Sadly, I have to agree with Thomas N. that Doug Bryant is greedy, unethical and non-professional. In late 2014, my father and I hired him to re-construct a rectangular mosaic patio sized 14' x 30', using Italian marble, granite and other stone remnants of a demolished patio. I gave him photos of the old patio and Doug Bryant agreed to try to reproduce the original design as closely as possible. He was delayed with a previous project but made no effort to update me. After failing to keep appointments, without the courtesy of a phone call or email, I tried to cancel my project with him. Over the phone he said that he and his crew had already scheduled my project and would be without work if I didn't hire them. He promised I would not regret giving him a second chance. He promised to show up with his "full crew", which turned out to be one surly blond assistant. Doug himself was not the "genial" mason I had read about in a newspaper article. Again, I tried to cancel the project, because even before he started, I could see that he was angry at me. He said I had read him the riot act over the phone, which was an exaggeration. I did complain about him not keeping his previous appointments with me without any apology or explanation -- that was highly unprofessional behavior! I had offended his humongous ego. In revenge, he tried to raise the price, but I told him a deal is a deal. I should have refused to let him continue, but I relented, because it is so hard to find quality masons in San Francisco, which is why I had to reach out all the way to Bolinas. I thought if I went higher end I would have better results.
I thought maybe he had a primadonna attitude, because he was as good as his press -- biggest mistake ever! I had agreed to his outrageous quote of $15,000, because the project had a tremendous sentimental value to me. The original patio that he was supposed to try to reconstruct in spirit, if not stone for stone, was created by my late uncle who was a truly talented artist. As the work progressed, I could see that they were not making any effort to copy the original design. Doug wasn't even doing any of the work -- he relegated almost all of it to his lone assistant. I thought I was paying for a "full crew". When I asked if he was referring to the photos I had given him, it took a while for him to even find the photos which clearly indicated that he was not looking at them, which was in violation of the terms of our contract. I fired him on the spot. I paid one third of the agreed amount, in addition to his 10 percent deposit. He tacked on another $800, which my poor, elderly father paid to avoid any conflicts -- senior citizens, beware of this greedy "potential scam artist"!
I would have posted this review sooner, but back in 2014, Doug Bryant did not have a presence on Yelp. My father was always too nice to let me post negative feedback about professional people, but now that he has passed away, I feel at liberty to express, honestly and openly, my deep disappointment and regret. read more