People occasionally ask me; "Hey! How much to put up a fence?" I haven't said it yet, but the day might soon come when I verbalize my thought; "Hey......how long is a piece of string?" Knowing the purpose the fence is essential. Fences are installed for a variety of reasons and reflect the property owners individual taste while often making a statement. Safety, security and privacy are among the most common and fencing can be a display of affluence or just a simple solution to keeping the chickens in. So asking 'How much to put up a fence' is more than a bit vague and does not begin to acknowledge the selection that is available.   Today's synthetic fence products offer a wide variety of styles and colors to fill every need, however, material preferences can tend to be somewhat specific to geographic areas. For instance, in Chicago; wood is the fence of choice. Long Island prefers vinyl and areas of California use cinder block for some odd reason. And there seems to be no limit to construction either, from stacked fallen branches to fancy wrought iron, whatever works best evolves to further fill the need. As an installer, for residential applications I prefer vinyl and aluminum. This is not because there's a huge profit margin; there isn't! Instead, it's because when properly installed these types of fences will look as good in five or ten years as when they were new if they are of high quality to start. To me, this represents an investment rather than an expense. As the cost of the product rises, the value of them on your property increases. But all fence materials are not created equal and installations are not always properly done. One assurance of a quality fence product is The American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM). ASTM International promulgates standards for proper production and installation of all sorts of building materials. Rigid polyvinyl chloride (PVC/Vinyl) manufacture is covered by Standard F964-09 among others. For ornamental aluminum; F2049-10 provides the criteria for playground and pool fence. (Designation B429/B429M-10 covers aluminum profile extrusion) Just knowing that these standards exist offers a starting point for informed fence shopping. If you're searching for a high quality fence product and the guy at the local home improvement chain store looks at you like a deer in the headlights when you ask about ASTM, you might want to shop elsewhere and one resource is the internet. With all the aforementioned in mind, high quality fence material deserves a proper installation. What's the point of a product with a twenty year or lifetime guarantee if the installation will only last 3 to 5 years? The only way to see any longevity is by proper 'posting'. Post surface preparation, hole depth/width and correct back fill are critical to long term success. Because it is labor intensive, installation costs can equal or exceed that of the materials themselves. 'Sweat equity' is one way to avoid the expense and installing can be done properly with the guidance of an experienced technican who has the patience and the ability to articulate directions in an easy to understand manner. Sorry, but that's not the forklift driver at the big box chain store. Several different situations may occur that can leave you with a pile of very costly PVC or aluminum scrap if you don't have anyone knowledgeable to consult with. Being available to  to answer questions and address concerns as a project progresses without 'press 1 for sales, press 2 for customer service, press 3 for......' is vital to the customer. So, when/if you select an internet retailer, ask questions. Anyone selling vinyl fence should be familiar with ASTM F1999 (Standard practices for the installation of rigid polyvinyl chloride fence).   As the years pass, I try to do less and less installation. But when I do I usually ask the same question when we first start a job: "What did the man say when he saw three holes in the ground?" The guys have all heard this one before but they're kind enough to play along and say "I don't know, what did the guy say when he saw 3 holes in the ground?" My answer "Well, well, well". It's a bad joke, I know, but proper techniques for a long, trouble free fence  installation are no joke at all! Please visit my main wbsite at http://www.profencesupply.com to see all the styles of fence I carry and to checkout he brand new Grand Illusions Vinyl fence design center! ...read more

Daniel, my oldest son, finished college in December, earlier than expected but only after many more dollars spent than we had hoped. Anyway, he took his first 'real' job a few weeks ago. He's doing some kind of grunt like computer work for a finiancial company in Boston and he hates it. He calls on a fairly regular basis to unload a little on me and I'm glad to have the chance to offer some guidance. He's 22 now, so I'm just a bit smarter than he (again). He tells me his education is being wasted, and I tell him be happy to have a job. He tells me he doesn't see himself doing this for the next 5 or 10 years, and I tell him to be patient. He tells me he HATES it, and I tell him to smile. I think telling him to smile is going to be the best advice I can give if he's going to continue in an office enviornment. For that matter, working anywhere! Who wants to spend eight hours a day with a sourpuss? Who cares that you misplaced your keys or you broke a shoelace? Leave it at the door.  Of all the jobs I've had over the years I've noticed that the one who smiled alot frequently got recognition. Not always for performance, but for their attitude. In the work environment a 'can-do' attitude goes a long way with the employer. Over the years I've had all types of help. A few years back I had a kid named Mark. He and his family moved here from the south and he pronounced his name 'Mork'. One morning I got a call from his mother saying "Mork kant come in taday..............., lessen a course ya'awl wanna go an bail heem out". I mailed him his last paycheck and filed him with the loosers. Like the ones I've gotten the 'child support' payroll warrants for or the guys with the 8 hour hangovers that couldn't get out of the truck at a jobsite. Other guys have been around who really wanted to work and did a great job out there for me. And there have been a few that were just way, way too intense, too serious for me. The guy that always got my attention was the one who would come in early and ready to work with a smile on his face......,every day. Even if his ability was just average his smiley, eager attitude was superior. The person that can make work enjoyable because they see the bright side of things and they don't walk around saying "this sucks" all day is who I want to have around ME. I think I'm more productive and I'm not that different from anyone else. "You have to laugh a little" I tell my son, workplace morale is important. "Put up a baseball pool in the lunchroom, Dan" I say. "Try and get a few guys and or girls to go for a bike ride on the weekend or to the gym a few nites a week" I tell him. "It is what you make it!" I want him to be an asset to his employer with a positive attitude and friendly, motovational personality. I'd like for him to be the person that people will miss if and when he moves on. People that do their jobs AND make their work environment pleasureable are valueable. You can be that guy too. Smile!    Please visit our main website at http://www.profencesupply.com ...read more

Anybody ever tell you the story about the frog and hot water. Well, it isn't really like a made up story or a fairy tale, it's sorta' more of a parable, which is a type of story, but it's got a lesson. It's kinda' part of my theory about why people suddenly snap. You know...just one day go insane and hurt people. Ya wanna he-it? Okay, well he-it go.........Supposedly it is a proven fact that if you take a frog and drop it into a pot of boiling water the frog will jump out. However, if you take a frog and put it in cold water, and slowly bring it to a boil, the frog will stay in there and die (I almost wrote 'croak'). This week's been a real doozie for me. It was like a day when nothing goes right but it was a whole freakin' week. Reminds of the times when I've tried to spit but I just drank milk and the spit goes out but kinda hangs on. Ever happen to you? You look down and there's this white stringy spittle hangin' from yer mouth to like yer waist right across a clean shirt and you're usually on the way to somewhere important. That's when I look up to the sky and mumble something like " Allright, what else ya got?" Anyway.......back to the lesson. For me, the way the frog story applies to every day life is that when things creep up on me slowly they're not so easy to notice. I can see the sudden problems clearly, it's the pile on thing that wears on me. Like water torture but much more subtle. Some people play golf to release stress, some jog, others drink. There's a bunch of ways to deal with it. The people that snap have no coping mechanisms. I think we all need some way to deal with the day to day stuff that piles on and adds up even if we don't realize that it's happening. Maybe especially because we don't realize it.  Otherwise it comes home with us and we take it out on family or friends. Or, almost as bad, it stays in the workplace and the customers, but more often, the employees suffer for it.  So, for me, this week it's a blog. Get it out and be done with it. Next week will be better... it usually is!   (NOTE: No frogs were injured in the writing of this blog post) ...read more

I've been wanting to write another blog for a little while now. Problem is; I don't really have anything to share. Well, that's not entirely true.... I've been working on my main wesite for a while. The provider published it 'by accident'. Blamed it on a 'Level 2 tech'. Sure. What's live now is only about 1/4 of the changes I've made so far and it has alot of misspellings. I plug away at it slowly but the truth is the 'mistake' took the wind out of my sails so I've been stalling. Sometimes I think; 'Why put off till tommorrow what I can put off till next week'. But time flies. My oldest son was 22 the other day. I remember (like most parents) the day we brought him home. Now - BAM! He's twenty freaking two! I used to talk with my neighbor about that, you know... time passing faster as we get older. Crazy Joe. He was my neighbor, now he lives in Texas. He tells me down there; "men are men and sheep are afraid". Anyway, he has this theory that we're in a vacuum and time actually does go by faster. I don't know about that, but I do recall that when I was a youngin' (Joe's got me doin that!) it seemed like FOREVER from the time Christmas vacation started till Christmas Day! These days.....not so much. It comes, and then it goes. My other son, we only have 2 children, is 14. Nice spacing, right? Well, I hate it when he wastes his time on those electronic games. We're not given that much time in life that we can afford to waste as an 'avatar'. I think my generation was a bit better. Better cars, better toys, better just about everything. Well except for walking to school....uphill both ways (my Dad's quote). I can tell stories like that now that I'm 53. I'm gettin freakin old and it happened too fast. I tell people; "I went to the Doctor the other day. He told me I have A.G.E.". The usually say "What's that? I never heard of that before". To which I reply " You got it too, but much worse than me 'cause you can't even spell anymore".    I guess it's time to work on that web site again. But then again, maybe I'll take a nap first. ...read more

 As in years past, this year I'm making a few resolutions that are going to be hard to keep. I know that. So I usually make one or two that are a bit more realistic. Last year I promised not to speed up when the traffic light turned yellow (at least when my children or wife were in the car...).  One of those type resolutions that shouldn't be too hard to keep this year is to buy American wherever possible. I promise myself toat least look at labels and see where products are made. When given a choice, I resolve to buy the product that is made right here. I know it's a little thing, but it's a start for me. While I was poking around the internet earlier in the year 2010, I came across an interesting website that I think I should share; MadeintheUSA.org. They list ONLY American made products and ifyourproduct is American made you can list it there at no charge! I got all excited and added my stuff there thinking 'what a patriot I am'! But slowly, ever so slowly, I started noticing the things around the house, the things I wear and even the tools I use. I'd take a look at the label, when I dared, and more often than not I'd let out a big ole 'DOOOUGH!!!' (you know...like Homer Simpson). I realize today that I get so busy doing this and that, that my time is so restricted, that I'm usually trying to squeeze the most out of every day (just like every one else), that I look at the price and don't think to look at the country of origin. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with being prudent and keeping to a budget, or even that there's anything wrong with buying foreign goods. I just want to be conscious of what I'm buying and try to go with the 'Made in U.S.A.' item. So, that's the resolution I think I canreally keep this year. Check the label and buy American,it's the least I can do.............and wouldn't the world be a much better place ifeveryone did the least they could do? ...read more

Wishing all a happy and safe holiday season with much success in the New Year! ...read more