As a fence crew in Illinois finished a job, they found out the homeowner allegedly wasn’t planning to pay for it. So, they decided they weren’t about to leave their handiwork behind as a complimentary upgrade. They came back and started taking the wooden fence apart, plank by plank.
The video, posted by César Diaz of Diaz Fence Company in Joliet, Illinois, shows his crew returning to the property to remove the fence they had just installed. Diaz says in the clip that the homeowner refused to pay for the completed work, so the crew came back to undo the job themselves.
And, well, the homeowner had some thoughts about that.
The homeowner, a white man, can be heard shouting at the crew as they begin the teardown, telling them to “get the *expletive* out of here” and threatening to call the police.
Meanwhile, one worker can be heard calling to a coworker in Spanish for help, as the group quickly gets to work dismantling the structure. Someone in the background can also be heard saying, “This isn’t what we wanted to do,” which is probably the closest thing the footage has to a corporate statement.
According to the workers and as seen in the footage, the homeowner also took their chainsaw and other tools while the cameras were still rolling.
The footage was originally posted on Instagram by @el.compa.cesar before being reshared on X by @LongTimeHistory, where it quickly started picking up traction.
Internet Reacts to Illinois Fence Dispute
The internet, perhaps unsurprisingly, had plenty to say, and most of it was firmly on the fence crew’s side. One commenter wrote, “I love that they did this. The homeowner deserved that and more,” while another added, “Good for you. You did the right thing,” arguing that people “need to learn to stop thinking you can steal from hard-working people.”
A third commenter decided the fence dispute was also an opportunity to bring Donald Trump into the conversation, claiming, “Well, Trump did this regularly when he was building his towers in NYC. So now his MAGA *expletive* think they can too.”
Others left the politics at the door and focused on the contractor equivalent of learning from your mistakes: “Require half payment before the project begins. Pay another quarter halfway through. Pay the balance at the end.” Another commenter simply sided with the workers, writing, “I’d do the same thing. He hired them to do a job. They did the work, and like a real POS, he tried to get it for free, like the world owes him.”
Wage theft against construction and day labor workers, particularly in Latino communities, has been a persistent problem in Illinois. State law requires day laborers employed for extended periods to receive equivalent pay and benefits to full-time staff. Workers can also file complaints with the Illinois Department of Labor when contractors refuse to pay for completed work.
What isn’t clear is whether the Diaz Fence Company crew pursued that route before deciding to take matters into their own hands.
