Duramater Industries LLC

My guess is that John had some decking wood left over from another job and decided to use that in order to save some money instead of the 6' untreated cedar pickets that were specified on his bid. When I finally brought this up with him on the phone a couple of weeks ago, he didn't dispute it. It has now been more than three years since the fence was installed, and he has not fixed the problem. He is presently not returning my calls. It seems clear at this point that he doesn't plan to provide a permanent solution to the fence so the gate will close. In addition, on his bid, he specified the installation of 3(4x6) posts. However, he only installed 2. A couple of months ago, he stated in one of our phone calls that he had come over to the house when I wasn't home to look at the fence. He made some kind of adjustment at the time, and he blamed the problem on the fact that we had some recent rains, which he said made the fence section with the gate lean over thus hitting the cement footing. (Why had this not happened to the other fence in a different part of our yard, obviously exposed to the same rains, which has been there for 20 years and is made from 6' cedar pickets?!!) The bid was submitted on July 19, 2010, and the work was done sometime in early to mid August, 2010. The cost of the fence plus another small repair on an existing gate was $689.80. The small repair on the existing gate was done properly. However, I feel that the $650.00 I paid him for the new fence and gate was a total waste of my money. I plan to call the Better Business Bureau in Albuquerque to give the same feedback. When I questioned him last time we spoke by phone a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the weight of the decking material once again, and he stated that he had told me at the time the gate was installed that using decking wood was an "upgrade". That statement is false. What he said when I questioned him was, "It will be sturdier, and I always make fences that way". In the last three years, I have called a couple of experienced contractors as well as a building specialist at Lowe's. All three individuals unanimously stated that a fence should not be constructed from decking wood because of the weight of that material, and that it should have been constructed of cedar pickets if that was what was specified on the bid. I am not sure at this point how much it will cost to have a qualified professional repair or redo this fence. My experience with Duramater Industries has certainly been unsatisfactory and well as extremely frustrating. I will never use this company again. I have given John Welp three years to make this right, and he has failed to do so.