Ghale Roofing & Renovations

Roofing
Toronto ON M1K 4P3
Write a Review
Write a Review

HomeStars  >  Fences & Gates in Toronto  >  Ghale Roofing & Renovations  >  Horizontal Fence and Gate
Joanne
Joanne
2 reviews Toronto, ON
6/10

Horizontal Fence and Gate

Our project was to remove an old pressure treated wood fence and have a new fence installed with new post holes, and a gate. Dorje came to view the project and provide a cost estimate and timelines for completion. He was polite and seemed genuine when explaining his teams craftsmanship, his wanting to expand his roofing company and his warranty. Cost estimate was competitive so we decided to move ahead with this contractor.

Dorje kept his word regarding timing of ordering materials and starting the project. Upon commencement of the work however, we felt the Ghale team arrived unprepared to dig the holes for the posts. They seemed somewhat inexperienced. They had to use my husband’s shovels, wheel barrow, etc. as they did not have any augers to assist them with the digging. (They only had a clam shell digger, but we had about 17 posts that needed to be placed, so an auger would have been useful - and faster.) Materials had not been calculated properly, and my husband had to point out measurement issues that would affect the spacing of the posts. It took twice as long to manually dig the holes, and not realizing we had some knowledge of how to do the work, we noticed the team trying to cut corners wherever they thought they could in order to save time and make things easier for themselves.) My husband had to go and speak to the workers to explain process and expectations several times.

When the time came to put the fence boards up, we asked that a small gap be placed in between each fence board. The Ghale team tried 4 times to talk my husband out of what we had requested, as it would have been easier for them to not leave any gaps. We had to provide examples of items they could use as “spacers” – again showing their inexperience with this type of fence.

Overall, we're happy with how the fence looks. 6 stars given mainly because of their consistent shortcuts (and thinking we didn't know any better), overlooking attention to detail & coming unprepared. Ultimately the job was completed to our liking.

Approximate cost of services:
$6,500.00
Was this review helpful?
Company Response

Thank you for your feedback, we really appreciate it and use it to improve our customer experience. Your husband was very helpful and offered for us to use his equipment. Due to unforeseen circumstances our tools were not available during this time but we did have the tools needed for this project and we bought extra for the purpose of this project. Willingly, your husband kindly offered us to use his tools, which was a very kind gesture on his part. The materials procured were not sufficient because of the change and the spacing of the posts gap that was requested by you and your husband. I offer you my apologies if you thought my team was trying to cut corners to save time and money as you mentioned previously. I can assure you we do not cut corners, we treat each client's home with the same respect and integrity as our own. As we were working according to our original plan my team and I had to adjust the calculation, post location, and the entire scope of work to your requests as they changed repeatedly during the entirety of the project. Extra last minute decisions and unforeseen underground obstacles encountered in your backyard, which were not disclosed in the beginning affected the overall project and initial cost. We were very cautious as the project progressed because we were trying to accommodate your requests into the work which wasn't included on the quote. As you can imagine these last minute changes add extra time to the overall project and we were trying to stand true to our timeline discussed at the time we confirmed the start date. When dealing with fence work it’s common for homeowners to often be unclear about the methods used by professionals, which is why we had explained our personal experience with spacing before putting up the fence boards. We were not trying to talk your husband out of what he requested regarding the spaces in between the fence boards. To be clear and explain it one more time for your understanding, the wood used in this case was pressure treated lumber. This wood holds and absorbs a lot of water, it is soaked because of pressure treatment to make it water repellant. The wood is then directly placed on shelves for sale and it’s wet upon purchase. It remains wet for the entirety of the installation project to keep the boards from warping, and then this is usually installed tight against each other, as days or months go by, the sun will evaporate all the moisture in the wood. This causes it to shrink from its original width by 1 eighth of an inch (1/8) which is exactly the size spacer we used. So spacing the fence boards (1/8) before it's dried results in one quarter of an inch (1/4) to half an inch (1/2) space after it has dried up. We were not over looking attention to detail, but we understand every client has their own personal preferences, and ideas when it comes to how they want their project to turn out. We didn’t provide a standardized job for you, instead we accommodated to your own personal requests throughout the duration of the project. We were very open, willing, and accepting of each and every single one of your suggestions because we wanted to make sure you were satisfied with the end result. My apologies if you were under the assumption that it was inexperience, contradictorily we were making sure the fence turned out to your liking even if it meant extra work, labour, materials, and time, as long as you were content with the outcome. We are satisfied to know you are happy with how the fence looks because we went out of our way to make sure the fence was exactly to your liking. Thank you once again for letting the Ghale team take on your project and thank you as well for your hospitality and the snacks and drinks you provided us on a regular basis, we really appreciate it.

Ghale Roofing & Renovations
Dorje Tsering
647-818-4452
https://www.instagram.com/ghaleroofing
ghaleroofing.org