Advice w/ bad fence installation

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try2diy

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Joined
Apr 17, 2007
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I had a fence installed by what I believed to have been a reputable company. The allowable heights are pretty standard in this region, and he put it in so tall that my neighbor had a fit.

He lowered the fence, but dropped it to soil level. This after telling me that it cannot be near the soil as it will hasten the rotting of the fence. He never filled in 6 of the post holes and left the excavated soil on fence panels, and on the sidewalk. None of the corners are the same height. On one side he placed the fence 5" from the sidewalk but at the other end its 10" from the sidewalk; noticeably skewed.

He told me that the panels are wood and have no leeway so he cannot make the sides level, and he said that there is a required setback from the sidewalk - one end being closer to accommodate the tree. I contacted the town and they said there is no such rule.

I have stopped payment, am very angry, and am filing a complaint with the dept of consumer affairs.

Any addl advice?
 
If he used prebuilt panels. If the yard slopes in any way the fence will often have steps in order to keep each panel level. If that's the case and you wanted him to keep the top level, he would have had to cut the bottoms to fit any slope and should have been desgussed before the job was started. You always want your fence to be straight or square to something. sidewalk, property line, house, so if a set back for a tree was need, he should have at least done the same both ends. Some panels come with a treated green 2x6 on the bottom. This wood be alright to dig into the dirt a bit for leveling and it helps stop the fence fron sagging. A lot depends on the panel design that you have.
 
Pictures would help. But it sounds like the Contractor should have brought a few things up before installation and that maybe you should have made sure he knew what you wanted. I believe the biggest problem between Contractors and Clients is communication ;)
 

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