CRAFT CUSTOM FENCE

Jamie is a nice man and thats all I can say about him. He has NO business sense. I should have known when we first received the bid we would have trouble. I allowed him extra time to start the job becasue his son was graduating from West Point. After that it took some time for them to start the job. There were at least 3 different crews installing my fence which took them around 3 weeks. (I was told it would be done in 4 days) Now the Wood gate needs repair becasue it is moving and I cannot get him out here to fix it. One more thing, this man is almost impossible to get ahold of. How can you run a business with it voice mail box that is ALWAYS full. One can only assume, he doesn't want to talk to you. Do yourself a favor, don't use his services.

Although Jamie was very nice and polite, he and his company were very, very unreliable and non-responsive. The project dragged on forever and Jamie would not return phone calls for weeks at a time. The quality of the fence was good, but, the lack of professionalism and responsiveness was completely unacceptable.

Very, very badly. The company was incredibly slow and unresponsive. Repeated promises to finish were made and broken. A huge list of excuses. We finally had to "fire" this company and hire other providers to finish the job for us.

It took forever for them to complete my fence. I have called him several times because there is part of the fence that was not stained. He has not returned my call. There was also a portion of the fence that fell down during a storm. I called him regarding this issue and he will not return my phone call. It is just disappointing. The quality of the fence is beautiful.

VERY FRUSTRATING. ALL TOLD, HAD NEARLY 5 APPOINTMENTS POSTPONED. HEARD EXCUSES FROM TRUCKS BREAKING DOWN, TO YOU NAME IT. BUILT THE FENCE AND IT WAS OF EXCELLENT QUALITY. HOWEVER, THEY ASSURED US THEY HAD GOTTEN THE CORRECT PERMIT TO DO WORK IN TEGA CAY, SC. AFTER INVESTIGATING, CALLED THEM OUT ON THEIR LIE AND TOLD THEM WE WEREN'T PAYING UNTIL THEY COMPLIED W/ THE CITY. WHEN THEY DID, THEY CHARGED US EXTRA. AFTERWARDS, WE WERE STILL WILLING TO HIRE THEM FOR A RETAINING WALL BASED SOLELY ON THEIR QUALITY. EVEN HAD TWO REFERRALS FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD TO GIVE THEM. AFTER MEASUREMENTS WERE TAKEN,I LEFT TWO MESSAGES, ONLY TO BE IGNORED. FINALLY, I HAD TO CALL ANOTHER COMPANY AND THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO COME OUT FOR A QUOTE. JUST WANT TO SAY, ONE OF THE MOST FRUSTRATING ORDEALS. THIS WAS THE ONLY HOME IMPROVEMENT PROJECT THAT WE DIDN'T HIRE SOMEONE FROM ANGIE'S LIST, AND IT SHOWED. I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT THEIR QUALITY, BUT IF YOU WANT TO MAINTAIN YOUR SANITY, HIRE SOMEONE ELSE.

WE LEFT 3 MESSAGES. THEY CALLED TO LET US KNOW THAT THEY ARE VERY BUSY. WE HAVE NOT HEARD FROM THEM SINCE.

IT HAS BEEN ALMOST THREE MONTHS AND THE FENCING IS STILL NOT COMPLETE. EACH TIME THEY COME OUT, THEY DO IT IN STAGES AND THEY STILL HAVE NOT COMPLETED THE COURTYARD. WHAT THEY HAVE COMPLETED DOES LOOK NICE, BUT WE JUST CAN'T GET THEM TO FINISH THE JOB. I HAVE CALLED SEVERAL TIMES TO GET IT COMPLETED, EACH TIME THEY PROMISE TO RETURN, BUT NO ONE EVER SHOWS UP. THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO COME OUT TODAY AT 1PM, AND THEY DID NOT SHOW UP AGAIN.

I CALLED CRAFT CUSTOM FOR AN ESTIMATE AND BOB FROM THE COMPANY MET ME THAT DAY. I RECEIVED THREE ESTIMATES ON THE JOB. THEIR PRICE FELL IN THE MIDDLE; HOWEVER, THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE WAS SUPERIOR. THEY HELPED ME CUSTOMIZE THE FENCE TO MEET MY NEEDS. BOB CALLED SEVERAL TIMES THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS FROM TEAR DOWN OF THE OLD CHAIN LINK FENCE TO THE COMPLETION OF THE NEW WOOD FENCE.

DURING QUOTE PROCESS THEY CAME OUT AND EXPLAINED WHAT WORK WOULD BE DONE, WERE VERY PROFESSIONAL AND PROVIDED GOOD ADVICE AND EXAMPLES OF WORK. SIGNED CONTRACT ON 7/14 WITH 3-5 WEEKS GIVEN AS CURRENT BACKLOG. HURRICANES IN FLORIDA DELAYED DELIVERY OF GATES FROM SUB-CONTRACTOR, TOOK A WHILE TO COORDINATE WITH ELECTRICIAN (WHOM CRAFT RECOMMENDED) TO INSTALL ELECTRICITY FOR GATE OPERATORS. WEATHER PROBLEMS OBVIOUSLY OUT OF CRAFT'S CONTROL, BUT THAT SHOULD OF DELAYED THE PROJECT ONLY ABOUT 2-3 WEEKS. PROJECT FINALLY COMPLETED 10/12. QUALITY OF WORK WAS GOOD, QUOTE WAS THE LOWEST OF 4 I RECEIVED AND WE ARE SATISFIED WITH THE END PRODUCT. JAMIE IS EASY TO WORK WITH AND MAKES GOOD SUGGESTIONS ON STYLE AND COLOR. THE ONLY FRUSTRATION WAS GETTING THE PROJECT FINALLY COMPLETED, RECOGNIZING THAT A GOOD PART OF THE DELAY (HURRICANES DELAYING DELIVERY OF FINISHED GATES) WAS OUT OF CRAFT'S CONTROL.

I ASKED HIM TO E-MAIL ME THE PROPOSAL, THIS WAS MONDAY MARCH 22. HE TOOK MY E-MAIL ADDRESS AND SAID HE WOULD GET IT TO ME. AS OF THIS DATE, MARCH 27, I STILL HAVEN'T HEARD FROM MR. CRAFT REGARDING THE PROPOSAL PRICE. I LEFT A VOICE MESSAGE ON HIS MACHINE TO CALL ME AND HE HASN'T RETURNED MY CALL. THIS IS MY ONLY CONTACT WITH THIS COMPANY AND WILL BE MY LAST. IN THE REPORTS THAT I SAW ABOUT THE COMPANY THEY ALSO STATED THE RESPONSIVENESS WAS POOR ON THIS COMPANY. HOW DOES HE STAY IN BUSINESS?

JAMIE PREMAKES ALMOST EVERYTHING IN HIS SHOP AND THEN COMES OUT TO INSTALL THEM AT ONE TIME. IF YOU HAVE A COMPLICATED DESIGN, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU REQUEST TO SEE ONE FINISHED PANEL PRIOR TO HIM MANUFACTURING THE REST, JUST TO MAKE SURE YOU BOTH ARE ON THE SAME PAGE. HE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PRODUCE DRAWINGS. BE SURE YOU DISCUSS HOW YOU WILL HANDLE YOUR LANDS ELEVATION BEFORE HE PUTS IN THE FENCE.

WE HAD TO INITIATE MOST CALLS WHEN THEY DIDN'T SHOW UP AT THE 4 WEEK ESTIMATED START DATE AFTER OUR 40% DEPOSITE WAS PAID. WE HAD TO CALL THEM 3 TIMES TO GET EXACT START DATES (WE HAVE DOGS). THE FABRICATION WAS A COMPLEX CUSTOM JOB, THEIR MATIERIALS SUPERIOR TO EXISTING, BUT TOO MANY EXAMPLES OF 'MEASURE ONCE CUT TWICE.' THE TOP-RAIL LINE OF THE NEW PANELS DID NOT MATCH THE OLD IN 4 OF 5 SECTIONS, BUT THEY COMPLETED THE JOB, ONCE STARTED, IN PROPER TIME AND CLEANUP WAS GREAT. SERVICABLE, DURABLE, BUT NOT CRAFTSMANSHIP. THEY WERE FRIENDLY AND BUSINESS-LIKE. BOB WAS A GOOD CONTACT AND FOLLOWED UP AFTERWARDS.

WE WERE VERY PLEASED WITH THE PROFESSIONALISM OF THIS COMPANY. BOB GRISWOLD, THE SALES PERSON WE WORKED WITH, WAS VERY RESPONSIVE AND PROVIDED A DETAILED QUOTE AND OFFERED GOOD SUGGESTIONS. HE REMAINED INVOLVED THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS TO COORDINATE THE JOB. VERY COMMUNICATIVE AND EASY TO WORK WITH. THEIR CREW DID A HIGH QUALITY JOB, AND WE LOVE OUR NEW FENCE. A BIT ON THE HIGH SIDE OF THE QUOTES BUT WORTH IT.

THEY WERE ABLE TO BEGIN CONSTRUCTING THE FENCE WITHIN TWO WEEKS OF MY CALL, AFTER ANOTHER FENCE CONTRACTOR REPEATEDLY DELAYED THE SCHEDULED WORK.

COMPANY IS TOP-NOTCH. THEY STARTED THE WORK WHEN PROMISED EVEN THOUGH IT RAINED, REINFORCED ADDITIONAL POSTS AT NO EXTRA CHARGE, OFFERED GOOD SUGGESTIONS ON THE PLACEMENT OF GATES, COMPLETED THE WORK WITHIN THE STATED TIMEFRAME, HAULED AWAY OLD FENCE (ANOTHER COMPANY TRIED TO TELL ME THAT BFI WOULD HAUL IT AWAY), AND THE OWNER CAME BACK TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING WAS RIGHT. FROM THE PROFESSIONAL PROPOSAL THEY SUBMITTED TO THE FOLLOW-UP AFTER THE INSTALLATION, THEY ARE A COMPANY THAT SETS THE STANDARD FOR QUALITY.

JAMIE, THE OWNER, IS VERY COMMITTED TO QUALITY.