R & D Enterprises - Ypsilanti, Michigan

Paul Brown

We have a great resource in the Normal Park Neighborhood and they work throughout the wider Ypsilanti area too. R & D Enterprises currently focuses on fences and porches. I watched the progress as they completed a porch for a neighbor and later noticed their truck at a house just a few blocks from my house. I had a short fence that covered the space between the neighboring house. When it got knocked over by a DTE crew doing some repairs after a power outage, I asked for bids from a few fence companies. Most seemed to raise the price because it was a small job. Doug, the managing partner from R & D came over and gave a better bid and was willing to take on some small repairs on the screened in porch. R & D squeezed me in between larger jobs early this spring as promised.

They promptly sent pictures of the options electronically. He was always willing to answer questions and their selection of materials and features like the gate reinforcements and the latch/locking mechanism which were high quality. We discussed some preferences about the sighting of the fence. A couple of my neighbors had fences that had a distinct stair step look on the sloping sections like I had. I didn't want that look and Doug specified and the crew delivered a level topline of the fence. While the purchased lumber had dogear tops, Doug asked if I wanted that or a flat square top. After a moment thought I decided the flat top was a better match for our mid century ranch.

The two member crew that did the work was great and easy to talk with. The old fence had been anchored to the walls of the two houses with only a couple of 4x4 posts. The work team added extra cement anchored 4x4 posts spaced about a foot away from both walls that seemed more secure to me. The gate was also framed with extra planks perpendicular to the line of the fence which gives it a much more finished look. It was a slope so they had to level an area to make the gate plumb to swing properly. The slope caused the distance from the bottom parallel frame to the end of the planks to be a little to long, so the crew added another support member near, but not touching the ground. Nevertheless they chose pressure treated lumber to assure durability. They also went a bit further than I expected on the screen room repair.

Doug made sure that the job was satisfactory and met all my needs a few weeks later. He even made some adjustment to make it even better at that time.

Support a good neighborhood business!

JoAnn Parkus

Thank you R&D Enterprise for replacing our wooden gate and 2 posts. It was just by chance our neighbor was getting a new fence when I saw their truck out front and thought just maybe they would be willing to do a small job. Without question they did it since they were in the area. The quality of the work was Excellent. The gate and posts are solid and we’re very pleased. The price was fair and the workers were very nice. They stood behind the work we had discussed. So happy to have the opportunity to have this work done before the post actually broke. One more thing checked off the list.

Jacob Hein

Driver of the red heavy duty drives like a prick. Almost hit me at the gas station and was just generally rude.

Chas Post