Hulme Fence/ActiveYards

As in the past the experience with this company was overall great! Matt stopped by to give me an estimate for the fixes that I needed for the original fence this company had installed. After few weeks Luke the installer showed up and he was very professional, explained everything that he was doing and everything got fixed and installed correctly. I will definitely use this company in the future.

I don't always review a company right after a job as there true colors usually come out when you have a problem down the road. Hulme Fence was the fence company that installed our Fence through Home Depot about 5 years ago. If you go to there website they state 30 yr warranties but evidently this didn't apply since they were contracted through Home Depot. There was no talk about how another company was being used to install using the name Hulme Fence and I actually spoke to the owner John on several occasions during the installation. When the guys arrived and the materials were dropped off one of the guys immediately began cutting off about the bottom 2 feet of the posts. I asked him why he was doing that and he said they do this all the time in the city and it's fine. I should have contacted John the owner I guess but I didn't and let the guy do his job. Most of the fence is fine which is why I didn't give them an F but a couple of posts have slowly began to rise over the last few years. After doing some research about installing fence posts, I believe this is due to the freezing and thawing in that section. I contacted them and they asked me to send photos which I did but they emailed me back saying it wasn't due to improper installation but they did say "This is a ground issue where a frost heave pushed the post up". Well, If the posts were not cut off at the bottom and installed below the frost line I don't believe the posts would have lifted. Regardless they replied that they would come out for $300 to take out the post and put it back in correctly. Why should I pay for this? I already paid over $6000 for this fence and all the posts should have been installed correctly the first time. They claimed the installation was done through another company they were working alongside at that time but regardless Hulme Fence was my contact. I guess they didn't like my email back that I'm sure my negative review wouldn't affect their business as they never contacted me back and if I have to pay to have it fixed I'm certainly not going to pay the company that honestly I feel should fix the problem. One other thing that put a sour taste in my mouth with this job is even after telling the guys to be extremely careful around my wifes grape vines one of the guys for whatever reason decided to cut off a cordon which was very upsetting to my wife. There was never an offer to replace this plant or anything from them. Oh, and they also installed the one gate swinging the opposite way I asked them to but they said I would have had to pay for the new gate as they already screwed it in and the holes were in the wrong side so I was tired and just left it but now when it snows heavily I have to climb over the front railing and walk to the back side of the gate to dig out the snow or I can't open the gate from the outside. If you have to stand over workers every minute and micro manage them to make sure they do the job correct the first time you might as well higher labors and do the job much cheaper yourself.

unknown

Excellent work, prompt, professional, very good communication

The process went very well. Brad did an excellent job of explaining our options for styles of fencing and pricing. Mike and his installation team did an outstanding job and completed the work in a single day. We highly recommend Hulme Fencing and one of our neighbors already hired them to install fencing.

Jake came in twice to meet with me to measure the length of the project and to provide me with quotes. He was always polite and professional and responded quickly to any online inquiries. Their price was similar to other quotes I got but after adding a second gate to the project and Hulme Fence honoring the 5% off Angie's List coupon I felt like I got a decent deal. They gave me a call on 08/26/2015 and we scheduled the installation for 09/01/2015. On that day a crew of two installers stopped by and installed the fence in one day. I had to point out few issues like spacing between the gate door and the gate posts but overall they did a good job of following the grade of our yard. I contacted the company on 09/09/2015 to point out few issues with the gates and few missing u-channels and the company owner stopped by on 09/12/2015 to inspect the fence. He installed bigger screws on both latches and after measuring one of the gates he said he will come back with a new gate because the one that was installed was crooked. About a week later they came back and installed a new gate.

We had some difficulty with scheduling and we kept calling to obtain some sort of time-frame - to no avail. After discussing the possibility of canceling with the blase and rude office rep, we then received a call from the owner who said he could be here "tomorrow." The inability to use a calendar or time management skills, and/or to explain that they were over loaded with work and also explain the fact that they were also down a few people due to injuries or health related matters, are the only reasons for the "less than average" grades given above. Otherwise, the work they did was GREAT! Despite the miscommunication going on, and fear of telling people about delays due to reasons beyond their control, they were well worth the wait. We are very pleased with the new fence, it looks fantastic, and we will definitely hire them in the future.

John, the owner, sent some of his employees. They were extremely late, but very courteous. When they were done with the job, we were told that two of the footings didn't exist. One employee showed us two aluminum poles that he said were not set in concrete, and he removed them easily by just pulling them out. Later on, after they had left, we found the two footings they had left. We had to place the square block tiles we were installing to extend the driveway as best we could around the round footings. I understand this was a very small nuisance type of job, but really? He didn't see the footings in the loose soil? It's a bit of an inconvenience that we will have to deal with next summer when the ground thaws out again. No biggie, and yes, we'd hire him again with extra "clarification" on detail.

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great service provided by Jake and his team. Fence installed quickly and cleanly. Would definitely use again

Hulme Fence was good about coming out to provide a quote and providing the details the work would entail. But once I had signed and provided my deposit. The company's communications became very poor. The office never responded to any of my emails. And I never heard back from them at all when they would be available to come out to install my fence after the quoted require time they needed to order my material. It wasn't until 1.5 months later after multiple emails and a couple of calls did I hear back on a schedule date. Due to my vacation timing, installation on my fence wasn't scheduled to start until 2 months after I received my quote. On the day of the fence installation, I was told they would arrive at 9AM in the morning. Never received any communications they were running late until I called them. They didn't show up until 2PM. The installation went well. However, due to them measuring wrong I am 1 panel and post short on the picket fence and the crew did not have any extras pieces on hand to install. I'm once again working with them to finish my fence and the communication is poor.

John contacted me right away. He came out on a Saturday morning and put together a quote. I asked several questions and he responded within minutes to an hour. After the visit, my husband and I went to the active yards display store to see the product. We even took our dog to see if the pup could squeeze through the pickets. John was great. The two gentlemen who installed the fence were polite and efficient. They worked very h****** an unusually hot day and made quick work of the job. We had an issue with a spot between the chimney and fence post where the pup could squeeze through. John sent some of his guys out and they fixed the problem. Great crew. I would use them again.

I had gotten a few estimates. The goal was to keep my cats safe in the backyard so the fence needed to be tight and low to the ground. Close to objects it was not attaching to, and high enough so the cats didn't dare climb it. I had one guy out gave me an estimate but didn't write it up well and if I added or subtracted options I couldn't get what the price would be. When Hulme fence guy came out he walked the property with me. He understood my needs he explained what could be done and what could not be done. He gave different options and explained the price differences. He wrote it up outlining what we had spoken about and drew it on the proposal. This Initial meeting was what made the difference between Hulme Fence and others. I'm not saying others didn't come out and do some of the same stuff, but Greg from Hulme Fence made that process easier. I got a call the night before they were going to come out. It had rained the day before and they were not quite finished with the job. I thought for sure he was going to delay now a week or more. But he said they were just going to be an hour later than they had expected. What? Calling to say you may just be an hour late? Nice!! When they did get there they went straight to work. Poles were going up faster than I had anticipated and this was really happening. I explained to the workers that this was for the cats and they understood perfectly. I'm still not sure how they got one of the poles so close to the house without damaging the siding, but they did it and it looked great. Ok. SO was everything perfect? No. The crew didn't finish so they needed to send a second crew out. A bit disappointed. The second crew was different than the first. So if there was things to correct they felt like they were "fixing" the first crews mistakes. Don't get me wrong they were happy to fix them and did what they could to make me happy. Near the end I was pointing out some of the items that I felt was not quite right. The pole to the gate needed to be closer together as there was too big of a gap. The fence top was uneven and one part looked bent. The manager came out took a look and said, "you are right." He himself fixed it and it came out very nice. He even pointed to some scuff marks that he said he would come over and cover up one day that he's out and about. I haven't seen him yet. So it's actually been some time now with the fence up. It must have been the 2nd or 3rd day that we had opened it up for our cats when I found one just outside the fence. :( he had crawled under the gate and had gotten out. I was told that the gate couldn't get any lower or it would not open/close so I am not blaming the fence guys. I did have to put a block of wood in front of the gate to prevent that from happening again. The cats are having the best of time running in and out of the house and getting the fresh air and sunshine and avid hunters at night. Here's hoping that they don't find anything and bring it in. Hulme Fence was not the cheapest nor the most expensive but they did the job and some extra and I would recommend them and use them again!!

John replaced 6 rotten posts and caps on a leaning fence, in freezing cold weather, in 2.5 hours, with new pressure treated posts and the fence is now straight again and looks great! All the panels were able to be salvaged and reused and just one section of the top lattice had a little damage to it that they screwed back together. They were punctual, very nice, and had the best price out of everyone called...they didn't even ask for half up front. Great job guys, thanks!

My husband and I fell in love with the persimmon fence sold by active yard. We shopped around and received quotes from multiple companies and found active yard to be both reasonably priced with a quality product. Unfortunately that was the only thing positive about my experience with this company. I should have trusted my instincts when the salesman showed up late for our scheduled estimate but they are great at apologizing and making empty promises. Among the negative interactions I had with multiple members of the staff were attempting to go to the showroom to see the product in person during published business hours and it was closed. I was told that only 1 person worked there and it is difficult to provide coverage. My Angie's list request for a quote went ignored for over a month. The salesman admittedly did not like working in sales and left to become an installer and my quote was then misplaced by the company. After complaining about their lack of responsiveness I was contacted by the owner. He asked for 1 last chance to make things right and stupidly I schedled another home visit for which he did not show up for. He blamed his admin who turned out to be his wife for not managing his schedule well. The receptionist told me she "knew nothing about the fencing business". Again giving them the benefit of the doubt I still went ahead and hired them. They proceeded to leave debris in my yard on several occasions and admitted to urinating in my yard after my 2 sons and I witnessed an installer disappear into the back corner of my property (I would have let them use my restroom but they never asked). I will say that in the end certain installation issues were brought to their attention and they made adjustments per our request. Please do yourself a favor and ignore the friendly demeanor of the staff and hire another company.

I would highly recommend that you use Hulme Fence for any upcoming project- I plan on having them back in the spring to replace the cedar fence on the other side of the yard.

I called for an estimate and the owner came out very quickly. We measured out the area to fenced and talked through all the options he was very good at providing helpful suggestions. We had gotten multiple quotes and his came in toward the low end. The job ended being for about 350 square feet of vinyl covered chain link and three gates. Our yard was very hilly so I was concerned it following the topography to avoid gaps to keep the dogs in. We set a date for after the frost thawed out with the understanding that depending on weather it may need to be moved back. Since we were still have freezes at the time we had scheduled we ended up moving it back twice. Both times the owner stayed in communication with us to let it know how it went. On installation day a team of 2 showed up, walked through the job with me and began. Took 2 days total and they did very good job following the hills, there were no gaps and fence looked great. They did a walkthrough at the end and we did have to have them come back once as they didn't install a tension line as per the original agreement, but the came back the following Monday and completed the work. Only one minor complaint was that we found quite a few of the wire ties in the yard that we had to clean up afterward. Otherwise we are very happy with the fence.

Contacted the provider twice about an estimate, never responded. Looking for another provider. Seems that this is the case of the majority fencing providers. Maybe the job isn't large enough for them to be bothered. Will look for another provider, one that is professional enough to respond with a yes or no.

John was a pleasure to work with and his team did an truly outstanding job! I received one other estimate from another fencing company that I had also found on Angie's list. I contacted John mid-week and he agreed to meet with me on Saturday to accommodate my schedule. He was prompt, answered all of my questions and gave suggestions. I never felt rushed or pressured. Before he left he gave me a detailed estimate for 3 variations of fencing. He was extremely easy to work with and i really enjoyed his sense of humor. His estimate was lower than the other so I chose to go forward with John. We scheduled a date for the install, approx two weeks out. I had emailed him a couple of times with questions and he always responded promptly. His team arrived early on the day of installation working 7am-2pm without breaking. All were very professional and pleasant. They did an excellent job and cleaned up after themselves when finished. The fence looks great! Thank You Hulme Fencing!

John was absolutely amazing to work with. His estimate was fair, he was personable, knowledgeable, and responsive. I would 100% recommend him to friends and family.

There is something to be said about obtaining multiple quotes for any contracting job. A. Different points of view; B, Different expectations; C, Different quality; D, Different warranty; E. Different lead and completion times; F. Different pricing. We expected and planned for these differences when we wanted to replace our 10 year old, 160' long, stockade privacy fence. We knew we wanted to remove the old fence ourselves to reduce the cost (est. $350) of having the new fence installer do that part of the job and remove and dispose of the resulting residue. We quoted five different local companies for essentially the same style and color of vinyl fence. The quotes ranged from $4500 to $5800 and most wanted an up-front deposit and had lead times from 2 weeks to 2 months. One of the lower priced vendors, Hulme Fence and Deck, from Methuen, MA., quoted 1-2 weeks on fence materials from a national manufacturer. This manufacturer offered a lifetime warranty/guarantee on the fence material which is transferrable to any new property owner and the 'pickets' are fully interlocking, rather than just toung and groove, butted edges and are assembled 'on-site'. We felt this made for a stronger design which would better resist stong winds which sometimes sweep our property. Their design also includes an aluminum "I" beam stiffener in the lower section which further adds to the overall strength of each section. We awarded the job to Hulme and they arrived the following week as promised and installed our new fence in one rainy day. Due to dimensional differences in the posts, from cedar to vinyl, the completed fence was over 2 feet shorter than the original, wooden fence and quite noticable. The difference was so visable that the company Hulme, agreed to make up the variance at with no increase in cost to us. The result was a professionally installed fence which completely met our expectations. We do not hesitate to recommend Hulme for your next fence project.

They're a contractor for Home Depot. We dealt with a sales person employed by HD who was prompt, knowledgable and courteous. He answered all our questions, pointed out various quality levels, advantages of each, etc. and gave us firm quotes for the job. some weeks later - we were in no rush - a 2man crew appeared about 9 AM and did the work. They were great to have here. Both very hard workers who wasted no time and appeared to enjoy their work. They left the area "broom clean" around noon.

John at Hulme Fence was a pleasure to work with and did exactly what we were looking for. The wonderful workmen that installed our fence were not only efficient, our fence was put up in 1 day, but they were also very helpful, respectful of our wishes, and thorough. We look forward to saving up to have John and his crew back to redo our back deck! Definitely recommend Hulme Fence!

He dug holes and cemented them, which had not been done during the last time that we had the fence put in. He was an independent contractor for Home Depot. We went around pricing and we used him. Although, we had used another fencing company in the past to put up a fence we did not want wood fences this time and their vinyl fences were a little high and very expensive. So, we contacted Home Depot and got Mr. John Hulme. We decided to add an extra length to the fencing and so, he will be coming on Monday to put in the length. The work was guaranteed for life and we loved that especially because it was transferable. The price was reasonable. It was fine and there was nothing to complain about. We did not have anything to do with them too much. He cleaned up. They weren't standing around or chit chatting. They went about the job quickly. They came in and did the job. We loved the fence. We weren't up there interacting with them or anything but observed from a distance. We wanted to put in another length as we wanted to go one length further. So, we had to wait to order the length. We never said that everything was perfect and so, we would not give them the highest rating but we would give them a good rating. Their price was good. They weren't the lowest priced but there were other things that they were good at. They probably had the style of fencing that we liked and they gave us the life time warranty. So, these were the reasons that we chose them. The price range was good. They were in the middle of the road in terms of the pricing. The quality of their work was good. He was good in terms of his responsiveness and he was easy to contact when we had questions. We are not sure about their punctuality as we don't get up that early. We would recommend them.

I like Hulme Fence & Deck Inc. They were very professional and polite. They quickly got the work done. I've called them to come back and make an adjustment and they haven't done that yet. The price was fine.