Family Fences

We had 3 fence posts that needed to be replaced. I made an appointment to get an estimate — they didn’t show up and they didn’t call. I tried again and made a 2^nd appointment — they didn’t show up and they didn’t call. I tried a 3^rd time — they came, gave me a reasonable estimate and scheduled a time to do the work 1 month out. I called the day before to confirm and we were on the schedule, but they never showed up and never called to say they couldn’t make it.
I called Estrada Fences — they came to give me an estimate within the hour and finished the work the next day!

My name is Jim Kelly and I work at Family Fences and have an Iphone. I am confused about DE’S review about me not returning voice mail calls. That person must have the incorrect number or something. My iphone saves all my voice mails and I have recently listened to all my messages to try and determine who this is so I can service them. I take personal pride in how I take care of customer’s and encourage DE to call Tomas the owner at 847−733−7275.
My company builds quality fences and does not use any nails and uses screws to make the tightest finest long lasting fence possible.

Here is my experience with Family Fences. Jim Kelly comes out to measure and look at the property. He says he will email me an estimate. A week later and no estimate. I call him to ask for the quote he lies and says he’s waiting for pricing on one section of the fence. Another week later and still nothing from Jim. I call him again and this time get voicemail. I leave a message and no response. A few days later I leave him another voicemail again no response. I have no idea how their workmanship is because I can’t even get them to give me a quote. Nice not doing business with you Family Fences I’ll gladly take my business elsewhere.

After installation of my new fence/​gates, I was unhappy with the appearance/​size of my front gate. I sent an email stating my displeasure. Julio came out the next day to go over my concerns and solution to remedy the situation. I thought for sure I was in for a fight, however, that was not the case. Julio is very respectful and said they wanted me to be happy. I am!

I initially choose Tomas for a quote because he did work with my brother in law who is a contractor and I trust his opinion. Family Fences quote came in higher than the other quotes I was getting but he gave me this piece of advice…“make sure those companies use the right type of screws so that they don’t bleed on your fence and make it unattractive”. I appreciated that tip and wound up going with his higher quote because of that good advice. He did the work (a 25′ section of wooden fence) and did a very nice and clean job. About 6 months later, I started to see black marks bleeding below every single screw they put in. I called him, and he said that he’ll have to call the manufacture and he always uses the correct screws. I told him do whatever you need to do, but the ONLY reason I hired you was because you said your nails don’t bleed so I expect you to take care of this. He sent his guys back to scrub off all of the black, but that didn’t fix the problem as it would continue to bleed over time. Next he came out to replace all of the screws to the CORRECT ones that don’t bleed. I appreciated that, but I still had marks on my fence below every screw. Tomas was now getting more difficult to get a hold of and return my calls. Finally he sent a guy over to power wash the fence where the marks were. Well, that looked ridiculous because every place there was a screw, there was now a clean circle of wood and it looked polka dotted now. After numerous attempts to contact Tomas (because he was VERY slow to get back to me if he did at all) I had to have my BIL contact him for me as I knew Tomas would pick up the phone if he called. He finally agreed to replace the wood panels that looked horrible and replace them with the correct screws this time. He gave me attitude every single time I talked to him towards the end. I kept reminding him that the only reason I went with his higher quote was because of his warning about other companies using screws that bled… and then he turned around and used bleeding screws. I wouldn’t recommend this company for fence work in the future and I told the same thing to my contractor brother in law.

Horrible experience with this company. We originally chose them because their prices were significantly lower than Fence Works, but in retrospect, we should have paid extra for the more reputable company. It took numerous attempts with Family Fences to schedule the repair, and they ended up coming 4 hours later than scheduled. Once there, they failed to complete the work, including repairs I specifically mentioned to the workers. They failed to clean-​up their work areas and left dirt, cement remnants and used screws littered over our walkways. They then took weeks before returning to remedy their mistakes, and only came after continued prodding. Finally, their repairs were shoddy and incorrect. For example, when they replaced a fence post they failed to replace the decorative cap on the post. They returned and added a pine fence post cap rather than a cedar one to match the post, and they failed to nail the cap to the post – it just sits there capped around the post! Avoid them and pay more for a better company.

I needed to add on to an existing fence in my back yard. I contacted Family Fences and Thomas came out to do the estimate. That evening he emailed me the price. I called him and scheduled the job.
On the day of the work they showed up on time. The crew was professional and neat. At the end they had me check the work and then stacked the old wire fence and swept my back deck where they did the assembly.
I’d use them again and recommend them highly.

I recently used Family Fences to have a cedar fence installed. Its been my experience that contractors in general are very flaky. They rarely show up on time and customer service is not their strong suit. Perfect example, I tried to get an estimate from SP Fence as in Carol Stream. SP told me it’d take about a week for the estimator to show up. On the morning of our appointment, I get a call from the woman at SP who set up the initial appointment that they don’t service my area because of distance. Why couldn’t they tell me that before the day of our appointment so I didn’t have to block off my morning?
Anyways, I was impressed with the service provided by Family Fences. As the previous review mentioned, they were prompt. Said they would be at the house for the initial estimate in the morning and they were there. Said the fence would take 2 days to install and it did. When I sent an email, they responded within 24 hours. Initially, I had gone back and forth with them to make some changes to my initial request. They accommodated with revised drafts within 24 hours. There are some minor issues with the fence. For example, they installed a gate at our deck so our dog couldn’t get out but one of the hinges was screwed on too high so part of the hinge is sticking out over the top rail of the gate. Overall, however, I am happy with the way the fence looks and the service provided by Family Fences. I would recommend them. I will update my post if anything changes with the fence install.

Prompt and professional! I had many estimates to repair large sections of our wooden fence. Tomas showed up on time with a smile for the estimate. What a nice guy! His price was right in the middle of the pack but he seems to be the most experienced out of the group of estimates I had. I called him to schedule the work just now. He’s going to try to fit me in Saturday. I will add to this review once work is completed.

Tomas and his crew did great job of repairing our wooden fence at a reasonable price. Decided to leave this review after looking him up for another job.

Family Fences built beautiful iron railings for our front steps for less than other quotes. We were completely happy with the work. They have also repaired our wooden picket fence, for very reasonable rates. I whole-​heartedly recommend them.

Tomas and his crew did a wonderful job when I had a lock installed on my existing fence. They went extra mile of adding some braces so no one can open it from outside. His price is very reasonable and works efficiently.

These guys are the best. We had them replace an existing fence on the side of our property, and also a portion of a taller fence with a door. Both jobs were perfect. The price was so reasonable and the job very professional. Tomas is great and his whole crew was very accomodating. I would hire Family Fences again in a heartbeat.

I had a new garage built and needed an iron fence repositioned and replacement of a privacy fence. Tomas came out and gave an estimate, we negotiated and settled on a price. As promised, his crew arrived on time and completed the work. I had a minor issue with the privacy fence, again Tomas was quick to respond and corrected the issue I raised without hesitation. I am truly happy with the work that was performed and highly recommend Tomas and his crew for any fencing needs.

Our association just had a border fence installed. As an associaton, passing a motion, collecting money for special projects, etc — takes a while. In our research phase Tomas gave us the best pricing quote. By the time we collected money and were ready to start (10 months later) Tomas honored that quote for us. Similar quotes for the work were 15% higher. On install day, the team arrived 30 minutes early. The team was professional, courteous, and worked an entire day without a break. Impressive group of guys with an incredible work ethic. They returned on Saturday and finished the remainder of the fence and the cleanup.
Hats off to Tomas and his crew. Highly recommend family fence to anyone and will use them again for sure!

These guys also came out to give us an estimate. The guy was about 30 minutes late, but he did drive all the way from Evanston.
The day after he came to look at our yard, he sent a detailed digital drawing that showed the dimensions of our yard, and where the gates would go etc. This was pretty impressive and being a detailed oriented person, I loved this.
Their quote was $ 1500 more than another place so needless to say we didn’t go with these guys, even if we are trying to support local businesses. But maybe they can match an equivalent quote? We will have to check into it.