Flash Fence

UPDATE: 8/5/13

I see the owner comment below and have left yet another message for him to call me back on 8/5/13. If this does not get updated, assume he did not call me back to "discuss the details of this customer's particular issues." The only issue this customer has is the ability for CJ to complete a job and return calls, texts and emails.

Here is his comment:
Comment from C.J. H. of Flash Fence 8/4/2013
I would simply ask that prospective customers refer to the original review and note that in none of the reviews that have been posted about Flash Fence have they said that we installed or built an inferior product. I returned multiple times to address issues that this customer had about the fence. If you are considering using Flash Fence, I would be more than happy to discuss the details of this customer's particular issues, but I prefer not to be drawn into a back-and-forth on Yelp

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CJ returned a little later than planned for staining my fence. I am so pleased I went with the stain, rather than the clear coat. The tint that CJ recommended looks like the cedar after the rain.

So why only 1 star. CJ had done such good work, he bid another job for me, this time exterior painting. I was willing to be flexible because he gave me a good price.

Flexibility on his time is one thing. But he was tight on cash and took a 75% payment after he partially painted much of the exterior, but had not finished the job. I trusted him, since he did so well on the previous job, I felt he had the integrity to return and finish, before the end of May, as agreed. That was on May 8.

June 10, he was supposed to show to finish, and in spite of multiple texts, phone calls with messages and 2 emails, he has not responded. He left most of his gear on the side of my house, including an open can of paint (which is now ruined) and 5 gallon bucket of paint plugged with a dirty towel, and a bin of painting supplies and ladder. There is also some paint missing. There are areas in need of touch up, a missed area on my sofit under the upper roof, and doors in need of completing. There is also a loose fence plank, he was supposed to repair. But I cannot even get him to finish that.

I called one of his references, a large company that refers him for fencing, just to make sure he was still on the grid. After confirming he was still alive and super busy with the fence business (apparently too busy), and a subsequent call he had with that company, I understand he told them he is not a painter. (He used to be a painter before fences, or so he told me). So apparently, this gives CJ a license to not follow through with his business obligations to complete a job. So while he may not be a painter by business and he does good work, he is NOT reliable. Professionalism dictates returning calls, especially on a job you have committed to do. He flaked big time.

I have given him every opportunity to return and finish without penalty or prejudice and he has chosen to not respond. It sounds like CJ may do good work, but his work ethic demonstrates he is flaky and a poor business owner that does not stand behind his word or commitment.

It is unfortunate, because he had done such good work on my fence and had even gained referrals from me. Until he gets a business manager or learns to manage the business with integrity and follow through, I can no longer recommend CJ or Flash Fence.

I wanted to think the best of CJ and give him the benefit of the doubt, but he let me down and now I have to find someone else to complete the job. He offered to paint my house because he did not want what happened to me with the previous contractor to happen again. Then he did the same thing.

You are welcome, Yelper! I know reading this review might save you a ton of frustration. I can tell you that every time we have any sort of strong wind, I have to go outside the next day and fix the fence that CJ put up. It never holds up to any kind of storm or strong wind. I gave him opportunities to come back and even get paid further for repairs, but I never heard from him again. Once he gets paid, he will not return any calls or texts, so if you book him; you might want to secure everything is 100% satisfactory before you pay him and he leaves forever. I wasn't even able to secure this house repair for taxes because he never gave a receipt, even after repeated texts requesting one.

He did a side part of my entire fence and charged me right at $1000 (for a short section). Its been about a year since he put of the fence and I'm sure I have already gone outside and nailed over 100 nails in repairing the fence that keeps falling down. There are also holes everywhere, as parts of the wood panels keep breaking off.

I can't begin to tell you how much I regret ever booking CJ and his personal small company.

Flash Fence was recommended by the neighborhood that I currently live in. CJ came highly recommended in our neighborhood and was said that he did alot of the fences in our area. I got a chance to look around and see that he has done a great job in our neck of the woods. Needless to say, my neighbor and I agreed to terms with CJ since he was going to install our fence. I left all the heavy lifting to my neighbor because he was local to Austin and I had to leave town for business. Since we split the cash for the new fence, CJ has come out and completed the job from the wall to the front of both houses. Though, we were told that we needed to wait some X amount of days to get more materials to finish the project. Needless to say, we paid for the whole project up front - and this fence was NOT cheap.

It has been almost 2-3 weeks after the proposed date as to when he would be out to finish the project. We have tried calling, texting, emailing and / or reaching out to him daily. We have not heard anything from him and even was willing to give him more business on the other side of my house.

CJ has shown to be irresponsible for his actions. nor has shown any pride in his work. He has failed to give call backs and/or updates to this customers. This is horrible business practice and can not run a business like this. I really thought this guy was dead and/or went out of business. But I have taken the time to read his reviews from social media websites and realize he does this alot. He does what he needs to do, and contracts the work to other people and hits the road. Shows up months later when he is threaten and/or in a position that has more cash in his bank.

1. If you are going to do some work for some one, you need to stay in contact with your customers, you would realize most people are understandable

2. If you are pushing people back because you have a dependency issue or have personal issues, please seek help and run your business the right way.

3. If you are running out of cash, then you need to run your business better. If you are really that busy and have that much cash coming in, then there is no reason why your business shouldnt be blooming if you were just responding to your customers. I can recommend many people that can help run your business. Perhaps take a business class at ACC?

4. If you are going to give your number and/or email to people, you need to stay in contact with your customers. I know its hard to balance work and customer service all the time, but if this is to much for you, then you need to hire customer service reps or support reps and/or some one to help you at your office.

5. Social media is the evil empire when it comes to your business. I hate to do this on Yelp, but I feel like you have stolen my money. I have 3 ugly poles in my yard that need to be completed. I have given you ample time to fix this, but after many many calls you have failed to communicate back to us. Social media will crush your business so you better hope that people you work with in the future dont know about computers and dont know how to look you up.

6. Mannerism... Just be a nice guy, finish your work, and communicate with your customers. That is all they want. We all realize that work and making a living with your own business is hard. We all would be very understanding if you just communicated. I know this because I used to do the same as you. I once used to push things off when I couldnt or didnt want too, and I woke up one day and someone told me the same thing. if you just told me you cant, or need more time - people would be ok with it. Ever since I learned to communicate with people, my own business bloomed and no longer had bad reviews.

CJ - I believe in you, I think you do a great job with your business. I would still recommend you to everyone if you just communicated better. Please just tell people what they want to know, its only fair as you have their money. When you take someones money, it doesnt mean you can bait and switch them, you have to complete the work and communicate with the customer. If you are over worked, then look into getting help. Its apart of growing pains and some times you have to lose some to make some. I believe in you CJ, just please realize you need to work harder to get things done. Once you completed our project, and if we dont hear back - I will get this project done with someone else. At that point I will ask for our money back and further action on this project. But if you make this good for everyone in involved and you can get a favorable review on yelp, I will glady remove this post.

Lastly - When my HOA fines me 600.00 dollars for violation of my HOA rules because of a un-finished fence. I will be sending you the bill and/or making sure your company pays for it.

Do us a favor, just get the job done.

We had a good experience, but your mileage may vary.

Out of 4 vendors I called, CJ/Flash Fence was the only one who gave me a quote; it's clear to me that due to the boom in Austin, the fence business is definitely a "sellers' market". Flash Fence's estimate was a very reasonable price, so my neighbor and I didn't hesitate to hire him.

It took slightly longer than we had hoped for the work to begin, but only by a few days; I can't really complain.

The guy he sent to do the work for us was a workhorse, and a very nice young man. He got a 60' fence and 2 gates done in 2 calendar days (but probably 12 hours total). Cleanup was B+ (but not A) effort.

The bottom line is that my neighbor and I are both very pleased with the work that was done.

NOTE: Although my experience with CJ and Flash Fence was absolutely solid, I am not surprised to see 2 negative reviews. The details aren't important, but suffice it to say that during my work with CJ it became clear that I couldn't always rely on him to be responsive to questions or requests. These weren't totally material to the core job described above, so my score is still high).

If someone asked me if I would recommend him for their fence, I would say "Yes, but your mileage may vary."

CJ is a good estimator and salesmen. He is not very good at customer service or following up on phone calls. I had over 650 feet of fence put up. He requested that I pay him at least half up front to get started on the job for materials . I refused, and a big word of advise, pay the supplies and materials guy Upon delivery when it arrives at your property. Like so many before, he will not complete the job unless there is motivation...money! So, I would give him enough for him and his crew for at least the day's pay. The job took 3 days to complete which also included staining front and back. 3 months later, I have two sides of my fence falling down since the posts were not buried 21-24 inches in the ground as promised. I emailed him, texted him, called him and even wrote a letter to him at 2309 Berkeley Ave under his Austin Fence Crafters business in care of CJ Heard. He only answered my phone once when I had the caller id blocked and he gave me his word he would come out and look at it when it slowed down. It's 3 years later and I'm still waiting. So do yourself a favor and spend a little more money on a reputable contractor or spend more time measuring the holes and supervision over your project. I welcome you CJ to fix the fence that I paid you GREAT money for. CJ you are a great guy, but others need to know the truth. Don't fall for the 3 year warranty, what good is it if you don't return customers calls? I'll change my review after you come out and repair my fence.

Absolutely do not waste your time with CJ or Flash Fence. After initially hiring him, he completely went off the grid. It's been two weeks and I haven't been able to reach him even after leaving 2 voicemails.

I was happy to find a company to accept such a small fencing job like mine...until he said they don't do written estimates for jobs that small. Nothing about the materials used, area to be fenced, or completion date. They also book on a first come first serve basis so he would give me a call when he was done with his current job; he wouldn't put anything on the calendar. Looking back, I'm glad he bailed because this is sketchy business anyway. When I hired my new fence contractor, he was much more thorough with the estimate and booking. As a first time home owner, Flash fence is not the kind of place I'd recommend.

DO NOT HIRE Flash Fence! He did not finish our iron fence and left his scraps in our yard. When we called and texted numerous times him to find out when he could finish, make adjustments to the gates that were supposed to be self closing and weren't and ask about getting a written copy of our warranty he never returned our calls or texts. Thank goodness we have an awesome pool builder who sent his own guy out to fix his mess. It's been over a month now and about 4 phone messages and a dozen or so texts and still no response from him. We know for a fact he's returning calls for new business so BEWARE!

Reading the other two reviews on the post makes me feel like we hired a completely different contractor to replace our fence. My only guess is that the 2 reviewers are friends of CJ, the owner of Flash Fence.

After the terrible wind storm blew through Circle C West, CJ gave us a quote a little lower than some of the other fence companies in Austin, but I wish we had paid more as I would never hire him again nor refer him to anyone because of his horrible customer service and lack of professionalism.

CJ told us that he would start our project on a Tuesday and be done mid-day Thursday. He didn't start until Wednesday, working solo without a crew (which he said he had). He promised the job would be done by Friday, and when we arrived home that evening, he had only placed some of the poles in the holes and no pickets were up. He did not even notify us that the job would not be completed. One day during that first week, we arrived home to find that he just didn't show up that day. We called him and he stated that he was waiting on payment for other customers and couldn't pay his crew to come out. Since we already paid the deposit for our job, this excuse did not make sense to us. We had already heard a handful of excuses getting to this point, so this was just one more.

Fast forward about two weeks later, the "final" touches were put on our fence. When we expressed our concerns about the revised timeframe for completing our fence - or any concern for that matter - CJ had an excuse for everything and exhibited very poor customer service. In fact, he got into a yelling match with my husband in our backyard.

The worst part was that we had to ride him at all times and micromanage his schedule just to ensure that he'd do what he said he would do - what we paid him to do. We never asked for anything extra, only for his to put up a new fence. At every turn we had to deal with the hassle of wrangling him into doing what he said he'd do. He acted put out that we were asking him to do what he said he'd do.

When we finally thought we were finished dealing with CJ, we noticed that our sprinkler system was leaking. They hit one of the underground pipes when they were digging one of the posts. Of course they did not notify us of this issue (it was painfully obvious) like a trustworthy contractor would have. Additionally, my husband had asked before work begun about damaged sprinkler systems. CJ assured him that if he breaks it, he fixes it. He would make sure we were happy. It wouldn't be a problem. After waiting one week for him to come out and repair the leak, CJ came out on Saturday afternoon to "repair" the damaged pipe. He instructed us to wait for one hour to test the system, which we did. He told us if it was still leaking to call him and he would come back on Sunday since he would be in the area. When we turned on our system later that afternoon and noticed that it was still leaking - he had not fully replaced the damaged portion of pipe - we left him a message on Saturday, April 20, asking him to come back out. We never heard back from him.

Today is April 30, and he has not returned our numerous voicemail messages, texts or emails. All we are asking is that he complete the job he started. He finally answered the phone today, and when he heard my husband's voice on the line, he acted as if he could not hear him. When my husband attempted to call him back, he did not answer.

We are appalled that CJ will not return our calls since this is such an easy fix. His utter lack of professionalism, honesty and integrity are reason alone to never use his service. But we had worries early on in the project after having to force him at every turn. I have never been inclined to post a review on Yelp in the past, but I wanted to share our experience with all future customers so they don't go through the same frustrations and issues we have. My recommendation is to pay a bit more and go with a different company. The headaches involved with CJ Heard and Flash Fencing are not worth any of the savings you may achieve from using a larger, more reliable and dependable fencing company.

Flash Fence did a GREAT job on our fence. CJ & his crew were very professional & reliable! We are new to the Lakeway area. We used FF based on several recommendations from our neighbors. After receiving 3 fence quotes FF was the most reasonable. We chose FF and our fence was up & complete within a week. CJ answered all questions we had along the way. CJ & his crew showed up on our job every day without any issues. Our fence looks fantastic! I am very surprised to see negative reviews on FF. Flash Fence was recommended to us by at least 5 neighbors who all have been extremely happy with their fences. We would highly recommend Flash Fence!

CJ with Flash Fencing came out as he said he would for our appointment and gave me a price. I have contacted him maybe 20 times and he will not return my call or answer my email. I wanted him to do the work ASAP because my wife has MS and needs a hand rail to get down the steps in the back. She can not go in the back with out assistance. I would not recommend him to anyone. He will not return calls or emails. I will be calling another company to do the work. I have already wasted 4 week. You will be very disappointed if you try use them!