How Long Is Too Long?

[JMOldeVintage]

Need new fencing out in our field area, time has taken its' toll. Even 10 years ago this would have been something we would have tackled, though probably a bit reluctantly. But as you get even older you become wiser & sorer.  We'd priced out the costs of cattle vs goat vs horse fence, new posts etc. just in case. Our neighbor down the road gave us a recommendation on company they'd used. The owner came by to measure the length, gave us a few suggestions & options last Tuesday. Now of course he has our address, phone # & we even sent him an email the next morning (from his business card) to let him know he could just email the quote & not have to drive all over creation to hand it to us. We consider ourselves pretty laid back & don't want to seem impatient but need the $ quote on the job before discussing company's availability & then how that works into our schedule.

As of today we still have not received an estimate, no call, email - nothing. So how long is too long to wait for a reply/estimate?

[ThePurplePuppy]

We live 50 miles from town and had some water damage to our kitchen floor 4 years ago.  We had several people form different companies come out to give us an "estimate" over about a 3 month period. (This consisted of every single company  from 2 different towns) So far none of them have shown up and the floor is still damaged. We are unable to do the work ourselves, not only because of our age but because this is something we do not know how to do.

What I do not understand is why these people don't simply call you back and tell you --either they cannot do the job--or they simply do not want to do so.

And to answer your question I have vowed from now on to wait only one week and then phone them back and ask or simply move on to another company. (In our case no one wanted to drive that far to do the job--even tho the insurance company extimated a 5 figure payout.) So we are living with a "wavy" floor and probably always will.)

It looks to me like it has been a week since they were there. I would try a phone call and if they do not  call back by tonight with the estimate I would move on--speaking from our personal experience.

[iDoDiY]

My gut feeling @JMOldeVintage is if you have to wait this long for a non-answer to a quote, how long would you have to wait for him to show up to do the job?  Or worse, start the job and then not come back.  Had this happen to me with a painter.  Wouldn't show up to complete a few minor details but had no problem calling me to request full payment because he was going on vacation and wanted the money and promised to finish the job when he came back.  Nope on that one.  That was ten years ago and I still have some of his tools here and the job was never finished.  Wish I would have trusted my gut instead of trusting what he said he would do.  =(

[JMOldeVintage]

@iDoDiY  - The first thing that came to my mind was (seriously) depending on the how old those tools were when they were left behind, they might now qualify for sale on Etsy as Vintage!

@ThePurplePuppy - We're rural but closer to town than you are. But when you get to sit outside in the morning & watch the neighbor's horses kicking up their heels or see a doe with fawn out in your field and the peaceful quiet, oh, the negatives disappear. But yes, the wavy floor is annoying. We find ourselves trying to turn those negatives into little stories that you start with a smile & "do you remember when that happened? but then this happened and then....."

My much-better half & I have decided to give him until the end of the week to contact us - but we will not be calling or emailing again. In the meantime will be going into town later in the week & will physically look at the supplies needed & confirm on-line prices. In the end these old DIYers may be doing fencing. Though it might take us a month to finish at least we'll only have to look at ourselves for scheduling! 

[ElizabethRosenArt]

@JMOldeVintage first I'd ask the folks who recommended what their experience was... that might paint a better picture. We live in the boonies, and have done endless work on this old place for the past almost 20 years. Some people are just like that especially if they are small staffed and old-school. We fenced in 2 acres about 5 years ago, and went through similar. Stayed with the recommended guy. When he was ready, he submitted an estimate maybe two weeks after coming here. Not an emailer. When he was ready, ready, he had a crew here and it was done in a day. That's with posts in cement, and well thought-out deer fencing at the bottom of the property. Stellar work, with the most courteous crew ever.

So I personally would give it a bit more time... I don't know if your weather has been as crazy as ours- so much rain! it sets everyone who works outdoors back a bit and everyone is reluctant to promise anything. 

[JMOldeVintage]

@ElizabethRosenArt  - Yes we went from really hot & dry to hot, constant humidity & rainy overnight. While we would expect changes in actual dates due to weather, we didn't expect it to take this long for a quote on literally one straight line in a field(the newer neighbors with the horses did the other section that needed repairs, which was fine by us).  Plus, oddly enough when we called him to say we'd sent him an email so he'd have that to send a quote to, his voice-mail message said he didn't take voice messages - that we'd have to text him! Ah, but we were calling him from that old-fashioned land line that usually works, unlike our ability to get cell service reliably. I guess we were starting to get an "iffy" feeling after that, but a good idea - I'll call our neighbors down the road & ask a few more questions.

[vlmkpyae]

i would have called him at least 5 days ago to ask if he was going to take the job or not. good luck.

[ElizabethRosenArt]

Hi @JMOldeVintage , how did this story end? 

[JMOldeVintage]

@ElizabethRosenArt - Ah yes, the rest of the story! 

Well, he telephoned the next day & wanted to stop by (we guessed for the in-person sales pitch). We really did have stuff to do but said if he wanted to just drop it off so we could look over the estimate, that would be fine. We mentioned we were leaning more towards wood posts instead of steel but would mull over price difference. We were not prepared for him to say he needed to come back again, to re-measure! 

So, knowing he purchased his supplies at Lowes (we'd checked out our local store after WE had measured length) I said just go with cost on the huge roll of 330' of fencing (this would maybe leave us with about 20 feet extra). He emailed us a quote over the week-end which was much higher than we expected, but, wood posts are more labor intensive (though not all need replacing).

And then to think he called very "promptly" when we didn't immediately reply to the emailed estimate. We decided his services not wanted and sent him a nice, polite reply that "closed the door".

Since then we've had "over the fence chats" with neighbors & friends. We've been offered a air-gun for fencing staples, a sandwich board to help give the fence a bit of a stretch & aid if we need it. So we are considering doing it ourselves, using the early morning hours to replace any posts first & then take our time attaching the fencing. The $$ savings would be substantial & we won't be upset with ourselves if it took a couple of weeks to complete.