Monday, June 28, 2010

Cape Cod Time

It seems that some things happen slowly on what we call "Cape Cod time".
Back in late April I started contacting fence companies to get prices on the railings, screen panels at the deck, and the split rail fence required by the Town's Conservation Commission.  A couple of the fence companies actually came out and provided quotes, but most never bothered.  The prices from two who quoted were very high and extremely high - with the high price being almost $25,000.  It turned out that the convenience of one stop shopping would be rather pricey.

I decided there has to be a less expensive way to go.  I figured I would handle the deck railings and screening and then have a fence company install the split rail fence.  A local fence company arranged and then missed several appointments and weren't very good at returning subsequent phone calls.  I contacted another fence company and they said they would get me a price but also never returned phone calls.  It seems that the recession hasn't hit fence companies on Cape Cod.

For the railings and deck screening I looked into the Certainteed fencing and railing systems and redesigned things based on their products.  They have CAD details online which helped - except that they're not to scale.  After modifying their CAD details and adjusting my plans to their product, I was ready to order.
In this area these Certainteed products are sold through Harvey Building Products.  Harvey doesn't sell to the general public, so I had to apply and receive permission to buy products from them.

Harvey tried to place the order for me and then discovered that Certainteed fencing is only sold to fence installers.  They recommended Kroy fencing instead.  The links on Kroy's website are broken, so I had to make decisions based on their small thumbnail images.  The panels should have arrived in three weeks, but they took almost five - and they only sent two out of the three panels.
They are good quality and fortunately are what I was looking for.  The last panel has been expedited and should be delivered tomorrow.

I've hired someone to install the split rail fence and place gravel to stabilize the ground at the hay bails/silt fence line.
The split rail components, gravel and deck screening panels should all be finally completed this week.

1 comment:

  1. The use of vinyl fences is really something that people should consider. Aside from the fact that this help save the environment, this will also a lifetime investment.

    White Fences

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