I hired Lee Watkins Fencing and Decking to upgrade 3 decks to composite, replace 2 wood pilings, and some exterior trim. Initially, Lee seemed knowledgeable, provided a reasonable estimate, and anticipated it would take 10-14 days to complete the project. None of this was true. I paid Lee 50% upfront for labor ($7,000). When I returned from the holidays in early January, Lee had made minimal progress. I noticed insufficient amounts of concrete around bases of the replacement pilings, causing unevenness with the existing concrete. Lee also used undersized bolts which were misaligned to secure the pilings to the deck. Lee reassured me that he would address my concerns, but he did not. Although nominal work had been completed, Lee requested an additional $1,500 to pay his employees on 01/05/26, which I paid him. I left again for a few weeks, assuming Lee would have everything completed by the time I got home. However, upon my arrival all 3 decks were still unfinished. Inspection of his work revealed the spacing between the composite decking was highly irregular, flashing was missing, structural support was incomplete, and exterior trim was removed exposing my townhouse to the weather. Two of my exterior A/C condensers had also been blocked up and left suspended. Lee also left $8,000 worth of cabled railing system in clear view of the street and exposed to the elements (for more than 6 weeks). The job site was consistently left in poor condition, with trash, nails, and debris scattered around. I spoke to Lee about my concerns regarding the prolonged timeline and the quality of his work. He became defensive and walked off the job 2 hours later. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I reached out to him regarding his plan to complete the contracted work. Lee shared abundant personal issues preventing him from showing up for work and claimed he injured his back and was unable to work for an additional 2 weeks. At this point I requested a partial refund of the $8,500 I had already paid him. Of course, he refused to return any money. Review of Ring camera footage showed Lee and his crew were onsite for a total of approximately 11.5 hours in 2 months, often working just 2-3 hours/day if they even showed up. Closer inspection of his work I discovered that Lee had also damaged cooper tubing to both of my exterior AC condenser units and destroyed a $250 stainless steel hose. Subsequently, I had to contact several contractors for bids to complete the job. Most advised removing nearly all of Lee's work and starting over. Overall, this was a highly unprofessional experience marked by poor workmanship, lack of accountability, and failure to meet basic project expectations. I would not recommend Lee Watkins Fencing and Decking. read more

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Do not hire Lee Watkins! I made the mistake of hiring him to rebuild portions of my fence and paid him in full upfront. He completed part of the work with clear defects, left other portions unfinished, and never returned to complete the job. Over several months, I contacted him six times to come back, fix clear issues with the work, and finish the job. Each time, he said he would return--and each time, he failed to show. When I raised concerns and provided photos of the problems, the interaction escalated and included a threatening statement, which I documented. I ultimately had no choice but to file a small claims case. The court ruled in my favor and ordered him to reimburse part of the payment and cover court costs. As of this review, that judgment remains unpaid. Between the defective and incomplete work, repeated no-shows, and the need to pursue legal action just to recover a portion of my money, this was a costly and time-consuming experience. Even if the price seems appealing, save yourself the nightmare and don't hire Lee. read more

We had a portion of our 34-yr old fence fall into our neighbor's yard. Since they have dogs, we wanted to replace it as quickly as possible. I called Lee Watkins, and he came out the very next day, took the measurements, and gave me a solid price on the spot. No hidden charges, no added fees. He was able to get started right away and finished everything within the week. I walk down the street behind my house and stop to stare at the fence because it looks so good. Seeing the quality of his work for us, I would definitely recommend Lee and his team for your woodworking project. read more

Do not give him money before the work is done!!! We hired Lee Watkins to work on a rental property in Navarre. We live out of town and after trying a couple small projects we gave him a few big ones. Huge mistake! We asked to do the jobs in a specific order but he starts everything at once instead of one at a time. He is unable to do any of the work himself so he hires anybody he can find that is cheap even if their work is crappy too. Constant delays and excuses with requests for more money until he finally abandoned the work with nothing completed. He started a deck remodel in June 2022. Removed the deck and used the excuse of rain every day for 3 months. Then, walked off the job in September without any notice leaving nothing but the exposed joists. Claimed he knew how to do bathrooms. Entire sheets of tile fell off the wall intact. Tile lines are crooked with 1/8 to 1/4in offsets from the wall even after buying the tile system. He tried to get out of moving the shower drain so the shower pan would fit flush against the wall claiming it was too difficult. We added a 2in pvc to fix it. Took 5min, because he never tried. Kitchen subway tiles were crooked. Installed a sink that leaked. Midway through the job he complained the guy he hired was arrested for drugs then brought him back to work in the home. Hire Lee Watkins at your peril! Pics are the deck the way he abandoned it with nothing but joists, the tiles that fell off in full sheets, the leaky drain we had to fix, and the impossible shower drain we fixed with a simple 2in pvc. read more

I would give Lee Watkins Home Improvement no stars if that were even an option. This guy is shady. Last summer, he and his crew built a privacy fence around my house and a picket fence in the front yard. The project lasted from the end of June to mid- to late July and I couldn't have been happier ... until all the problems started showing up. In October, I realized he or someone on his crew never nailed the bottom of the picket fence to the posts on one side of the house. I have a large and powerful dog, and she could have easily gotten out. Lee said he personally went along each side of the fence to make sure it was secure, and instead blamed the painter. But there were no holes in the posts - WHICH MEANS THEY WERE NEVER SCREWED IN. He had also said he'd come back to do some minor fixes on the perimeter fence, which he never did. For example, instead of removing an existing chainlink fence at the side of the house, he just built around it. I had to remove the fence myself, and he never returned to fill in the roughly 4-foot gap (which I had to cover with a big piece of plywood). He also only nailed boards at the bottom of roughly one-fifth of the fence, and said he'd come back to do the rest. Not a sign of him. Meanwhile, before I started noticing all the problems, I hired him to do some handyman work. This was in early September, and I wanted to get them done before I left for a 6-week-long trip. The work included building and installing screens for my back porch, installing an enclosure around my air conditioning unit, and installing molding in my bedroom and bathroom. He set the posts for the enclosure and nailed in the lattice on one side, then said he'd come back to finish the rest of it. And he did the molding, which he said he wouldn't charge me for. I paid for the work he'd already done, and foolishly paid him in advance for the work he was supposed to complete while I was on my trip. Six weeks later and ... nothing. Meanwhile, some of the glue or adhesive or whatever material he used to secure the molding to the floor seeped out, leaving big sticky blotches all over my bedroom floor. Sometime in October, after I came back from my trip, Lee finally came back with an envelope full of cash (minus the cost for installing the molding, which he apparently decided he was going to charge for after all). But ONLY AFTER I THREATENED TO TAKE HIM TO SMALL CLAIMS COURT. The last straw came in early February, when a roughly 10-foot section of the privacy fence blew down. Granted, it was after a strong wind storm, and it's a tall fence. But there are houses all along this street with 8-ft. fences and none of them were damaged that I could see. He said no fence is guaranteed against such strong winds, but the contract clearly states that all work - including the fence - is guaranteed for one year. But he wanted to charge something like $400 to come back out and fix it. I hired another crew to fix it instead, and come to find out the posts weren't dug deep enough, and some of the boards weren't nailed into the posts! Lee and I exchanged a rather heated series of texts when I asked him to reimburse me. I would include the whole exchange here, but he used vulgar and sexist language that it wouldn't be appropriate. But just as an example, he wrote to "go f*** yourself ... those posts were 2 ft in the ground." Know what the industry standard is digging holes for an 8-foot fence? 2 1/2 to 4 feet. Which means any time there's a strong wind storm now, I have to worry about another section of the fence blowing down. One last thing: When the privacy fence was being built, he claimed the contractor had someone lined up to clear debris from the area. I don't know if that's true, or if it was part of Lee's job to do that. But he charged me $400 for that alone. That's in addition to the thousands of dollars I'd already paid upfront. Do not hire this man for fencing, handyman work or anything else. You have been warned. read more

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Went with Lee because he could put up a fence at our new home in Crestview on our required timeline and his price seemed reasonable. He came out, gave us the estimate, and started work on schedule. That, was the good news... Now for the bad: It seems Lee has only one other person he works with regularly, the others are friends of friends with questionable work experience. One nearly had heat stroke or a heart attack on my property because he was so out of shape. The next guy they brought in was given control of power tools he apparently didn't know how to use... not that you'd know that given the shape of the rest of the fencing. The pickets were put up crooked, with large gaps between them. The fence posts were cut with a circular saw and even then, those were completely uneven (some had cuts in them from having the first cut being too low). Their attempt at a nail gun makes me think they tried to do it with a blindfold on a dare. They overlapped pickets on top of each other because they miscalculated the spacing. And to top it all off.. less than one year later, it's falling apart. So, if you need something done fast and relatively cheap, call Lee. BUT.. buyer beware, you get what you pay for. My fault for not knowing better and not inspecting the work more thoroughly, I guess I trusted the "professional" too much. read more

Thank you to Lee, Chris and Bryce for the great fence they installed this week at my home. Their price was the lowest of five bidders, work was done efficiently and completed in a timely fashion. Highly recommend. In fact, neighbors who saw their workmanship requested bids! read more