2 solid stars for being on agreed time and contact.
The rest - please refer to photos and video.
At the beginning, I was very happy with Lee - he kept contact, responded to all questions, gave me a quote, and we agreed on the date. Guys started the work, and all looked good.
Then I came after work to see the progress and saw that for some reason, the fence and gate posts are curved instead of being in line like my neighbours fences.
I asked Lee about it and he was trying his best to convince me that the posts needed to be put in place of old posts because of possible legal issues if they are moved - ok, I do believe that I can't have them on the public road but putting new posts in place of 40 years old, damaged and leaning posts? Really, there are no excuses here. Posts could have been moved further into my property, and by using the builders line, make the whole fence nice and straight.
I'm a trade person too, and I have never ever left clients with something like this. I just couldn't take the money for this kind of messed up job.
If you are doing a fence, there are 2 things to do.
1. Make it visibly straight.
2. Make it stable.
In this case, I have only the second.
It is stable but not nicely curved.
And trying to convince me that everything is fine and the gate is straight and it could not have been done in any other way is a clear insult to my intelligence.
If I hire a professional to do a job, I expect professional results. Not everything needs to be 100% straight from the spirit level, but at least make it visibly straight.
I ended up with the most curved fence in the area, photos can't teflect this enough.
When I pointed this to Lee and when he realised that I won't be convinced, he said ' I can't do anything with this now'
Well, you could take them out and make them properly straight.
If my amateur friend was doing this for me, I could forgive easily, but professionals?
After some unpleasant conversation when I said I can't pay agreed price for the job as this is not a good job, I got £145 off from £2145 initial cost.
Still, not happy with the results as I'll stick with it for the next years and I can't do much about it now. It's not a wobbly paint or a plaster which cna be fixed easily but something solid.
I think Lee thought it's going to be an easy and quick job with as minium effort as possible, and I won't be bothered with the straightness of the fence and gate, but I think I have a right to be bothered with this.
Maybe he got used to people saying 'oh yeah, it's all right' but I don't need all right results. I need pro results, that's why I pay instead of doing it myself.
So, with honest heart, I definitely CANNOT RECOMMEND LSB Maintenance.
Amateur job, poor and unfixable results.
I should have stayed with them all the time to supervise.
See the photos.
Just to add - there was no agreement about placing the posts as the old posts were. The agreement was for the new fence to be put on the property grounds. The previous fence was very old, more than 30 years old, and it could not and should not be used as any guideline for brand new installation. I belive that the purpose of the new fence is to make it look much better and definitely better aligned than the old, demolished fence and posts. Also, the middle post, which is now the centre of the curve, was not there when we agreed on the job, therefore in could not have been used as any reference.
As soon as I saw the misalignment, I raised this and expressed verbaly my concerns.
Old and damaged fences should never be used as a reference for a new job.