Empire Fencing

Steer clear of Empire Fencing. I sure wish I had the same experience as the other reviewers. I gave Empire Fencing a check for $11,750.00 for materials for a vinyl fence and gate in February of 2022. I was told the shipment of materials was repeatedly delayed and a full refund was promised me in August 2022. The company has not refunded my money to date. Please know if this company agrees to perform work for you, they are not licensed or insured. They had falsely advertised as such on this site but it has since been removed (screenshot below). This is a substantial amount of money that the company has retained after a string excuses and promises to refund. Even though the quote you may receive from them is less than you would get from other fence companies, I strongly advise you to steer clear of them. There is a reason there are no reviews on Yelp for over a year now.

AVOID Empire Fencing at all costs! We were SCAMMED $20,710 by Empire Fencing's owners Cazden Cabebe (aka Caz) and Shenile Galzote Cabebe. Don't let it happen to you! I trusted the positive reviews online when my husband and I hired Caz and Shenile to build a vinyl fence and automated gate, which is why I hope this review will help people avoid my same mistake.

Empire Fencing have a script down for their scam - it involves Caz showing up and bidding a job slightly lower than competitors, acting professional and knowledgeable while making empty promises and false statements, using kind and reassuring words to appease your suspicions of fraud, claiming materials are supposedly delayed or giving odd reasons why work can't start yet. Caz and Shenile lie profusely to drag out the process, and intimidate you so you give up chasing them down and second guessing whether to take legal action, because the process is timely, stressful and expensive, especially when up against people who are experts at working around the legal system to deceive and manipulate. Caz and Shenile are shameless to steal money in disguise of a deposit for fencing work, with no intention of ever doing the work.

Here are the facts and some take-aways for anyone considering Empire Fencing:

1. Caz Cabebe, the owner, went to a check cashing service to cash a personal check we gave him as an initial payment for materials and installation of a fence around our property and automated driveway gate. The check was in the amount of $20,710, made out to Empire Fencing, LLC. Any legit business would have a bank account and would NOT be using a check cashing service and paying high fees.
2. Caz and Shenile kept our $20,710 and NEVER DID ANY WORK AND NEVER DELIVERED ANY MATERIALS, despite claims of doing so.
3. Caz uses an overseas phone service receptionist to screen his calls, funnel lies, and avoid direct communications.
4. Caz claimed to have bought materials immediately after receiving deposit, and refused to issue a refund when no materials was ever delivered and no work was ever done. Instead, he gave numerous and ongoing excuses and tried to shift blame with false claims.
5. Caz and Empire Fencing are NOT licensed and NOT insured, even though they claimed they were when we hired them. I believed their claim and didn't do the proper due diligence - that's my fault so learn from my mistakes and please use the government's resources that are available to you. Hawaii provides helpful resources online that everyone hiring a contractor should utilize - go to DCCA's website to verify business and contractor's license number. Check for past customer complaints with the Regulated Industries Complaints Office (RICO). If you do these two things, you will see Empire Fencing is NOT LICENSED and has multiple RICO investigated and validated complaints against them.

I wish I could've wrote this review and warned people sooner. It took me over a year since hiring and paying Caz in June 2022 because Caz and Shenile are gifted scam artists. They strung me along as I wanted to believe they were decent people, and would eventually deliver materials at minimum; provide a refund as fair; or build the fence and automated gate as they were contracted and paid to do at best; however, none of the above happened, so here I am, writing this honest review - drained of money, time, and sanity because of Caz and Shenile at Empire Fencing.

-- update 12/31/2023 --
Beware! Empire Fencing tried to respond to my honest negative review with more lies. They tried to get me and Yelp to remove my honest review without success. Their claims of resolution are completely FALSE and shows their desperation to lure more people into hiring them so they can steal more money from unknowing customers.

The time for our old wooden fence had way come and gone. Communication was good and the job was done quickly. The team came in and mostly finished it in a day- just came to put in the small gate and bam! they were done. They also hauled away the debris and left the work area clean. Very happy with our new fence- thumbs up!!

Cazden and his team at Empire Fencing we're great. Reached out to me the same day as my first inquiry on Yelp. Came out the next day to do a estimate of the privacy fence we wanted built in the front of our yard. (Some companies didn't respond til almost a week later....my fence was already built by then)

As a first time home owner, it was awesome that he was fully aware of our associations guidelines so explaining requirements + what we wanted was a breeze. Empires quote was about 10% cheaper then a competitor so we decided to go with them. Im glad we did! Our fence was up 2 days later. Super easy and I'd definitely recommend.

I booked an appointment for a quote which was very easy and person came down at the scheduled date. Person came down (last four cell number 7135) and did some measurements on May 11th.
I followed once...no response. Follow up 2nd time no response. Followed up 3rd time. Responded and said we close. Waited another week ish to followup and nothing. I dont understand why you would come down to do measurements to waste my time and your time if you not going to do a quote.

These guys are are super fast! Finished our fencing in 5 1/2 hours, we were expecting 3 days for the job. Super friendly, local company. Job was done perfectly, would highly recommend to anyone looking for fencing. Quoted quickly, job was done on the weekend and so happy we chose them. Super awesome job!!

Cazden and his team did a great job replacing my old, worn out backyard fence with a white vinyl privacy fence. Communication from the start couldn't have been better, and when the day came his crew was on time and ready to work. They finished the job earlier than expected, and cleaned up all debris from my yard and the neighbor's yard on the other side. I am completely satisfied with the work they performed, the price I paid, and everything in between. Glad I found them and I hope to use them again in the future.

Empire Fencing did what every other fence cleaning/pressure washing company told me was impossible, which was removing red dirt stains from a white vinyl fence. Can't recommend then enough. If you need a white vinyl fence cleaned Caz is your guy.

I can't say enough good things about doing business with Cazden and Empire fencing. He and his crew were professional throughout. The major hang up was with our HOA and beyond Cazden's control. He went above and beyond in resolving everything. Once work started, it was quick! From tearing down our existing rotten wooden fence to installing our new vinyl fence, everything went smoothly. They even installed my new mailbox! They worked effieciently throughout and cleaned up after they were done each day. I was so satisfied with this company that I hired them again for further concrete work that I needed to have done. Hire these guys! You won't be sorry!

Scheduled online using their website to get a free estimate to replace our vinyl gate. Cazden arrived as scheduled and gave a reasonable estimate (another vendor I contacted was going to charge a lot higher). Cazden responded via email and text with the estimate and we scheduled to get the work done within a week. We had to reschedule to the next weekday, because another job they were doing was running late. On the day of the work it was raining/drizzling on/off during the morning but they began work in the late morning. Cazden and his assistant replaced the fence and took care of some special "issues" until they were satisfied. They had to trim a bottom corner and made extra trips to ensure the gate aligned just right and accomodated the existing gate posts.