No One Should Be Allowed
To Hire A Fencing Contractor
Until They Read This Report!
Quality Control During Fencing -
It's Your Job!
Home improvement squabbles frequently top the complaint lists at the Better Business Bureau. But don't put all the blame for poor or shoddy workmanship on the contractor. Quality control is your job, too.
As the homeowner, you are the boss during construction. Your job isn't to stay out of the way, but to act as a hands-on site manager responsible for quality assurance.
That means overseeing and recording the work, step-by-step. Here's how:
Scrutinize the documentation. Step by step documentation map out the work to be done.
To make sure your job is "built to spec," be sure the documentation comes with specifications.
Specifications are written guidelines that tell how a product should be used or how an aspect of the job should be completed.
Without specifications, the contractor can do what he or she wants, not what you want. Specifications give the home owner tremendous protection.
In case of an error by your contractor, specifications will be an invaluable aid in identifying it."
Pull out the camera or video recorder and document the contractor's progress.
Visual records provide vital evidence in case a problem arises. Pictures can also help solve future problems.
"Take lots and lots of pictures during construction," says Judy van Soldt, a San Francisco, CA-based registered architect.
Hire a licensed professional to inspect the work in progress.
"To me, the bottom line is for the consumer to have someone knowledgeable overseeing a project, such as an independent building inspector. I never recommend that anyone put up a fence without having an independent inspector examine the completed project, says Owen Whetzel, a home improvement and remodeling advice writer in Sunnyvale, CA. "The vast majority of people are unwilling to spend the money, because they can't see the value, until the job has gone wrong."
As work nears completion, look for red flags that
can help you spot problems before it's too late.
"When you were supervising the construction you should have been out there walking around," says van Soldt.
Look for signs of poor workmanship, including loose hinges on gates, standard nails instead of galvanized, and posts and rails that don't appear straight.
For example, when it comes to quality, simply think about the run down condition of fences you have seen in the past. They are generally sagging or leaning to one side. This is the result of the contractor using substandard posts and rails that make up the support structure of the fence.
Just What Does “Pressure Treated” Actually Mean?
This is a critical question and vital for the homeowner to fully understand. You see, just about EVERYONE that calls a fence company wants to know what it’s going to cost. All fencing contractors mistakenly believe that they MUST compete solely on price. If they’re not the lowest price – they won’t get the job.
So in order to offer the lowest price, they quote you a fence that is substandard in nature. For example, most wood is not pressure treated. Wood that IS pressure treated is placed into a machine press with a certain quantity of treated chemicals. The machine press applies pressure and squeezes the chemical into the woods pores. Depending on how long the wood is left under pressure determines the quantity of chemicals the wood “retains.” That’s why pressure treated wood is assigned something called a “retention value.” This is the amount of chemical the wood has retained from the treatment. Obviously, non-treated wood has a 0.0 retention value.
But Here’s Where It Gets Tricky.
Legally, if wood has just a little bit of the chemical in it – say a 0.2 retention value, a contractor can legally say the wood is “pressure treated.” Well, technically it is – but this wood will only last about 18 months before it begins to break down and starts to fall apart. This explains the majority of the sagging and leaning fences you see all the time.
The pressure treated wood you SHOULD use has a 0.6 retention value. This wood will last 15 to 20 years. The problem is that this wood will cost the homeowner an additional 5%. While it is definitely worth the cost, fencing contractors are afraid that homeowners, if they hear the slightly higher price, will go buy from the other guy who quoted the lower price and is using the substandard materials. You see, the homeowner doesn’t know about these differences, and usually goes with the lowest priced contractor.
Another quality issue to watch out for is the size of the posts and rails. The industry standard requires 2 X 2’s. For certain parts of the country where it’s dry and moderate temperature fluctuations, this size is adequate. But here in the Midwest, with our strong storms, damaging winds, and extreme temperatures and humidity, this is asking for trouble.
Our climate requires the use of 4 X 4’s to make sure the fence can withstand the elements over a prolonged period of time. The use of 4 X 4’s for both the posts and rails should help your fence last between 15 and 20 years.