project. In reality, unless you have full design specs you're not getting competitive bids, you're getting three bids on three different projects (see above).
I'm still not coming down on you Kenner, just giving you the other perspective.
Same Old: Kenner:He probably felt he needed to close it then and there worst sales guys ever. Having work done on your house is one of the best examples of "you get what you pay for" ever. Certainly there are the companies that throw out huge bids and snag lazy suckers. Excluding those, the cheaper bids are usually cheaper for a reason. There are a lot of ways to cut corners. One of the easiest is to use cheap unskilled labor. Look at references. A few hundred dollars difference may be well spent when you factor in the quality of product you're getting for your money. It's similar to walking into an auto dealer and telling them you want a four door car. Then, without looking at the cars, you buy the cheapest one. I get clients that act like I was ripping them off because my bid was higher than some other guy. I drive by and look at the project I lost which looks like crap day one. Oh right their bid was $500 cheaper because they found some 20 year old with a saw and a pick-up truck to do the framing while I hire a crew with 60 years experience between them. But you know, you saved 2% on the cost of a building with a 100 year design life. Now for the next 100 years everyone gets to look at the pile of crap in your back yard. My bad for trying to rip you off. end rant. (rant not directed at anyone in this thread)
Lots of people are dumb, and that's not going to change.