Rant: A customer told me my cedar fence was 'overbuilt' and a waste of money

I was finishing a six-foot privacy fence in Tacoma last Thursday, using 4x4 posts set in concrete and 2x4 rails, the way I've always done it. The homeowner came out, watched me for a bit, and said, 'You know, my neighbor's guy just uses metal posts driven into the ground with those clip-on brackets. Says it's just as good and half the price. This seems overbuilt.' It got me thinking. On one hand, his way is faster and cheaper for sure, and for some flat, sandy soils, maybe it's fine. But in my experience, especially with our wet winters and clay soil, that method leads to wobbly fences in a couple years. I've fixed three like that just this spring. The old-school way I do takes longer and costs more, but I've got fences I put up fifteen years ago that are still solid. Is the extra time and material for a truly solid build worth it anymore, or am I just being stubborn? What's your take on driven posts vs. concreted for a long-term job?

3 comments

3 Comments

shane_carter16d ago

Ugh, that customer has no clue.

david13415d ago

Tell me about it, @shane_carter. It feels like a lot of people just don't want to read basic instructions anymore. They skip right past the clear info and then get upset when things don't go how they imagined. I see it everywhere, not just with customers. It's this weird mix of being in a hurry and thinking they already know better. Makes simple tasks way harder than they need to be.

taylor.brooke15d ago

Exactly. It's like a weird pride thing now. They see instructions and take it as a challenge to figure it out blind. Then they waste more time fixing their mess than if they'd just looked at step one. Drives me nuts.