Our experience with this company was terrible. I cannot in good conscience recommend services from this company at all. Where to begin. We were given an estimate for removing and replacing our fence which was acceptable, however not the lowest bid for the project. The entire reason we accepted DSA Contractor's bid was because they could start the following week (the estimate was conducted on a Wednesday, they indicated they could start on Monday) and they promised the project would be completed within four days. This is where the difficulties began.
DSA Contractors was supposed to start on Monday. My husband took the day off from work, as they indicated they would need access to the garage, as well questions regarding the finer points of the project. DSA Contractors arrived around 1pm, dropped off some equipment in our garage, left and never returned that day.
A three man crew arrived the following day, and demolition began. Prior to the removal of the old fence started, we walked their supervisor around the perimeter along our neighbors yard, and marked where their waterline was. Despite having done this, the crew carelessly dug through, and broke my neighbors pipe. Obviously, he was quite upset both with us and the company. It is currently three weeks after the fences is "completed," and my neighbors water pipes remain damaged.
On the third day, despite having promised that demolition would be completed and fence posts up by the end of the day, nobody came to work on the fence. They arrived at 5:30pm to drop of the panels for the new fence, and promised to return the following morning at 8:00am. I had taken off work on Wednesday and again on Thursday, as they indicated they had questions about the perimeter of the fence. A crew of four arrived on Thursday, the fourth day, at 12:30pm. They finished removing the last of the posts, however they indicated they could not begin digging the new post holes, as they did not have an auger to drill the holes. The supervisor promised his "whole crew" would be there the following day, Friday, and "it will be done by the end of the day." The following day, a single crew member arrived, and attempted to dig post holes, again, without an auger. We were given the excuse that "we are busy at another job...I am supervising many jobs, my crew is needed there...I didn't say it would necessarily be done in four consecutive days" Or "the crew had to go on a home depot run." This home depot excuse was a common excuse, and used to explain 4-5 hour absences when questioned.
This pattern of not showing up, or having one man present on the job, continued for the next eight days. When we questioned the lack of progress and presence on the project, we were met with anger at our questioning, and given a lot of lip service and excuses "the car broke down... my crew was on another job... we had to go to home depot for more tools." I am still confused as to why trips to home depot, which is approximately 15 minutes away from our house, require 4-5hours. Additionally, on each of the following eight days, we were promised "it will be finished by the end of the day." Many times we were promised "my whole crew will be here tomorrow" however, only one crew member was present the following day.
In addition to the project not being completed until well beyond the date estimated, there were multiple times the supervisor wished to increase the price. He indicated he needed more money to pay for taking the old fence to the dump. After a week on the project, the supervisor indicated he had "miscounted" the number of panels he needed, and asked for more money for the "extra" panels. He indicated he had miscounted the number of panels because we were extending the fence. The extension was discussed at the time of the estimate, and at the time of the estimate the supervisor indicated the extension was included in his estimate.
It has now been three weeks since the fence project was completed. Our neighbors water pipes remain unfixed, DSA contractors has not replied to any of my husband or my calls, nor my neighbors. As such, my neighbors have decided to go forward with a liability suit for his water pipes, meaning we have to cover damage done by DSA contractors. This is a mess.
The one reason this company deserves a star for this project is because it looks as though the quality of the fence is decent, albeit not great. However, unless you want the headache of unnecessary accidents, raised prices, lip service and false promises, and a much lengthier project time then promised, do not use this company.
