Greg Johnson

Review of Valley Wide Fencing

My first contact with VW was with the salesman/Dan...

My first contact with VW was with the salesman/Dan. I was pleased enough to know that I did not need to get an estimate from another fence company.
But it was not a smooth process as it went on from there.
My best input from VW came on the day the job started. Ryan who was the crew lead for the first phase of my fence installation appeared to expect a lot of questions and concerns from me. He took his time and patiently answered all my questions and cured my concerns while directing his crew to get the job going. It was a fantastic and efficient job, they completed the work when they needed to and that included job site clean-up which included my yard and the street where the trucks were parked. The putting things back to the way they were at the end of a miserable hot day full of hard work was impressive, it showed the ultimate concern for a job well done. What good is a nice new fence if the mess it created is still present/visible. The next day Jesse showed up with his crew to install the fence. They started early and appeared to take longer than they expected/wanted. There was a glitch with a fence part that was the incorrect size, there seemed to be a bit of trouble getting the correct size piece but the next day someone came out to finish the job, he even had to take the part in question back to the shop and bring back the correct size. But it got finished without looking like it was rigged to work with a piece the wrong size. The install crew left more of a mess than the first day crew. I am guessing that was because it was stinking hot and took longer than they wanted.
Chris came by a week or so later to do a walk thru/follow up. He was patient and concerned that I got what I expected/needed/wanted/paid for. Excellent follow up. Chris could answer the questions because he knows the install process and the office process.
First, while Dan is an excellent person to deal with and ask a thousand questions, I would have him on a couple job sites, small jobs like mine so he could see the process and be more effective answering questions.
Then I would make sure the customer knows the process, how the job is scheduled, payment process - half before the job starts and the remainder after the job walk thru/follow up.
Misty was excellent to call and ask about scheduling and payments. Very personable.
I would use a flow chart or check list to effectively get all the information to the customer (and not in one big email) on how the process will work and what to expect. With someone to call and answer questions as they arise. The goal of this being that customer contact and information does not vary from job to job but to achieve a constant process that works where all customers will know the process from the marking of underground utilities to the follow up / walk thru.
It appears there are a lot of good people at VW and some excellent people but the process used to make it happen does not appear to be a written game plan to eliminate gaps in a procedure between jobs.
Ask Ryan what kind of questions/concerns people confront him with before he can get started on the first day of the job. Address the process so Ryan does not need to be customer service as well.
Thanks for a fence well done!