Hired this crew to fix some metal fence posts that were coming up out of the ground. The price was very fair and they did a good job!

Per Cook County Public Records, Custom Built Fence has been involved in a civil suit, with a Karen T (I am redacting the last name, but it matches the owner's name on the certified letter I was sent) listed as a representative of the business. Edit: to be clear, I am stating this as to why I believe the "Karen T." who contacted me through Yelp (who has no reviews but has posted oodles of photos to this business) is not a random stranger, and is, in fact, associated with the business. This means business employees contacting me after I asked they not. I'm not going to be snarky and point out that all the conversations between Jan and I were posted via screenshot, by me. Including Karen's unredacted email. I posted about my experience and added the facts so others may judge for themselves. I included unedited screen shots, Jan commented with edited copy/paste data. Use that to determine what you will. End edit. I am being contacted, again, after I requested they leave me alone. To Jan, Karen, and Custom Built Fence - I request that any further communication be through your lawyer (as stated in the letter). I refuse to allow you to intimidate me, and maybe you'd have been able to offer a reasonable fence repair estimate (under $23k) if you weren't wasting $7 to send me a certified letter threatening to sue me. Or maybe not. read more

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They are eager to come out for sales and installation. However, it's nearly impossible to get them out for repairs. Their claim of a "lifetime warranty" is worthless. Nothing but excuses and dates and commitments not met. read more

I give them 3 stars because the work that was done was 5 stars. Well built, looks nice, work crew pleasant and clean. Cost was reasonable, The interactions with Karen, who appears to be sales/business manager, is 1 star. Every interaction was unnecessarily confrontational. She was blaming me because my emails were going into her spam box. Never gave me a timeframe when the contract had to be signed and when I returned it 3 weeks after I got it, then I got a nastygram that "you waited a month and you can't expect the supply cost to be the same". Then I was "taking up space in the yard with these supplies" when I had a delay in HOA approval. In general, working with Karen was very unpleasant. She is rude, every communication could have been handled in a professional manner but was not. If they hadn't been the only reasonable quote I had gotten and if I wasn't under pressure from the HOA to replace the fence, I wouldn't have given them the job. Perhaps if I had been local and met with her in person, things would have been different, but I live out of state and needed a fence in my Palatine property. I was nothing but nice in my interactions, needing the fence done and saving my feedback on how I was treated for after the transaction finished. I was never thanked for my business, I was an annoyance. Will never use them again unless they get a better front of house team. read more

My fence is exactly what I wanted. Karen helped us plan it out and I could not be happier. Everything went smoothly. They knew how important it was for us to get it up since we moved into a new home with no fence and we have two dogs. As soon as the material arrived they put in the posts late one afternoon and it was finished by the next morning. read more

Custom Built Fence & Deck - Fence backyard - Fences & Gates Near Me - Mundelein, Illinois

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I stand by my original review. The rep did not come prepared, and we went with a competitor. Also, it's amazing how few reviews the people who gave five stars to Custom have. read more

My 2017 house project is landscaping. And if my backyard is going to get a makeover I figured it was time to replace the rusty old fence that I've been planning to replace since moving into our house 4 years ago. I used Request a Quote on Yelp to contact a majority of fence companies. Within a few days I was inundated with new fence friends and had a few of them come to the house for quotes. Karen from Custom Built Fence & Deck was one of the companies I chose to give us a quote because she was very responsive and said she could swing by without me having to even be home. Score! We ultimately decided to use Custom Built Fence & Deck because Karen's quote was half the price of all the other companies (the rest were similarly priced). Karen was also super helpful in determining what kind of fence material we wanted. After we decided to move forward w/ her she came back to get our platt of survey and deposit. My husband ended up meeting with her briefly and said she was very nice. Within a few weeks later they showed up to replace our fence. Knocking down the old fence and putting up the new fence took an entire day- they were very hard at work. The finished product looks much better and now of course I'm wondering what took me 4 years to do this. I'm hoping this fence lasts us a long time, but many years from now I would use Custom Built Fence & Deck again. read more

Karen was prompt, arrived as scheduled, was very personable, and helped us think through all the angles to figure out the solution that was best for us. The price was a good value for the area and the work was completed in one day and looks fantastic. The look of our backyard is greatly improved with the addition of the fence they installed. Karen made herself available for any and all questions and responded right away even though I'm sure it was an extremely busy time of the year for them. There's room for improvement in the appearance of business documents and communications (could use some polish and updating), but what was there got the job done and got it done quickly! We're very happy with the materials, installation, and with the overall experience with Custom Built Fence and we would definitely recommend them to others! read more

Custom Built Fence & Deck - Fences & Gates Near Me - Mundelein, Illinois

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Updates: A few days after the review was posted, finally heard from Karen on 5/13. She told me she would come out to look at my fence, and then send over her findings etc in an email, which I never received. She then reached out to me again of 5/16 wondering why I never responded (although the last text message was from me, stating I would await her email). I sent her the screenshot that I had been awaiting her email. She wanted me to confirm that I received her husband's response to my Yelp review (which I hadn't seen, he responded on yelp and I didn't get a notification and wasn't monitoring the account). I then looked at it, although I do not agree with them. They are of the opinion that I did not stain my fence properly as I did not stain it below the ground, and allowed water to wick up through the wood from the untreated edges accelerating rotting. (When they installed it, they did verbally tell me I needed to wait a year to stain it to allow the wood to weather, which I did do- The fence was over a year old before I stained it). They sent me an article with various passages highlighted from the Wisconsin department of Forestry regarding how to treat wood with copper naphthenate prior to installing the fence. Which I obviously could not have done as I did not have access to the wood prior to installation. We emailed back and forth where they wanted me to confirm I received their responses, which I did, they stated "in good faith it would be food for me to remove negative post due to the fact that your facts on maintenance are not true." They wanted permission to fix the fence with a 3 post repair- I told them 3 post repair means nothing to me, I needed more details. At this point, we had been emailing back and forth with no resolution so I started to look elsewhere and get additional second opinions. Every company I spoke to believed it was an installation issue, so my husband and I weren't sure if it was even worth the effort to have them replace the fence as we were likely to need to replace posts again at some point because presumably we'd run into the same issue again. Eventually we decided to let the company do whatever they planned to do, with our expectation that we would use another company in the future if anything further happened. We emailed them on August 10th to go ahead with whatever they intended to do to repair it. They then responded that we took too long to decide and they were busy then and it would take 8-10 weeks, which is fair. On Oct 14th, I reached out stating it'd been approximately 8 weeks and did they have any updates on timing. She stated they'd try by the end of the month. On Oct 23rd I reached out again as the end of the month was coming up. On October 23, they said my negative review was still up and they would not come out to do any repairs unless I removed it. I emailed them back that there's no reason to remove it if they haven't actually done what's promised. "If you guys refuse to come, then we'll hire someone else and update the post accordingly. If you do what you promised, I'll update it then." per my email back on October 23. I then received another email stating I ruined my fence with my improper treatment and they needed to know if I received the materials sent to me. I gave up at this point, and had a different contractor set up to come out to repair as I was concerned the ground would freeze and I'd have to wait till the spring at this point. Surprisingly to me, one morning I was woken up by banging noises in my backyard and 4 new posts were getting installed. They came and left in about an hour, no one ever knocked on my door, I did not receive any notification from Karen or the business that anyone was coming in advance nor did I ever hear from them following. until this past Mother's day weekend. They emailed me on 5/13 while I was working and several times on 5/14 telling me to remove my review as they fixed my posts. I'm not going to remove an honest review. It is officially updated as per my October 23rd email. To be fair, I should have updated a long time ago. I had a baby during this process and forgot about it over maternity leave. IN SUMMARY- My fence broke within 5 years of installation. I believe it is related to improper installation, they believe it is related to an act of god/improper fence staining. After months of back and forth and telling me I had to remove my negative review they eventually repaired most of the broken posts and my fence is vertical again. Go ahead and make your own opinion about their quality and the warranty. I do have new posts. Communication still sucks. Would never use again. read more

I was referred to Custom Built by a friend of the owners. We had just purchased a home and needed a fence to be installed in a small window of time. A. We needed to provide safety for children and dogs. B. We were going out of town soon after. C. Winter was fast approaching. Karen was great to work with from the beginning. Very honest, great recommendations, communication level was superb. Once we agreed to move forward with the work, and by the time the association approved, the weather conditions changed drastically. Record snow fall, soggy yard, made things complicated. Karen's recommendations were spot on during this time, thinking more about our needs and preserving our yard. The crew was able to come out and get the work done at just the right times, and the weather didn't impact their quality of work or our yard. In the end, we received an outstanding product, at a very competitive price, and worked with some of the best people in the process. You can always choose one of the "big guys" for a job, but we found working with Karen & John as well as their trusted crew was a way better experience. It was more like working with family rather than a contractor. We absolutely love our new fence, and we would highly recommend Custom Built Fence and Deck to anyone. read more

Custom Built Fence & Deck - Fences & Gates Near Me - Mundelein, Illinois

This company was willing to build the exact fence we wanted. While other contractors wanted me to pick from brochures of typical fence designs, Custom Built Fence lived up to their name. Karen (aka The Fence Lady) took my plans and vision and sourced the best materials. Javier and his crew were professional and skilled. We still have beautiful views of the pond to the back of our property and privacy where we need it. The end result is a custom fence make our back yard retreat complete! Thank you everyone at Custom Built Fence. read more

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Hired Custom Built to build us both a deck and a fence. The lines of communication were always open. We are very happy with how we were treating the results! read more

I had 3 quotes to put vinyl fence in my backyard on a very large lot. Custom was the most thorough and professional of the 3 by far. They wanted my business but were never pushy. This was a large job and Karen answered my wife and I's every question and assisted with the permit process. When installation day came around, the workers hustled and did a good job. Large job was swiftly completed in 2 days. read more

Obtained many quotes for ~225 linear ft. of western cedar fence, Custom Built Fence & Deck beat the other companies' prices and delivered the shortest turnaround/installation time. Their team knocked out our fence in one day. Happy customer! read more

Very professional service. The new fence was up and the old fence removed in one day. Quality workmanship and materials. Very competitive pricing. read more

Custom Built Fence & Deck - Scalloped picket in Buffalo Grove. Excellent work. - Fences & Gates Near Me - Mundelein, Illinois

Can't say enough good things about Karen or her crew! It's not often that the company with the best price and best customer service can also get the job done the quickest! We cannot imagine anyone else doing this project. Karen took care of everything from step one and her crew was polite, tidy, and efficient. We have already been telling everyone that this is the right choice for their needs, too! read more

Custom Built Fence & Deck - Fences & Gates Near Me - Mundelein, Illinois

Im sad to see some of these reviews ... and find them hard to believe. I worked with Karen years ago to repair some posts after a really bad storm. I was so happy with price & work that when I needed a almost full replacement, I scoured thru old files and reviews to find her! Found her! We could not quite swing a full replacement, so Karen worked with us to get what we needed to get us through the winter (and a lot longer!). Her team was great, she was great, fence is great .... We won't use anyone else. I should also note that it is almost impossible to get a call back from some of these contractors (we are looking to replace doors and windows too). From reaching out to Karen to finish, the whole process took about 3 weeks. Highly recommended. read more

Rating a business on how well they do, under perfect conditions, is a no-brainer. The true test of a company's value, is how well they perform when faced with complications on the job. First off, we had a week of extremely bad rain and flooding, which caused a backlog and huge logistic problems for them. We also had trouble locating the property markers, avoiding a storm sewer line and some dead trees, which were in the way, had to be removed. So, the 2 day job lasted several days beyond what we had hoped for. But, in the end, we were delighted with the results. Even as we pressed them on time constraints, they were professional and accommodating. In fact, we were shocked to find the crew, rather than going home, after finishing other jobs, showing up at 5 PM and working tirelessly, until after dark, to ease our anxieties. Karen and John came out and listened to all of our concerns, prior to beginning work. Our garden was not trampled, our neighbors were not inconvenienced and our fence is absolutely beautiful. I contacted 4 companies with my specific needs. Custom's bid was very competitive and that would have been enough for me. But, I selected Custom, because I like people that I can work with and Karen and John are great people to deal with. So, yeah, how can you lose? Good owners/managers, skilled crews, good pricing and a good response to adverse weather conditions and time constraints. Bottom line, Custom Built Fence & Deck was my selection and they are your best choice. read more

It was a pleasure working with Karen for planning, and impressive watching the crew build the fence. There were many details to consider, including the removal of existing fences, avoiding underground utilities and size and placement of gates. All concerns were addressed efficiently and accurately during both the planning stages, and during actual construction. Thank you!! read more

We were so lucky we called this company even though it looked like they might not serve our area. Karen was amazing-no nonsense, professional and focused on providing a great product and great customer service at a reasonable price. The crew guys were the nicest, most efficient, affable guys you could want to meet. We were amazed how fast and well our fence went up-despite several quirky tress and vines in the way. Honestly our neighbors are all suffering from a case of fence envy now. Once I get around to it I will add photos because it truly transformed our yard for the better. read more

Very poor experience and communication. John wouldn't come out unless deck was his "ideal" size. Anything smaller than "ideal" has a 2k fee racked onto the price. Already high prices as it is. Glad you and your company think you are too superior to pick and choose based off budget size. Stay away!! Bad way to run a business. read more

I called because everyone on here says Karen is great (and I even told her that was mostly why I called them). First time I reached out was on April 30th and sent some pics of the damaged gate. Didn't hear anything so reached out again and was told they were backed up and she asked for my address. I assumed that meant someone was coming to take a look but here it is May 14h and I still don't know anything. I understand that companies get busy and I'm happy to be patient I would just like to know what's going on or if I should call someone else. read more

John and his crew exceeded all of our expectations with our beautiful new deck. John took our ideas and worked hard with us during the planning stages. He listened to us, answered our questions and created an awesome deck. His crew were respectful, responsible and hard working. They were always friendly, answered our questions and would review the upcoming work to be completed with us. We would highly recommend Custom Built Fence & Deck. read more

Karen and her entire team were FANTASTIC! First of all, Karen is super down to earth, and honest. She will tell you exactly what the job will include, she will make suggestions to help save money whenever needed....She is super flexible with scheduling and VERY Responsive, you can reach her via email/text/or call anytime.....They worked with us to get the right fence at the best price and we couldn't be happier. We had a huge property to fence in for the dogs (2+ Acres) and they took such good care to come up with the best options for us...The installation team were super sweet, very nice, very hardworking, the seemed to never take breaks and did a fantastic job. They even worked all day Saturday in the rain to get the job done. I would highly recommend Custom Built Fence to anyone.. read more

Karen and her team were great to work with! She was able to come out and give me an estimate within 24 hours of the request, was very patient as we were still in the process of closing on our house and had a delay in getting the survey, and very communicative throughout the whole process. We would recommend Custom Built to anyone we know looking for a fence - the process was a breeze and our fence is beautiful! read more

We contacted Customer Built in March/April for a fence quote and a deck quote (with the priority being the fence). Karen and her husband came out for a quote and were tremendously thorough in their evaluation. Our lot seemed unique in that we share a lot line with 4 other houses. 3 of those 4 houses have fences, while the other neighbor had an eye sore in our back yard. We wanted a fence put up on the 4th lot line and two gates put up to enclose the yard. I was convinced that it would be best to put up a privacy fence which was not what we originally wanted on the 4th lot line. I have no regrets with that decision. They came back with lowest quote and the fence looks great. However, there were some mishaps along the way: 1) the fence was originally marked for the front of the house instead of the back, 2)Shortly after, when i reached out asking about next steps I was informed that the fence was installed. When i did a double take on the yard to confirm there was no fence, Karen did communicate that her team got caught up at another job. 3) After the fence was put up, our neighbor liked our fence and asked if we would be interested in extending on the property line further (and partially replace their fence in the process). I reached out to Karen again asking for a quote to extend the fence and never received the quote. I followed up once or twice to no answer. 4) After the fence had been up about a month one of the standalone posts on the gates settled incorrectly causing the gate to not lock. We reached out asking for remediation and someone was supposedly sent out to fix the issue but it was not fixed (they may have looked at the wrong gate). We reached out a few more times but the issue was never fixed. 5) More recently I noticed there were about 3-4 consecutive boards in the fence that were missing a nail on the lower portion of the board. Overall, I don't have a huge issue with the fence, but there were some things that could be improved upon. Edit: I was reached out to as a result of this review and John and his crew came out in a matter of weeks to re-mediate the physical issues. I appreciate their attention to the matter. Thank you! read more

John and his crew did a great job on my fence. I spent several months researching and getting quotes and I'm very happy with the decision! It was a pretty large job and they got it all done in 1 day. read more

Scheduled a time with Karen to get a quote for a fence. She didn't show up and I never received a call as to why or to reschedule. I followed-up with a voicemail that was ignored as well. Moving on to another fence company... read more

It took the team TWO DAYS to build my fence. I couldn't believe it. I just bought my first home, and a big reason I bought it was so that my dog would finally have a yard of her own. Leonard ended up getting my fence done 4 days sooner then he'd originally estimated. He even said he did it because he wanted me to feel like my dog was safe in her yard. Great work, guys! Bowie is very happy. read more

I collected bids from 5 different contractors. Most were highly capable, knowledgeable and I'm sure they could do the job. But I've been around construction my whole life and I know a pro when I meet one. John is a pro. He knew his business, knew what would go into my design and project, gave a solid quote and his team got right to work. And work they did - efficient, professional and tireless, they showed up every day on time and knocked it out. No lazing around, no dirty work site, no wasted effort. They were considerate and hard working with an obvious love for what they do. The quality was top-notch and the end result everything I hoped it would be. In the deck is beautiful, the details all take care of and I can't say enough about the quality of this crew. They come with my esteemed recommendation. read more

This is my second time using Custom Built. The first was 24 years ago- we put up a scalloped fence in our backyard. Though the years, if a post was wobbly or some boards needed replacing, I'd call Karen and she would promptly help me get it repaired. Well, this week we decided to replace the fence with a new style. We still had a few years left, but wanted to close the gaps with a solid fence and wanted to replace before it was dire. Karen and her crew did it again! They took care of obtaining the permit and making sure JULIE paid a visit before starting. Pricing was fair, clean up was great, and fence is beautiful! Thank you for being there then and now! Obviously, I'm a customer for life! read more

We had a great experience with Custom Built Fence and would highly recommend them! I had received 4 different estimates for our deck and John was extremely thorough, worked within our budget and our timeframe. The home we purchased was a foreclosure and unfortunately they had let the deck go for many years. My husband demoed the deck and CB rebuilt and made improvement along the way. John answered his phone every time I called and explained everything in detail, there were no surprises. I did have to check out the work each day to make sure things were exactly what we wanted and each time we had a change, they were happy to oblige. Our deck is gorgeous and it turned out better than expected! read more

Excellent service and craftsmanship!! We couldn't be more happy with the superior level of service Karen provided. She was so helpful, honest, and communicated with us every step of the process. The crew did an amazing job removing the old fence and installing a new traditional style cedar fence. We have received many complements from friends and neighbors. Would highly recommend Custom Built to anyone. read more

Great quality work again. My third installation in 20 years. Very responsive clean and friendly crew. You will get a real custom installation. Many neighbor compliments and requests to who did the work. read more

Custom Built Fence, Inc. is the only way to go. After meeting Karen for the first time, we knew we wanted to do business with them. There are no hidden costs and a very honest person. When you see the name Custom Built Fence that is exactly what you are getting, a custom built fence. Their staff also needs to be credited for all the hard work and dedication they put into it. They did a fabulous job in installing our beautiful fence as well as removing and cleaning debris. Very pleased and would highly recommend them. read more

Custom just put in a 6ft board on board western cedar fence in our backyard and it turned out 100% as we expected. Karen was extremely nice, and patient with all of my questions. She made sure the crew followed all of our instructions and requests. The quote was very competitive to the others we priced out, and the work was great. The crew was fantastic and I would recommend their work to anyone. read more

My experience started with a soft knock on the front door...it was Karen. She said she saw "baby stuff" through the window so she didn't ring the doorbell in case the baby was sleeping. Made me like her right away! She went out back and did her thing- came back in with some fence style options and told me she would email over some quote options in a couple days. I received the quote as promised and her pricing was very competitive. She was a good communicator when it came to establishing an install date- we had other projects that needed to be completed first, and the weather did not always cooperate. She checked in with me on a Monday morning to see if the fence could be installed that week- they showed up on Wednesday and got right to work. They removed 250' of very old chain link fence and installed a new 250' board on board, red cedar fence all in the same day. We are very happy with the finished product and would recommend anyone looking for a new fence to contact Karen! read more

I moved to a new , but older house. It had some things to work around including an older garage gas lines , a broken down fence etc I was expecting a challenge getting reasonable bids but Karen responded quickly , took my measurements and basic drawing and did an estimate immediately. The price was competitive , not the cheapest but lower than several of the big places. I wanted to stain the posts a different color and Karen agreed to send the post first and then work out an installation date. The entire thing went off without a hitch. I had flexibility on dates from them and that allowed me time to get other prep done. I had to travel for a funeral the day the crew was scheduled here so I met them first thing walked the layout and left. When I came back 3 days later it was done exactly as discussed. They had cleanly taken down the small section of neighbors fence , and even though I told them they didn't have to move the extra dirt from the holes , they still did a nice job of smoothing it out and putting it in some low spots they noticed. It was a nice touch. I was really impressed w the work and the experience. I don't recommend lots of things but this is an easy one. I'm really pleased w the finished product. Nice job. read more