Athanas Fence Co Inc

Athanas Fence is a wonderful company to do business with. The owner Jeff came out to do an estimate and he is friendly & knowledgable. Once the quote was approved, the job was completed quickly & efficiently. We would not hesitate to use them again.

These guys are really good professionals. The owner, Jeff Athanas came out to give me a quote. In addition to the work I requested he noticed some loose boards in my neighbor's fence and offered to throw in the replacements of these boards to make sure the yard is secure to a pet. We had a miscommunication over the removal of a bush that had grown into the fence adding unbearable weight and Jeff made a trip back to saw off the many limbs that were entwined in the fence. I would hire this company in a minute for any future fencing needs.

Jeff and his team were fantastic from the beginning with the estimate throughout the entire process. He took the time to answer all of my questions which was very helpful as this was my first time working with a fence company. His crew came on the scheduled day and put up 128' of fence in one day. It looks beautiful and all of our neighbors have complimented how it has given our yard a complete facelift. We even have had a neighbor who will be using this company after seeing the work they did. Would definitely recommend this company!

Jeff Athanas provided incredible, personal service and competitive pricing. He and his team completed the job quickly and professionally, would recommend for any fence projects.

I have been using Athanas Fence Co. for about 15 years now and have always had great service from the owner, installers and office assistants. I love my fence & Jeff has been easy to work with and helpful w/ solutions to any questions I’ve had.

It went very good and excellent. I have no complaints, they did the work, they charged me correctly and I was very happy that they could fixed the fence for me.

It was outstanding. Ruben and the other guys were wonderful, on time, they were efficient and left the work site very nice.

The replacement went excellent; the owner came out and gave an estimate, which i then followed up with Ann in the office, and the work was performed to my satisfaction. The team that came out to the work did an excellent job as well as cleaning the work area. I would recommend them highly.

It was perfect! The turn around time was quick, they were thoughtful and professional. I would use them again in a heartbeat.

Jeff's crew did not show up on the scheduled day/time with no call. I had specifically wanted to be home when they started the job because the first step was to remove the existing fence, and there was one section of existing fence that was newer and was not to be replaced. But since they didn't show up on Friday when they were supposed to, I was not able to be home the next morning because I had committed to take my sister to the hospital for a procedure. When I returned home, I found that the crew had already removed all of the fencing on my property, including the section of newer fence in the back and the full length of split rail (which they were only supposed to remove half, per village rules). This was very upsetting and stressful, and the response I received when calling the Athanas office was something like "Oh, sorry. I guess the crew didn't read the notes". I did get them to agree to replacing the fencing they tore out by mistake on their dime. They were only supposed to remove and replace half of the split rail fence because of village rules, but as I mentioned, they removed all of the split rail on the first day. So the crew only replaced half of the split rail fence, even though I told Jeff (owner) that since the old fence was all gone (because of their mistake), they needed to replace it all and accept the consequences if the village imposed a fine for violating the rules, to which he agreed. It took several reminder phone calls, and the crew would once again randomly show up, always while we weren't home to install more sections of split rail. And the worst part, they installed a shorter piece at the end of the fence, and when I pointed out that the original fence was longer, they added a long piece on the end. So picture a fence that has all equal length rails, except for shorter piece second to the end. And this is the part of fence that is most visible to passers by. The install took several weeks as the crew would show up randomly, never calling first. They once showed up around 4:30pm on a Saturday afternoon. A portion of the fence was coated aluminum and when the worker installed the pointy caps on the tops of each rail he used the end of a sledgehammer to pound them on, flattening the pointy tops and exposing aluminum on each one. The aluminum fence also had circles that came as separate pieces and were individually screwed on to the top part of the fence and most of them were very loose after they were initially installed. Some even fell off on their own. It took several calls, pictures, and explanations to the company's admin person to get the owner to come look at it. Several times I was told someone from the crew would be coming back to tighten the screws on the circles and replace the flattened pointy caps, but it took multiple calls and the only thing that finally lit a fire under them was me refusing to pay the balance of what was owed ($5K) until everything was fixed. Jeff sent his admin person out to my house twice, each time early in the morning, to demand payment. Like I said, withholding payment was the only thing that seemed to motivate them to correct the mistakes. The crew also had trampled several plants around the fence, left empty water bottles and other food wrappers around the yard, lots of small debris (screws, spare parts, etc). When I asked about reimbursement for the plants that had been trampled, the Athanas admin skirted any responsibility and said she would ask the crew if they would reimburse me. Surprise, surprise, I never heard back on that. Overall, this job was a complete fiasco. The company didn't seem to care that several mistakes were made and didn't seem to feel obligated to correct them. The aluminum fence is not level in some spots, and the gate is already not wanting to close (after only 4 months). Bottom line: This company is terrible! Jeff is all talk and seems like the nicest guy in the world until he has your signed contract. The crew is incompetent, messy, and unreliable and the company acts as if they are not responsible in any way for the actions/mistakes of the crew. Keep looking!

Athanas was timely and professional. The fence went up on schedule, was level, and very nice. 4.5 years later, it still looks great and is holding up quite well. The only issue we've had is that one of the gates is on a sloped hill and has normal issues with expansion and contraction with changes of the seasons. I would definitely recommend Athanas.

In less than 2 years some of the posts shifted. Jeff Athanas was unwilling to correct the problem without charging me another fee. I declined. This past July one of the fence posts simply fell over. I discovered the post was only placed 1.5 inches into the ground. I contacted Jeff and sent him photos (attached) a full description and copies of past receipts showing I have spent over $4,200 with his company since 2007. I also offered a proposal that did not require the fallen post to be reinstalled, instead a much simpler solution and one that I felt was fair. The reply I received was his services are not available to me. So if you want your fence to fall over, be ignored by the company, Jeff is your guy. I'm just glad no one was KILLED by the 50 pound falling post, as children pass through these gates several times a day in the summer. There are lots of fence contractors out there. Avoid this one and choose a reputable company that understand quality work and customer service. He claims to be a member of the AFA American Fence Association. When I contacted them, they indicated he was not. As of the writing of this review I have opened a complaint with the Better Business Bureau of Chicagoland. Avoid this company at all costs or it will cost you.

Athanas fence arrived quickly and provided a quote. We placed a $200 deposit for the services quoted, which was cashed very promptly by Athanas. That was the last we saw anyone from Athanas Fence Co. Repeated attempts to schedule dates for them to make the repairs were met with missed appointments without any phone call. I've had to repeatedly contact THEM to reschedule. Finally giving up on this company, I've spent the last 4 weeks requesting our deposit back as I no longer feel this company is up to the task of performing these repairs. To this day, I've yet to receive our deposit back.

I've used Athanas Fence twice. The first was in 2010, and they replaced a large section of perimeter fence that grew loose over time. The second time, in May 2014, they replaced a different post and re-attached the existing panels of fence to the new post. The May 2014 receipt for $425 indicates a two-year warranty on the materials and work. <br /> Yesterday, the post Athanas installed in 2014 snapped at the base. Even considering the winds there is no way a 4x4 post should have snapped in the way it did -- clearly, the materials and/or work were the root cause. However, Athanas came to look at the fence today, and sent me the following string of text messages: <br /> "... neighbors sno plow ... $400.00" (Me - "There hasn't been plowing this winter. ... This is the posts and panel you fixed...") <br /> "The posts are old posts." (Me - "No. You guys replaced. I have receipt. If you're not going to fix your work, there's no way I'm going to use you to to fix again.") <br /> "Sorry. These posts are original." (Me - "No. That post snapped at the base and you replaced it. I have pictures and receipt.") <br /> After initially making excuses that he did not replace the posts or that phantom snow plowing had caused the damage, Athanas texted, "I cannot warranty wind damage of 70-75 mile wind gusts." (Yesterday's winds reached 62 mph at their high.) I replied, "There's no way the wind alone caused. This is your materials and work." <br /> Athanas then called me on my phone, told me to use a different company, texted me "Your a jag bag," and blocked me from replying to his text message.  <br /> Use this company at your own risk with this information. The two-year warranty is not worth the paper it's printed on. As my experience above shows, Jeff Athanas will blame the snow, plowing, and wind, and will even pretend he didn't do the work in the first place before standing by his own materials and workmanship. <br />

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We had a fence in the backyard and Athanas installed an addition that ran from the end of the existing fence to the side of my house. I paid them promptly when they had completed the work however I then noticed that they did not level the fence. They had also joined the two fences with a board that was poorly nailed in place; the board even had exposed nails sticking out of the back. I called them repeatedly to come out and fix the problems but they never returned my calls. It took 2 months of calling for them to finally sent the owner out to look at my fence. He admitted that the fence was not installed properly and that he would send someone out to fix it. However two months (and numerous calls) had pasted and they still had not shown up for the repairs. When I got back in touch with them on the fifth month they said that they would send someone out to fix the fence but they missed the appointment at 1pm. I called them back and they said the installer would be there between 3-5pm. They never showed up. After another month I was able to get in touch with the owner again who said they would send someone out again to look at it but I told him to forget it. They have just taken my money and did a poor job and don’t want to fix their mistakes.

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Athanas had installed our fence 3 years ago and we recently had a tree removed so we needed a panel replaced.  They came out within a day to provide an estimate and then rushed the job to complete it the next day since I mentioned that we were having friends over that had a small dog.  It was really appreciated! <br />

Athanas installed a fence around our back yard in July of 2013.  Initially, we noticed that a number of boards had been installed haphazardly, with boards spaced unevenly. We contacted Athanas and the board spacing was corrected.  A short time later, we noticed that some sections of fence were installed with portions of lower rails set into the dirt in the low corner of the yard.  The fact that treated posts were specified and installed for the low corner of the property--where rain water drains--led us to believe that the installers should have known better than to install a number of those sections set in the dirt. <br /> We contacted Athanas to address this issue.  Initially, the person we had worked with told us that he had come out and that one post would need to be re-set.  This was clearly not the case, because on a subsequent visit, he agreed that several sections would need to be raised off the ground. This was late last fall. He indicated at that time that, with winter approaching, there might not be time to do the work that season.  When we contacted the company again in the spring, we were assured that they hadn't forgotten about us. They made lots of promises to come out on subsequent calls. Since it is now August of 2014, and we have not heard anything from the company, we must conclude that they have, in fact, forgotten about us. <br /> <br />

We had our fence installed in the fall of 2012, and at that time, they did very well and we were very happy.  After the fact, we had the doors modified so that they would close automatically (at our expense).  However, the winter of 2013-2014 was very harsh, and between the snow and the frost heave, our gates now do not close properly.  We have been calling Athenas since January 2014, and of course we understood that the ground was frozen and that there was nothing they could do until the ground thawed.  At that time we wanted to be on their queue so that it could be completed ASAP.  Fast forward, its now June 2, the ground has been thawed for at least a month and a half, and my wife has called at least 4 times to get them out to do the repair, each time being assured that we were on the list and that it would be done.  Week before last (week of May 19), my wife was assured that someone would be out to fix the fence that week.  The week came and went and no repair.  At this time, I would not recommend Athenas as a reliable, conscientious provider.  CAVEAT EMPTOR.  In their defence (pun intended), they did finally come out to look at the issue, but it has not been repaired.  We will no longer do business with this company. <br />

One small rumple in the beginning and I was mostly responsible.  But, the owner called me, the manager made two trips to the site & the workers fast neat & courteous.  I have already recommended them to a neighbor & gladly continue to.  I'm always a little nervous when workman come  because I'm never sure if I can truly evaluate the more "technical" parts.  Because of the time the manager & owner took and showed me how the work was being done, I know that they did impeccable work. <br />

First of all, they are not very easy to get in touch with, as they don't seem to be in the office on a regular Monday-Friday, 9-5 basis.  They first visited the site to provide a proposal for the work to be completed; the first proposal did not include all of the work so I had to call them back to ask them to return so that they could include all of the necessary work.  They did and provided a proposal and we scheduled the work for when the weather would allow.  Apparently they did go and perform the work, and then I was sent an invoice.  I went to the site to check on the work and realized that no work had been done on one of the fences (which was included on both the first and second quotes).  I called them to ask them to return to finish the work, they wanted payment on their invoice, so I held back 10% of the charge and sent them payment.  Cathy, the office manager, said she would have Roy visit the site to check on the work and that he would call me back; he did not.  I have left several messages since, and have heard nothing back and the work was never completed.  <br /> <br /> <br />

This is the third large job I've had Athanas do for me in two years.  They've done a great job every time.  Very responsive, professional and great attention to detail.  I wouldn't use anyone else. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />

We recently had a dead tree removed which was touching part of our fence. When the tree was removed, it left a whole in the fence and the need for a post to be installed. They did an excellent job. They completed the repair while we were at work. When we got home, the fence was completely repaired and the area was left clean. They were very responsive and professional. The price was reasonable for the work performed. <br />