Soto's Fence

Nearly all of Soto's Fence's reputation rests on one listing, and it is a big number: 169 ratings averaging 4.8, with 93% of them five stars. The catch is that Angi and HomeAdvisor carry the identical profile, down to the same reviews in the same order, so that is one crowd's verdict counted twice rather than two platforms agreeing. The company works out of 345 Canton St. in Fitchburg and is run by Yariel Soto, whose name turns up by hand in review after review rather than as a company signature. It says it has been at this for 12 years and that it speaks Spanish as well as English. What it does is fencing and only fencing: vinyl, chain link, aluminum and steel, wood, and the gates that go with them, installed and repaired. The reviews themselves read like real customers rather than a solicited batch. They run to different lengths, arrive in English and Spanish, name the price paid, and several come from people hiring the company a second time or arriving on a neighbour's referral. Two of the readable ones sit at 4.5 stars rather than 5 — a small thing, but the kind of variation a manufactured set usually lacks. The longer accounts tend to dwell on the same stretch of the job: the quote and the walk-through beforehand, then a crew that cleaned up after itself. Two things are worth pinning down before calling. The trail goes cold — the newest review on either profile is from December 2023, so nothing here speaks to how the company is running now, and recent references and recent job photos are the fix. And no licence number appears anywhere on these listings; Angi says outright that every licence and insurance statement on its profiles is self-reported. Massachusetts exempts fencing-only contractors from home improvement contractor registration under MGL c.142A §14, so nothing about that is a mark against them, but proof of current liability insurance is still worth seeing in writing. For a straightforward residential fence — vinyl privacy, chain link for a dog run, aluminum along a front yard — this is a small owner-run outfit with a long run of homeowners saying the finished job matched the quote. Get that quote in writing with the materials specified, confirm the insurance, and ask what they have installed nearby lately.