Captain Robert Barry took advantage of my elderly mother! Captain Barry's concrete and brick "repairs" are worse than the problem was to begin with - only now my mother doesn't have the three thousand dollars she paid him, and she has to hire someone who actually knows what they're doing to completely undo what he did to her driveway walls and front walkway. Captain Barry took a $1,400 deposit from my mother and agreed to begin the work before the end of that month (November). He also told my mother that he would not cash the deposit check until he actually began the work. However, one week later, the captain cashed the check - but did not actually begin the work for three months!!! Immediately after cashing the check, Captain Barry began a cycle of promising my mother he would begin the work, then he would not show up on the day he'd chosen. Then, and only after my mother had contacted him to find out why he didn't show up, Captain Barry would reschedule - and then not show up again the next time! This cycle repeated itself over and over for three months until my Mother became convinced that Captain Barry had simply stolen her money and never intended on actually doing the work.
Unfortunately, my mother was out of town when Captain Robert Barry finally decided to show up and ruin her driveway and walkway. When she returned, she was shocked to discover that Captain Robert Barry's concrete work was on par with someone who literally has never done that kind of work! He used completely bricks that were an entirely different size and color (a full inch shorter, not nearly as wide and red-orange instead of the existing dark red and much larger bricks. Captain Robert Barry continued by filled the now huge gaps between the tiny orange replacement bricks with ultra-white mortar which looks nothing like the original morter in any way, not the style nor the amount nor the color! He didn't even bother to clean any of the extra morter off the bricks - or even off the ground where he'd tracked morar up and down my mother's walkway.
If the brick "repair" wasn't bad enough, Captain Robert Barry added insult to injury with her concrete work. My mother's driveway is four feet lower, and cut into her front yard.
On either side of the driveway, there are four foot concrete walls (topped wtih a row of bricks). Over the years, the concrete wall has cracked and crumbled in some places. My mother hired Captain Robert Barry to repair the damage and make it look nice again. There is not one repair anywhere on the walls of her driveway that doesn't look like he just slapped a handful of concrete over the cracks with his hand and and literally walked away - with no attempt at blending or sanding. One area, in particular, where the damage was the worst, it again literally looks like he built the area up with his hands and then walked away. No second application, no evening out what's supposed to be a flat concrete wall (and still is - around the repairs), there was no finishing work done at all. It's quite something to behold - the "repairs" attract ten times the attention that the original damage did. In one part of the wall, for reasons only known to Captain Robert Barry, he painted a small section of the white wall a brick shade of red. I know, it makes no sense. I still haven't figured out why he did that, but my guess is he ran out of white paint? No idea.
My mother called Captain Robert Barry and expressed her concerns (so much more politely than he deserved). I was in town visiting her for a few days and she asked me to talk to Captain Robert Barry about the repairs. I'm an Art Director and have twenty years of experience hiring and managing every kind of expert laborer, from construction to painters to engineers & fabricators - and yes, concrete workers. Captain Robert Barry actually showed up - and on time for once! I'm not sure why he bothered, though, because he came with a scowl and his arms crossed, and the moment we began addressing the problems, he complet!ely flipped out. I started by pointing out the brand new, thick band of white mortar he used to repair bricks laid in the 1940's. It just didn't match the original thin, neat, dark mortar. He snapped at me and said, "What's your formula?!" I literally still have no idea what he meant by that, and I said so. He then got in my face and said, "Don't be flip with me!" I said, "Excuse me? Ok, well, can I just be blunt with you about the workmanship? It's just not finished to the level you promised (he sent my mother photos showing 'what she could expect'), to which Captain Robert Barry, threw his hands in the air and stormed off yelling about how we didn't appreciate the difficulty of concrete repair work.
We will be seeing Captain Robert Barry in court! Avoid hiring him at all costs! read more
