From the deck of Robin and Ken Kramer’s home in Point Lookout, the view is everything: calm water stretching to the horizon, a stone patio lined with lounge chairs, and a fire pit waiting for the next family gathering. It looks effortless. And in many ways, it was.
When the Kramers took on the project of building their dream seaside home, a fence was one of the very first items on the list — and one of the most complicated. The property sits directly on the water, with a pool, a seawall, and a shoreline that present the kind of safety challenges most contractors rarely encounter. Add a growing family of 21 — including nine grandchildren, with many more years of backyard adventures ahead — plus four beloved “granddogs” with a habit of wandering, and the stakes of getting the fencing right were high.
“I knew I wanted something that would blend in with the environment,” Robin explained. “But more than that, the dogs and the kids cannot be able to escape.” Simple enough in concept. In practice, the project quickly evolved into a complex navigation of local building codes that seemed to shift with the tide.
Enter Deven Iannone and Reliable Fence. Pool fencing regulations in Connecticut required barriers of specific heights, set specific distances from the water — and, as Ken recalled with some exasperation, the requirements kept evolving. “In order to meet code on that side, that one had to be taller,” Ken said, describing one of many adjustments. “By the time this fence was done, the regulations would have prevented James Bond from being able to get into the property.”
Through all of it, Deven was a steady presence. He physically climbed across the seawall and scrambled over rocks to properly assess every angle of the property, measuring pitch on the far side of the seawall to ensure the installation would be both structurally sound and code-compliant. He engineered a double-gate system to allow access to the fire pit while maintaining pool safety, and designed the fencing so it would blend naturally with the coastal surroundings rather than interrupt it.
“I totally trusted his expertise,” Robin said. “He knew exactly what we wanted the moment we said it. It became a no-brainer.” When Connecticut’s statutes changed again in the years that followed, Deven helped the Kramers adapt — removing a section that had become redundant, adjusting another to reflect updated rules, and ensuring the finished product still served its core purpose: keeping the grandchildren safe from the pool and the shoreline, and keeping the family’s dog from wandering off.
The result is extruded aluminum fencing that requires virtually no maintenance — a practical choice for a saltwater environment — and that frames the property cleanly without competing with its natural beauty. “The fence was great,” Ken said simply. And given everything it took to get there, that might be the highest compliment of all.
“I totally trusted his expertise. He knew exactly what we wanted the moment we said it. It became a no-brainer."