We have had nothing but problems because we hired NW Fence Builders on April 1, 2016 to install an automatic gate run on solar power across our driveway. This replaced a manual gate. We did this mainly because my wife has MS with mobility issues. Once installed, the gate would open 40% of the time. After repeated complaints to NW Fence Builders about the lack of function to our gate, we ended up having to hire another company to fix the job in January 2017. The owner of NWFBs now says he completed the job to the best of his knowledge and abilities. Throughout this entire project we encountered unprofessionalism, poor planning, poor communication, over-promising, lack of follow-through, and lack of industry knowledge resulting in a job that was rushed and poorly done.
Poor Communication - We were always the ones calling to find out the status of the project. Getting someone to pick up the phone at NWFB was a nightmare. Time after time, NW Fence Builders was not onsite at times and days they were scheduled and no one called us. This would have been a minor annoyance except we have three dogs we had to kennel in anticipation of them being onsite. We were given a variety of excuses for their absence: they were working another job, were fired, or weren't getting paid.
Poor Planning & Lack of Industry Knowledge - Much of the work was performed at night without coming prepared with adequate lighting. Whether it was this or not knowing what they were doing, ultimately key pieces of the job had to be added, fixed, or replaced by the other company, such as:
* Added junction boxes over all wiring; stopping weather and dirt from getting in.
* Rewired motor because the wiring prevented the casing from being shut. The motor ultimately needed the panel replaced, possibly because weather and dirt got to it.
* Replaced wheels because the ones NWFB put on fell apart within 8 months since they did not put grease on them. This ultimately was causing the motor to work harder.
* Added safety edges that were left off and are required by code.
* Fixed settings on the motor.
* Fixed the screws along the top of the gate to stop them from rubbing against the roller brackets.
The owner claimed his company was the only gate and fence company serving the South Sound with an in-house electrician. We based our decision to go with NWFB because of this. Most of the wiring was not performed by an electrician. After the job was 98% complete, we were consistently having issues with the gate opening. The foreman thought the problem was with the solar panel not sending enough power to the motor, and it ultimately needed to be hard-wired. He hooked up our gate motor to a charger that required the cover on the motor to be left off from July to September. We did not see anyone from NWFB for the next two months. To us that constituted jobsite abandonment.
We also found out:
* There is a guide roller kit available for many of the parts that were NWFBs said had to be made from scratch.
* NWFB used dull and improper equipment to cut the asphalt thus tearing it up. When they poured the concrete it ran out of the forms. The owner said he would come back to fix this and never arranged a time and date to do so. The track is 1/2 inch too high at one end causing the gate to wear it down.
* NWFB lacked the ability to resolve ongoing issues because they lacked LiftMaster connections and they were going out of business while our job was still in progress.
* The owner is not honest about his ability to complete the job, resource availability, and whether or not he was bonded.
We had to ask several times for:
* The contract, receipt, and invoice. The owner repeatedly said he would send them and failed to do so until we filed the complaints with the Better Business Bureau. He then sent them within a day or two of filing the complaints, although the contract was just a low resolution image taken with a phone. We are unable to read the fine print do to the image quality.
* NWFB to come back and remove our portion of the old fence, during and after which, they left the job site a mess, leaving old screws in our driveway, a couple of which we found in our tires.
* Care instructions for the gate, motor, and wood fencing which we never got.
The owner came out in Sept, at his own expense, to hardwire the motor and clean up the site of rocks left by NWFB. That did not solve the problem. He may not have had to do this if he had trouble shot the issue with the sensors, exposed wires, and ungreased bearings and wheels. We ultimately ended up with a gate that did not work for the majority of a year, broken promises to come back and make it right, and dogs repeatedly escaping, because NWFBs owner was too arrogant to know his limits. read more
